I often forget how much I love The Raspberries. I kind of think on the whole they kick the snot out of the other Beatle-y first wave of power poppers – Badfinger, Big Star, etc.
Eric Carmen (try to forget solo Eric Carmen) is a fantastic singer, Wally Bryson is a fantastic harmonizer and occasional lead vocalist (like on this one). Wally’s guitar is clever and often rips. The drummers – both of them – are primo Keith Moon minus the annoying over-the-top.
The Rasps made four albums and an argument can be made that each album got a little better than the last. Don’t know any other band I can even begin to say that about.
Had to go to NYC today on business and picked Raspberries (actually the fairly recent reunion “Live On Sunset Strip” which is quite good for oldsters recreating old memories) on the bus ride home.
This is my personal favorite in the category of band-breaking-up song. From their final album:
Excellent song with a heavy meta theme, but some of the worst album cover typography I’ve ever seen. The party’s over because the fonts suck.
The Raspberries did break up over bad fonts. I read stories of Wally Bryson dragging Eric Carmen around by the hair (true) over typography (false).
I’m inclined to agree about The Raspberries. Maybe they never peaked as high as Baby Blue by Badfinger but they had more good songs.