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Eric Carmen: Marathon Man
From his formative musical beginnings, to his chart-toppers with Raspberries, to his solo career smash hits, Eric Carmen has proven himself a musical genius with few equals. This fully authorized, in-depth biography follows Eric as he journeys from a small town in Ohio to national and international fame. All he wanted was a hit record (yeah!) He got it, and more! With a Foreword by Cameron Crowe.
"In the music business, everybody wants to be a big as the Beatles. But for one teenage musician stranded in late '60s Ohio, the goal was even loftier—to be the Beatles. 'Eric Marathon Man' is an unapologetic and often gritty profile of a pop prodigy forced to deal with the emotional pitfalls, betrayals, bad deals, slick creeps, touring horrors, and yes—occasional joys—inherent with a career in popular music. Grandiose in scope and achievement—Simon and Schuster couldn't (and wouldn't) have done better." —Larry Lange, Discoveries magazine
“One of the Top Ten Books of the Year!” —Record Collector magazine
“An oasis of pleasure in a desert of printed well-written, well-documented and fascinating to read.” —Don Krider, Epinions.com
“The lifelong struggles and triumphs of a musical wunderkind covered in exquisite detail.” —Rick Schadelbauer, Amplifier magazine
“Expertly and exhaustively researched...the definitive look at Eric Carmen and his music.” —John Borack, Goldmine magazine
"In the music business, everybody wants to be a big as the Beatles. But for one teenage musician stranded in late '60s Ohio, the goal was even loftier—to be the Beatles. 'Eric Marathon Man' is an unapologetic and often gritty profile of a pop prodigy forced to deal with the emotional pitfalls, betrayals, bad deals, slick creeps, touring horrors, and yes—occasional joys—inherent with a career in popular music. Grandiose in scope and achievement—Simon and Schuster couldn't (and wouldn't) have done better." —Larry Lange, Discoveries magazine
“One of the Top Ten Books of the Year!” —Record Collector magazine
“An oasis of pleasure in a desert of printed well-written, well-documented and fascinating to read.” —Don Krider, Epinions.com
“The lifelong struggles and triumphs of a musical wunderkind covered in exquisite detail.” —Rick Schadelbauer, Amplifier magazine
“Expertly and exhaustively researched...the definitive look at Eric Carmen and his music.” —John Borack, Goldmine magazine
467 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 16, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
May 18, 2020
"Eric Carmen: Marathon Man" is a standard rock & roll biography about one of the most influential yet underrated musicians of the 1970s. Both Raspberries, his best-known band (masters of the power pop genre), and Carmen (as a solo artist and songwriter) had some great hits and critical acclaim, but (sadly) never achieved lasting success beyond a loyal cult following. In that respect, their story is reminiscent of another great power pop band of the same era, Big Star.
Reading this book, I was reminded of another rock & roll memoir I read earlier this year, "Good Lovin'" by Gene Cornish of the Rascals, another great band that never quite achieved the lasting fame it deserved. Unlike Cornish's book, there's not a whole lot of sex or drugs mentioned here. Like Cornish's book, there is plenty of rock and roll -- including the sadly familiar tales of internal band rivalries and rifts, clashes of egos, mismanagement, ripoffs and legal battles.
Both books were self-published. The benefit of self-publishing is that we get to read a story that we probably wouldn't have seen otherwise, about a great-albeit-lesser-known artist/band. The drawback of self-publishing is the lack of professional oversight. Like Cornish's memoir, "Marathon Man" is LONG (about 470 pages!!), rambling and occasionally repetitive, with some spelling errors that a good proofreader would probably have caught.
The writers did a very thorough job of interviewing Carmen and the members of all the bands he's played with over the years, as well as others he met and worked with along the way. There's plenty of name-dropping and cameo appearances by everyone from John Lennon and Joan Jett to Bruce Springsteen, Joe Walsh, Brian Wilson and Ringo Starr -- and Carmen pulls no punches in letting us know his opinions about everyone, both for better and for worse.
