Don_Krider's Full Review: All by Myself (Collectables) by Eric Carmen
After 20 Billboard Hot 100 hits (13 solo and 7 with Raspberries, including the million-sellers "All By Myself" and "Go All The Way") as a performer, Eric Carmen should be a household name.
With songs recorded by such acts as The Raspberries (he was the band's lead singer), Sheryl Crow, Jewel, The Bay City Rollers, Shaun Cassidy, Frank Sinatra, Frankie Valli, Celine Dion, Ann Wilson, Mike Reno, Babes In Toyland, The Lettermen, Louise Mandrell (her Top 10 Country hit "Maybe My Baby") and dozens of others, the Eric Carmen name should be a known force among music fans.
Despite selling millions of singles and albums, however, Eric Carmen is largely unknown among current music buyers. They may have heard him sing, but they don't seem to remember the name.
Case in point:
Imagine trying to purchase a "new" collection of Eric's "old" music called "All By Myself" (the title of a tune that Carmen took to # 2 on the charts in 1976, which was revived for a # 4 hit by Celine Dion in 1997).
The clerk at a record store, perhaps born after Eric's last Top 5 chart hits of 1988 ("Make Me Lose Control" and "Hungry Eyes"), hasn't a clue.
"Carman," she asks, scanning her megastore's database. "Let's see. Oh, he's in our Christian music section."
Knowing that she's mistaken the great, beloved Jewish pop singer from Cleveland, Ohio, for a Christian pop star with a similar, but differently spelled, name, I explain, "That's not him. It's Eric Carmen --- C-A-R-M-E-N..."
"Never heard of him," she mumbles, again hunt-and-pecking letters on her keypad in a search of the store's database for titles by Eric Carmen.
"Okay, Eric Carmen," she offers. "'All By Myself,' right? The newer one?"
"Yes, it's a new 2004 collection that's actually a re-release of a collection from 2000..."
"Oh," she offers, obviously stunned by my knowledge. "'All By Myself' --- is that the same as Celine Dion's song..."
"He wrote it, actually," I offer.
"Oh," she says, kind of rolling her eyes in a "I could care less" look. "Yeah, I liked it when Eddie Murphy sang it as a donkey at the end of 'Shrek 2.' Hey, they played the melody in the 'Dawn Of The Dead' movie, too..."
"Uh, yeah," I respond, glancing at the pop music zines of the counter that seem equally oblivious to Eric Carmen's existance.
The dream sequence:
I pondered. Maybe if I mention some song titles that will awaken a memory of Eric Carmen's music. I imagine this scenario.
"Go All The Way..."
"No, sir, I'm really not that kind of girl," she giggles, "at least not on the first date..."
"I Wanna Be With You..."
"Now, sir, you're not the first customer to tell me that," she smiles.
"All By Myself..."
"Play your cards right and you won't be for long, big boy" she says with "Hungry Eyes."
"Never Gonna Fall In Love Again..."
"Never give up, sir," she might respond.
"Make Me Lose Control..."
"Security!!!" she would probably yell.
Reality:
Quoting song titles, obviously, won't work, and I might get slapped in the process.
So, I ask her if they carry the title.
"No," she explains, "we don't carry anything by Eric Carmen, sorry. You can order it by mail order, though."
So, I feel very old and slink home to order the album online through Buy.Com. It's also available from a number of online retailers, as well as direct from the manufacturer, Collectable Records, at http://www.oldies.com . And I ponder, "Do I really want to visit that store again and ask for a Peter Noone album???" (okay, Peter Noone sang lead for Herman's Hermits, you young whipper snappers).
The album:
Forgive me for having some fun with this review. I've just reviewed one-too-many Eric Carmen "greatest hits" collections over the years --- I mean, the guy only has six "studio" albums, but he has exceeded that quantity with numerous "hits" sets over the years ("Best Of...," "Best 20," "Definitive Collection" and many others), all with the same music and nothing new (we're talking about a wonderful singer-songwriter with dozens of recorded, but unreleased, tracks).
"All By Myself," a 2004 Collectables Records release, has the same 10 songs that were on the BMG Special Products release of the same name that was released in 2000. The differences are that the long-haired, denim-wearing, guitar-slinger cover photo shot from the 2000 release is now under the CD in the jewel box tray when you open CD case.
The cover shot on the new version and the back cover on the jewel box are two different color photos of a short-haired Carmen in a suit with what People magazine would refer to as a "come hither look" in stills from the video for "Hungry Eyes." Funny thing is, "Hungry Eyes," which Carmen didn't write, isn't in this collection.
The 10 tracks that are here were all written by or co-written by Eric Carmen (except "On Broadway," his cover of the classic tune). Included are six of Carmen's Hot 100 hits as a performer, as well as the original versions of two Carmen-written songs that were million-sellers for Shaun Cassidy, "That's Rock 'N' Roll" and "Hey Deanie." In addition to his cover of "On Broadway," the 10 selections are rounded out by an album track, "Runaway" (that's actually what the album lists the song as, although it's actually "Run Away" as recorded in 1977).
