Arista/Legacy
Recordings has announced the release
of The Essential Eric Carmen , a 30-track retrospective of the legendary
singer/songwriter's four-and-a-half decade career. The two-disc set arrives in
stores on March 25th and is available now for pre-order on iTunes
(iTunes.com/EricCarmen). By pre-ordering you will receive the new track
"Brand New Year" instantly.
Remastered
carefully from the original analog recordings by Grammy Award®-winning engineer
Mark Wilder at New York City's Battery Studios, The Essential Eric Carmen
reaches back to the Cleveland-based artist's first recordings out of the
teenage garage and then travels through his unforgettable catalogue of hits,
both with power pop icons Raspberries ("Go All The Way,"
"Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)," "I Wanna Be With You")
and as chart-dominating solo superstar ("All By Myself," "Never
Gonna Fall In Love
," "She Did It," "Hungry Eyes," "Make Me Lose Control").
," "She Did It," "Hungry Eyes," "Make Me Lose Control").
The Essential Eric
Carmen also includes the sonically inspired and lyrically optimistic
"Brand New Year," Carmen's first new recording in more than 15
years. The track, which has received
over 35K plays to date since its initial offering as a free download this past
Christmas Eve, is streaming now at Legacy Recordings' official SoundCloud,
"It would be a
mistake to think of this release as just another compilation," Carmen
recently noted. "I can tell you that you have never really heard most of
these songs until you've heard them on this package. It is the closest to what
I envisioned for most of these 30 tracks that I have ever experienced."
The Essential Eric
Carmen contemplates and highlights, for the first time in an engaging musically
linear narrative, Carmen's entire recorded anthology, all marked by his
oft-lauded pop craftsmanship as well as an instantly identifiable voice,
equally capable of intimate crooning and raw-throated power. The collection
gets off to an electrifying start with 1969's "Get The Message,"
making its very first digital debut in 45 years, one of the original three
sides cut by Carmen's first signed band, Cyrus Erie, for Epic Records.
Raspberries came together soon thereafter and immediately made an indelible and
undoubtedly influential mark on rock 'n' roll. With Carmen at the helm, the
band virtually invented the quintessentially American brand of power pop – big
melodies, bounteous harmonies, and riff-driven crunch, all played with the amps
turned up as far as they can go. The Essential Eric Carmen gathers some of the
band's finest moments, from their million-selling debut, "Go All The
Way," to a stellar take on "Ecstasy," recorded live at Los
Angeles' House of Blues during 2005's sold out Raspberries Reunion Tour.
Carmen set off on
his solo course upon Raspberries' 1975 demise, releasing Eric Carmen the same
year to both critical acclaim and massive popular success. Highlighted by the
chart-topping "All By Myself," the album bore witness to the scope of
the classically-trained Carmen's talent, showcasing his gift for sophisticated
ballads, literary lyricism, and immense vocal arrangements. Each record that
followed – 1977's self-produced and intensely autobiographical Boats Against
The Current, 1978's Change of Heart, 1980's Tonight You're Mine – offered new
facets, touching on soul, classical, and the great American songbook.
Melancholic and romantic, songs like "Nowhere To Hide" and
"Desperate Fools" lay the foundation for the only now fully
appreciated genre of soft rock.
Though his
symphonic ballads define mid-70's pop, Carmen remained, at his core, a true
rocker through and through. This fact is clearly demonstrated here by such
high-energy tracks as "It Hurts Too Much," "Hey Deanie,"
and "Tonight You're Mine." This collection also features two
previously unreleased, electric readings of
"That's Rock N' Roll" and Raspberries' "Starting
Over," recorded in 1976 with his touring band at New York City's
world-renowned Bottom Line.
Carmen continued to
sculpt his ambitious pop-rock well into the next decade. 1984's second
self-titled solo collection saw him team with Bob Gaudio, best known as the
genius singer/songwriter/producer behind Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons,
while his recording of "Hungry Eyes" – featured on 1987's Dirty
Dancing soundtrack – returned Carmen to his rightful place on the charts,
reaching the top 5 on Billboard's "Hot 100," while helping propel the
album to sales currently in excess of 32 million, one of the 10 biggest selling
albums of all time.
Having spent much
of the past two decades out of the spotlight, opting instead to comfortably
'retire' and focus on raising his children, Eric Carmen's musical return is
perhaps most remarkable for its timelessness. "Brand New Year" ranks
among the singer/songwriter's optimistic and insightful best, backed by
longtime Beach Boys guitarist Jeffrey Foskett and members of the revered L.A.
pop combo, The Wondermints.
Indeed, Carmen has
surrounded himself with brilliant collaborators throughout his career, notably
a long, prolific association with Raspberries producer Jimmy Ienner that
continued through 1988's top 3 smash, "Make Me Lose Control." As solo
singer/songwriter, Carmen was backed by a veritable who's-who of the era's
premium players, including guitarists Andrew Gold, Danny Kortchmar, Richie
Zito, Steve Lukather, Davey Johnstone; bassists Leland Sklar, Bob Glaub, and
Dave Wintour, drummers Jeff Porcaro, Carmine Appice, Nigel Olsson, and Russ
Kunkel; keyboardists Craig Doerge and Jai Winding, saxophonists Tom Scott and
Bobby Keys, percussionist Paulinho diCosta; and the legendary
conductor/arranger Paul Buckminster, not to mention harmonies and backing
vocals from such friends as Burton Cummings, Curt Boettcher, and The Beach
Boys' Bruce Johnston.
The Essential Eric
Carmen compilation was produced by Legacy Recordings' Timothy J. Smith and
overseen and advised by Eric Carmen, who also contributed original liner notes.
Legacy Recordings'
critically acclaimed and globally successful Essential Series has set a
worldwide standard with its vast catalog of career-spanning, chronologically
sequenced, fully annotated collections, available as double-CD packages or
digital downloads.
Disc One
1.Get The Message
(w/ Cyrus Erie)+
2.Go All The Way
(w/Raspberries)
3.I Wanna Be With
You (w/Raspberries)
4.Let's Pretend
(w/Raspberries)
5.Tonight
(w/Raspberries)
6.Overnight
Sensation (Hit Record) (w/Raspberries)
7.Sunrise
8.My Girl
9.All By Myself
10.Never Gonna Fall
In Love Again
11.Last Night
12.Starting Over
(Live 1976) *
13.That's Rock N'
Roll (Live 1976) *
14.Run Away
15.Love Is All That
Matters
Disc Two
1.Boats Against The
Current
2.Marathon Man
3.She Did It
4.Nowhere To Hide
5.Change Of Heart
6.Hey Deanie
7.Desperate Fools
8.Someday
9.It Hurts Too Much
10.Tonight You're
Mine
11.The Way We Used
To Be
12.Hungry Eyes
13.Make Me Lose
Control
14.Ecstasy (Live
2005) (w/Raspberries)
15.Brand New Year
**
+ Previously
Unreleased Digitally
* Previously
Unreleased
** Previously
Unreleased New Recording
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