'Play On: A Raspberries Tribute' coming Sept. 12; Rick Springfield, Lou Gramm, John Waite, Marshall Crenshaw & more featured!

A stellar lineup of top-tier musicians are slated to appear on a forthcoming two-disc tribute to Raspberries. The news of the upcoming release of Play On: A Raspberries Tribute comes on a particularly notable day; today (Aug. 11, 2025) would have been Raspberries lead singer/keyboardist/guitarist Eric Carmen's 79th birthday....Robert Kinsler

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – PLAY ON: A RASPBERRIES TRIBUTE

ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAMER LOU GRAMM (FOREIGNER), RICK SPRINGFIELD, JOHN WAITE, VICKI & DEBBI PETERSON (BANGLES), MARSHALL CRENSHAW, BIRD STREETS AND THE LEMON TWIGS ARE AMONG THE ARTISTS FEATURED ON “PLAY ON: A RASPBERRIES TRIBUTE.”

"Raspberries is the sound of love at first sight."

Slated for release on September 12^th, 2025, Play On: A Raspberries Tribute (Think Like A Key) is a new tribute album celebrating power pop icons, Raspberries with a blockbuster 37 tracks covering almost the entirety of the group's four-album catalog.

Assembling chart-topping legends (four of whom scored # 1 records), indie favorites, and rising stars, the 2-CD set features Lou Gramm (Foreigner), Rick Springfield, John Waite, Vicki and Debbi Peterson (Bangles), The Lemon Twigs, Marshall Crenshaw, Kasim Sulton and Willie Wilcox (Utopia), Cherie Currie (The Runaways), The Chefs (featuring Stan Lynch from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and Dan Baird of Georgia Satellites,) The Hudson Brothers, Shoes, and Karla DeVito (Meat Loaf), among those paying homage to the '70s power pop heroes.

Rick Springfield headlining a night of fun-filled melodic rock at
Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa, CA on Aug. 2, 2018. 
Photo: Robert Kinsler

"I loved the Raspberries and how they blended pop with the darker Small Faces screaming and always loved Eric's writing, not just the power pop, but the ballads too. His voice could kick ass on both!"–Rick Springfield

The project has received the blessing of the band, with Raspberries founding member Jim Bonfanti providing drums on four tracks

("I Wanna Be With You," "Tonight," "If You Change Your Mind," and "I Don't Know What I Want") and Eric Carmen who contributed the classic count-in on "Tonight."

Ken Sharp and Fernando Perdomo produced the compilation. Housed in a deluxe 6-panel digipak with a 20-page booklet featuring liner notes by renowned music journalist Howie Edelson, offering his spirited take on the band's enduring legacy, Play On: A Raspberries Tribute proves that great pop-rock is truly eternal.

   Strictly limited to 200 copies, the Play On exclusive bundle—available only through the label’s website                                       (tlak.rocks/playon)—includes:

• 2 collectible Raspberries postcards signed by band members Dave Smalley and Scott McCarl
• An exclusive 7" 45 RPM vinyl single with picture sleeve featuring “Go All The Way” by Rick Springfield b/w “Tonight” by Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Lou Gramm (Foreigner)

All profits from the 7” will benefit the Linda Blair WorldHeart Foundation animal rescue (www.lindablairworldheart.org).

Alongside Badfinger and Big Star, Raspberries are hailed as the architects of power pop. Tallying the smash hits "Go All The Way," "I Wanna Be With You," "Let's Pretend," and "Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)," the group's electrifying sound was a thrilling combination of Beatlesque and Beach Boys melodicism hot-wired to the slashing power chord dynamite of The Who and Small Faces in one incredible package. Unabashed fans of the band include John Lennon, Bruce Springsteen, Paul Stanley (KISS), Tom Petty, Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick), and Axl Rose (Guns N' Roses). Springsteen cited the band as a pivotal inspiration when writing and recording 1980's The River. Decades later, he penned the liner notes for the Raspberries Live On Sunset Strip CD/DVD, sharing his love for the band.

The 2014 film Guardians of the Galaxy spotlighted the band's biggest hit, "Go All The Way," introducing Raspberries to a new generation of music fans. 2025 saw the publication of a new super-sized 820+ page edition of Overnight Sensation: The Story of Raspberries by New York Times best-selling author Ken Sharp. 

Pre-sale: 8/12 (tlak.rocks/playon)

Street date: 9/12

AUDIO TEASER:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2KUH3d_ZIc

TRACKLISTING

DISC ONE

1.  “Go All The Way” - Rick Springfield

2.   “I Wanna Be With You” - Vicki and Debbi Peterson (The Bangles)

3.   “Let’s Pretend” - The Lemon Twigs

4.   “Come Around And See Me” - Katie Ferrara

5.   “Goin’ Nowhere Tonight” - The Caulfields

6.   “Don’t Want To Say Goodbye” - Robin Taylor Zander

7.   “Might As Well” - Jesse Bryson feat. The Kennedys

8.   “It Seemed So Easy” - The Spongetones

9.   "I Saw The Light" - Adelaide Estep

10 “Ecstacy” - Eric Dover (Jellyfish/Imperial Drag) feat. Eric Singer of KISS on drums

