Eric Carmen - frontman and main lead singer & songwriter - of Raspberries (rock & roll’s first 1970’s power-pop band) died this past weekend, passing away peacefully in his sleep, according to a release by his wife Amy.

It’s a little hard to write about Eric Carmen on a rock & roll blog like Pencil Storm because he’s unfortunately best remembered for ballads: “All By Myself” from his first solo record and the likes of “Hungry Eyes” and “Never Gonna Fall In Love Again” from his 1980’s solo career.

All of my favorite Carmen tunes spring from Raspberries, who scorched out of Cleveland, Ohio in 1972 with genuine power-pop HITS like “Go All The Way” (number five on the Billboard charts) and “I Wanna Be With You” (number 16). You can say what you want about Big Star and other power-pop bands of the early 70’s (and I loved Big Star beyond comprehension) but they never scored actual hit songs that got played on teenagers’ radios every single day (if not every single hour) like Raspberries did.

Plus, let’s face facts, Raspberries came along at probably rock & roll’s worst period to that point. In 1972 if you weren’t nodding out to Black Sabbath heavy metal or dropping acid with prog-rock from Yes and Rush, you were probably smoking pot and being lulled by the likes of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and James Taylor. (The biggest-selling album of 1972 was Simon & Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits; need I say more?)

I could bore you all day long with facts & figures and critiques like these, but let’s just skip ahead to the good stuff; my three favorite Raspberries songs, followed by some personal reminiscences of Eric Carmen. Enjoy.

Eric Carmen, RIP.

reminiscence section of blog…….

I.

When I first met Willie Phoenix in 1978 I used to attend Saturday afternoon rehearsals of his first Columbus band, Romantic Noise. At one of those rehearsals the band (apropos of WHAT I cannot for the life of me remember) launched into a note-perfect/letter-perfect recreation of an entire set of Raspberries tunes. It was amazing; every lick, every lyric, every intro/outro, every guitar solo, every drum fill was RIGHT ON THE MONEY! I couldn’t believe my eyes or ears. “Oh, my God,” I said at the end of the display, “you’ve gotta play that the next time you’re booked at Mr. Brown’s Descent (a Columbus “alternative” club the band played at a lot). “Nahhh,” Willie said, brushing off my enthusiasm, “that’s just something we do in the basement for fun. We don’t play covers.”

I never saw Raspberries live (to my knowledge, they never played Columbus back in the day) but Willie and Romantic Noise bass player Greg Glasgow had seen the band in their hometown of Marion, Ohio, earlier in the 70’s, at a Shakey’s Pizza Parlour, no less. (For the uninitiated, Raspberries playing Shakey’s Pizza would be like Watershed - when they were still signed to Epic in the 1990’s - playing at an Olive Garden.) Willie & Greg both loved Carmen & company, and it showed in their Romantic Noise/The Buttons brand of power-pop.

II.

The only time I saw Eric Carmen live was third-billed to Styx (for Chrissakes, billed below frickin’ Styx?) and The Sweet at Veteran’s Memorial in Columbus, Ohio. It was right after Carmen’s self-titled first album was released and Eric and the band (guitar, bass, two keyboard players, two drummers, and all six of them sang back-up/harmony vocals) were incredible. They played most of that debut record, plus a couple Raspberries favorites (including “Overnight Sensation” videoed above) and it was one of the great 45-minute openers of all time. For me at least - and I’m not claiming I was in the majority - The Eric Carmen Band was the best thing about the night. Styx were their usual overblown, pretentious-to-the-point-of-nausea selves and The Sweet couldn’t come anywhere NEAR the Chinn & Chapman glam-pop production flourishes on their records.

Mr. Carmen - Thank you for that show, thank you for all the music through all the years, rest in peace.

Ricki C. is 71 years old. He has been involved professionally in rock & roll in some capacity - performer, roadie, rock writer - since 1968 when he sang his first song for pay in public; “Magic Carpet Ride” by Steppenwolf at a classmate’s basement birthday party.