The CD booklet is six-pages, five of which are advertising for other Collectables Records' releases --- no biography, no lyrics and if you want a track listing, you have to look at the back cover of the CD's jewel box.
The tracks:
"Make Me Lose Control" (# 3 in 1988), "Change Of Heart" (# 19 in 1978), "That's Rock 'N' Roll" ("...come on everybody, get down and get with it..."), "All By Myself" (# 2 in 1976), "Boats Against The Current" (# 88 in 1977), "Hey Deanie" (...Hey Deanie, won't you come out tonight..."), "She Did It" (# 23 in 1977; "...oh, mama, she did it..."), "Never Gonna Fall In Love Again" (# 11 in 1976), "On Broadway" and "Runaway."
Recommendation:
Some of the best pop tunes of the 1970's and 1980's are here, including six actual Carmen-performed chart hits. At a $6.99 list, this is an inexpensive introduction to Eric Carmen's music.
Some favorites:
"All By Myself":
Written by Carmen with a classical Rachmaninoff melody (hence the Carmen-Rachmaninoff co-writers credit) at its heart, Carmen's "All By Myself" has become a pop standard sung by Sheryl Crow (flipside of a European single and one of the first things she ever recorded), Jewel (sung by her for the film "Clueless," but not included in the soundtrack album), Eddie Murphy ("Shrek 2"), Frank Sinatra (one of three Carmen tunes he recorded but never released) and Celine Dion (who hit # 4 with her remake of the tune in 1997), among others.
At least two different singers, both probably young enough to have never even heard of Eric Carmen, sang the tune on recent episodes of TV's "American Idol."
For me, Eric's version is definitive --- an emotional, passionate tale of loneliness, sung over a piano with lush orchestration (Eric used 50 string musicians in the studio at great expense rather than canned synthesizer sounds):
"When I was young / I never needed anyone / making love was just for fun / those days are gone / living alone / I think of all the friends I've known / but when I dial the telephone / nobody's home / all by myself / don't wanna be / all by myself..."
Eric's original version, released in 1975, hit # 2 on the Billboard charts in 1976 (in Cash Box, the tune hit # 1). The song eventually sold a million copies to earn a Gold Record Award.
In England, "All By Myself" hit # 11, his only chart hit there. Carmen's piano playing is a tour-de-force showing the training he got playing classical music on the piano beginning at the age of two at the Cleveland Institute Of Music.
"Never Gonna Fall In Again":
Sweet synthesizer and uptempo piano introduce the tune, with Carmen's ever so sweet vocal sounding not unlike Gilbert O'Sullivan ("Alone Again (Naturally)") helping to make Carmen the master of the tearjerker song:
"...I'll get along without your kiss good night / just close the door and walk away / never gonna fall in love again / I don't wanna start with someone new / 'cause I couldn't bear to see it end / just like me and you / no, I never wanna feel the pain / of remembering how it used to be / never gonna fall in love again..."
The song rose to # 11 in the U. S. in 1976. Like "All By Myself," the tune is from Eric's debut solo album, "Eric Carmen," released in 1975 (the album took two years to sell the 500,000 units necessary for a Gold Album Award, Eric's only studio album to go Gold).
Listen for a gorgeous synthesizer solo mid-song. Carmen is that rare artist who can play virtually any instrument.
"Make Me Lose Control":
Written with Dean Pitchford (they also co-wrote "Almost Paradise," a Top 10 Pop hit for Ann Wilson and Mike Reno from the film "Footloose," and Louise Mandrell's Top 40 country hit "I Wanna Hear It From Your Lips," her cover of a Top 40 Carmen-performed Pop hit from 1985), "Make Me Lose Control" began life with different lyrics and a different title as "Long Live Rock And Roll."
The surprise success of "Hungry Eyes," which Carmen didn't write, when released in 1987 on RCA Records from the "Dirty Dancing" film soundtrack (produced by the man who produced Carmen in The Raspberries and on his first solo LP, Jimmy Ienner) led Carmen into the studio for Arista Records. With Ienner as executive producer and Carmen as producer, the tune became "Make Me Lose Control" and in the summer of 1988 the tune hit # 3 on the charts as Carmen toured with "Dirty Dancing - The Concert Tour."
Borrowing from Phil Spector's "Wall Of Sound" productions (there's a bit of The Righteous Brothers "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" in the melody's sound), the tune is irresistible pop with a chorus I can't help but sing along to in my car (reports of the sounds of a mammoth trapped in a tar pit coming from my car when I sing remain unconfirmed at press time):
"...turn the radio up, for that sweet sound / hold me close, never let me go / keep this feeling alive, make me lose control..."
Eric Carmen today:
Eric Carmen turns 56 on August 11, 2005. He's now married and the father of two children. His last studio album, "Winter Dreams," was released in Japan in 1998, where it was a hit, and re-released in the USA as "I Was Born To Love You" in 2000 (where it failed to chart).
