Fotomaker: "Vis-A-Vis" from former Raspberries and Rascals members
Written: Jan 28 '05 (Updated Jul 23 '07)
Product Rating:
Pros: Includes the hit "Miles Away" and Wally Bryson's Raspberries-era tune "Come Back."
Cons: 4-page CD booklet and no bonus tracks.
The Bottom Line: Finally on CD for the first time, this 1978 album benefits from digital remastering of the original master tapes. Wonderful songs from former members of Raspberries and The Rascals.
Raspberries of "Go All The Way" fame have reunited with their original recording lineup back together for the first time in the three decades since the band formally called it quits in 1975.
Joining bandmates keyboardist/rhythm guitarist Eric Carmen, bassist Dave Smalley and drummer Jim Bonfanti in the reunion is lead guitarist Wally Bryson.
In between his Raspberries' membership, Wally Bryson recorded two albums with the group Fotomaker in 1978, the first of which made the top half of Billboard's Top 200 Albums chart. The band scored two Hot 100 Singles in 1978 as well with "Where Have You Been All My LIfe?" and "Miles Away."
The band's three CDs ("Fotomaker" and "Vis-A-Vis," both with Bryson, and 1979's "Transfer Station," without Bryson) were recently reissued by Wounded Bird Records. The recordings were manufactured by Rhino Records for Wounded Bird under license from Atlantic Records.
Wally Bryson:
Bryson, who co-wrote and sang a duet with Carmen on Raspberries' first Billboard Hot 100 Single, "Don't Want To Say Goodbye," in 1972, first scored a Hot 100 hit as a member (with future Raspberries' members Smalley and Bonfanti) of Cleveland's power pop group The Choir (who began life in 1964 as The Mods) with "It's Cold Outside" at the age of 17 in 1967.
The Choir took "It's Cold Outside" to # 68 in 1967, while logging several weeks at # 1 in their hometown of Cleveland. It was such a huge-selling single that the teen-aged band toured nationally as opening act for bands like The Who, The Byrds and Herman's Hermits.
Wally, kicked out of high school because his hair was too long, is a Cleveland legend. He is, in my opinion, one of the best guitarists on the planet and my personal favorite.
Besides The Choir and Raspberries (who hate it when you put "The" in front of the band's name, so I won't here), Bryson has recorded with Cyrus Erie (with future Raspberries' Carmen and latter-day drummer Michael McBride, they recorded the Epic Records single "Get The Message" in 1969), Tattoo (a self-titled debut album that featured Dan Klawon from The Choir and Thom Mooney from The Nazz), Wallop, The Sittin' Ducks and others over the years.
Fotomaker:
In 1978, Wally Bryson was tagged to join the most successful group outside of Raspberries that he has recorded with by former two former Rascals ("How Can I Be Sure," "You Better Run") Gene Cornish and Dino Danelli.
Cornish had seen Raspberries' play at Carnegie Hall in 1973 and wanted Bryson in his new band, so he hunted the guitarist down through a mutual friend, Raspberries' producer Jimmy Ienner, and Bryson agreed to join the group.
That new group was Fotomaker, who were signed as a power pop "supergroup" by Atlantic Records, and produced by Led Zeppelin-Kiss producer Eddie Kramer (with the members of Fotomaker) on their first album, which peaked at # 88 on the Billboard charts (producing the single "Where Have You Been All My LIfe?," which itself peaked at # 81).
The second album, which I'm reviewing here, was called "Vis-A-Vis," and it didn't chart, though its first single, "Miles Away," did reach # 63 on the charts. The second album was produced by Cornish and Danelli.
With Cornish on bass (he had played guitar in The Rascals) and Danelli on drums, the Fotomaker sound was filled out by the dueling lead guitars of Bryson and Lex Marchesi (who also played piano), and by the keyboards of Frankie Vinci (in more recent years, Vinci co-wrote a song recorded by Tim McGraw, "Somebody Must Be Prayin' For Me").
Bryson, Marchesi and Vinci were all fine songwriters, and each shared the spotlight as lead singers of their tunes on Fotomaker albums and on stage. Despite tours with Aerosmith and Alice Cooper, Fotomaker, as a result, never had that single frontman that music fans could identify a group with --- they suffered as a result.
Still, the group was fully realized and instrumentally tight on their second album, "Vis-A-Vis." Bryson had been a last minute addition to the band's debut album, so "Vis-A-Vis" was the first Fotomaker album to include songs written by him, and they are gems ("Come Back," written in 1972 while in Raspberries, and an outstanding commentary on the music industry in "Name Of The Game").
"Vis-A-Vis" --- the CD:
Eight of the 10 songs were written by band members (the fact that nobody was co-writing at this point is interesting) and two of the tunes were from outside contributors ("Just For You" and "Sweet Lies").
The production and sound quality achieved by Cornish and Danelli is wonderful. The vocals and instruments are clearly heard in the mix, remastered on this CD from the original master tapes (this is the first CD release of that 1978 album). The CD has no bonus tracks.
The CD booklet is four pages --- photos of each band member and songwriting info, but no biography or liner notes.
Total CD running time is 40:45 minutes.
