Play On: A Raspberries Tribute
Various Artists
Play On: A Raspberries Tribute, from Think Like a Key Records, is no ordinary tribute. Its roster is anchored by such all-time MVPs as Rick Springfield, John Waite, Foreigner’s Lou Gramm, The Bangles’ Debbi and Vicki Peterson, and Marshall Crenshaw, each paying tribute to Eric Carmen, Jim Bonfanti, Dave Smalley, Wally Bryson, Michael McBride, and Scott McCarl in his or her own inimitable style. Play On also features the illustrious likes of Cherie Currie of The Runaways, Kasim Sulton and Willie Wilcox of Utopia, ’70s TV stars and teen idols The Hudson Brothers, Shoes, singer-actress Karla DeVito, The Lemon Twigs, Darian Sahanaja and Rob Bonfiglio of The Brian Wilson Band and Al Jardine’s Pet Sounds Band, The Chefs (featuring Stan Lynch of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers and Dan Baird of Georgia Satellites) and rising star Tori Holub, who recently performed with Sulton and Todd Rundgren on the What the World Needs Now tribute to Burt Bacharach. Musician and author Ken Sharp (Overnight Sensation: The Story of Raspberries), who co-produced this tribute with Fernando Perdomo, contributes two songs (the beautifully swooning “If You Change Your Mind” and pulse-pounding “I’m a Rocker,” both penned by Carmen). All told, Play On boasts a whopping 37 tracks on 2 CDs, and four songs feature a special guest: none other than Jim Bonfanti. He plays drums on “I Wanna Be with You,” “Tonight,” “If You Change Your Mind,” and “I Don’t Know What I Want.” The late Eric Carmen is heard on the count-in to “Tonight.” Wally Bryson’s son Jesse recreates his dad’s “Might as Well” off 1972’s Fresh. The words “labor of love” come to mind for this electric, eclectic release.
