Raspberries Albums Ranked Worst to Best

The term "power pop" gets tossed around an awful lot – so often, in fact, that it seems to have lost all meaning. But if there's one band that defines the term, it's the Raspberries, who delivered equal parts "power" and "pop." We're counting them down in the list below.

You might hear groups as disparate as Electric Light Orchestra and R.E.M. described this way, but they are not, nor have they ever been, power pop. Even placing the beloved Big Star in that box is not an easy fit, truth be told.

Guitarists and singers Eric Carmen and Wally Bryson, bassist Dave Smalley and drummer Jim Bonfanti, however, put together the perfect three-LP career hybrid of Beach Boys' and the Beatles' melodic and harmonic sense, the power and punch of the Who and the Small Faces' crunch and stomp. Smalley and Bonfanti were then replaced by Scott McCarl and Michael McBride for what unfortunately became the band's final record, 1974's Starting Over.

From the opening riff of "Go All the Way" through to the last crash, bang and wallop of "Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)," you would be hard-pressed to find a better catalog of rock 'n' roll that combines those elements so effectively.

The Raspberries failed to hold onto their initial success, and lasted only a few years. The music has, thankfully, continued to live on. Which of their four releases was best? Here's a look at Raspberries Albums Ranked Worst to Best.