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A Fan's Confession


austinberries

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holy cow - based on input in another thread i posted ('vintage '74 'berries recording'), i decided to pop in 'Starting Over' & it is now blaring as i type this

here's my confession: i, like others at the time, apparently abandoned the Raspberries by the time this album rolled out - what a huge mistake this was!!!

as i listen today, i now understand why Rolling Stone gave it such high marks at the time - i mean, this record is so full of gems at literally every turn, it boggles the mind

i really like what Eric's collaborations w/ Scott produced..

given how the production of their earlier stuff admittedly is part of the charm (a minor part anyway), what's also helps make this record so amazing is how much better the production was by the time it came out, as compared to their earlier ones (& maybe the repro copy i have is remixed/enhanced since then? bought @ raspberriesonline.com)

anyway, just had to share my newfound bliss about this record, so there you have it... now it's time for a 'Starting Over' version of the Raspberries reunion!! ;-) (w/ the Overdubs of course)

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While I think we'd all love to see Scott playing again with the band (and Michael too)...on the other hand, the original 4 (plus the Overdubs) did such an incredible job in bringing 6 of the 11 tunes from "Starting Over" to life on the stage during the reunion shows, that it's hard to quibble. The opening 4 tunes were played in all reunion shows, except maybe at that one abbreviated show in Wisconsin(?), "Starting Over" was played maybe 3 times, and "Cruisin' Music" at least once or twice in the earlier shows.

That said, I agree that "Starting" is their best overall album, and yeah, who wouldn't love to see it played in its entirety live?

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Though I was a fan before Starting Over, it was that album that kept the fire burning in me for all those years... I like some of the more "Beatle-esque" stuff ok, but I really dig the way they kicked things up with Starting Over.

They had started down that path on Side-3, but the lack of "team-spirit" if you will showed some; with Starting Over (and of course no offense meant toward Dave and Jim) they showed a fire... a spirit; probably capturing somethig that the four of them had had with the first album but that had not translated as well to vinyl (for me at least).

I know that we're all thrilled that "the Original Four" are together... and hopefully will do more shows... but the optimistic dreamer in me still has Scott joining them... I mean, sure... the original get-together was for the "Original" Raspberries, but let's face it... with the Overdubs help, the music is great... but it's still not "just" the original four... so clear a spot on the stage and set up a michrophone for Scott...

As for Mike? Well, as Bernie put it... he has not touched the drums in a number of years; he might not be interested, who knows? But last I knew Scott was still "dabbling" in music some... though that's been a couple of years back too...

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  • 4 weeks later...

A HUNDRED WELCOMES TO YOU, WALRUS!!!

:spin::spin::spin:

I too was an established fan before Starting Over came out in 1974. I was devastated when the group broke up but I clung to the hope that Raspberries would reunite or that Eric would come out with some incarnation of the group. I was starving for their music. When Starting Over came out, I instantly bought the album and went to the shows.

The sound was different but Eric and Wally's magic was indeed there and Scott and Michael were terrific so I adored this album and welcomed the second batch of Berries as a natural evolution. The Starting Over album has a magic all its own and I got swept up in this new vision Eric and the group presented, while still cherishing the original band and hoping (and actually believing) that one day they too would reunite.

Starting Over is chock full of amazing music and it's living proof that Eric and Wally together are a musical life force that is unstoppable and unbeatable. Just something that's meant to be.

Like Raspberries.

:) --Darlene

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"Did they use newer technology on that one, a bigger budget, or did everybody just get smarter in the studio by that time?"

I always just figured that they discovered that (1) the aural exciter doesn't need to be used all the time, and (2) hey, the bass and treble knobs can actually be adjusted - no need to keep the one on 0 and the other on 10 permanently!

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