Pros: Includes Top 10 hits "All By Myself,""Make Me Lose Control" and "Hungry Eyes"...
Cons: Doesn't include the hits "Sunrise" and "I Wanna Hear It From Your Lips".
The Bottom Line: This is a great introduction to Eric's music at a reasonable price. For a more complete history, "The Definitive Collection" includes solo and Raspberries' hits.
Don_Krider's Full Review: Best of Eric Carmen by Eric Carmen
"The Best Of Eric Carmen" was originally released in Japan in 1979, earning a Japanese Gold Record Award for the album in just six weeks (in the U. S. an album needs to sell 500,000 units while in Japan in 1979 a Japanese Gold Record required only 25,000 units in sales).
In Eric Carmen's native United States, the pride of Cleveland, Ohio, was experiencing a nose dive in popularity after some major successes in the mid-1970s.
The Raspberries:
Eric was a veteran of The Raspberries, now called "The Godfathers Of Power Pop" (along with Badfinger and Big Star), a style of rock/pop music rich in melody, full of Merseybeat swagger, overflowing in Mod stylings and rich in vocal harmonies over jangly power-chorded guitars.
The Raspberries, formed in 1970, included Eric and three veterans of The Choir (Wally Bryson, David Smalley and Jim Bonfanti, who had hit the Billboard charts at the age of 17 in 1967 with "It's Cold Outside," a minor national hit that had been # 1 in Cleveland for five straight weeks; it appears on Rhino's "Nuggets" box set and as part of a great Sundazed Records CD "Choir Practice," released in 1994).
In 1972-74, The Raspberries stormed on the scene with styled hair and Mod attire (initially with matching suits, which they ditched in 1973 in favor of less identical clothing desires). The band had four Top 40 hits among their seven Hot 100 Singles during those two years: "Go All The Way" (a million-seller that hit # 5) in 1972, "I Wanna Be With You" (# 16) in 1972-73, "Let's Pretend" (# 35) in 1973 and "Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)" (# 18) in 1974.
The band's greatest success was with Smalley and Bonfanti as members in 1972-73. The Raspberries earned their only Gold Record Award during this time period, made numerous television appareances, played live at Carnegie Hall and placed their first two albums in the top half of Billboard's Top 200 LPs ("Raspberries" went to # 51 during a 30-week run, following by "Fresh" rising to # 36; their third album, "Side 3," was less successful coinciding with friction among the band's members).
Spin magazine named their single "Go All The Way" as one of the 100 Best Singles ever released a quarter-century later.
The band charted with only one single in its final lineup of 1974-75 without those two fine musicians (who had been replaced by the talented Scott McCarl and Michael McBride).
They did release one more album, "Starting Over," which won Rolling Stone magazine's Album Of The Year Award in 1974 (a seven-way tie with artists such as Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, Steely Dan and Jackson Browne). Their single, "Overnight Sensation," was named one of The 100 Greatest Singles Of The Rock Era by Rolling Stone magazine in 1989.
Going solo:
Carmen decided being a Raspberry was too confining and went solo in 1975 (initially retaining the band's final drummer, McBride, for his solo band). He left Capitol Records for Arista Records (personally signed by Clive Davis), retained The Raspberries' magical producer Jimmy Ienner (who also produced acts such as Grand Funk and Three Dog Night ) and initially his solo career achieved heights his band never came close to.
In November, 1975, the simply titled "Eric Carmen" LP was released. Though it rose to # 21 in Billboard (# 20 in Cash Box) in early 1976, the album would take two years after release to earn Carmen a Gold Record Award (for an album, that's 500,000 units sold; in those days, a single needed to sell one million units to earn a Gold Record).
Carmen established what Phonograph Record Magazine called "The New Pop Art," a very clean, polished sound with layers of instrumentation and vocal harmonies. His solo live performance debut at The Whiskey in Los Angeles was attended by David Cassidy, Joey Molland of Badfinger, ex-Raspberries Wally Bryson and Scott McCarl, and Carl Wilson of The Beach Boys. After the show, Wilson took Eric to meet his more famous brother, Brian, who also made magical, harmony-based rock music.
"All By Myself":
In 1976, Eric couldn't miss. His first solo single,"All By Myself" ("...when i was young, I never needed anyone...") rose to # 2 for three weeks (two different singles hit # 1 while he was stalled in second place).
Eric's composition, based on a piano concerto by Rachmaninoff, has been covered by other artists in the year's since, including Frank Sinatra, Jewel, Sheryl Crow and most notably Celine Dion (who had a # 4 hit with it in 1997).
The same year, he scored two more Top 40 hits from the same album: "Never Gonna Fall In Love Again" (# 11 and also based on Rachmaninoff; "...never gonna fall in love again, I don't want to start with someone new...") and "Sunrise" (# 34; "...Sunrise, shine down a little love on the world today...").
He toured as opening act for Dave Mason and The Beach Boys (among others) while somehow finding time for numerous TV appearances. "All By Myself" became his sole British hit as well, peaking at # 11 in Great Britain.
