PLAY ON: A RASPBERRIES TRIBUTE (feat Lou Gramm, Rick Springfield, John Waite) [2025]

”PLAY ON: A RASPBERRIES TRIBUTE” is a special new tribute double album honoring the pop-rock/power pop band, which achieved success in the early – to mid-1970s before splitting up in ’74 with songs such as “Go All the Way”, “Let’s Pretend”, “I Wanna Be with You”, “Tonight”, and “Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)”

having influenced dozens of bands / artists. The band was fronted during its creative peak by Eric Carmen, who passed away in 2024 at age 74. This album is dedicated / in tribute to Carmen’s legacy.
Featuring 37 artists lending their talents to this celebration of the Raspberries, the record features stellar contributions from Rick Springfield, Lou Gramm, John Waite, Robin Zander Jr. (Cheap Trick), Vicki and Debbi Peterson (The Bangles), Karla DeVito (Meat Loaf), Marshall Crenshaw, Kasim Sulton (from ’80s cult AOR band Price/Sulton), and more.
”Play On: A Raspberries Tribute” it’s no ordinary tribute. Its roster is anchored by such all-time MVPs as Rick Springfield who electrifies “Go All The Way,” Lou Gramm powers through “Tonight,” The Bangles’ Vicki & Debbi Peterson sparkle on “I Wanna Be With You,” and John Waite owns “I Don’t Know What I Want.”

Melding AM melodicism to FM energy with killer riffs and vibrant harmonies, “Go All the Way” captured a sense of youthful abandon and freewheeling spirit for an audience that may have been seeking something heavier than Gilbert O’Sullivan, Sammy Davis, Jr. or Melanie (all of whom scored Top 10 hits in the year-end Billboard Hot 100) but lighter than, say, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin or even the eternal Rolling Stones.
Here, it’s sung by an artist who knows more than a little something about power pop: Rick Springfield. The suggestive lyrics of “Go All the Way” earned it a banned-by-the-BBC badge of honor, but in the chart-topping Springfield’s rendition, its three minutes of pop perfection seem simultaneously sweet and provocative.

“Go All the Way” is just one of the many highlights here, most of which are faithful to the original recordings while injecting fresh personality and vigor. The original Raspberries LP was bookended by “Go All the Way” and the dreamy, eight-minute “I Can Remember” (a marked contrast to the album’s mostly compact, AM radio-length tunes) with its shades of Brian Wilson, Jimmy Webb, and Todd Rundgren; Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman collaborator Karla DeVito is up to the challenge of making its stately melody her own.

Lou Gramm is full-throated on the Small Faces-inspired “Tonight,” bringing an appropriately arena-sized vocal to the rocker. Tori Holub conjures a mellower mood with her beautiful “Starting Over,” the title track of Raspberries’ fourth and final studio album. Though her smooth, silken vocals call to mind Karen Carpenter and Rumer, this gentle take shows her growing as an artist and interpreter.

John Waite cuts loose on “I Don’t Know What I Want,” a heavier tune from Starting Over. The same album’s “Cry,” with its cascade of vocals, is compellingly sung here by Kasim Sulton while his old Utopia bandmate, Willie Wilcox, channels his inner McCartney on Raspberries’ bouncy “With You in My Life.”
Robin Taylor Zander, son and now bandmate of Cheap Trick’s frontman Robin (Wayne) Zander, deftly navigates the soaring Carmen/Bryson co-write “Don’t Want to Say Goodbye,” a rumination on love and loneliness which shares some of the same McCartney-esque musical DNA as it transforms from ballad to rocker.

The Bangles’ Peterson sisters do the honors on an urgent “I Wanna Be with You” and Shoes polish up Carmen’s epic “Overnight Sensation (Hit Record).”
Brian Wilson’s longtime musical right hand Darian Sahanaja of The Wondermints was the perfect choice for “On the Beach,” a melodically shifting opus from Side 3 with a dash of Wilson and a whole lotta Eric Carmen. (Darian worked over the years with Carmen including on the song “Brand New Year” which was included on Legacy’s Essential Eric Carmen collection.)
Sahanaja’s current bandmate in The Pet Sounds Band, Rob Bonfiglio, tackles the wistful Scott McCarl composition “Rose Colored Glasses” with affection. There’s no mistaking The Beach Boys’ influence, too, in Carmen and Smalley’s fun, fun, fun pastiche “Drivin’ Around,” sung here by Popdudes, a.k.a. John M. Borack and Michael Simmons, and Carmen’s bittersweet, warm, and altogether lovely “Let’s Pretend,” surveyed here by The Lemon Twigs.

P. Hux (ELO Part II, The Orchestra) brings Dave Smalley’s “Hard to Get Over a Heartbreak” to vivid life, and Marshall Crenshaw appealingly blends a Spector-ish romanticism with a country twang on Smalley’s “Should I Wait.” Vocalist Adelaide Estep, who’s covered everyone from Bread to Ariana Grande, showcases the Raspberries’ softer side with “I Saw the Light.” (Ironically, Todd Rundgren’s uptempo, Carole King-inspired single of the same name was released on April 8, 1972 – two days before Raspberries hit stores with Carmen and Bryson’s song of the same name.)

Play On: A Raspberries Tribute should remind listeners of why they fell in love with the band in the first place – or provide a fun, vibrant introduction to the classic group for those who might only know “Go All the Way,” “I Wanna Be with You,” or “Let’s Pretend.” It’s also a moving tribute to the late Eric Carmen.
The words “labor of love” come to mind for this electric, eclectic release.
Highly Recommended

Disc 1
1. Rick Springfield – Go All The Way
2. Vicki and Debbi Peterson – I Wanna Be With You
3. The Lemon Twigs – Let’s Pretend
4. Katie Ferrara – Come Around And See Me
5. The Caulfields – Goin’ Nowhere Tonight
6. Robin Taylor Zander – Don’t Want To Say Goodbye
7. Jesse Bryson feat. The Kennedys – Might As Well
8. The Spongetones – It Seemed So Easy
9. Adelaide Estep – I Saw The Light
10. Eric Dover – Ecstasy
11. Darian Sahanaja – On The Beach
12. Ken Sharp – If You Change Your Mind
13. Chris Price – Nobody Knows
14. Bird Streets – I Reach For The Light
15. Popdudes – Drivin’ Around
16. P-Hux – Hard To Get Over A Heartbreak
17. Olivia Rubini – Waiting
18. Karla DeVito – I Can Remember

Disc 2
1. Lou Gramm – Tonight
2. The Lemon Twigs – Play On
3. John Waite – I Don’t Know What I Want
4. Shoes – Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)
5. The Hudson Brothers – All Through The Night
6. Marshall Crenshaw – Should I Wait
7. Kasim Sulton – Cry
8. Brasko – Making It Easy
9. Evan Stanley – Last Dance
10. John Powhida – I Can Hardly Believe You’re Mine
11. Rob Bonfiglio – Rose Colored Glasses
12. Ken Sharp – I’m A Rocker
13. The Chefs – Party’s Over
14. Ronnie D’Addario – Cruisin’ Music
15. Tori Holub – Starting Over
16. Cherie Currie – Hands On You
17. The Toms – Every Way I Can
18. Willie Wilcox – With You In My Life
39. Bambi Kino – Please Let Me Come Back Home

turbo