Search - Raspberries :: Side 3 (Japanese Mini-Vinyl CD)

Guitar-charged Raspberries!!!!!!....finally sounding right.

Ride the country 77 | Montgomery, AL USA | 06/03/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the most rocking Raspberries album. All of the best guitar solos are on this album....the guitars in general sound GREAT. From 'Tonight' to 'Hard to Get Over a Heartbreak' to 'Ecstasy' to 'I'm A Rocker'..if you don't know all these tunes, you need this import version of Side 3. These latest reissues are in beautiful digipaks and the sound is awesome. If you've only had their greatest hits over the years, it's time to get these 4 Cd's."

The Raspberries "White Album"

hyperbolium | Earth, USA | 02/11/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The storied third and final album by the Raspberries original line-up is reputed to be the product of tensions within the band. Eric Carmen's artistry, both as a songwriter and singer, was taking up a lot of air, and apparently leaving insufficient breathing room for the other group members to be heard. The result is an album whose songwriting is divided between three members (Carmen and guitarists Wally Bryson and Dave Smalley), but unlike the Beatles' White Album, there's still a lot of interplay between the band members. Carmen rocks hardest, and Bryson and Smalley add country flavors on a pair of tunes, but the result still sounds like a group album rather than a band splintering mid-session.



Carmen opens the album with the crashing power-pop of "Tonight," sustains the electricity with "Hard to Get Over a Heartache" and "Ecstacy," and contributes the melodramatic mid-tempo Beach Boys styled "On the Beach." Bryson's "Last Dance" begins as a Zombies' styled mid-tempo number before effortlessly segueing to a fiddle-based country break and closing coda. Smalley's "Should I Wait" leans on a similar country-rock vibe with the band providing superbly tight harmonies. Bryson's bluesy-rock "Money Down" brings to mind T. Rex, and Smalley's "Making it Easy" is a fine mid-tempo rocker. Rounding out the track list is a Carmen/Bryson co-write, "I'm a Rocker," that makes good on its title.



Whatever tension was present in the studio, the resulting album is as good as any in the band's catalog, and an essential entry in the power pop canon. This belongs on any shelf that's got The Beatles, Big Star, Flamin' Groovies, Plimsouls, Rubinoos or Matthew Sweet. [©2006 hyperbolium dot com]"