In the thirty years I have owned this Eric Carmen album, it never grows old, it’s a timeless piece of music from a bygone era that I still play often with my Raspberries collection.
Written by: Eric
ARTIST: Eric Carmen
ALBUM: Eric Carmen
LABEL: Arista
SERIAL: AL 4057
YEAR: 1975
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Eric Carmen – vocals, guitars
TRACK LISTING: 01 Sunrise * 02 That’s Rock N Roll * 03 Never Gonna Fall In Love Again * 04 All By Myself * 05 Last Night * 06 My Girl * 07 Great Expectations * 08 Everything * 09 No Hard Feelings * 10 On Broadway
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
The Raspberries played their final show at the Masonic Temple Auditorium in Scranton, Pennsylvania on April 19th, 1975 without guitarist Wally Bryson who had left just days earlier. It’s ironic a band that literally shaped American power pop and at one time were seen as the second coming of The Beatles would break-up with little fanfare.
Reality is The Raspberries had its share of personal issues for a couple years which came to a boiling point in an Indiana parking lot with Bryson and Eric Carmen trading blows. It was the beginning of the end, but in the years since the legend of The Raspberries has only grown with four albums of pop music magic that have yet to be equalled.
For Eric Carmen, his career was hardly over and under the guidance of Arista Records Clive Davis, Carmen would forge ahead with a solo album that would finally give him the critical and commercial success that eluded him for so many years.
The Songs
Adopting the popular Cleveland band Magic for both the studio sessions and the following tour, Carmen delivered to my mind, the best pop album of 1975. His love for The Beach Boys is clearly evident throughout the record.
The opening ‘Sunrise’ one of the strongest songs on the record features Brian Wilson styled vocals with Elton John‘s sense of the dramatic and a decidedly upbeat take on John’s ‘Funeral For A Friend’ if you will.
‘That’s Rock ‘N Roll’ shows Carmen returning to his early roots on a song that became a huge hit for Shaun Cassidy a year later. ‘Never Gonna Fall in Love Again’ is a beautiful song with stunning orchestration and beautiful melody which pretty much sums up the following ‘All By Myself’ the albums biggest hit.
Borrowing a melody from classical composer Rachmaninoff, ‘All By Myself’ is grand in scope, clocking in at nearly seven and a half minutes was only out done by Queen‘s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ which was also hit at the same time.
‘Last Night’ and ‘My Girl’ combines the sounds of both Paul McCartney and The Beach Boys while ‘Great Expectations’ is pure Beatles. Closing the album is a sultry cover of ‘On Broadway’ which ends things rather nicely, but of course if you get a copy of the CD reissue you are treated to two bonus tracks, the single version of ‘All By Myself’ and a rockin’ live version of ‘Sunrise’.
In Summary
In the thirty years I have owned this album, it never grows old. It’s a timeless piece of music from a bygone era that I still play often with my Raspberries collection. Eric Carmen would continue to release excellent albums including 1980’s ‘Tonight You’re Mine’, but this debut will always hold a special place for me and I give it my highest recommendation.
Video
Entire Album (Select Tracks)
