This Nate Ruess Track Shows Why HBO's 'Vinyl' Is Kinda Lame

There are a lot of reasons why HBO's early Seventies rock drama VINYL has been a disappointment, but one of the most surprising failings has been the music. Despite the participation of Mick Jagger and a bevy of musicians familiar with the era, much of the music is lifeless and missing the anarchic spirit of the originals.

No better example of that problem is the new EP of music released in conjunction with last Sunday's episode. "Vinyl: Volume 1.3" contains five tracks and all of them are flawed in some fundamental way. But the worst track comes from Nate Ruess, who covers the wonderful 1973 hit single "I Wanna Be With You." A hit for the Cleveland-based power-pop band The Raspberries, lead singer Eric Carmen's soaring vocals in the original version are bolstered by some classic chunky rock riffs.

Compare that version to the Nate Ruess version, which despite his vocal talents is a hollow shell of a track. It's not a great track in any context, but as part of a show that is supposed to be chronicling the era in which it was originally written, this is a depressingly karaoke-lite version that serves as a pretty good example of everything that's wrong with the show.

For your convenient mocking, I've included both the original version of " I Wanna Be With You" along with the Ruess version.

 

Oh, what the hell. Here's one more song from The Raspberries. I'd highly recommend their Greatest Hits album, which is jam-packed with ear candy hits. And yes, after the band broke up, lead singer/songwriter Eric Carmen went on to have a string of soft rock hits like "Never Gonna Fall In Love Again" in the late 1970s and early 1980s.