Any good sounding Raspberries available?

[Chris Desjardin]

I love the Raspberries, but I have yet to hear anything that sounds decent. Could anyone point me in the direction to acceptable sound by this group? I saw a very rare 24 bit remastered greatest hits CD on ebay, but the price was too steep for me. Supposedly, the disc was withdrawn. Does anyone have a copy of this CD I could trade for a cd-r of?

[Grant]

All of the Raspberries material on CD that i've heard all sound pretty much the same.

[Sergio Ruz]

The four albums appearing on the "Power pop, vols. 1 & 2" CD's issued by RPM Records in England doesn't sound too bad, I prefer them to the versions from the Capitol collector series CD (wasn't that NoNoised by one Ron Furmanek?), but then again, I haven't heard the original vinyl. Many people swear by the sound of the original Capitol singles as being the absolute best...

[Grant]

The Raspberries material sounds pretty much the same on CD as it did back then on vinyl and radio. The tapes we have now are the ones we have, period.

[Chris Desjardin]

The Eric Carmen CD from Arista in 1997 has 5 Raspberries songs 20 bit remastered. The sound is much better than the Collector's Series CD, but still not high fidelity. There was a Capitol 24 bit remaster that leaked out in the BMG CD club for a short time, and I was wondering if anyone has heard that release.

[Grant]

The Eric Carmen disc was slightly cleaner but no change in the sound.

I actually like the grossly compressed sound on three of the songs. It adds a distinctive character. I don't want everything to sound pristine because it's boring. Just as long as it's the source sounding bad, not the playback system adding anything.

[Unknown]

Chris,

I have heard the 24-bit remastered GREATEST HITS cd that was withdrawn last year. It's probably the best The Raspberries have ever sounded, but that's not saying a lot. The tapes just aren't that great to begin with, so don't expect to be bowled over by the sound. Still, it's a noticeable improvement over any previous set.

If you're a Raspberries fan, though, the real appeal of the new set is the inclusion of the four pre-Capitol demos that landed the group its record deal -- two of them Carmen-Bryson songs that didn't make the first album. They're *very* Beatles-sounding and show just where the group was coming from early on.

I'm not sure what to tell you about getting a copy. I don't even have an authentic silver CD, and I was involved in the initial planning for the set! Capitol never actually pressed it before it got pulled, but by that time, BMG had already been sent artwork and a master and somehow never got the word not to offer it through their record club. My understanding is that only about 100 copies got out before Capitol jumped to stop it. I was fortunate to get somebody who purchased one to make me a CD-R copy. I'd be glad to make you a copy of that, but my burner died recently and I haven't gotten around to replacing it yet. If you can't get somebody else to make you a copy, feel free to drop me a line in 2-3 weeks and I should be able to take care of you.

Btw, the CD's release is not yet a completely dead issue. The legal problems that are holding it up are not unresolvable, so there's still hope. Keep your fingers crossed! (The worst case scenario might be that a version of the album minus the 4 demos would see release at some point in the next year or so.)

Brad Elliott
surfsup@nts-online.net