I get a new turntable and dust off some old records. Vinyl Tap #44:
It didn’t matter that the Raspberries' transcendently sublime, this-is-your-brain-on-Beatles “Go All The Way” was one of the best singles of the 1970s, glancing off the Top 10, and that the 1972 self-titled album from which it emerged got a good look-see in the top 50 before getting the bum’s rush by the Billboard bouncers. By the Eagle-eyed, Dead-ahead decade, everybody in the world was suddenly too cool for the room. Not only were the bubblegum boys in the outs at the “in” spots, but air time for them at the hipper-than-thou FM radio stations hit asphyxiating levels, and nobody was really listening to AM anymore.
But despite the image of the Raspberries’ as perfectly coiffed anachronistic throwbacks in matching suits and demeanor, I changed my tune when I changed the tuner in the hopes of capturing any trace of the hook-heavy infectiousness of Ohio’s sonic pop-dreams, the Raspberries. The quartet not only put out four studio albums over the too-brief course of a two-year recording career, from 1972-'74, but they conceivably garnered more guilty pleasure status than you can shake an eight-track tape at. Led by singer/songwriter Eric Carmen, the mainstay amid the influx of ever-fresh Berries, the lyrical directness, skilled musicianship, vocals and harmony-laced zeal were encapsulated in such melodically soaring and deftly-executed gems as “Go All The Way, ” “Tonight,” “Ecstasy,” and “I Wanna Be With You.”
All of these accessibly and seemingly effortless powered-up pop songs of unabashed fab-four brashness and percussive propulsion bunch up for the bulk of a consistent and cohesive side one of 1976's Raspberries' Best, from the controversial three-minute meltdown of 1972’s “Go All The Way” -- all insouciance and spirit — to the still on-fire f-f-fade-away of “I Wanna Be With You’s” inarticulate speech of the hormones, sustained by a different kind of please-please-me plea.
But the upbeat carefree and cavalier days of skin deep love and lust of what had been referred to as “the horny singles” turns to the agony of loss as the first side of Best is book-ended with the poignant though merging-on-mawkish ballad “I Can Remember,” an eight-minute you-complete-me manifesto that foreshadows Carmen’s first solo gusher, “All By Myself,” from 1975.
Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
nice one gordon. dang, i love it when somebody, anybody!, uses the words "side two".
there's a quick blurb on the news pages of backsteets.com with Bruce having some nice things to say about the Raspberries (it's from the liner notes of the to-be-released Sunset Strip album)
i haven't heard "Go All The Way" in yeeears. hmmm...
2 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Thanks Mark--leave it to Springsteen to say in as little as 13 words what I got too long-winded about: "Soaring choruses, Beach Boys harmonies over crunchy Who guitars, lyrics simultaneously innocent, lascivious..."
I'm glad to hear he's a fan, too. I've seen Bruce in concert about a dozen times -- I would've loved to hear the subject come up.
3 - Mark Saleski
i would have loved an E Street Raspberries cover, not sure which one though.
the reason i say this is because Southside Johnny has sort of adopted "Walk Away Renee," so much so that i kind of associate with them instead of The Left Banke.
4 - Glen Boyd
Thanx for this Gordon. Not just because "Go All The Way" is one of the greatest pop singles ever made (because it is), but also because it helped me with my research. I'm reviewing the new Raspeberries CD/DVD and your article gave me a much needed refresher on the band. I haven't pulled out one of their discs in years.
By the way, Springsteen actually wrote the liner notes for the new release.
-Glen
5 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Thanks Glen--Glad to hear you're doing the review of the live album. It was a pleasant surprise when I went to the Amazon site to get supplemental ASIN's and spotted the release. The liner-note writer will be icing on the cake.
Meanwhile, I'm gonna need a crowbar to get Raspberries' Best off my turntable... eventually.
6 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Mark--I'll have to seek out Southside Johnny's version of "Walk Away Renee" (what album is it on?--I know I used to have s few--do albums run away with the socks?). I always associate Rickie Lee Jones (the ever-popular tortured artist, based on a flighty concert performance) with it, and I'm fairly certain you're familiar with Jones and the "Girl at Her Volcano" EP I wrote about a while back -- unless I'm off-base, I'm thinking you made a comment about your awareness and appreciation.
7 - Mark Saleski
it's on At Least We Got Shoes, which came back into print recently, but only from the Southside Johnny website.
mmmm, i forgot about that Rickie Lee EP. more to the point, i completely forgot about "Walk Away Renee". what i remember from that one is "Under The Boardwalk"
8 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Ah, now I recollect your recollection, Mark -- I stand correct in light of your correction.
Thanks for the info on Southside Johnnie.