It's no "Spiral."
Thursday we finished season six of the French TV series. That's 64 episodes, but who's counting?
It started with "A French Village." That was 72 episodes. Bob Bookman recommended it. There were seven seasons, but now it's finished. The war is over. We had to pay for MHz in order to see seasons two to seven, but it was worth it. The story of the Nazis' occupation of a French village during World War II. The performances were outstanding, and some of the same stars are in "Spiral." That's why we started to watch it. For Thierry Godard and Audrey Fleurot. They're stars in France. Actually, "Spiral" is a hit everywhere but here, it's been shown in more than 70 countries. Unlike "A French Village," there's no deeper meaning, no history, no learning, unless you're interested in the French legal system, which is unlike ours.
"Spiral" is a cop show. But not like the police procedurals in America. The cops constantly screw up, and they live for their jobs, they sacrifice everything for them, and every case is not linear, other investigations permeate each season, you're never quite sure how it's going to turn out, who the perp will be.
I knew I was hooked when I was at a gig and started thinking about Laure and Gilou, I couldn't wait to get home to them, they'd become part of my life. Gilou, i.e. Thierry Godard, was in "A French Village," but Laure was not. Laure is played by Caroline Proust, whom you see aging through the seasons, who you ultimately get to know in 3-D. Most TV is two-dimensional, especially when it comes to women. But not Proust in "Spiral."
Now they don't make TV overseas like they do in the United States. Before we started "Spiral," we watched an episode of "Inspector Montalbano," made in Italy. There have been 13 seasons so far. It started in 1999! That's right, they don't make them every single year. Same deal with "Spiral," which began in 2005 and continues to this day.
Now "Spiral" is free on Amazon Prime. All available six seasons. The seventh aired overseas earlier this year, but not here. So you can watch "Spiral," but you probably won't, because you won't be part of the discussion. But that's one thing I love about watching these "obscure" series, it's not a competition, I'm in my own little bubble, it feels good.
And to tell you the truth, the images from 2005 are not perfect in this HD world. It isn't until the third season that you get pristine HD. And, in the third season, the series really hits its stride. Not that it isn't excellent before this, but when season three wraps up, you'll tell yourself...THAT WAS GREAT! Kinda like movies used to be, satisfying.
You see the French do it differently. Being beautiful is not enough, you have to know how to act. And the players in "Spiral" are so good you believe they could be on the big screen, or on stage, which many of them are.
Actually, I saw Jonathan Groff as the king in the original production of "Hamilton," he plays against type in "Mindhunter," if you consider said king his type. He's really good. As is Holt McCallany, who truly embodies an FBI agent with his buzz cut and sculpted body. As for Anna Torv, she's an enigma. The way she speaks...maybe it's because she's Australian, she's almost always hesitant in getting the words out, as if she's afraid of showing her accent, her voice is oftentimes deep, like Elizabeth Holmes' fake voice, or maybe she's just playing the character.
Speaking of Holmes, did I tell you to read "Bad Blood," John Carreyrou's book about Theranos? It's a must-read, even if you saw the TV show and listened to the podcast. There are many more details, the story comes alive, you'll be riveted, you won't want to turn out the light to go to bed.
"Mindhunter" is based on a book. But I haven't read it. It's all about FBI agents profiling serial killers.
The first season was riveting. Really dark and it came together. But during the second, you always asked yourself...DID THIS REALLY HAPPEN? I'm talking less about the killers than those pursuing them. Were these plot twists made for TV or did the real characters' lives play out this way, I've got to do some research.
Now Kendall made a convincing case for "When They See Us" as our next viewing adventure. Normally, I'm against watching something when I've followed the news closely. That's the reason I didn't view "Escape At Dannemora," I followed the story when it played out in the news.
Then there's "Unbelievable."
And I hate to admit I'm the only one who hasn't seen the second season of "Fleabag." I wasn't riveted by the first, but now everybody says the second is genius.
But people don't say the same thing about the second season of "Killing Eve." And I didn't even know the third season of "13 Reasons Why" had been released, there's no buzz.
