Eric Carmen and The Euclid Beach Band

Section 11:
Euclid Beach Band

Members of Eric Carmen's original solo band, Magic, joined together to record the novelty single "There's No Surf In Cleveland." Released in 1978 locally on Cleveland Scene Records, with a label advising "please remain seated until the record comes to a complete stop," the 45 rpm record was a major hit in Cleveland.

One day during the winter of 1977-'78, the band member's told the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Rich Reising and Jim Girard looked out their Cleveland Scene magazine office window and said "there's no surf in Cleveland."

The line had originally been part of the lyrics to an unreleased Eric Carmen song called "Computer Boy." Rich and Jim put their heads together, wrote the lyrics around the line, booked time in a studio and gathered their buddies together. Besides the members of Magic, the band included John Hart and Pete Hewitt.

The single was remixed by Eric Carmen and called "There's No Surf in Cleveland." The band decided to donate the proceeds from record sales to charity, which in turn grabbed the attention of every TV station in Cleveland. The band quickly sold 10,000 copies of their record.

The band and producer Carmen then entered a New York studio to record their debut album.

According to The Cleveland Plain Dealer, "producers, session musicians (including David Sanborn on sax) and a six-figure recording tab (began) escalating by the hour."

Trying to save the project, Reising took the tapes back to Cleveland and started remixing. The self-titled LP, released in the summer of 1979, couldn't be saved. The band broke-up in 1980.


"Even today when I hear that song driving around in the summertime, I get as much a kick out of it as when we did it," Reising recently told The Cleveland Plain Dealer. "Sometimes you get away from how things were intended--but it was a great song."

The single is worth searching out as it features a picture sleeve. The flip side, the instrumental "Laugh In The Dark," has never appeared on any album. Both tracks appeared on the major label reissue of the single in 1979, but the picture sleeve did not.

Although four singles from the album were released, only "I Need You" hit the national Top 100. That song and "End Of The World" (also a single) were both written by Eric, who also did keyboard work on those tracks. The album, which is excellant (especially a track called "Karen"), also failed to chart.

The Euclid Beach Band album remains unavailable on CD. However, "There's No Surf In Cleveland" appears on several compilations, including "Straight Outta Cleveland" (pictured above) and "Cleveland International Records, 1977-83"(below).

Side note: "I Need You" was originally written for Frankie Valli, who released it as a single in 1977. Valli also cut Eric's "Boats Against The Current" and both tracks appear on his 1977 album, "Lady Put The Light Out." Valli also performed the song live on "The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson" in 1977.

Lyrics: "There's No Surf In Cleveland."

Related review: Billboard Spotlight Reviews: Euclid Beach Band .

Related website: All-Music Guide: Euclid Beach Band .