Raspberries - Raspberries' Best (1976)

As a kid I'd belt out "All By Myself" whenever I heard Eric Carmen's song come on the radio. It was a huge song ... at least to me. For a long time that was all I knew about him. I was a product of AM radio and unless my older cousins or my cool Aunt and Uncle had it I was stuck in that tiny bubble. 

The first time I saw a Raspberries record I was at my buddy Andy's apartment in the mid '80s and was sitting on the floor looking through his voluminous collection. Andy was a couple of years older than I was and back then he was on the local co-op radio doing his thing. The station didn't have a lot of bandwidth and I couldn't get it out in the suburbs, so I never got to hear him and his dulcet tones. Andy was cool, had a cool voice, and a cool record collection. He loved The Grateful Dead, Michael Nesmith, and thought commercial music was a cancer. His girlfriend, and one of my closest friends Lori and I happened to think Starship's "We Built This City" was awesome, and he thought it was the dumbest song ever. His collection was amazing, mine was mostly an embarrassment ... an embarrassment of riches! 

I pulled the Raspberries album out and sat there looking at it like it was a joke, and he said, "It's really good." It was the self titled debut and I recall him putting it on and playing the first cut, "Go All the Way" and I had to agree it was really cool. I think I then pulled down the Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart album and Andy suggested I put it back.

I never did get anything by the Raspberries, although I did end up getting The Best of Eric Carmen back in '88 because it had his late career resurgence hits "Hungry Eyes" and "Make Me Lose Control" that I thought were really good ... even if one of the songs was from Dirty Dancing ... a movie I can proudly say I have never seen. If you're still here, I suspect you're wondering when, or if I'll ever get to the point.

Hold on, almost there ... 

Raspberries released four albums in the space of a few years. They dropped two albums in 1972 one in '73 and a final album in '74 and then they were done. I have their second and last albums and this one. Raspberries' Best is probably as good a place to start as any. I wanted to hear "Go All the Way" and this collection wisely starts with their lone gold single. I guess that's why this was called the best of, rather than greatest hits. Although they did have hits, I just don't remember hearing them as a kid.

The other thing I liked about this one was the clever way the album jacket was packed with more information than you probably wanted to know about the band. Not one, or two ... but three essays about the band. Frankly I suspect for many it will be TLDR, but for me I love this stuff. One also gets the sense this was cobbled together to take advantage of Eric Carmen's rising star as a solo artist. Hence the byline "FEATURING ERIC CARMEN" just in case you didn't know he was in the band. 

This is a fantastic album. Truly, and while I'm inclined to throw my voice into the fray and wonder why these guys weren't huge, the reality is probably a little less complicated, and history has more or less assigned them their slot and those who know, know and those who don't will never know what they missed. All I know is that I'm looking forward to hearing the deeper cuts on the two records I have in my collection. At some point that will number four, but as at today ... two, two is the number. Not three, nor is it one. Suddenly I feel like I should be checking over my shoulder to see if there are any wicked bunnies in the basement.

Let's take a look at how the best of was compiled over the band's skinny discography. Not that it's important, but I was curious to see the distribution.

The band for the first three records was:

• Eric Carmen - Guitar, lead and backing vocals, piano
• Wally Bryson - Lead guitar, backing and lead vocals
• Dave Smalley - Bass, backing and lead vocals
• Jim Bonfanti - Drums, backing vocals

From the debut Raspberries (1972):

• "Go All the Way"
• "Don't Wanna Say Goodbye"
• "I Can Remember"

Fresh (1972) 

• "I Wanna Be with You" 
• "Let's Pretend"
• "Drivin' Around"

Side 3 (1973) 

• "Tonight"
•  "Ecstasy"

When the band released their fourth and final album Starting Over (1974) Dave and Jim were out. They were replaced by Scott McCarl on bass and vocals, and Michael McBride on drums.

• "Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)"
• "Starting Over"

The songs all mesh well and it's a really cohesive collection. It feels like an album. From what I can see it covered the singles the band released. It's still weird to me how an album can crack the top 40 and have several top 40 singles but the albums and the singles didn't sell. 

Despite being viewed as a bubblegum pop act, the Raspberries were pioneers of power pop, and they could rock with the best of them. While some of the songs sound a bit dated in places, the production still has enough sparkle and sheen to make them standout. By gum (not bubblegum just to be clear) they hold up, one could go so far as to say they're fresh. After all, this is the first time I'm hearing most of the songs on this collection. As much as I like some of Eric's solo stuff (at least the stuff I have) he really seemed to be at his best here.