In the vein of great riff-based songs such as Pleasant Valley Sunday and Day Tripper, here is a tasty nugget from the Raspberries final LP Starting Over. Play On has all the requisite components of a great power pop song - riff, a driving beat, and heavenly vocal harmonies in the chorus. This is the one song on the LP that is a throwback to their early hits. This album has always been way up there on my list of favorites, and is the most consistent long player released by the Raspberries. That they came apart soon afterwards is a real shame.
The introductory guitar salvo in Tonight is for me perhaps the most electrifying opening in all of rock 'n roll. Chords raining down from heaven. And the guitar work only gets better as the song progresses. In my book Wally Bryson is a guitar god. So much attention was paid to Eric Carmen's vocals and the groups 60's throwback harmonies that the tastiness of Bryson's guitar work was criminally overlooked. Not that I have a problem with the band's sound as I consider it to be power pop in its prime. And Mr. Carmen has a knack for recycling ideas from 60s bands and making them his own. By his own admission Tonight was intended to replicate the sound and texture of The Small Faces. And he succeeded in spades. How this managed to only barely graze the top 100 is one of life's great mysteries. Along with Overnight Sensation this is the peak of their work - a work that transcends its medium. The LP it came from - Side 3 - is pretty darn great too.
The Pleasant Valley Sunday Top 100 Singles list is prepped and ready for the press sometime this week. I must warn anyone brave enough to continue here that I have some really oddball interests. For instance, I am one of the world's biggest Jimmy Webb fans, so you know what that means - MacArthur Park - you betch'ya. I also get all jiggly inside when I hear those massive bass lines in 70's funk, so the Isley Brothers are on the list too. Seventies acts with songs that sound like the Beatles are here, though maybe not the songs you would expect. For instance Stealer's Wheel makes the list twice, but Stuck In The Middle With You is not one of them.
The Raspberries are another band that carried the Beatle's torch into the 70's. Eric Carmen's lyrics are the band's weak spot, but I give him credit for writing songs that are so hook-filled that I scarcely notice the words. Way, way up on the singles list is a song that did not even crack the top 40. A look at some of the top 15 singles that year leaves me scratching my head:
1. Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree, Tony Orlando and Dawn 2. Bad, Bad Leroy Brown, Jim Croce 5. My Love, Paul McCartney and Wings 6. Why Me, Kris Kristofferson 7. Crocodile Rock, Elton John 11. The Night the Lights Went Out In Georgia, Vicki Lawrence 12. Playground In My Mind, Clint Holmes 14. Delta Dawn, Helen Reddy 15. Me and Mrs. Jones, Billy Paul
So why did Tonight fail to register on the top 40 charts that year? Can I blame it on the Nixon presidency, or perhaps the Vietnam War? All I know is that Mr. Carmen produced perhaps his finest work, and Wally Bryson anointed it with power chords from heaven. Bryson also layered the song throughout with contrapuntal goodness. Gorgeous lead guitar arpeggios, leading tones, grace notes. Recently Steve Simels at PowerPop listed it at numero uno in his post Best Use of Power Chords. It doesn't get any better than this, folks.
Borrowed from Merriam-Webster - marked by flawless craftsmanship, or by beautiful, ingenious, delicate, or elaborate execution
For me no power pop song brings this to fruition better than The Raspberries 1974 Overnight Sensation. It was somewhat of a flop upon release - I recall that it barely dented the top 20. Then the band broke up shortly thereafter. We have seen this before. Here is the drill - group hits its stride, produces their best work, then disbands as record sales fizzle. For instance, the Zombies and their magnum opus Odessey and Oracle, all of Big Star's 70s studio albums. Regardless of what should have been, this song lives on in my Power Pop hall of fame.
Opening with perhaps the finest piano riff in pop history
0:38 the first appearance of the chorus "(I just ) Want a Hit Record". Just gorgeous.
0:56 the middle eight "well the program director don't pull it..."
1:21 Wally Bryson's guitar is on fire
1:30 as the verse returns, stabbing guitar power chords barely registering in the background
2:08 saxophone solo on a par with anything on a Bruce Springsteen album
2:32 middle eight returns
2:56 "while in my head I hear the record play, hear it play..."
3:05 the bottom drops out and a very tinny mono version appears - a great tribute to the bygone era of listening to the hit parade on a transistor-radio
3:15 gradually the modern stereo version overtakes the mono
3:58 back to the intro piano riff and Eric Carmen's McCartney-esque vocalizations, which fades and fades
by 4:18 the sound has dwindled down to just the piano gently rolling through the opening chords
4:24 - bam - fireworks from the drummer, then multi-tracked vocals, guitar pyrotechnics, the overload trailing off in the final for-real fade out
