Bill C

I have a question reguarding the Album version of All BY Myself. I have read the Marathon Man book and have been on this board for awhile now and have never seen this addressed. When I hear the piano solo in the middle of All bY Myself, I hear the melody to Secret Love, 1953 #1 Doris Day and in the 70's Freddy Fender had a minor hit with it. I've never heard mention of the credit for that song in ABM. Is this not what Eric is playing?

No way! I want the artwork and the track listing and the cover and the liner notes and that disky thing that they put in there.

I like Boats but you can tell the difference in production between Eric's first album and boats. I liked the sound much better on Eric's first album. I can't really put my finger on everything that's different but the first album sounded more "Live" than boats did.

I don't know if anyone else had heard this or if it was only a local station in Minneapolis that had this. When "Go all the way" was being played in the Twin Cities area on AM 1500 KSTP back in the 70's, they played an extended version. This version would edit part of the intro back into the song just before the bridge. Does anyone know if this was done on a national level or did someone do it a this station only? I only heard it on this station here in town.

Too bad I wanna be with you didn't get top ten status in billboard. It seems that that is the cut-off for oldies stations to configure their playlist. Go all the way is played but you rarely hear anything else by the 'berries unless requested.

The duo I played in had to fake Afternoon Delight last night per request. We'll try just about anything for a buck or two.

Great story! I remember buying both the first and second Raspberries albums for myself in 1977. I bought them from a used record store. They were both German imports. I was able to find Side 3 and Starting Over still on the rack and sealed. I also had an 8-track of Side 3. It took me awhile to go out and buy my own copies, you see my brother had the albums and I could just use his, until he moved out. I remember having the Raspberries Greatest hits first though.

Thanks Tony and Bernie. It's great to know that Eric reads the board. When he verified Trindy's post...that's a thrill for not only Trindy, but everyone else who paticipates. Thanks Eric! Thanks for creating this High Class site Bernie. It makes the internet a great place to be.

By The way you didn't answer my question earlier...

Maybe Tony, or maybe Eric was steered in that direction by Mr. Davis after the success of All By Myself. Let's see starting with side three...Eric Ballads? No. Staring Over? The title track. Eric's Debut...All By Myself & Everything. Even "Everything" was not a romantic ballad. After that the Ballads just poured out. I'm not saying...I'm just saying. It's hard to say. It would've been interesting if he could've been both a solo artist and with the 'berries at the same time.

It's easy to call a particular album overrated after many years. The Impact of Sgt. Pepper loses it' luster after 40 years. Boston's debut album was a new sound that swept the airwaves. Fleetwood Mac-Rumours was more than just the lyrics and about break-ups. The band itself new how to put a quality recording together. I'm not saying they should or shouldn't be in anyones overrated list, I just think it's unfair to judge them in the present tense.

I think Stephen Bishop should be honored to be listed with this group. Although I did like all of his hits....except "Everybody Needs Love"

I don't know if either is a 'berries song or would work as one. Not enough backing vocal stuff or guitar. I know they did some of that with Waiting & Starting over, but when I think of the Raspberries, I tend to think of more group oriented songs. Harmonies, drum fills, guitar licks...Maybe I'm missing the way it could be re-done, I just think it's great the way it is.

I get what you're saying, I think the Raspberries would have been more like the Hotel California" Eagles rather than the earlier version. Raspberries definitely had more grit in their instrumentation. I think we would've had to see more collaboration. Side three was great, but distinct styles were evident because of no co-writes. Look at the Eagles writing credits. Sometimes there were 4 contributors.

I know this sounds sappy...You don't bring me flowers...Neil Diamond. Also, I Go Crazy..Paul Davis used to make me cry...when I was yearning for who ended up my wife. Now it's just a reminder to keep her happy or I'll be crying again.

Tony, has Eric ever been "discovered" using an alias and just posting on the board? Or has it always come through Bernie?

I can't believe Manilow didn't cover ABM on his latest album. "Boats Against The Current" needs to be re-released or something. This song is just so good. Somebody needs to find this song all over again.

Trindy what a great job! It's great to get verification of things like that. I think it's really cool that Eric reads the posts and is willing to take the time to verify things. Eric, you need to know that we need to know this stuff! I think the way songwriters get their inspirations is very interesting. It's easier to get songs from personal experience but you end up writing about the same things from the same viewpoint. Putting yourself in a different situation to write a song from another perspective is an art in itself. I would like to know more about more songs that you or, maybe the other guys have written.

That is very coincidental...wonder if Eric reads all his books?

This could be a stretch too, but...I was watching "Caddyshack" the other day and as Chevy Chase was doing his massage scene with Judge Smails daughter he was singing an impromptu song to her....I was born to love you, I was born to suck your face. .....Just keeping the thread alive.

"Hungry Eyes" was an RCA recording, I believe. It was probably a problem with the rights to the song like you said Pat.

That is really cool and I'm sure Wally would want to know.

I heard Eric was a big fan of Don Henley's Raspy voice thing. I think he tried to take some of the smoothness out of his voice. Just my recollection of something I read somewhere. I think he thinks his voice is too pretty. I understand where you're coming from on the perfectionist thing Darlene. My wife has been trying to get me to put together a CD of originals that I have written but I can't seem to "finalize" anything.

I'm not positive but I believe early versions of The Best Of Eric Carmen omitted Make Me Lose Control. I think it was added soon after the initial release. Can anyone collaberate this information?

Ok I'm Registered now, I'm going to periodically check to see if anyone is in the chat room. It would be cool to be able to see who's in the chat room from the EC home page. I wonder if that's a possibility?