But did we really need to read multiple, detailed versions of the same event from every person involved in it? (Some of the quotes go on for pages -- and it's not always clear whether they came from an interview at the time, or years later in retrospect.) Did we need to see pages and pages of complete tour schedules from 45 years ago? (This kind of material might be interesting to some superfans, but it could have been handled in an appendix at the back.) There's also a lot of very detailed technical stuff about (for example) what microphone was used on what track, what chords were used in what song, and how certain songs came together. Perhaps other musicians might appreciate this knowledge, but most of us simply aren't that interested in that level of detail.
On the flip side, while the level of musical detail in the book is exhaustive, there's very little content about Carmen's personal life, apart from some early chapters about his musical education and awkward school days. I recognize that people are entitled to their privacy, but a little more information might have rounded out the picture. At one point, about halfway into the book, he mentions his brother and I thought, "Brother?! He has a brother??" Apart from names & dates, there's very little information about his two marriages (he's remarried for a third time since this book was written) and two children, although he does talk about how much he loves being a dad.
For all the book's flaws, though, it was still an interesting and revealing behind-the-scenes look at a great band, singer and songwriter. I especially enjoyed reading the final few chapters about the Raspberries' reunion shows (2004-09). There's no explanation about why there haven't been any further shows since then, but it does end the book on a high note.
Even if you're not interested in reading this book, I would highly recommend finding and watching some clips from the Raspberries' reunion shows on YouTube (at one time, you could view an entire concert, but it doesn't seem to be there any more -- although I believe there's a DVD available...), and/or listening to the two live reunion show albums, Live on Sunset Strip and PopArt Live -- and/or the band's original four albums from the early 1970s, of course. Pure awesomeness. :)
Three stars.
Reading this book, I was reminded of another rock & roll memoir I read earlier this year, "Good Lovin'" by Gene Cornish of the Rascals, another great band that never quite achieved the lasting fame it deserved. Unlike Cornish's book, there's not a whole lot of sex or drugs mentioned here. Like Cornish's book, there is plenty of rock and roll -- including the sadly familiar tales of internal band rivalries and rifts, clashes of egos, mismanagement, ripoffs and legal battles.
Both books were self-published. The benefit of self-publishing is that we get to read a story that we probably wouldn't have seen otherwise, about a great-albeit-lesser-known artist/band. The drawback of self-publishing is the lack of professional oversight. Like Cornish's memoir, "Marathon Man" is LONG (about 470 pages!!), rambling and occasionally repetitive, with some spelling errors that a good proofreader would probably have caught.
The writers did a very thorough job of interviewing Carmen and the members of all the bands he's played with over the years, as well as others he met and worked with along the way. There's plenty of name-dropping and cameo appearances by everyone from John Lennon and Joan Jett to Bruce Springsteen, Joe Walsh, Brian Wilson and Ringo Starr -- and Carmen pulls no punches in letting us know his opinions about everyone, both for better and for worse.
But did we really need to read multiple, detailed versions of the same event from every person involved in it? (Some of the quotes go on for pages -- and it's not always clear whether they came from an interview at the time, or years later in retrospect.) Did we need to see pages and pages of complete tour schedules from 45 years ago? (This kind of material might be interesting to some superfans, but it could have been handled in an appendix at the back.) There's also a lot of very detailed technical stuff about (for example) what microphone was used on what track, what chords were used in what song, and how certain songs came together. Perhaps other musicians might appreciate this knowledge, but most of us simply aren't that interested in that level of detail.
On the flip side, while the level of musical detail in the book is exhaustive, there's very little content about Carmen's personal life, apart from some early chapters about his musical education and awkward school days. I recognize that people are entitled to their privacy, but a little more information might have rounded out the picture. At one point, about halfway into the book, he mentions his brother and I thought, "Brother?! He has a brother??" Apart from names & dates, there's very little information about his two marriages (he's remarried for a third time since this book was written) and two children, although he does talk about how much he loves being a dad.
For all the book's flaws, though, it was still an interesting and revealing behind-the-scenes look at a great band, singer and songwriter. I especially enjoyed reading the final few chapters about the Raspberries' reunion shows (2004-09). There's no explanation about why there haven't been any further shows since then, but it does end the book on a high note.