Except for the last one, the "Mindhunter" episodes were too short. We killed the show in three days. I like to marinate in a series. As for the debate re drip versus all-at-once, the same people who want to drip out product are the same people who said we had to save CDs and record stores...look how that played out. It's satisfying to binge, you don't have to wait when you're intrigued. Whereas week by week is a challenge. What if you're busy one week, suddenly you're behind on the conversation, and there's nothing so satisfying as rolling into the next episode just when you finished the previous one, to find out what happened.
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Saturday 21 September 2019
The Climate Strike
It's already off the front page. Literally. Check your apps, the NYT, the WaPo, you won't find it. That's how fast the news cycle is today.
Speaking of the news cycle, did you read the "Guardian"'s article "Pop's need for speed: 'You have to drop new stuff constantly'"? https://bit.ly/2mk2Pkf Taylor Swift's new album is a stiff, already in the rearview mirror, the only thing that can save it is radio airplay, never underestimate the power of Republic's promotion team, but everybody gives up at some point, the opportunity cost is just too high, your team could be working on something else. But Taylor Swift is positively rearguard, everything she does is behind the times. She tried to burnish her image with social media after that venue had already gone on backlash and kept her work from streaming services and now has dropped an album in an era of singles. Albums are only for the niche. Or else you release multiple albums a year, otherwise you're no longer top of mind.
Like the climate strike.
But the school strike for climate is not a new thing. It's been a constant presence this year. Go to Wikipedia: https://bit.ly/2Tb19Ft Remind you of anything? Probably not, because you weren't alive at the turn of the decade, from the sixties to the seventies, when antiwar protests ramped up and Johnson declined to run for re-election and the whole country turned against the war in Vietnam. It was the youth who did that. Because the war was unwinnable and unjust, and because men were afraid of dying in Southeast Asia.
Now people are afraid of dying as a result of climate change.
That's right, as the bigwigs debate it, as governments pooh-pooh it, as those who lived through the aforementioned peace protests fifty years ago forget the lessons of history, a whole new generation, of both males and females, is freaking out, they're afraid climate change is gonna negatively impact their future, if they get one at all, these lobsters have finally realized the temperature of the water is going up and they don't want to boil.
Come on, just look around, another hurricane in Houston? Well, technically Imelda is a tropical depression, but who knew that living in Houston was so dangerous?
As for hurricanes... They had 'em when I was growing up. But not with devastating results seemingly every year.
My personal litmus test is the heat in Santa Monica. When I moved there at the beginning of the eighties, you didn't need air conditioning, only one week a year was sweltering. But not now, now you can't function without air conditioning, you're shvitzing, you can't run off to a meeting without a shower.
And then there's the ski season. Which is shorter than ever. And those who venture to Colorado are aware of the bark beetle, killing trees all over the forest, it no longer gets cold enough to kill them. Yup, drive through the Centennial State, you can't avoid it, those swaths of dead, brown trees.
But I'm not here to debate climate change with you, doesn't matter if you disbelieve, THE YOUTH DO! The climate is the number one issue of one-quarter of Gen-Z. That means when they vote...
Yup, the polluting corporations and the Republicans are on the wrong side of this. Which is one reason California is a blue state. Oh, don't buy the hogwash how bad life in the Golden State is. Sure, we've got an affordable housing crisis, but if you look at the economy at large...it's booming, much better than the vaunted Texas.
And it's not only Governor Newsom standing up for climate change, Trump wants to lower fuel economy ratings, but an additional twenty two other states disagree.
Once again, I'm not here to argue climate facts. I'm just putting you on notice that the youth are energized, just like they were during the Vietnam era, it's their future they're worried about, and they're going to vote accordingly.
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Speaking of the news cycle, did you read the "Guardian"'s article "Pop's need for speed: 'You have to drop new stuff constantly'"? https://bit.ly/2mk2Pkf Taylor Swift's new album is a stiff, already in the rearview mirror, the only thing that can save it is radio airplay, never underestimate the power of Republic's promotion team, but everybody gives up at some point, the opportunity cost is just too high, your team could be working on something else. But Taylor Swift is positively rearguard, everything she does is behind the times. She tried to burnish her image with social media after that venue had already gone on backlash and kept her work from streaming services and now has dropped an album in an era of singles. Albums are only for the niche. Or else you release multiple albums a year, otherwise you're no longer top of mind.
