By Henry Lipput
In the early '70s, long before he wrote and directed Say Anything, Jerry Maguire, and Almost Famous, Cameron Crowe was 15 and reviewing records for an underground newspaper. In the liner notes for Pop Art Live he remembers hearing the first Raspberries album: "'Go All The Way' opened the album, and Raspberries' career, with a sonic knock to the jaw."
Judging by Pop Art Live, a recording of Raspberries' November 26, 2004, concert at Cleveland's House of Blues, the band was still able to deliver "a sonic knock to the jaw." This time it's with the opening track "I Wanna Be With You" which kicks things off with a bang. (They followed this show with a successful reunion tour in 2005.)
Nearly thirty years after they last played together, the founding members of the band -- Eric Carmen Wally Bryson, David Smalley, and Jim Bonfanti -- got back to perform live versions of songs from all four of their classic albums as well as covers by The Who (an "I Can't Explain" rave-up) and The Beatles (mid-period Fab Four gems like "Ticket To Ride," Baby's In Black," and "No Reply").
It was a fabulous, exciting concert and the recording sounds great (long-time Raspberries associate Tommy Allen did the mixing). Obviously, these power pop pioneers lost nothing in the intervening years. Carmen is in terrific voice, Bryson also provides fine lead vocals as well a lot of amazing guitar workouts (He pretty much set the template, didn't he?), and the Smalley and Bonfanti rhythm section rock the House.
"Don't Want To Say Goodbye" is a major live standout as is the lovely piano-driven "Starting Over;" and the wonderful, multi-part "Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)" owes more than a little to the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" (They even reproduce the transistor radio portion of the song). There's also Smalley's "It Seems So Easy" with some nifty Byrds-like Rickenbacker playing and the first song the band ever recorded, "Come Around And See Me." Raspberries started off their first album with "Go All The Way," and they end the concert with an absolutely blow-out version of the song.
Some of my favorite Raspberries songs have always been the ones in which Carmen channels solo Paul McCartney like "If You Change Your Mind" and, especially, "I Saw The Light." It's great to hear these live versions.
Near the end of the concert, Carmen acknowledges the reason they sound so good is because they have a little help from some friends: Paul Sidoti, Jennifer Lee, Billy Sullivan, and Derek Braunschweiger (known as The Overdubs). "They're playing all of the parts we played on our records," says Carmen, "but can't do with just four people." They help the four original members to make a marvelous sound all night.
The 2-CD / digital release of Pop Art Live is out now on Omnivore Recordings. A special-edition 3-LP set will be available later this year.
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