ERIC CARMEN : BOATS AGAINST THE CURRENT

1. Boats Against The Current
2. Marathon Man
3. Nowhere To Hide
4. Take It Or Leave It
5. Love Is All That Matters
6. She Did It
7. I Think I Found Myself
8. Runaway

Label : Arista

Release Date : August 1977

Length : 37:57

Review (AllMusic) : Though at times Boats Against the Current almost drowns under the weight of overwrought arrangements, it is still a highly listenable record. Producing himself, Carmen is joined by such stellar musicians as Andrew Gold, Tom Scott, and Jeff Porcaro. The title track, inspired by F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, is reportedly Carmen's favorite song. And it is a good one, an adult song about love lost and the illusions that people cling to (though Carmen has said it is actually inspired by the breakup with producer Jimmy Ienner). Most songs are ballads, with the exception of the Beach Boys-inspired hit "She Did It" and the hard-rocking "Take It or Leave It." The problems enter in when strings predominate beyond what the songs or Carmen's voice can really can support, such as the final cut, "Run Away." Though most of the string arrangements are well thought out, on several occasions the songs would have been better served with a more sparse arrangement. On the other hand, Carmen has not lost the knack for writing great melodies, and he is in fine voice throughout. Though one might wish he would stray more from the sensitive songwriter mold that is apparent on this record, it is also true that Carmen is still a pop craftsman at heart, and a very good one.

Review (Wikipedia) : Boats Against the Current is a 1977 album by Eric Carmen. The title is taken from a line in the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, "So we beat on, boats against the current, borne ceaselessly into the past." It was Carmen's second solo LP, after the Raspberries disbanded. It peaked at #45 on the Billboard album chart for the week ending October 8, 1977. The album yielded two charting singles, the title track as well as "She Did It." "She Did It" is the bigger hit from this album, which reached #23 Billboard and #15 Cash Box, as well as #11 in Canada. The title track subsequently reached #88 Billboard and #92 Cash Box. "Marathon Man" was released as a third single in March 1978 but failed to chart. "Love is All that Matters" melody is lifted from Tschaikovsky's "Fifth Symphony, Second Movement." Guest musicians on this album included back-up vocals by several of the Beach Boys and Burton Cummings (formerly of the Guess Who), guitar by Andrew Gold, and drumming by Toto's Jeff Porcaro. The title song was covered by Frankie Valli on his 1977 LP Lady Put the Light Out. "Boats Against the Current" was also covered in 1978 by Olivia Newton-John on her album Totally Hot, and it was included as the B-side of her single release, "Rest Your Love on Me." Patti LaBelle also included the song on her 1981 LP, The Spirit's in It. As reported by Casey Kasem on the American Top 40 program of October 15, 1977, Boats Against the Current cost $375,000 to produce, six times the average cost for an album of that era. The LP had a series of false starts. Across six months starting in February 1977, three sessions with Elton John's producer Gus Dudgeon were undertaken using recording studios in London, Cleveland, and Los Angeles, but were all scrapped. Carmen then took over the production efforts himself before the tracks were complete and he was satisfied.