Gus Dudgeon:
Pushed by Arista for a quick follow-up album, Eric replaced producer Ienner with Elton John's producer Gus Dudgeon in 1976. Arista announced that an album, to be called "There's No Surf In Cleveland," would be released in October.
No album by Eric Carmen came out in 1976, however. Dudgeon had moved Eric's band to London to record. According to Eric, Dudgeon gradually replaced the mermbers of Eric's band (including ex-Raspberries' drummer Michael McBride) with studio musicians. Most of Eric's band returned to the U. S., never to work with Eric again.
Worse, Eric and Dudgeon didn't get along. Eric's a "hands-on, do it 'til you drop" guy in the studio; Dudgeon, according to Eric, preferred an 8-hour work day and wasn't used to Elton John looking over his shoulder or being in the studio for overdubbing of vocals.
They also disagreed on personnel. While Dudgeon was using top of the line session players like drummer Nigel Olsson (from Elton's band) and guitarist Andrew Gold (from Linda Ronstadt's band), Eric was daring to insist on using other players on some tracks. The result was Dudgeon quit the project, now entitled "Nowhere To Hide" and announced for a May 1977 release, resulting in Eric becoming a producer for the first time.
Burton Cummings:
Eric's second album, with guest appearances by The Guess Who's Burton Cummings, The Beach Boys' Bruce Johnston and Toto's Jeff Porcaro, retitled as "Boats Against The Current," was finally released in August 1977. It was Billboard magazine's "Spotlight" album when released and was predicted by Billboard to be a Top 10 shoe-in.
It peaked at # 45 (stalling in that position for two weeks). Unfortunately, the album was released the month Elvis Presley died meaning media attention was concentrating on a subject other than Eric Carmen.
Eric's singles from the album faired poorly as well: "She Did It" went to # 23, the title track ("Boats Against The Current") peaked at # 88 and "Marathon Man" (a dual lead vocal between Carmen and Burton Cummings over a driving slice of rock and roll heaven) didn't chart at all.
"Change Of Heart":
The following year, 1978, Eric's third album, "Change Of Heart," didn't break the top half of the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart. The title track, as a single, did inch up to # 19, but it's follow-ups did badly: a cover of "Baby, I Need Your Lovin'" (Eric's first chart single not written by him) peaked at # 62 and the overly disco single "Haven't We Come A Long Way" didn't chart at all.
His final studio album for Arista, a brilliant rocker entitled "Tonight You're Mine," was released in June 1980 and then pulled from circulation in August 1980 when the album didn't click. It's first single, "It Hurts Too Much," had entered the charts at # 75 on July 12, 1980, never climbing higher. It spent one more week in the Hot 100 before falling off the chart. Eric hadn't toured the U. S. since 1977-78.
Meanwhile in Japan:
In Japan, however, he was a finalist as a songwriter for a tune called "Foolin' Myself" in a competition broadcast to 35 million people, according to a 1980 Billboard article. He completed a very successful Japanese tour that year to follow-up on the prior year's Japanese smash, "The Best Of Eric Carmen." In Japan in 1980, he was "the only American artist with a Japanese fan club," according to Billboard.
As The New York Dolls used to sing, "Meanwhile, back in the states..."
Arista removed Eric from its artist roster. Eric spent years in court battling his music publisher over royalties. His one high point was co-writing "Almost Paradise" for the film "Footloose," which hit # 7 as a single for Mike Reno and Ann Wilson in 1984 (Eric and all the songwriters on the "Footloose" soundtrack were nominated as a group for a Grammy for the film's soundtrack in 1985).
Geffen Records:
He signed with Geffen Records and producer Bob Gaudio (of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons fame) for an album scheduled for 1984 release. In what was becoming a pattern, the album's Fall 1984 release (announced on MTV) was officially delayed until January 7, 1985 (though the album has a 1984 copyright, it is considered a 1985 release).
In a masterful move, Geffen decided to call the album "Eric Carmen," which was also the title of Eric's first Arista album, creating confusion for people trying to order it. The album failed to crack the top half of Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart.
The single "I Wanna Hear It From Your Lips" (with a melody Billboard noted as being almost too close to Bruce Springsteen's "Fire") rose to # 35 in 1985, Eric's first Pop Top 40 hit since 1978. The tune went to # 10 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary (AC) chart.
The follow-up single, "I'm Through With Love," failed to go Pop Top 40, but did hit the AC Top 20 chart.
Then Geffen dropped Eric from its roster.
"Dirty Dancing":
When Jimmy Ienner, Eric's old producer, called Eric to record a song not written by Eric for the soundtrack of "Dirty Dancing" in 1987, Eric was semi-retired and living off royalties from his songs. He almost didn't record the tune.
By recording the song, "Hungry Eyes" ("...I've got hungry eyes..."), Eric wound up on the "Dirty Dancing" soundtrack, which sold 10 million copies and went to # 1. The video for the tune was in maximum rotation at both MTV and VH-1.
As a single for RCA, the song rose to # 4 in 1988. Eric toured as part of "Dirty Dancing - The Concert Tour" in 1988, one of the year's biggest events.
