"Raspberries Preserved": Not the tribute album one would hope for
Written: Oct 21 '03 (Updated Nov 08 '07)
Product Rating:
Pros: A few good performances: Scott McCarl, Off Broadway, The Flashcubes, The Rubinoos...
Cons: Some of the performers do awful performances of Raspberries' classics.
The Bottom Line: At best, a guide for how not to release a tribute album. Amazingly weak release with a handful of good performances among the 21 artists.
Like a faraway sun that lit up the nighttime sky for a brief moment before the flame in its core went out, The Raspberries burst on the U. S. pop music scene out of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1972. Their sound has been praised and copied by the likes of John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Elton John, Courtney Love and many others.
Never a "major" act, they did score seven Hot 100 singles (even a million-seller with "Go All The Way") between 1972-74 and planted four albums in the rock garden of Billboard magazines Top 200 Albums chart.
While they certainly are a band deserving of a "tribute" album, "Raspberries Preserved - A Tribute" on Chicago's Ginger Records is not worthy of them.
It offers up songs from the group's career (1972-73, with Eric Carmen, Wally Bryson, David Smalley and Jim Bonfanti; 1973-75, with Carmen and Bryson, with Smalley and Bonfanti being replaced by Scott McCarl and Michael McBride) by 21 different performers (each performing a single track).
Most of the performances are absolutely horrible. The worst offender may be The Rank Strangers cover of Carmen's "I'm A Rocker," which sounds like a 45 rpm record playing at 33 rpm. I truly try to find the good in any recording, but this one is really bad, folks (as in I'm looking for a barf bag at the moment).
Then The Hang Ups take Carmen-Bryson's gorgeous "I Saw The Light" and make it sound like some wimpy Vegas showroom tune. Ugh!
"Let's Pretend" is covered by Brad Jones, whose vocal is a bit high for my tastes (as is Ken Sharp's vocal on "Waiting"), but he delivers the song with so much appreciation that you have to love the bubblegum treatment he gives the song.
There are also some moments that are fantastic moments, such as Off Broadway's cover of "Tonight," a simply awesome performance with tough guitar power chording combined with a gruff lead vocal that sounds like an exhausted Eric Carmen does when performing live (it's actually pretty cool --- when Carmen's normally sweet voice gets a bit worn on the road, he gets this husky sound in his voice that's perfect for rock 'n' roll).
On "Nobody Knows," ex-Raspberry Scott McCarl performs the Smalley-Carmen tune recorded by the band before he was a Raspberry. Scott did the song on his solo "Play On" (Titan Records) album in 1997, but collectors will be interested to know that the "mix" of the two songs is different (more acoustic and John Lennon-ish here with much more "punch" in the drums) here (I confirmed this with Scott a few years back when my "ears" indicated a different sound to the final mixes on the CDs).
The Rubinoos (known for their own classic, "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend," and the just-missed-the-Top 40 single cover of "I Think We're Alone Now" in 1977) do a better-than-original (okay, the pronunciation of the words is clearer) version of "Cruisin' Music."
"Cruisin' Music" is Carmen's ode to summer, done ala The Beach Boys "Do It Again" with loving commentary on the joys of listening to the radio in your car:
"Get up every morning / check out the weather / if it looks like sun / I get my things together / throw some cut-offs on / got my tank top, tennies and now I'm hitting the beach / well I'm runnin' down the highway / losing all my patience / punchin' all the buttons / tryin' to find a station with a screamin' jock / servin' up my daily ration of cruisin' music / to put that spark back in summertime..."
Another winner is Bill Lloyd, formerly of Foster & Lloyd, who covers the country-ish Smalley-Carmen penned "Goin' Nowhere Tonight" (originally sung by Dave Smalley). With Lloyd, the song is given a fresh approach, with a more rockin' intro and a late '60s Byrds feel.
The Swaray's offer up a good, rockin' version of "Hard To Get Over A Heartbreak," but their treatment of that Smalley classic sounds more like .38 Special than it does The Raspberries, but that's okay with me (I admit to liking .38 Special a little bit).
