Eric Carmen: Eric Carmen - Brian Wilson with Strings Attached

ERIC CARMEN isn't sorry that he asked us to go all the way with the Raspberries, but real life has its own way of intruding itself between those breathless nights on the beach and those sunny afternoons drivin' around. Although to their thousands of fans, the Raspberries were everything that the Bay City Rollers will never be, being in the band got to be like breakin' out in hives after sex. For Eric, who wrote most of the Raspberries' hits like 'Tonight', 'I Wanna Be With You', and 'Let's Pretend', living and writing within the concept of the band finally became something less than ecstasy, and when the group split up last year, Eric promptly began getting used to the idea of himself as a solo artist. As his Arista Records debut proves, though Carmen's stance may have changed, his musical stature remains unique in the seventies.