Billy Sullivan: guitar-player to music's biggest stars
Written: Jan 21 '05 (Updated Jul 22 '05)
Product Rating:
Pros: Great original tunes mixed with loving Beatles, Hollies and Beach Boys covers.
Cons: None.
The Bottom Line: Billy Sullivan is currently on tour with Raspberries. He has played onstage with Gary Lewis, Mark Lindsay, Peter Frampton and others. This is a great pop-rock CD.
Don_Krider's Full Review: All-American Popster by Billy Sullivan
Who is this "All-American Popster" Billy Sullivan?
Well, he's on tour with the reunited Raspberries (Eric Carmen, Wally Bryson, Dave Smalley and Jim Bonfanti) of "Go All The Way" fame in 2004-2005, where his guitar services have helped fill out the band's sound onstage in Cleveland and Chicago recently.
With 30 years in the business, you may have seen Billy Sullivan onstage and not known it.
Billy Sullivan has toured with and been in high demand as a guitarist by the likes of Eric Carmen solo (he hand-picked Sullivan for Raspberries' reunion tour), Mark Lindsay (Paul Revere & The Raiders), Gary Lewis, Dickey Betts (Allman Brothers), Ian Hunter (of Mott The Hoople and "Cleveland Rocks" songwriting fame), Peter Frampton (Humble Pie), Mark Farner (Grand Funk), Lesley Gore, Billy J. Kramer, Mitch Ryder (Detroit Wheels) and Lou Christie, among others.
On TV, he's been on TNN's "Nashville Now," "Jerry Lewis' MDA Telethon," public television '60s live music specials and other shows.
As a songwriter, he frequently writes with Brent Warren, leader of Ohio's legendary power pop band The Action. Their composition "I'll Be On My Way" was a highlight of former Raspberries' bassist Scott McCarl's 1998 "Play On" solo album.
Impressive credentials for a guy you may have seen but were sure you've never heard of. Now, hopefully, you know who Billy Sullivan is.
If you're still not sure, check out Billy's 2001 CD "All-American Popster." If you can't find the CD, email Billy at sllvnbil@aol.com for information. The CD will soon also be available in 2005 for downloading from several music sites including iTunes, Napster and others (there's a list at Billy's website at http://www.billysullivan.com).
The CD:
"All-American Popster" features a generous 13 tracks (including four bonus tracks) with a total running time of 49:13 minutes. Most of the songs are originals written for the album, but Billy Sullivan shows confidence by including covers of some classics by The Beatles ("That Means A Lot"), The Beach Boys ("In My Room"), The Hollies ("When Your Lights Turned On") and The Stanley Brothers ("Harbor Of Love").
Billy Sullivan produced, mixed the album (with Cleveland's Rich Spina), sings all the vocals and plays all the instruments. On a couple of tracks he does get assistance from backing vocalist Laura Van, pianist Rich Spina (formerly of the Atlantic Records band Love Affair, once one of Cleveland's top acts; Spina and Sullivan are both veterans of Gary Lewis & The Playboys) and Mike Criscione (formerly of Buffalo, N. Y.'s band Riley, he's a two-time winner of the "Best Original Guitarist" award from the Buffalo Music Awards and helped Sullivan on this CD with string arrangements on "Second Time Around").
The CD booklet is four pages long with a few photos of Billy. Song info is on the back of the CD jewel box. Biographical information is available at Billy's website (the address is below), along with photos of Billy with some rock legends he has performed with.
Recommendation: should appeal to lovers of melodic pop tunes who love gorgeous harmonies. Charming mix of '60s and '70s-styled pop that never sounds dated. This is great stuff folks (recommended by pop guru Eric Carmen).
Tracks:
"Under The Spell Of Love," "Go Crazy," "The Girl Downstairs," "Never Again (Without You)," "Playin' With Fire," "In The Night," "Everywhere I Go," "Nowhere Fast" and "Second Time Around."
Also, "When Your Lights Turned On," "That Means A Lot," "In My Room" and "Harbor Of Love."
Selected tracks:
"Go Crazy":
"Go Crazy" is an amazing Sullivan-Warren composition: neat country twang guitar, Creedence-style backbeat, lovely harmonies (Billy backed by Billy creating harmonies that would do The Beach Boys proud) and uptempo country-rock. Neat "crazy" laughter at the end, too.
Billy sounds amazingly like former Raspberries' bassist Scott McCarl on the lead vocal --- sweet mix of a John Lennon duet with Paul McCartney sound. Nicely sung by the lead vocalist with answering backing vocals, this would have been a hit in the '60s:
"...only wanted to meet you / didn't try, wonder why / now I go crazy / ... / wonderin' when I'll see you..."
"Never Again (Without You)":
Interesting tune because it's good, and also because it's written by Walt Nims.