The Shambles are likeable on Bryson's ultra-pretty ballad, "Might As Well," retaining its bright, George Harrison-ish Beatles' '65 feel, but it doesn't come quite close to the springy brightness of The Raspberries original version.
"Might as well give in / have to say it's true / can't believe it's happened to me / but I'm glad it's you / I guess you were the one from the start / try as I may I can't say that we'll part..."
The Flashcubes, the pride of Syracuse, New York, do a wonderful version of the Bryson-Carmen "Don't Want To Say Goodbye." It actually may surpass the original (while the original had a heavy Bee Gees feel to it, this version is closer in spirit to Marmalade's "Reflections Of My Life"). The Flashcubes, by the way, did a fantastic version of "Wouldn't You Like It" for the Bay City Rollers tribute album, "Men In Plaid," an album that shows how tribute albums should be done.
Although Carmen did write "Hey Deanie" (yes, the Shaun Cassidy hit), he wrote it post-Raspberries, so why are The Nicoteens covering the song on a Raspberries tribute album? They do it well, but why that tune when so many good Raspberries tunes didn't get covered?
Adding insult: the 8-page booklet offers biographical sketchs of The Raspberries by Ken Sharp and also by Jordan Oakes, but no photos of The Raspberries or details on the bands that perform on the album. They seem to have spent their budget photographing the booklet covers (front: a girl in high heels standing in a pile of raspberries on a mirrored floor seemingly trapped in "The Wizard Of Oz" and about to proclaim, "There's no band like the Raspberries!"; back cover: a photo of a girl suggestively sucking her finger! - geesh!).
A Japanese version of the CD features a booklet with different cover shots and includes info on the bands, both of which would have been welcome additions to the U. S. version.
Another sad part: Ginger Records turned down some great performances (such as a gorgeous union of power pop icons Kyle Vincent (ex-Candy), Scott McCarl (ex-Raspberries) and The Rubinoos jamming on The Raspberries' Carmen-penned classic "On The Beach," which eventually came out on Sweden's Yesterday Girl Records album, "Pop Under The Surface, Volume 2") while accepting some bad performances.
I really can't recommend this album, and I wish I could. Die-hard fans will find it interesting (especially the different mix of McCarl performing "Nobody Knows"), and there are some good performances, but the overall effect is like throwing an egg from a tall building --- it's a scrambled mess.
The CD:
21 tracks on a single CD by 21 different artists --- at best a chance to hear some power pop up-and-comers circa the album's 1996 release date.
The CD booklet is written by Jordan Oakes (editor of "Yellow Pills" magazine) and one of the performers on the CD, Ken Sharp (author of books on The Beatles, The Raspberries, Cheap Trick and others; also a contributor to "Goldmine" and "20th Century Guitar" magazines, among others).
The tracks:
"I'm A Rocker" by The Rank Strangers, "Go All The Way" by Tiny Lights, "I Reach For The Light" by The Webstirs, "Overnight Sensation" by The Hushdrops, "I Saw The Light" by The Hang Ups, "Goin' Nowhere Tonight" by Bill Lloyd, "I Wanna Be With You" by Alex Ballard & Sugarfoot, "Tonight" by Off Broadway and "Let's Pretend" by Brad Jones.
Also, "Play On" by The Gladhands, "Last Dance" by Swinger, "Nobody Knows" by Scott McCarl, "Rose Coloured Glasses" by The Rock Club, "Hands On You" by Kevin Hickel, "Cry" by Bunnygrunt, "Cruisin' Music" by The Rubinoos, "Hard To Get Over A Heartbreak" by The Swarays, "Might As Well" by The Shambles, "Don't Want To Say Goodbye" by The Flashcubes, "Waiting" by Ken Sharp and "Hey Deanie" by The Nicoteens.
Final recommendation:
A very weak album that, despite a few classic performances, I can't recommend. For the collector who wants to have a complete collection of Raspberries' covers only.
You might enjoy these related reviews:
Capitol/EMI's 24-bit digitally remastered CD "Greatest" by Raspberries was released in May of 2005 in the U. S. and Europe. It features all 7 of Raspberries Hot 100 singles, has 20 tracks and runs 78:53 minutes: http://www.epinions.com/content_186044681860
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