Even if you're not interested in reading this book, I would highly recommend finding and watching some clips from the Raspberries' reunion shows on YouTube (at one time, you could view an entire concert, but it doesn't seem to be there any more -- although I believe there's a DVD available...), and/or listening to the two live reunion show albums, Live on Sunset Strip and PopArt Live -- and/or the band's original four albums from the early 1970s, of course. Pure awesomeness. :)
Three stars.
April 4, 2024
Emotional and Compelling
I wasn't always a fan of Eric Carmen. My initial reaction to him, once I became consciously aware of him, was that he seemed arrogant, self-centered, and overly dramatic. Once I learned more about him, I was impressed, then actually became a fan. (This all happened in the early 2020s.) His death in 2024 made me sad, but still glad I'd come to appreciate him and his musical genius. This book, Eric Carmen: Marathon Man, is thorough and filled with detail. It starts from Carmen's childhood, through his early bands, his time in Raspberries, then as a solo artist, and beyond. Writers Ken Sharp and Bernie Hogya both have careers steeped in the music industry and know their way around interviewing people. I thoroughly enjoyed the "story" of Carmen's life and career. It's extremely detailed about the actual mechanics of and making of music. For someone like me who is not a musician, it gets a little boring. A large percentage of the book is also word-for-word reprints of articles in other publications in toto. After reading the story of an event, reading three to four entire magazine articles about it becomes repetitive. Still, this book filled a fan girl/mourning my loss need for me. I'm glad I read it.
I wasn't always a fan of Eric Carmen. My initial reaction to him, once I became consciously aware of him, was that he seemed arrogant, self-centered, and overly dramatic. Once I learned more about him, I was impressed, then actually became a fan. (This all happened in the early 2020s.) His death in 2024 made me sad, but still glad I'd come to appreciate him and his musical genius. This book, Eric Carmen: Marathon Man, is thorough and filled with detail. It starts from Carmen's childhood, through his early bands, his time in Raspberries, then as a solo artist, and beyond. Writers Ken Sharp and Bernie Hogya both have careers steeped in the music industry and know their way around interviewing people. I thoroughly enjoyed the "story" of Carmen's life and career. It's extremely detailed about the actual mechanics of and making of music. For someone like me who is not a musician, it gets a little boring. A large percentage of the book is also word-for-word reprints of articles in other publications in toto. After reading the story of an event, reading three to four entire magazine articles about it becomes repetitive. Still, this book filled a fan girl/mourning my loss need for me. I'm glad I read it.
April 9, 2024
Imagine if in fact the genre of music that Eric had started back in 1975 that incorporated classical music into mainstream pop, had taken off, then kids would be walking around talking about pieces of Chopin, Mozart and Rachmaninoff, instead of old dirty bastard and his gangster rap who were talking about f-ing something up. In other words they would be talking more about masterpieces, rather than using curse words and using it to popularize music. I believe that he deserves a place in the encyclopedias as a person who began a strain of music, a genre that every once in a while has us listening to classical music written by a great composer, and he too was a great composer.
July 5, 2022
Love Eric Carmen. So happy he maintains a private life. I am never interested those details. His career and how he achieved his success is interesting. If he decides to tour again I will be very happy.
April 13, 2021
The book has some flaws, yes, but it's a wonderfully thorough account, especially of the music itself--its composition and performance history. Worth the effort for Carmen and Raspberries fans.
November 30, 2013
An interesting digital-only biography of the co-founder of the Cleveland-area 70s power pop band Raspberries ("Go All the Way" and "Overnight Sensation") who went on to on-again/off-again acclaim as a solo artist in the 70s and 80s with the songs "All By Myself," "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again," "Hungry Eyes" and "Change of Heart," among others. The book needed a tighter editing process to avoid multiple occasions of repeated content, and the pettiness of both Carmen and his fellow band mates can become a bit tiring. But fans of his four albums with Raspberries or his more extensive solo work will find much to savor in his story.
August 2, 2013
Loved this book. Raspberries front man Eric Carmen along with the other members of this band talk about their time in the spotlight and afterwards. Eric wrote hits "Please go all the way", "all by myself", "never gonna fall in love again" and "hungry eyes" along with other songs. His story is entertaining and interesting as we watch the rise and fall of the band, his personal rise to fame and then the reunion that was 33 years in the making. If you love music and you particularly loved "power pop" check out Raspberries music and this book!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews