Sunrise (Eric Carmen) (LP 1099 - 2001)

Eric Carmen   Eric Carmen (Vinyl, Arista Records, 1975) ***  

Eric Carmen   Boats Against The Current (Vinyl, Arista Records, 1977) ****

Eric Carmen   Change Of Heart (Vinyl, Arista Records, 1978) ***

Genre: pop/rock 

Places I remember: Marbecks Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Sunrise (Eric Carmen)

Gear costume: She Did It (Boats Against The Current)

Active compensatory factors: I've picked Sunrise off his first solo album because it's the first track on the album and it sums up his gifts well.

The Raspberries albums are all in my collection, and Eric is responsible for many of their great songs. The solo albums are different to that band's output though. The rough edges are smoothed over, sometimes too much, and he misses having strong collaborators.

That first solo album is also a bit uneven, with side one having all the hits. Great hits they are too - apart from Sunrise, side one features a couple of huge selling weepies: All By Myself and Never Gonna Fall In Love Again.

The second album, Boats Against The Current, is something of an under-rated gem in my eyes. Carmen at his rocky best - Take It Or leave It is a song that Rod Stewart would cover effortlessly, and the ballads are of his usual high quality. Plus the album hangs together better and ends with Runaway - an 8 minute epic.

Change Of Heart continues the path towards overly slick commercialism. It does contain some good moments - the title track and the cover of Baby, I Need Your Lovin' are great. Even Hey Deanie is cool and catchy (or trite and shallow depending on your mood). But all up, the album is a bit too Toto for my taste.

Where do they all belong? I didn't follow Eric into the eighties. Too slick for my money.