Paulie Mississippi

This site was a huge part of my life for many years. Though I do not check in as often in recent times, I still fondly recall the interactions with many of the members here. Sadly I did not get to attend any of the reunion shows and missed out on actually meeting some of you. But friendships were forged none-the-less and I am thrilled that Raspbernie has kept the place alive this quarter century. Great to see a message from the man, the myth, the legend... the site's namesake himself as well. Smile on my face atm for sure!

Amazingly Rolling Stone did seem to "get" Raspberries. I was familiar with their high-praises for Starting Over, did not remember this review however...

It seems absurd that Eric is not in the songwrites HOF...

Yeah, what he said...

Soft Machine - Bundles (1975) (Full Album) - YouTube

I had one at one time. I bought it from a used record and tape store in either SC or GA back in the mid '80's. However I believe it was a Columbia Tape & Record Club edition

Well reopen the store... I for one NEED some new EC or Raspberries gear!

Somebody who hates their boss recorded his drunk ass singing at a bar... and posted it to youtube to embarrass them... LOL

Different people have different definitions of what is a hit... I've always subscribed to how many songs made it onto the top 40, but a case could be made that it refers to an artist who is known only for one major hit... THAT definition would fit more to the generic, casual music fan more than to the die hard fans of one artist or another. I have little doubt that to the casual fan from the seventies, EC is known only for ABM however the casual fan from the late 80's would know him only for MMLC... LOL

Late to the party, as I often am, my 2 cents... one "deep cut" from each of EC's LP's... 1st (Self Titled) - No Hard Feelings... as great as That's Rock & Roll is (and I can imagine it soaring up the charts as the lead single from Raspberries' 5th album...) The story Eric tells with No Hard Feelings is captured magnificently by almost 2 minutes it seems of screaming Let Me Out!!!! BOAC - Given the total lack of appreciation the title track got when released, I want to claim it as the deep cut... however, for the sake of fairness, I'll go with the FINAL track from the album; the song that Eric has said, I believe, was to originally be the lead song before BOAC was written and caused the order of songs to be flipped... Runaway... such a great story of a young man trying to prove himself... and a very great, albeit too short, instrumental finish... COH - I absolutely love Desperate Fools. The song is simply beautiful, however the vocals are so soft sometimes you almost lose them in the beautiful melody... TYM - It Hurts Too Much shoulda been a hit, coulda been a hit given any decent promotion... the B side I believe, if memory serves, and the final song from the album though proved beyond a doubt Eric could still Rock... You Need Some Lovin'... From intro up to the last note just a dynamic tune! Geffen - The song that should have been the lead single, a song that could have become an anthem for summer time and a song that battles BOAC for my favorite Eric Carmen creation... American As Apple Pie... Winter Dreams - A lot of really good songs that might have seemed even better given how long we had waited for a new EC album, the one that I can never seem to get enough of oddly, given some of my other favorites LOL, is "Isn't It Romantic?"... OK... now I got OTHER threads to catch up on! LOL

I'm pretty sure most, if not all of us here would have Raspberries represented somewhere on this list... and likely not at #40... (they did, after all, influence several of those who DID make this particular list... or so I have been led to believe...

Storytime with Lew never disappoints

Thank you Kirk... and thank YEW Lew for keeping after me and for helping get my login issue resolved!

Funny to read the term above... desert island album (Kirk) as ever since its release in 1974 I have told people that if I were ever to be stranded on an island with only one album for the rest of my life... Raspberries: Starting Over would be that album... There is just something dynamic and special about the music... from song-writing to execution... And despite my admiration for Dave and Jim, I really preferred what I heard from Scott and Mike. That said, it is possible; even likely; that what we heard on Starting Over was the recorded optimism of success. By the time Side 3 had been released there were hard-feelings aplenty between the different factions in the band. And IMHO once 'berries moved away from their early Beatle's influenced music into something edgier, they gelled more as a band. Hence Side 3 had the quality of songs... Ecstacy, Money Down, Should I Wait... the very under-appreciated "I'm A Rocker"... but it seems as if their personal differences were perhaps somehow carried over into that vinyl. With the new members came a new hope and new, fresh start... building on what had been, but with fresh sets of eyes looking over the blueprints... Would a 5th Raspberries album have been the one that combined the quality music with the sales numbers to spell success? I would have to think that we may have never gotten Eric's signature "All By Myself" in '75 but how cool would Raspberries scoring a #1 hit with "That's Rock & Roll" been?

I am trying to hold some vacation days open waiting to hear WHERE and WHEN Eric will perform!