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4 berries alone


Bill C

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I don't know if this has been discussed, but I thought I'd throw it out there and see what we get. When I was at the Pavillion concert. My brother mentioned how cool it was to see the 4 Original members playing by themselves ( no back-up) on the Beatles covers. He went on to say that he thought the Raspberries should drop all the other musicians and play their songs like the Knack were able to. He felt it was a credibility issue. Personally, I like the way they are doing it. But it would be interesting to see how well they could still reproduce the sound by themselves.

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Bill C--There has been much discussion and ideas exchanged on this topic. Bottom line- there isn't any doubt the guys could pull it off by themselves, but playing live doesn't allow for the extra instrumental and vocal tracks that they were able to do on the studio records. A big part of that great sound in concert is thanks to the overdubs. It doesn't have anything to with credibility, just wanting to sound as good or better than the records--Kirk.

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Yes, Derek is indeed an Overdub, and a very important, incredibly talented one who should never be left out! While the Overdubs may have originally been booked to "round out" the sound by providing the dubbing the Berries did on records, they're a cherished group of professionals of the highest calibre. Look at the very impressive credentials of each and you will see exactly what I mean.

Raspberries is phenomenal because each member is "the best in the business," and they choose to work with only the best. Hence, "The Overdubs."

The vision for the group at this point is, rightfully, in the hands of the group, and the reason things are going this well is BECAUSE of that fact. They know what they're doing!

smile --Darlene

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I'm not sure why backing personnel would be an issue. When I saw Raspberries in 1973, they had backing musicians on the "Side 3" tour (Opie O'Brien on mellotron and Neil Gilpin on fiddle, for instance, both of whom also played on the "Side 3" album and at Carnegie Hall with the band). Plus Jeff Hutton on keyboards on the 1974-75 tour (and on the "Starting Over" album).

On a side note: if you can find the deleted "Yellow Pills Volume One" compilation CD (various artists), the band Wallop is Wally Bryson and Opie O'Brien doing the original version of "When Is Your Dream" in 1993 (the song later was redone by Wally, Dave Smalley and Scott McCarl on The Raspberries' "Refreshed" CD). I prefer that earlier version because Wally's vocal is an uncanny John Lennon-sounding instrument on the tune.

Opie O'Brien's artwork can be viewed at: http://www.heartsart.com/info/inguest.asp?gid=207

And grab a copy of Billy Sullivan's solo CD and Paul Sidoti's work on CD with Jim Bonfanti in Boxer --- great stuff.

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Tony, I don't know if it's a dream of Eric's, but it certainly has always been one of mine. A year ago I sat at a symphony concert accompanying a young man on one of Rachmaninoff's piano concertos thinking, "What I wouldn't give to be in an orchestra accompanying Eric on this piece, or *any* piece." That would be SOME performance! And, you know what? I'll *never* say "never"!

smile --Darlene

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