The Best of Eric Carmen

The Best of Eric Carmen is a compilation album released by Arista Records in 1988, featuring solo recordings from Cleveland, Ohio singer-songwriter Eric Carmen. Unlike subsequent compilations such as The Definitive Collection, this record omits any hits Carmen had with his group the Raspberries. It also fails to include any songs from his 1984 self-titled album on Geffen Records. Instead, The Best Of Eric Carmen features a mix of successful singles and album tracks pulled from his four solo albums with Arista. Notable hits include "All by Myself" (No. 2, US), "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again" (No. 11, US) and "She Did It" (No. 23, US). Carmen's original recordings of "That's Rock 'n' Roll" and "Hey Deanie" are included since the compositions became major hits as covers by teen idol Shawn Cassidy. Additionally, it features his then-recent comeback hit "Hungry Eyes" (1987, No. 4, US), taken from the Dirty Dancing soundtrack.

The Best of Eric Carmen
Compilation album by
ReleasedJune 3, 1988
Recorded1975−1987
Genre
Length41:10 (original), 45:55 (reissue)
LabelArista
Eric Carmen chronology
Eric Carmen
(1984)
The Best of Eric Carmen
(1988)
The Definitive Collection
(1997)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]

After an initial release on LP (AL-8547) and cassette (AC-8547), the album was reissued with a new catalogue number (ending in 8548) later in the year to include "Make Me Lose Control", his follow-up single to "Hungry Eyes", after it reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100. This expanded version of the album was also released on CD (ARCD-8548).

Track listing

edit

All tracks written and produced by Eric Carmen except where noted.

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."All by Myself"Eric Carmen, Sergei Rachmaninoff (uncredited)Jimmy Ienner4:48
2."Never Gonna Fall in Love Again"Eric Carmen, Sergei Rachmaninoff (uncredited)Jimmy Ienner3:35
3."That's Rock 'n' Roll" Jimmy Ienner3:11
4."Hey Deanie"  4:31
5."Hungry Eyes"John DeNicola, Franke PreviteEric Carmen, Jimmy Ienner (executive)4:06
Total length:20:11
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Make Me Lose Control"Eric Carmen, Dean PitchfordJimmy Ienner4:45
2."Change of Heart"  3:30
3."She Did It"  3:48
4."It Hurts Too Much" Harry Maslin4:09
5."No Hard Feelings" Jimmy Ienner5:10
6."Boats Against the Current"  4:22
Total length:25:44

Note: "Make Me Lose Control" only appears on reissue copies of the compilation (those ending with the catalogue number 8548).

Charts

edit
Chart (1988) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[2] 17
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[3] 26
US Billboard 200[4] 59

References

edit
  1. ^ Ruhlmann, William. "Eric Carmen – The Best of Eric Carmen [Arista]". AllMusic.
  2. ^ "Australiancharts.com – Eric Carmen – The Best of Eric Carmen". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 25, 2024.
  3. ^ "Charts.nz – Eric Carmen – The Best of Eric Carmen". Hung Medien. Retrieved July 25, 2024.
  4. ^ "The Best of Eric Carmen Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 10 March 2020.