Still one of the best-kept secrets in US pop-rock history, The Raspberries, in the early ’70s, made an awesome ringing noise. There’s more energy here than is strictly decent, and surely only the fact singer Eric Carmen went on to mainstream success with MOR ballad “All By Myself” denied them the status granted Big Star, their nearest soundalikes. Plus their being decked out in white suits and touted as ‘the new Beatles’. No matter?Carmen sings like a hero, and three-minute riff-riots like “Go All The Way”, “Ecstasy” and “Tonight” are fresh, vibrant Who, Beach Boys and Byrds pastiches. Then, of course, there’s “Overnight Sensation”, deconstructing themselves and daring to have not one but two cheaply operatic false endings. Be blown away.
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