Starting Over

Starting Over is the fourth and final studio album by the 1970s power pop band Raspberries. It peaked at #143 on the Billboard pop album chart in 1974. The LP generated the #18 Billboard pop single "Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)," while a second single, "Cruisin' Music", did not chart. This was the first album by the Raspberries to feature songs with profanity. Those songs were “Starting Over”, which featured the word "fucking" once, and the song “Party’s Over”, which featured the word "shit" twice. Background Stylistically, Starting Over represented a more aggressive arena rock/hard rock sound than previous albums in a way reminiscent of The Who, which was one of the groups' biggest influences. The album also included softer ballads such as "Rose Coloured Glasses" and "Cry". Starting Over featured a new line-up with Michael McBride (drums), who had drummed with Carmen and Bryson in their previous band in the late '60s, Cyrus Erie, and Scott McCarl (bass, vocals). Drummer Jim Bonfanti and bassist Dave Smalley had left the band the previous year. Bruce Springsteen's drummer Max Weinberg has said that he based his early drum style (particularly on the Springsteen album Darkness on the Edge of Town) on Raspberries drummer Michael McBride's work in this album, while Springsteen himself has also mentioned several times in live performances that the title track is one of the greatest pop songs ever written.