Arista released the first U. S. version of this "The Best Of Eric Carmen" in 1987 without any liner notes, a cover photo shot in 1975, including "Hungry Eyes" but not including his upcoming single, "Make Me Lose Control." That version of the CD is ISBN # 7822-18547-2 and should be avoided.
"Make Me Lose Control":
Record companies began knocking on his door again. For some reason, he re-signed with Arista, recording the single "Make Me Lose Control" (a Beach Boys'-styled pop number with the line deejays loved, "...turn the radio up for that sweet sound, hold me close and never let me go...") which rose to # 3 in the summer of 1988.
A new version of "The Best Of Eric Carmen" (ISBN # 7822-18548-2) was then released, this time with liner notes by David Wild and with the new track included. The album rose to # 59, Eric's first album since 1977 to reach the top half of Billboard's Top 200 Albums.
Popularity:
In Billboard's Year-End issue for 1988, Eric was ranked as the # 7 Pop Singles Artist (ahead of Elton John and John Mellencamp, among others) and as the # 8 Adult Contemporary Artist (ahead of Michael Jackson and Hall & Oates, among others).
However, his year-end single "Reason To Try" (with Mark Hudson of The Hudson Brothers on backing vocals) failed to go Top 40 although it was featured on the Gold-selling "One Moment In Time" 1988 Olympics soundtrack album on Arista.
According to Eric, Arista wanted him to record songs chosen by label president Clive Davis, who kept rejecting his submitted songs.
Eric did not have anything released by Arista until 1992, when his career was again cold (his cover of Diane Warren's "My Heart Stops" was released as a single that year, failed to chart and Eric was again dropped by Arista). He was then signed in 1995 to record an album for Pioneer LDC in Japan.
Celine Dion:
In 1996, Celine Dion covered Eric's "All By Myself" for her multi-platinum "Fallin' In Love" album. In 1997, her version, released as a single, went to # 4 in the U. S.
With great publicity, Eric was to reunite with Wally, Dave and Jim as The Raspberries in 1998-99 for a tour and a possible album. For some reason, this project never came to be.
Such is the rock life. Eric's first studio album since 1985, "Winter Dreams," finally came out in Japan on Pioneer LDC in 1998 where it was a hit producing three Top 30 singles. It remains his only album release on that label.
"I Was Born To Love You":
The album was released in 2000 in the U. S. on the Warner/Rhino label Pyramid Records in a one-album deal as "I Was Born To Love You" (minus his cover of The Beach Boys' "Caroline, No").
It received a rave review in Billboard and a horrible review in People magazine with the handful of reviews it got being mixed between unfavorable and favorable.
That album failed to chart or produce any Hot 100 Singles (the first of Eric's albums to fail to produce even a minor U. S. chart hit in Billboard) stateside despite Eric touring as part of Ringo Starr's All-Star Band that year.
"A Walk Down Abbey Road":
He was to tour with "A Walk Down Abbey Road" for some dates in the summer of 2002, but, after performing two dates in Hawaii in June, he has decided not to tour stateside with that production (which includes Alan Parsons, Mark Farner, Christopher Cross, Jack Bruce and, at some dates, Todd Rundgren).
Eric cites "creative differences" as among the reasons for his withdrawal from the tour at his website.
The 11 tracks:
"All By Myself," "Never Gonna Fall In Love Again," "That's Rock 'n' Roll" ("...come on everybody, get down and get with it, that's rock 'n' roll..."; an Eric-penned Top 10 hit for Shaun Cassidy), "Hey Deanie" (another Eric-penned Top 10 hit for Cassidy), "Hungry Eyes" and "Make Me Lose Control."
Also, "Change Of Heart," ""She Did It," "It Hurts Too Much," "No Hard Feelings" (about The Raspberries' break-up: "...we were young and still believed in 'A Hard Day's Night'...") and "Boats Against The Current" (based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's book "The Great Gatsby").
The CD booklet:
The original 10-track CD booklet (without "Make Me Lose Control") is four pages --- the front is a photo of Eric, the back is a list of songs and the inner two pages are blank, all evidence of Arista rushing that version out to cash in on "Hungry Eyes" surprise success.
The 11-track version (with "Make Me Lose Control") reviewed here has a four-page booklet, same front and back as the 10-track version, but the inner 2 pages contain liner notes about each track by Rolling Stone Music Editor David Wild.
Conclusions:
The album usually retails for less than $10. A better collection is "The Definitive Collection," released in 1997, but this album is just fine for the music fan wanting to experience Eric's biggest hits. Like Paul McCartney, Eric's vocals are sweet and/or gritty depending on what he's singing --- and, like McCartney and Brian Wilson, Eric makes a complex production sound deceivingly simple.
Fans of The Beatles, The Beach Boys and The Carpenters will love Eric's music.
As David Wild notes in his liner notes to the album, "For the true believer, The Beatles and The Beach Boys may have invented modern pop-rock, but it took Eric Carmen with his unerring sense of melody and songcraft to finally get the damn thing right."
On the web:
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
Official Eric Carmen website: http://www.ericcarmen.com
Official Raspberries website: http://www.raspberries.net
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
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