kyletx500

"There are no syrupy ballads this time around..." I genuinely like a lot of TYM, but that's just factually inaccurate. 🤣

Solid speculation LC, Eric sounded somewhat envious of the career Billy Joel was able to carve out at Columbia, although as you mentioned, Joel didn't really "break out" until The Stranger. I'm sure the label still would've been on his radar nonetheless, plenty of great artists had already done very well there. Though Eric and Elton are pretty different artists, that's probably the closest comparison during that era, so MCA would've probably made sense as a label for Eric. Who knows how things would have gone if he had signed with them instead. Personally, even though the Arista situation was not the most ideal, usually with record companies it never is. I'm very glad we got four solid albums from Eric with them, not to mention "MMLC" later down the line. The self-titled album and "All By Myself" did incredibly well and I imagine gave Eric some well-deserved financial comfort (at least until the lawsuits) I'm glad his music continues to get licensed for film and TV. His work has already proven to stand the test of time, and I hope any lack of success from back in the day has been vindicated for him.

I can play a serviceable rhythm guitar on occasion, certainly not my strong-suit haha!

Lew, it's in there, it's just been chopped on the butcher's block and retimed/pitch-shifted so hard it's almost not the same sound

Rocksmith is actually a really neat guitar learning tool. It kinda took the concept of Guitar Hero (with those cheap plastic guitar controllers) and applied it to real instruments. Cool to see they've got some Rasperries on there.

"there are few that can resist salivating at such sweet sound as Rasperries lead singer Eric Carmen's voice." Listen, I love Eric's vocals, but damn, this writer is trying hard to sell it 🤣

I love how the commenter "gets" the video way more than the actual reviewer. I actually did a breakdown of the video in a college course I took and really like their idea of the whole narrative being from the perspective of the girl on the beach. There's admittedly a lot going on in the video, and I'm not entirely sure even the director had a clear/concise story in mind, but it's a fantastic promo for a great song nonetheless. Had a great mix of '80s flair and '50s nostalgia, was highly visually stimulating, and complemented the song incredibly well. I would not be surprised if the video had a lot to do with catapulting the song to number 3.

Wow, I usually expect a butchering when I hear something's been sampled, but that was a whole new level. Honestly I probably wouldn't have picked it out if it weren't for knowing what it was ahead of time. I must say, that is a "transformative" sample.... almost unrecognizable.

I honestly think Eric is in good company on the upper half of the list for the most part. The number rankings seem pretty arbitrary though.

I'm amazed that a record producer with the level of industry cred like Gus Dungeon can have essentially zero musical theory knowledge. To me it it's not too far removed from a doctor that didn't go to medical school. Can't argue with his success producing Elton John though.

This song should've been recorded and put on the Geffen album. It has "standard" written all over it!

If anyone's wondering, I bought the shirt, even haggled a few bucks off for it 😁

Here's the direct link to the YouTube video, the boys do a great job on this one:

Great interview and write-up! I really enjoyed reading through it, although I feel like ending the story with an "All By Myself" joke cheapened it a little.

Is there a video available for the Arista Merv Griffin episode? Not only am I a fan of Eric's, but also Melissa Manchester's; it would be awesome to see them both together.

Yeah, even if the band wasn't going through personal turmoil, the low sales probably would've gotten them dropped. Starting Over unfortunately only peaked at a measly #143 on the Billboard Top 200.

Maybe they're going off the headshot? The cover of Eric's first LP does look a little (and I mean vaguely) like some of Prince's album covers, but otherwise I have no idea what they're getting at.

The slow version is really lovely, and it's also awesome to see Eric playing the grand piano and the synthesizer simultaneously. He does duck a couple of the really high notes, but I honestly don't blame 'em; the altered delivery suits the stripped back version better.

Very cool to see the original contract from Capitol!

How do they expect anyone to be able to read that formatting? 🤣

Those are some fantastic photographs. Seems like Arista didn't put out all that much in the way of unique promo shots of Eric, shame really.

Oh man, a toughie 😄

I don't personally own The Essential yet since I pretty much own everything contained on the domestic release, but importing the Japanese version is mighty tempting for the demos and rarities.

I hadn't seen that forum yet. Some interesting points were brought up, but they were definitely hard to take seriously when backhanded jabs were being constantly tossed in. Makes me wonder if these people have ever tried to make music of their own...

I was wondering about that; honestly it sounded darn good in mono! The stereo of course is phenomenal though.