11 “On The Beach” - Darian Sahanaja (Brian Wilson band)

12 “If You Change Your Mind” - Ken Sharp

13 “Nobody Knows” - Chris Price

14 “I Reach For The Light” - Bird Streets

15 “Drivin’ Around” – Popdudes

16 “Hard To Get Over A Heartbreak” - P-Hux

17 “Waiting” - Olivia Rubini

18 “I Can Remember” - Karla DeVito (Meatloaf)

DISC TWO

1.   “Tonight” - Lou Gramm (Foreigner)

2.   “Play On” - The Lemon Twigs

3.   “I Don’t Know What I Want” - John Waite

4.   “Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)” – Shoes

5.   “All Through The Night” - The Hudson Brothers

6.   “Should I Wait” - Marshall Crenshaw

7.   “Cry” - Kasim Sulton (Utopia)

8.   “Making It Easy” – Brasko

9.   “Last Dance” - Evan Stanley

10 “I Can Hardly Believe You’re Mine” - John Powhida

11 “Rose Colored Glasses” - Rob Bonfiglio (Brian Wilson band)

12  “I’m A Rocker” - Ken Sharp (feat. Wally Stocker of The Babys)

13  “Party’s Over” - The Chefs (feat. Stan Lynch from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and Dan Baird of Georgia Satellites)

14  “Cruisin’ Music” - Ronnie D’Addario

15  “Starting Over” - Tori Holub

16  “Hands On You” - Cherie Currie (The Runaways)

17  “Every Way I Can” - The Toms

18  “With You In My Life” - Willie Wilcox (Utopia)

19  “Please Let Me Come Back Home" - Bambi Kino (feat. members of Nada Surf and Guided by Voices)

The Choir's 'Last Call: Live at the Music Box' set for release on June 5, 2020

Exciting news that a two-disc live set from '60s rockers The Choir is coming later this spring! Here is the official media release...

The Choir's 'Last Call: Live at the Music Box' captures 50th anniversary in hometown Cleveland; 2-CD set coming on June 5, 2020

Features live versions of their hits, plus covers of the Kinks, the Nice, Spooky Tooth, Procol Harum, Bob Seger and others. The band contributed liner notes to the set!

"We started as teenagers with high hopes and great expectations. Our lives took different paths and the years brought each of us different experiences. One thing remained throughout, and that was friendship. That friendship has lasted over a half century!" - Jim Bonfanti

CLEVELAND, Ohio — In 2018, when Omnivore Recordings put out The Choir’s first-ever full-length platter, no one knew what impact the release of that recording would have. (Note: this Choir is not to be confused with the ’80s SoCal band.)

 

Sure, the group, in its many different manifestations during the ’60s, had released several singles, including a Top 10 smash, 1967’s “It’s Cold Outside,” in its hometown of Cleveland. That song would reach #68 on the Billboard national charts. But the garage rock band — whose many different members went on to form other important bands like Raspberries and the James Gang — had never made an album of their own before.

So 50 years on, when the tapes of an aborted album were found, mixed and released as Artifact: The Unreleased Album to unanimous critical acclaim, the 1968 version of The Choir suddenly found itself back in the limelight with a weighty decision: to reclaim their vision and perform live, back where they came from, the home of rock ’n’ roll, Cleveland, Ohio.

 

Omnivore Recordings is proud to announce the release of Last Call: Live at the Music Box, the Choir’s 50th anniversary performance captured liveat Cleveland’s Music Box the night of September 20, 2019.

 

The band plays perfect renditions of material from Artifact, and also dips into their deep bag of influences. Hear dynamite versions of songs by Procol Harum, Billy Preston, Spooky Tooth, the Nice, the Kinks, Bob Seger and yes, even a cover of Jimmy Webb’s grandiose epic “MacArthur Park.” And a rearranged “It’s Cold Outside” reflects the current musical makeup of the group, which includes Ken Margolis (keyboards), Phil Giallombardo (organ), Randy Klawon (guitars), Denny Carleton (bass), and Jim Bonfanti (drums).

 

This two-disc set, in stores June 5, 2020, also includes remembrances from each member of the band as well as photos from the night of the show. 

 

So, if you meant to buy that plane ticket to Cleveland for this concert but didn’t, or even if you were there, step right up and don’t be late for Last Call with the Choir!

 

Track Listing:

 

Disc One:

1. A Whiter Shade Of Pale 

2. Anyway I Can

3. Love Really Changed Me 

4. Ladybug

5. Shine On Brightly

6. I Can’t Stay In Your Life 

7. That’s The Way God Planned It

8. Boris’ Lament

9. What About You

10. Have I No Love To Offer

11. America

 

Disc Two:

1. Kaleidoscope

2. If These Are Men

3. David Watts

4. It’s All Over

5. Mummer Band

6. For Eric

7. A Salty Dog

8. Good Times

9. Macarthur Park

10. It’s Cold Outside

11. Conquistador

12. Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man

 

Recorded live, September 20, 2019, at the Music Box Supper Club, Cleveland, Ohio by Mike Miller.

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The Choir trailer: https://youtu.be/-ukO9okq2SU