I just stumbled on this: Raspberries - Pop Art Live (2 CD) - Amazon.com Music It's a Raspberries show from 2004. I have the 2005 Live on Sunset Strip, but this is from a year earlier. Opening night of the reunion tour in Cleveland. Since I have the 2005 show, I'm not sure the 2004 show is vital to have. Opening nights are rarely peak performances. I guess I'll cross my fingers. If anyone knows the quality of this performance, please chime in! From Amazon: “Having waited this long to witness the impossible—Raspberries live—we showed up two hours early, parking our car in the empty parking lot . . . [and] moments before the house lights went down, we looked at each other and said the words that we never thought we would ever say: ‘We’re at a Raspberries concert.’ Then it began . . . ” —Ken Sharp and Bernie Hogya from the liner notes to Pop Art Live. November 26, 2004, the stage was set for a reunion most thought could never happen—the Raspberries Live In Concert! Over 30 years since the original four members of Raspberries last played together, Pop Art Live captures opening night, at Cleveland’s House of Blues, as never before! You will experience the power and magic that led the group to a successful reunion tour in 2005. Founding members Eric Carmen, Wally Bryson, David Smalley, and Jim Bonfanti powerfully muscle through 28 slices of pure rock ’n’ roll heaven, bringing to life the legacy of power pop’s founding fathers. Brilliantly mixed by longtime Raspberries’ associate Tommy Allen, the Midwestern quartet has never sounded this good! Pop Art Live contains live versions of songs from all four of the Raspberries’ classic original studio albums including the hits “Go All The Way,” “I Wanna Be With You,” “Let’s Pretend,” and “Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)” as well as perfect renditions of timeless favorites by The Beatles and The Who. Also included in this 2-CD package are reflections and testimonials from Academy Award®-winning filmmaker and rock scribe Cameron Crowe and longtime Raspberries aficionados Bernie Hogya and Ken Sharp. Hogya also contributes a wealth of ephemera from opening night in Cleveland. The Raspberries are one of rock’s most treasured bands influencing everyone from John Lennon to Bruce Springsteen to Paul Westerberg!. Pop Art Live is an essential document of that band, providing another chapter to their lasting impact! The Raspberries Live . . .they said it would never happen . . . they were wrong.
I like the previous live CD set with DVD. But this might be an interesting alternative, maybe rawer playing?
yeah, that cover art seems kinda odd to me......the girls with heels and seams, and the old radio....as a designer myself, i guess they didn't want to use their standard logo for this.....still an automatic purchase for me!!!!!
I don't understand why they're releasing this so long after the concert. I saw them in 2007 and it was good but their very best live stuff was in the early 70s heyday. There's plenty of live recordings from then too.
Just picked this up yesterday. All I can say is it's a great live album! Maybe not the very best sound in terms of audio perfection, but it's got the feel of a real concert -- and you can't ask for more than that! And I agree, it's a terrible cover! Why not use the live photo of the band that they're using for promotion of the album?
Holy crap is that cover bad. Super low rent and reflects nothing at all of the band. Not to mention the use of three fonts for four words, and a title in font size that drowns out the name of the band who are not otherwise reflected by the art. I wonder if there was some issue with using either the logo or their likenesses on the cover. But even then, there were plenty of other possibilities that would be better than what they used.
I have been too distracted by how amazing the performances are on this set to realize how truly GHASTLY the cover art is! That being said, I love love love this recording. It shows a band of musicians well-on in their years (even 14 years ago), that are enjoying their work and showing what a fountain of youth these songs are! Well done, gentlemen!
I'm sure all live albums have "sweetening" done on them -- but, damn, for a opening show and something that ran two hours -- this is a dynamite set. Playing, singing, set list -- it's just awesome!
Original Raspberries material here is what you expect to hear from the studio recordings performed "Live". While the cover tunes from The Who - I can't explain, The Beatles - Baby's in Black, Ticket to Ride are great to hear but their performances are very pedestrian. There is nothing here to make them in the style of "The Smithereens": Meet the Smithereens - Beatles Tribute cover albums. Overall nothing here to put it on my essential "Live" recordings list. Listening to them once and then move on to "Cheap Trick", with Bun E. Carlos. I'm firm believer in non-nepotistic band members; Unless your last name is Allman, or Wilson (The boys and not the sisters).
I was also at this concert and stood in line for about two hours in the front of the line and another hour standing on the concrete floor right up in front before the band came on.....what a show!. This was billed as the opening concert for the new Cleveland House of Blues. I am from the Cleveland area and used to go see them play all around town but mostly at the old Cleveland Agora. Can't wait to get the vinyl 3 record set.
Popmarket.com has a "today only' sale of the 3 lp set for $44.99 and free shipping, $10 savings, not bad...
I was at this show, and it wasn't the opening night of the reunion tour - at the time, it was the only show they planned on doing. It was a great night. Re the cover tunes - guess you had to be there, it was fun to hear them breaking out stuff they did in the 60s in their previous bands, and the crowd was really super fun during these numbers plus the 2 Choir tunes. Great they finally released this. Besides the puzzling cover design, another head scratcher is they changed the song order. Wonder why. setlist.fm has the proper order as it happened. Anyway, glad it's out there.
Besides the horrible cover art and the song order being re-arranged - is this show complete or did Omnivore omit some tracks?
How is it that not a single person has mentioned the extreme overuse of pitch correction on Eric's voice? It's bordering on robotic. It kills this album for me.
I don’t have the album, but I too was at this show. I could cavil about all the extra musicians/vocalists they felt necessary to do the music justice, but in the end it was still a great show, and something longtime Raspberries fans thought they would never see. As for the cover songs...they were a BAND, and these are the songs they cut their teeth on and genuinely love. Forgive me if I place their desire to enjoy playing them again above those of some random listener who really has no standing in the matter.
I just picked this 3LP set cheap, just turned it on and was very surprised to hear robo-Eric singing! What a bummer, because everything else sounds great. The auto-tune ruins it for me too, sad to say.
I had my eye on this for a long time as I love the Raspberries, but didn't know if I wanted to get into the reunion stuff, the 4 LPs were good enough. BOY! WAS I WRONG! This album really kicks! Great performances and great SQ on the vinyl. I highly recommend this to any Raspberries fan on the fence.
Just bought this album from the Omnivore label sale, had no idea about the autotune, and did a massive double take while listening to "Let's Pretend" in particular. You can usually get autotune past me, but not this. What a fiasco. At least I now know why it was discounted.