Nims was a latter-day member of The Outsiders ("Time Won't Let Me") who wrote the # 3 million-selling chart hit "Precious And Few" for the band Climax in 1972 (Climax lead singer Sonny Geraci had also been The Outsiders lead singer when they scored four Top 40 hits in the '60s, so he and Nims went on to form Climax).
Billy Sullivan's performance of Nims' "Never Again (Without You)" got national airplay as a single in 1986, making it to # 13 on the local charts in Billy's hometown of Cleveland, Ohio.
It's a sweet little '80s rocker, with a bit of a Michael Stanley Band meets Richard Marx feel to it, filled with jangly guitar, a lovely lead guitar solo and an urgent-sounding lead vocal.
I'm also a sucker for tunes with a count-off to them ("1-2-3-4," ala Raspberries' "Tonight," and probably due to countless childhood viewings of Lawrence Welk saying "...and a one, and a two...").
"...and I finally found a place that looks and feels like it's my home / and I'm never gonna leave you anymore / without you here by my side I feel empty in the night / and I'm never gonna leave this place again..."
"Everywhere I Go":
Interesting cover of a tune by another legendary Ohio power pop unit, Blue Ash ("Abracadabra (Have You Seen Her?)"), and written by Frank Secich of Blue Ash (Secich later performed with Stiv Bators in The Dead Boys).
Blue Ash was one of the critics' darlings in the '70s, ranking up there with "The Godfathers Of Power Pop" units like Raspberries, Badfinger and Stories, so the tune is an uptempo, Brit-pop delight, filled with Hollies' harmonies and Byrdsy guitar, with a positively Beatle-ish guitar solo. Blue Ash reunited in 2003 and continue to do live gigs.
"I'm walking through the crowd / and I'm staring at the cloud / looks like her from behind / 'til she turns around and never mind / I look to find her everywhere I go..."
"Second Time Around":
Think late period Beatles (1967-69) with George Martin studio experimentation and you've got "Second Time Around."
The song by Billy Sullivan and Paul Pope opens with the tune played backward for a few seconds, followed by some very John Lennon-ish (The Beatles' "A Day In The Life" comes to mind) lyrics and Sullivan's gorgeous guitar-work that reminds me of George Harrison circa "Sgt. Pepper."
It's a gentle, slow ballad, with angelic harmonies accenting a pleading lead vocal by Sullivan.
"...life is just a mystery / and sometimes so unkind / could there be a second time around?..."
"That Means A Lot":
You can never go wrong with a Lennon-McCartney song and The Beatles' "That Means A Lot" gets a loving treatment here. Absolutely gorgeous harmonies as well.
"...a friend said that a love is never true / and you know that this don't apply to you / a touch can mean so much when it's all you've got / but when she says she loves you that means a lot / love can be deep inside, love can be suicide / can't you see you can't hide what you feel when it's real..."
"In My Room":
The Beach Boys took "In My Room" to # 23 in 1963 and the Brian Wilson-Gary Usher-written ballad has always been a personal favorite of mine.
"In My Room," as done here, stuns one in its reproduction of a classic, complete with beautiful harmonies, a bass guitar played like a slow heartbeat and the lead guitar sounding like ocean waves slowly lapping at a moonlit midnight shore. This is gorgeous and should make Brian Wilson proud.
Some of my favorite lyrics here too:
"There's a world where I can go and tell my secrets to / in my room, in my room / in this world I lock out all my worries and my fears / in my room, in my room / do my dreaming and my scheming / lie awake and pray / do my crying and my sighing / laugh at yesterday / now it's dark and and I'm alone / but I won't be afraid / in my room, in my room..."
Lovely performance of a Beach Boys' classic that's as good as the original.
On the web:
Official Billy Sullivan website: http://www.billysullivan.com
Official Raspberries website: http://www.raspberries.net
Official Eric Carmen website: http://www.ericcarmen.com
Official Blue Ash website: http://www.blueashmusic.com
Official Rich Spina website: http://www.richspina.com
Official Mike Criscione website: http://www.mikecriscione.com
My review of Capitol/EMI's 20-track 24-bit digitally remastered CD "Greatest" by Raspberries (the original lineup --- Eric Carmen, Wally Bryson, Dave Smalley and Jim Bonfanti --- who sang the million-seller "Go All The Way" reunited in 2004-2005) was released in May of 2005 in the U. S. and Europe. It features all 7 of Raspberries Hot 100 singles, has 20 tracks and runs 78:53 minutes: http://www.epinions.com/content_186044681860
My review of a greatest hits CD collection by Gary Lewis & The Playboys (the only act to hit the Top 10 with their first seven singles (tunes like "This Diamond Ring" and "Everybody Loves A Clown") in the 1960's; Lewis is the son of comedian Jerry Lewis): http://www.epinions.com/content_41555431044
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.