Jump to content

Iowa City Press-Citizen Review


Don_Krider

Recommended Posts

Another glowing review of Raspberries "Live On Sunset Strip" by Jim Musser in The Iowa City (Iowa) Press-Citizen, Sept. 6, 2007:

The Raspberries
"Live on Sunset Strip"
Rykodisc

The Raspberries formed near Cleveland in 1970 as British Invasion-inspired, power-pop throwbacks, charting tracks from 1972 until primary singer/songwriter Eric Carmen embarked on a solo career in 1975.

Their four albums subsequently have generated more than a dozen "best of" or hits packages, attesting to the durability of the material -- the finest of which (notably "I Wanna Be With You," "Go All the Way," "Tonight," "Let's Pretend" and "Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)") defined the confluence of The Beach Boys, Roy Orbison and The Who.

Despite numerous partial and rumored reunions, the four essential Raspberries did not regroup until Oct. 21, 2005 -- a full three decades after their breakup -- at a Los Angeles House of Blues.

That stunning night is chronicled on "Live on Sunset Strip," which exists in two versions: a 21-cut, two-CD/one-DVD package and a 13-track, one-CD distillation of same.

The musicianship, commitment to the material and overall group enthusiasm is off the charts for such a project; rather than sleepwalking through an automatic payday, the band sounds like it's bucking for chart domination all over again, and if Carmen's Wilson-esque falsetto shows understandable tapering at its uppermost end, the singing by all hands is uniformly top-drawer.

All in all, an exquisite argument for deathless teen dreams.

--Jim Musser

__________

I like that line "the band sounds like it's bucking for chart domination all over again" --- very cool comment!

This paper is part of the Gannett Newspaper chain (which owns USA Today (which has previously reviewed the album) and numerous daily local newspapers nationwide), which means the review could be syndicated by Gannett to its various local newspaper outlets.

Don Krider :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...