Collector Series

Raspberries | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 26, 1991)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Capitol
• ASIN: B000009CBB
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #205,439 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

This CD is an out of print collectible! It is the original 1991 Capitol release. Catalog 92126.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Three Decades On, They're STILL A Two-Straw Milkshake, September 22, 2001

By 

BluesDuke "A sacred cow is worth but one thin... (Las Vegas, Nevada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Collector Series (Audio CD)

It's only too easy now to say the Raspberries deserved way better than they got in their own time. But this Cleveland quartet gave new meaning to the idea of "back to the future" long before that phrase was even coined. The pouf-haired, cream-suited foursome (they looked like they'd grown up spending too much time watching the British Invasion on "The Ed Sullivan Show") held fast to the best of the early Beatle era, threw in a few unlikely additional influences (they were, judging by most of their harder rockers and "Go All The Way" in particular, equally influenced by the Who and Free), and caught the 1972 audience completely off guard when "Go All The Way" smashed into the Top 10 and spent damn near the entire summer there (take THAT, Gilbert O'Sullivan!).

The Raspberries managed to shove open a radio door through which it would soon enough become more than acceptable for what became called "power pop" to take and keep hold, even if much of what followed them didn't have the Raspberries' breezy chutzpah (or Eric Carmen's early way with power chords - just listen again to "Ecstasy" and tell me Carmen and fellow guitarslinger Wally Bryson were phoning in those slash-and-spine-crunch chords and that gloriously chiming final bridge), freewheeling harmony style ("Drivin' Around" notwithstanding, the Raspberries' vocal style owed way more to the Beatles, the Hollies and the Zombies than to the Beach Boys), and salacious winking - unless you still really think "Go All The Way" was talking only about getting that first kiss.

And for those who still want to write them off as prissy-looking lightweights, pick up this set - the absolute best anthology ever assembled on the band - and have another listen to the likes of "Tonight," "Ecstasy," "I Wanna Be With You," the gorgeous "Let's Pretend" (Paul McCartney once wanted to write a song as good as "Wouldn't It Be Nice"? Eric Carmen did), "I'm A Rocker," "Drivin' Around," the surprisingly introspective (and lovely) "Starting Over" (the absolute best near-power ballad Carmen has ever written) and "Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)," the last and perhaps the best single-pocket exercise in confessing the rock and roll dream and its frustrations in the chasing (which was pretty good for a band who'd actually gotten three decent enough tastes of the Top 40 before they cut the song!).

They looked and sounded almost out of place in their own time - even the band's name sounded, well, dorky as all get out. But they ended up having three (count 'em) top 40 hits ("I Wanna Be With You" and "Let's Pretend" got there, though the latter just barely) and that isn't exactly sneezing matter. Their image probably got the better of them after awhile; by the time they cut their fourth and final album, the cream suits were gone but so were the prime gigs at places like Carnegie Hall (where they played to a sellout crowd in 1973). But the Raspberries ended up having an influence beyond their time regardless. What came to be called "power pop" would likely have been as impossible without them as without Alex Chilton's Big Star. One friendly critic called them a two-straw milkshake. Three decades later, they still have the taste. Put another dime in the jukebox, baby.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Superb power-pop from a seminal 70s band, April 6, 2000

By 

hyperbolium (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Collector Series (Audio CD)

Although more successful commercially than, say, Big Star, their popularity at the time (and even to this day) doesn't begin to match the influence they've had on pop music. And their legacy seems to be much less overt than that of Big Star.

This 20-track collection opens with their debut (and only top-10 hit) "Go All the Way," featuring one of the top 10's most ripping guitar intros, and Eric Carmen's completely unapologetically balladesque vocals (and accompanying background harmony vocals). The interplay between Carmen's singing and the band's raucous pop-rock is one of my favorite things about the Raspberries (well, along with all the Beatlesque song hooks).

For me, though, the most transcendent moment of the entire disc is the Raspberries virtual last gasp of Pop Immortality, "Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)." A stellar production from start to the very end of it's 5'34". This CD compilation features the "superior" single mix. I've never heard the LP mix, so I can't compare, but this is a track that was born to be heard through an AM car radio (not that the stereo mix and lush vocal harmonies sound poorly on a hi-fi!).

Other fave singles include "Tonight" (which can't help but make me think of The Rubinoos), and "I Wanna Be With You." The Beach Boys vocal arrangements just drip from this disc.

Budget price. A hard bargain to beat.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Compilation, November 21, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Collector Series (Audio CD)

I have all four Rasberries albums on vinyl. They are available today in the "Powerpop Vol I & Vol II" releases. This CD is great for either casual fans of the Rasberries or simply the early 70s. As one reviewer noted, the Raspberries never really created their own sound. Although this is true, very, very few bands actually do. Even the greatly revered Beatles modeled virtually all of their music from true pioneers: their early work from Chuck Berry, their middle work from the Beach Boys, the Byrds, and Dylan, and their later work from Cream and Hendrix. The Raspberries carried through as the Beatles proved to be a short-lived phenomenon, and the Beach Boys faltered in the early 70s, releasing not one but easily six chart-topping singles: Go All the Way, I Want to Be With You, Let's Pretend, Tonight, Ecstacy, and Overnight Sensation (Hit Record). Eric Carmen is the genious behind most of the writing, arrangements and production.

The Rasberries may end up being a mere footnote in rock history like the Hollies, the Grass Roots, etc. Nevertheless, the music was great, and sometimes greatness is simply overlooked. And this is an nice introduction. 5-stars