RASPBERRIES
Starting Over
 
Eric Carmen and Wally Bryson, along with new members Mike McBride and Scott McCarl, have started the Raspberries all over again. The original group, which received a gold record for "Go All The Way" and "Let's Pretend", lost two members at the end of '73 because of musical differences.
 
The changes have made the Raspberries a much better band. Starting Over, their fourth Capitol album, includes some of the hardest-rocking material they've ever done. The first side is a suite of songs about the rock & roll business. Side two deals with various expressions of love. Songwriting is shared by all four members.
 
"This is the first time we've had four guys in the group who are headed in the same direction," says Eric. "The new Raspberries lineup honestly sounds better than any other group Wally or I have ever been in. We're all really enthusiastic. I mean, this group just really kicks ass now!"
 
The roots of the Raspberries date back to the mid-60's when the big rock and roll explosion was first heard in Cleveland.
 
Eric Carmen had classical piano lessons while he was growing up in Cleveland. He loved rock & roll and, since having a band was a way to "get somewhere with the girls," in 10th grade he started a group as an alternative to all the greaser bands doing "Louie Louie." They played Byrds, Who, and Buffalo Springfield songs at private schools, debutante parties and sweet 16's.
 
But Eric wanted to join the Mods, then the most popular local band, so he and Wally Bryson could play "Mr. Tambourine Man" together on their 12-string Rickenbackers. He never got the chance.
 
Wally Bryson was Cleveland's first Pete Townshend freak, ever since he saw the Who on the Shindig TV show doing "I Can't Explain." The Mods were the first totally English-orientated group in town, doing Yardbirds, Stones, Who, Small Faces, Hollies and Beatles material. Wally often windmilled his arm around when playing guitar with the Mods.
 
The Mods later became the Choir. Treated with all the respect and consideration accorded to local rock & roll groups by record companies and booking agents during the mid-60's, The Choir endured various fiascoes and disasters for a couple of years before falling apart.
 
Eric spent '67 and '68 at Cleveland State University, starting bands and having his best musicians stolen by the Choir. But Cyrus Erie, with drummer Mike McBride and Choir dropout Wally Bryson, eventually replaced the Choir as the most popular group in Cleveland. Their repertoire included a 14-song Who medley. And Jeff Beck told them they played "Nights In White Satin" better than the Moody Blues.
 
Cyrus Erie and one of Eric's later bands, the Quick, were brought to New York by the big record companies for some unproductive recording sessions. Later, Eric went solo and recorded an original song, "Light The Way", which was covered by Oliver.
 
Inevitably, Eric Carmen and Wally Bryson, formed the Raspberries. Their image was so clean cut that Wally had to get two haircuts before he could join. Their unique image in the midst of the longhair scene and their superior musicianship gave the Raspberries a loyal following.
 
In mid-'71, their year-old demo tape reached producer Jimmy Ienner, one of the country's top independent record producers, who arranged for several record companies to hear the group perform in Cleveland. Capitol signed them, Ienner produced hits for them, and it seemed like everyone would live happily ever after.
 
But after three successful albums, Raspberries, Fresh Raspberries and Side 3, an internal dispute developed over the musical direction of the group, so Wally and Eric replaced two members.
 
Mike McBride, a veteran of Cyrus Erie, could drum like Keith Moon and sing like Jagger so he was a logical choice. Meanwhile, a year-earlier, Scott McCarl had sent a tape of original songs to Jimmy lenner's office. "So I took it home and put it on my Sony," recalls Eric, "and out came perfect 1965 John Lennon, songs and voice both. I just flipped. With the idea in the back of my head of eventually producing him, I spoke to him a couple of times, telling him that whatever he did, keep up his songwriting! It turned out that in addition to the great voice and amazing songs, he plays bass left-handed and looks like Todd Rundgren. It was just perfect."
 
The new Raspberries: Eric Carmen on piano and vocals; Wally Bryson on lead guitar and vocals; Scott McCarl on bass and vocals; and Mike McBride on drums and vocals. They have been impressing everyone who's seen them.
 
"Teen-age erotica has rarely been so thoroughly and eloquently delineated as it is in the music of the Raspberries," reported The Los Angeles Times after the new band's recent debut at the Whiskey. "Raspberries" music takes naiveté to the brink of lust. Innocence is present, but is obviously doomed. The band's best songs are the kind that at once lift the soul, whip the body and generate helpless smiles, all of which were manifested by the appreciative Whiskey crowd."
 
The new group is something very different from the original Raspberries. They've undeniably arrived as a very talented band to be reckoned with in their own right.

Capitol Records / October 1974