Eric Carmen - All by Myself (2023 Remaster)

Описание: "All by Myself" is a song by American singer-songwriter Eric Carmen released in 1975. The verse is based on the second movement (Adagio sostenuto) of Sergei Rachmaninoff's circa 1900–1901 Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Opus 18. The chorus was taken from the song "Let's Pretend", which Carmen wrote and recorded with the Raspberries in 1972. The slide guitar solo was performed by studio guitarist Hugh McCracken.

According to Carmen, he first wrote the solo part of the song, writing four bars at a time, eventually completed the interlude after two months. He needed to put this into a song, and after listening to Rachmaninoff's 2nd piano concerto, a piece famously used to underscore the 1945 British film Brief Encounter, he adapted the melody of its second movement to write the verse. Rachmaninoff's music was in the public domain in the United States at that time, so Carmen thought no copyright existed on it, but it was still protected outside the U.S. subsequent to the release of the album. He was later contacted by the Rachmaninoff estate and informed that it was protected. An agreement was reached in which the estate would receive 12 percent of the royalties from "All by Myself" as well as from "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again", which was based on the third movement from Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2.

Carmen has stated that he also incorporated part of another melody into this song. The melody of the chorus was taken from his previous hit with the Raspberries, "Let's Pretend".

The power ballad was the first single from Carmen's first solo LP after leaving the power pop group the Raspberries and was released in December 1975. Billboard described the song as "a superb rock ballad...faithfully capturing most of the good time feel in rock." Cash Box said that Carmen "captures the vocal power of at least two of the three Bee Gees and seems also to have tapped the lyric capabilities of a Paul McCartney." Record World said that Carmen "croons over a backdrop of cascading strings on this self-penned delight from his recent album."

It reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100; both "Love Machine" by The Miracles and "December 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" by The Four Seasons, kept the song from number one. "All by Myself" did reach number one on the Cash Box Top 100 Singles and number three in Canada. The single sold more than one million copies in the United States and was certified gold by the RIAA in April 1976. "All by Myself" was Carmen's first of eight US Top 40 hits. In the UK, however, this was his only Top 40 success, peaking at number 12.

Remastered using the lowest generation version I could find and referencing an original promo pressing.