Like many of the chart-topping artists of the past, he currently hasn't got a recording contract. He has, however, been on most of the major record labels in the USA, including Capitol (The Raspberries), Epic (recording with The Quick and Cyrus Erie in the 1960's), RCA (both solo and on a country duet with Louise Mandrell, "As Long As We Got Each Other," which hit # 51 on Billboard's Country chart in 1986) and Geffen (his Bob Gaudio (Four Seasons) produced LP produced the hits, not in this collection, "I Wanna Hear It From Your Lips" and "I'm Through With Love").
Bernie Hogya (the man who created the "Got Milk?" advertising campaign) and Ken Sharp (author of official book biographies for The Raspberries, Cheap Trick and Kiss) have written a new book, "Eric Carmen: Marathon Man," was issued at the end of July, 2004.
Details and ordering information are at the official Eric Carmen website, which Hogya runs, at http://www.ericcarmen.com . The 400-page official biography is what the authors promise to be an uncensored, objective look at Carmen's long career. I'd have called the book "Got Eric?", but what do I know?
Carmen rarely tours --- the "Dirty Dancing" tour in 1988 was his first tour in a decade and his next tour was as part of Ringo Starr's band in 2000. In 2004-2005, he toured with the reunited Raspberries.
He rarely releases an album (just six solo studio albums since 1975, despite putting out four albums with The Raspberries between 1972 and 1974). Yes, he has been featured on VH-1's "Where Are They Now?" series, which is probably not a good sign for his career, but he looks pretty happy in the segment playing with his son, Clayton.
Needless to say, Carmen makes a very healthy living from songwriting royalties, especially for "All By Myself" (Carmen's version has turned up in epsidoes of TV sit-coms like "That '70's Show," "Friends" and "Drew Carey" in recent years, and Nicole Kidman plays Eric's version of the tune on a boom box she sets on her husband's tombstone in the film "To Die For").
In the summer of 2004, yet another "greatest hits" collection, "The Very Best Of The Raspberries," was released in Japan (with only four studio albums, Carmen's old band also has many more "greatest hits" collections than are necessary, with "Power Pop, Volume 1" and "Power Pop, Volume 2" each containing two complete Raspberries' albums on them).
If nothing else, he can sit back and watch a video of Frank Sinatra singing his "Never Gonna Fall In Love Again" on the "Jerry Lewis Telethon" in 1976 (the "telethon" with the surprise reunion of Lewis with his comedy pal Dean Martin).
2006 update:
In November of 2004, Carmen rejoined Raspberries original recording lineup for a small tour in 2004 and 2005. Capitol Records in the USA released the CD "Greatest" in 2005 highlighting 20 of the band's songs.
Set for release in the near future, a live Raspberries album recorded in Los Angeles in 2005 with production work by Mark Linett (Grammy-nominee for Brian Wilson's "Smile" CD).
Just released:
Live On Sunset Strip (Deluxe Edition of 2 CDs and a DVD recorded during the 2005 reunion tour) By Raspberries, a 2007 Rykodisc release with liner notes byBruce Springsteen and a photo of John Lennon in a Raspberries sweatshirt in the CD booklet, produced by Mark Linett and Eric Carmen: http://www.epinions.com/content_393207123588
You might also enjoy:
The Sittin' Ducks featuring Wally Bryson of Raspberries with Dan Klawon and Kenny Margolis, Wally's bandmates in The Choir (see their "Choir Practice" CD): http://www.epinions.com/content_239152434820
"Written In Rock: Rick Springfield Anthology", a 2-CD, 153-minute collection of Rick Springfield's hits beginning with the band Zoot in 1970 and through his most recent solo recordings, is well-worth checking out (Rick Springfield was at Raspberries show at The House Of Blues in Los Angeles in 2005): http://www.epinions.com/content_213153648260
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
My review of the Japanese CD reissue of The Raspberries' classic 1974 album, "Starting Over" (winner of Rolling Stone's Album Of The Year Award and praised by John Lennon, among others): http://www.epinions.com/content_57536188036
Bassist Dave Smalley of The Raspberries has a new album out called "Internal Monologue": http://www.davesmalley.com
Lead guitarist Wally Bryson of The Raspberries has recorded an album with his son Jesse, who is also a member of the Cleveland recording band Rosavelt, under the moniker of The Bryson Group called "Dry": http://www.thebrysongroup.com
My review of The Choir's "Choir Practice" (the 1960's mod power pop band gave members to The Raspberries and The James Gang, but don't confuse them with the Christian recording group of the same name; this is the band that hit the Hot 100 in 1967 with "It's Cold Outside"): http://www.epinions.com/musc-review-49D-59376F6-385D8FD9-prod3
My review of The Euclid Beach Band's (produced by Eric Carmen, with Eric playing keyboards on two tracks, written by him, on the album) "Euclid Beach Band": http://www.epinions.com/content_110009618052
On the web:
Official Eric Carmen site: http://www.ericcarmen.com
Official Raspberries site: 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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