The tracks:
"Miles Away," "Does She Dance," "Snowblind," "Just For You," "Name Of The Game," "If I Can't Believe In You," "Come Back," "Two Way Street," "Sweet Lies" and "Make It Look Like An Accident."
Recommendation:
A lost power pop gem with some great songs in "Miles Away," "Just For You," "Come Back," "Name Of The Game" and "Sweet Lies." The band also had a great sense of humor: listen to their tale of dating revenge in "Make It Look Like An Accident."
Fans of '70s rockers like Aerosmith, Foreigner and Raspberries will enjoy this. Lots of power chords lifting glorious harmonies and sweet melodies above the norm.
The best songs:
"Name Of The Game":
Bryson's "Name Of The Game" is an autobiography here, a tale of a guy just shy of his 30th birthday who had been trying for stardom since his teens. Bryson had been on top more than once, and he knew how quickly fame, and fortune, could disappear.
Bryson's lead guitar-work is gutsy, even angry-sounding, as he moves from smooth-lead vocal to an agonized scream over the state of the music business.
There's some fine lyrics here, presented like a prosecuting attorney in a court of law:
"...so you sweat and you toil for your dough / and you rip out your spine for the boss man / is the high worth the pain of the low..."
"Come Back":
Bryson told writer Ken Sharp in an interview in 20th Century Guitar magazine in October 1997 that "Come Back" was originally written for Raspberries' second album, "Fresh," in 1972, but for some reason didn't make the album.
Obviously a favorite of Bryson's, he finally got to record "Come Back" with Fotomaker.
"Come Back" is glorious, catchy Foreigner meets Kiss-swagger-and-atttitude tune here, a true power pop anthem. Throbbing bass lines, a well-beaten drum kit, slashing guitars (Bryson was taught to play The Who's "Substitute" by Pete Townshend himself when Bryson was in The Choir, and the Townshend "windmill" guitar-playing style can be seen in Bryson's stage performances to this day).
It's a song I'd love to see recreated pop-style by Raspberries as originally intended, but Fotomaker's uptempo hard rock version is a killer. Bryson's sudden-stop and guitar-comeback bridge is dynamite, and his gritty, Paul Stanley-ish lead vocal is to die for.
"...you know that you could come back any day / that's why you're treating me this way / and there is nothing I can say 'cause I let you get away with my heart / all my friends are telling me you're running around and I should find somebody new / they keep telling I'm only lost 'til I've found someone else who can do the things that you do to me / yeah, you can come back any day / that's why you're treating me this way..."
At song fade-out, listen for the other band members singing to Bryson "don't think you can make it" in the background.
"Just For You":
Nice, gentle soft-rock with an edge (a little bit America, a little bit Firefall, but with Bryson's guitar bite), the harmonies are dynamite and the instrumental prowess of the band to be applauded.
The song was co-written by guitarist Ricky Byrd of Joan Jett & The Blackhearts fame.
It's the type of song whose irresistible hook stays in your head all day and you find yourself singing the chorus over-and-over:
"...just for you, just for you / all my love, just for you..."
"Sweet Lies":
The opening drum kick tells you the boys are ready to rock: one minute Kiss, the next Foreigner, and finally they become Raspberries as they harmonize over guitar power chords, guitar solos and Wally Bryson's lead vocal (he didn't write the tune, but he sure can sing it with style):
"...goodbye, sweet lies, so long / goodbye, this time, I'm gone..."
"Miles Away":
Frankie Vinci was not only a fine lead singer with tons of energy and charisma, but he was also a fine songwriter, as proven by the band's one chart hit from this album, "Miles Away."
The keyboard playing by Vinci is very much in the Foreigner-sound mode, but the guitars and harmonies that accent the keyboards and Vinci's lead vocal are light years beyond anything Foreigner ever achieved (and, yes, I like Foreigner a lot).
"...nothing I can do, nothing I can say, you're just miles away..."
"Make It Look Like An Accident":
Lex Marchesi must have had fun writing this. A little '50s-inspired guitar and innocent-sounding doo-wop harmonies sugar-coat a sweet melody with lyrics about what to do about your lover when she does you wrong:
"In the corner of your mind / lies a question so unkind / 'cause you know your lady's doing you the wrong / she's been heading out at night / she's been taking you too light / and a change has got to come before too long / make it look like an accident..."
Just released:
Wally Bryson appears on Live On Sunset Strip (Deluxe Edition of 2 CDs and a DVD recorded during the 2005 reunion tour) By Raspberries, a 2007 Rykodisc release with liner notes byBruce Springsteen and a photo of John Lennon in a Raspberries sweatshirt in the CD booklet, produced by Mark Linett and Eric Carmen: http://www.epinions.com/content_393207123588
Capitol/EMI's 24-bit digitally remastered CD released in May of 2005 in the U. S. and Europe, "Greatest," features all 7 of Raspberries Hot 100 singles, has 20 tracks and runs 78:53 minutes: http://www.epinions.com/content_186044681860
Wally and Kenny Margolis of The Choir were also members of The Sittin' Ducks, who appear on the compilation CD "Talkin' Baseball": http://www.epinions.com/content_21746650756
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