Eric Carmen - The Best Of (1988) + Bonus Tracks

 (U.S 1967 - Present)

Eric Carmen is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, guitarist and keyboardist from the United States. Songs like “All by Myself,” “Never Gonna Fall In Love Again,” “She Did It,” “Hungry Eyes,” and “Make Me Lose Control” were big hits for him during the 1970s and 1980s, when he was a member of the Raspberries. Later, as a solo artist, those songs became even bigger hits.

Carmen was raised in Lyndhurst, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. Since he was a child, he’s been involved with music. He began playing piano at the age of 11 and had aspirations of becoming a songwriter. Once the Beatles and Stones arrived, his fantasy began to shift significantly. Carmen was already playing piano and singing in rock ‘n’ roll bands as a sophomore in high school. Carmen, who was classically trained as a pianist, went on to self-study guitar. As soon as he turned 15, he enrolled in guitar classes, but his instructor’s style didn’t match his preferences, so he taught himself. A Beatles chord book was purchased, and he spent the next four months honing his guitar skills.

His first two solo singles were chart hits in 1976. The first of these singles, “All by Myself” hit number 2 in the United States, and number 12 in the United Kingdom where it was his only charting hit. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in April 1976. The follow-up single, “Never Gonna Fall in Love Again” reached number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, and hit number one on the US Adult Contemporary Chart, as well as number nine on the Cash Box chart.

“All By Myself,” like all of the songs on the album (and much of Carmen’s Raspberries’ output), was written on the Model O Steinway piano in the living room of his 19th floor apartment in The Watergate, a high-rise overlooking Lake Erie in the Cleveland suburb of Euclid. As part of his writing routine, Carmen would get inspired by listening to his favorite piece of music—Rachmaninoff’s “2nd Piano Concerto.”

He recalls: “About 10:30 or 11 every night, I’d turn everything off and go sit in my living room, where there was nothing but two chairs, a big stereo system and my piano.”

Properly inspired, he began composing the first bits of what would become a 4.5-minute classical interlude within “All By Myself,” written over several months, adding bits and pieces at each sitting. “Eventually, I thought to myself, ‘This is really cool. Now I need a song to put it into the middle of,’” he says.  A favorite theme in the 2nd adagio movement of the Rachmaninoff concerto got his attention. He remembers thinking, “‘If I can change the timing of this a little bit, I could adapt that theme, and it could be the verse of a pop song.’ That became the opening line of ‘All By Myself.’”

The lyrics came months later, beginning with the title, which he wrote in just 45 minutes. He played the 7.5-minute composition—verses and choruses, plus the classical interlude—for bandmate Scott McCarl at one of Raspberries’ last gigs in April 1975, singing it in a Barry Gibb-style vocal he had originally considered.

The completed track, selected by the label as the first single from the album Eric Carmen, was still 7.5 minutes long. However, Arista wasn't happy about putting out a seven-and-a-half minute single, and advised Carmen that he had to come up with an edited version.

Carmen spent a long day and night attempting a handful of edits, eventually throwing his hands up and doing what he called the 4:22 “joke edit,” which was eventually released. With just a bit of the full classical interlude heard on the LP version, Carmen acknowledged that “It gave you the story, but it didn’t give you the dialog.”

The single, released on December 1, 1975, reached No. 1 on the Cash Box charts (No. 2 on Billboard), selling more than a million copies and certified gold the following April.

Though Carmen, when writing the song, had thought the Rachmaninoff concerto was in the public domain, the song’s success brought its presence to the attention of the composer’s family, who pointed out that that was not the case. Carmen then arranged to pay the estate a 15 percent royalty, but still considers the song a gift. “I always felt that Rachmaninoff gave me those verses, for loving that piece so much.”

His second album 'Boats Against the Current' (see right), came out in the summer of 1977 and received strong reviews. It featured backup players such as Burton Cummings, Andrew Gold, Bruce Johnston, and Nigel Olsson. The album spent 13 weeks in the Billboard Album chart, peaking number 45. It also produced the Top 20 single “She Did It,” but the title track only managed to scrape the bottom of the chart.

The title track was later covered by Olivia Newton-John on her album Totally Hot. A third single is taken from the album, “Marathon Man,” which became his first solo single not to hit the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

However, Shaun Cassidy again made the Top 10 in 1978 with Eric’s “Hey Deanie.” For several weeks in the fall of 1977, He had three compositions charting concurrently on the Billboard Hot 100, Cassidy’s two big hits and Eric’s own “She Did It.”

He then followed up with two more albums. Despite declining chart fortunes, the single “Change of Heart” broke into the Pop Top 20 and reached number 6 at AC in late 1978, with this hit also being covered by Samantha Sang on her Emotion LP. But in 1980, after the release of the album “Tonight, You’re Mine” and single “It Hurts Too Much” he temporarily withdrew from the music industry.

He resurfaced on Geffen Records in 1985 with a second self-titled album and a sizeable comeback hit “I Wanna Hear It from Your Lips”. The single hit the Adult Contemporary Top 10 as well as the Pop Top 40.

The follow-up single, “I’m Through with Love,” also climbed the Billboard Hot 100 and reached the Top 20 of the Adult Contemporary chart. Another track from the album, “Maybe My Baby,” later became a Country hit for Louise Mandrell. “I Wanna Hear It from Your Lips” was also a Country hit for Louise Mandrell.

In 1987, His contribution to the hit movie Dirty Dancing, “Hungry Eyes”, hit number 2 on the Adult Contemporary Chart and also returned him to the Pop Top 10. “Reason To Try”, a further contribution to the One Moment in Time compilation album of songs recorded for the Seoul Summer Olympics, kept Eric’s profile high in 1988.

This became his highest-charting song since “All By Myself”. Both, along with “Hungry Eyes”, having in the past two decades become classic pop radio favorites. Although he did not follow his two hit singles with a new studio album in 1988, “Make Me Lose Control” was included in a revised ‘Best Of’ collection from Arista which is featured here. [extracts from wothappen.com and mixonline.com]

This post consists of FLACs ripped from CD and includes full album artwork, with an additional edited back tray that reflects the additional bonus tracks that I have included.  In particular, Carmen's 1984 hit single "I Wanna Hear It From Your Lips" which was not included in the original greatest hit LP has been added (with it's B-Side "Spotlight"). To sweeten the deal, I have also included the full length LP version of his mega hit "All By Myself" which weighs in at nearly 7 1/2 minutes long!

Tracklist

01 All By Myself   4:48

02 Never Gonna Fall In Love Again  3:45

03 That's Rock 'N Roll 3:11

04 Hey Deanie 4:31

05 Hungry Eyes 4:06

06 Make Me Lose Control 4:46

07 Change Of Heart 3:30

08 She Did It 3:48

09 It Hurts Too Much    4:03

10 No Hard Feelings    5:40

11 Boats Against The Current    4:22

[Bonus Tracks]

12 I Wanna Hear It From Your Lips (A-Side Single)  3:12

13 Spotlight (B-Side Single)   4:13

14      All By Myself (Album Version)  7:20

Best Of Eric Carmen Link (382Mb) New Link 04/09/2023