Raspberries Raspberries

• 1 Go All The Way 03:22
• 2 Come Around And See Me 03:12
• 3 I Saw The Light 02:42
• 4 Rock & Roll Mama 04:39
• 5 Waiting 02:47
• 6 Don't Want To Say Goodbye 05:09
• 7 With You In My Life 02:50
• 8 Get It Moving 02:35
• 9 I Can Remember 08:03
• Total Runtime 35:19

Info for Raspberries

When it comes to power-pop, few records have had as towering an influence as the first Raspberries album. With the opening track, 'Go All The Way,' Eric Carmen and the boys set the blueprint for generations to follow: crunchy Who-volume guitar chords and pure rock attitude, matched with ear-candy melodies and Beach Boys-worthy harmony vocals.

On other songs, the Raspberries explored the many moods of Beatles-worship, their knack for catchy arrangements and pure pop songwriting often matching that of the Liverpudlian lads themselves. Far from a Fab Four tribute record, however, The Raspberries has a tough edge that clearly reveals that, though the Ohio group may have spent its days absorbing British Invasion sides, it was operating at a time when Led Zeppelin, not Lulu, ruled the rock world.

„RASPBERRIES opens with the finest burst of lightweight English rock I've heard all year, a raunchy 16-bar guitar intro, and followed by a verse that sounds like a cross between ‘Reflections Of My Mind’ and early Badfinger. The rest of the album is just as ephemeral, and just as good.

The funny thing is that the Raspberries aren't English at all – they're from Cleveland, Ohio. Just like the Wackers, though that hasn't stopped them in cultivating a perfect three-part English group harmony, and the Raspberries go one further by even looking strikingly English. When you're dealing with groups whose aim is to do energetic, melodic rock, nationality simply seems to be no deterrent.

What makes this album easy to recommend is the fact that there really isn't a bad cut on it. With the exception of ‘Rock & Roll Mama’, an only slightly above-average rocker, and ‘With You In My Life’ (a nice uptempo good-timey number), Raspberries is composed in toto of potential hit singles, all with excellent vocals and terrific production. Even the eight-minute piece ‘I Can Remember’ works superbly, flowing through several sequences and ending with an irresistable chorus.

And if you've heard either of the Raspberries' two singles on the radio, ‘Don't Want To Say Goodbye’ and the aforementioned album opener ‘Go All The Way’, you already know how infectious their music is. With the original material quite impressive and the filler cuts all adequate, Raspberries is much more impressive than Badfinger's debut album, and I find myself already looking forward to the group's second.

There've been several other entries in the lightweight rock sweepstakes this season, things like Stories (ex-Left Banke leader Michael Brown's new group), Chesapeake Juke Box Band, and so on. Forget them: this is the one any true lightweight rock fan shouldn't be without for an instant.“ (Metal Mike Saunders, Rolling Stone, 6 July 1972)

Eric Carmen, vocals, piano
Wally Bryson, guitar, vocals
Dave Smalley, guitar, bass, vocals
Jim Bonfanti, drums

Recorded in 1972 at Record Plant, N.Y.C.
Engineered by Shelly Yakus
Produced by Jimmy Ienner

Digitally remastered

Raspberries
In the early Seventies, Eric Carmen and Jim Bonfanti recognized that a huge void existed for the kind of music that would rekindle the glory days of the Beatles, the Who, and the Beach Boys. Along with Wally Bryson and Dave Smalley their new band – Raspberries - produced a head-on collision with the progressive rock scene and coined the “Power Pop” sound, which featured explosive rock guitars combined with soaring two and four-part pop harmonies.

Raspberries played their first show on October 16, 1970. Weekly gigs at the Agora in Cleveland created a groundswell of support for this new hot local band whose reputation as a live act was already becoming legendary, and before long they were attracting more than 1,000 people a night. Signed to Capitol Records by noted producer Jimmy Ienner in the winter of 1971 they completed their first album, Raspberries. To create excitement about this new band, Capitol employed a raspberry-scented scratch-and-sniff sticker affixed to the cover of their debut, the aroma of which exists to this day.

Released in early 1972, the album showcased the smash top 5 single, “Go All The Way”, which became a million-seller and Raspberries’ first gold record. Raspberries garnered rave notices from almost every music publication of the day with Rolling Stone providing their most impassioned review: “Raspberries opens with the finest burst of lightweight English rock I’ve heard all year. The rest of the album is just as good.” Following the album’s release, Raspberries toured with the Grass Roots and the Hollies and appeared in front of over 50,000 fans at a major outdoor rock festival held at the Los Angeles Coliseum with such acts as Stevie Wonder, Sly & the Family Stone, the Bee Gees, the Eagles and Chuck Berry.

Raspberries’ second LP, Fresh, contained the hits, “I Wanna Be With You” and “Let’s Pretend” and saw the band embarking on a European tour. The group’s third album, 1973’s Side 3, demonstrated a clear evolution in the band’s sound and Eric, Wally and Dave’s songwriting skills and featured the standout rock tracks “Tonight” and “Ecstasy.” During this time, Raspberries’ media profile was further heightened by appearances on television shows, Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert and The Midnight Special. A career highlight was the band’s sold-out concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall on September 26, 1973, which has achieved near mythical status among their fan base. Raspberries’ final LP, ironically titled Starting Over, included what many critics and fans alike still consider to be one of the best singles ever recorded, the Top 20 “Overnight Sensation (Hit Record).”

On November 26, 2004, 31 years since their last performance, Raspberries classic lineup of Eric Carmen, Jim Bonfanti, Wally Bryson and Dave Smalley reunited at Cleveland’s House Of Blues for a show that sold out in four minutes. A handful of additional shows in 2005 produced SRO crowds and rave reviews from both critics and peers alike. Artists such as Paul Stanley, Rick Springfield, Jon Bon Jovi, Steve Van Zandt, Max Weinberg, Desmond Child, as well as members of The Romantics, Blondie, the Go Go's and other peers attended their shows, and Bruce Springsteen affectionately spoke of the band at three of his concerts in the summer of 2005.

This album contains no booklet.