Eric Carmen: Boats Against The Current
Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 22 September 1977
THIS IS THE SORT of album people accuse Paul McCartney of making: syrupy romanticism without bite or backbeat. It is not as overtly classical as Carmen's first solo LP – which went so far as to use a Rachmaninoff piano concerto as a melodic theme – but it is utterly without the elements we associate with modern pop: emphasized rhythm sections, not guitars, even brass or reeds.
Total word count of piece: 357