Like the climate strike.
But the school strike for climate is not a new thing. It's been a constant presence this year. Go to Wikipedia: https://bit.ly/2Tb19Ft Remind you of anything? Probably not, because you weren't alive at the turn of the decade, from the sixties to the seventies, when antiwar protests ramped up and Johnson declined to run for re-election and the whole country turned against the war in Vietnam. It was the youth who did that. Because the war was unwinnable and unjust, and because men were afraid of dying in Southeast Asia.
Now people are afraid of dying as a result of climate change.
That's right, as the bigwigs debate it, as governments pooh-pooh it, as those who lived through the aforementioned peace protests fifty years ago forget the lessons of history, a whole new generation, of both males and females, is freaking out, they're afraid climate change is gonna negatively impact their future, if they get one at all, these lobsters have finally realized the temperature of the water is going up and they don't want to boil.
Come on, just look around, another hurricane in Houston? Well, technically Imelda is a tropical depression, but who knew that living in Houston was so dangerous?
As for hurricanes... They had 'em when I was growing up. But not with devastating results seemingly every year.
My personal litmus test is the heat in Santa Monica. When I moved there at the beginning of the eighties, you didn't need air conditioning, only one week a year was sweltering. But not now, now you can't function without air conditioning, you're shvitzing, you can't run off to a meeting without a shower.
And then there's the ski season. Which is shorter than ever. And those who venture to Colorado are aware of the bark beetle, killing trees all over the forest, it no longer gets cold enough to kill them. Yup, drive through the Centennial State, you can't avoid it, those swaths of dead, brown trees.
But I'm not here to debate climate change with you, doesn't matter if you disbelieve, THE YOUTH DO! The climate is the number one issue of one-quarter of Gen-Z. That means when they vote...
Yup, the polluting corporations and the Republicans are on the wrong side of this. Which is one reason California is a blue state. Oh, don't buy the hogwash how bad life in the Golden State is. Sure, we've got an affordable housing crisis, but if you look at the economy at large...it's booming, much better than the vaunted Texas.
And it's not only Governor Newsom standing up for climate change, Trump wants to lower fuel economy ratings, but an additional twenty two other states disagree.
Once again, I'm not here to argue climate facts. I'm just putting you on notice that the youth are energized, just like they were during the Vietnam era, it's their future they're worried about, and they're going to vote accordingly.
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Black Keys Ticket "Fiasco"
"Why the Black Keys shut out hundreds of fans, causing chaos at the Wiltern": https://lat.ms/2kLSpK5
This is the best thing that ever happened to Safetix.
Now most people know.
Technology solves problems. It enables a step forward. But something is always lost in this transition.
For years, the touring industry discussed "paperless" tickets. Now, everybody going to a concert has a smartphone, otherwise they wouldn't be able to afford the ducat. So, just like in recorded music, physical has gone by the wayside, enabling the act to control the ticket.
Who controls the ticket? That's another thing debated for decades in the business. Is it the act, the promoter, the ticket-seller or the building or..?
Now I'm not saying brokers have not provided a service. I'm also not saying that acts don't take advantage of the secondary market. But if the acts want to control who gains entry, isn't this their right?
Never forget, Ticketmaster always gets the blame. It's got to be somebody's fault that little Trevor and Madison can't see the show. But the acts are revered, it can't bet their fault, so the blame is shifted to Ticketmaster, which is paid to take the heat. Ticketmaster just does what the acts tell them to do, but no matter how many times this message goes out, no one seems to believe it.
Then there's the problem getting the message out to begin with.
How big a Black Keys fan could these excluded buyers be if they didn't know this was a non-transferable ticket show?
Oh, maybe Ticketmaster and the Black Keys didn't make the message clear. But next time they will.
But now that it's news, more people will know how Safetix work. That's how hard it is to get the message across these days. In a world where Fox and the rest of the media are arguing whether the whistleblower is a bad actor.
Acts hate the secondary market because they don't get the uplift.
Unless they sell directly to the secondary market to not only gain more profit. but guarantee sales.
But concerts are different from other products for sale, the customer is not always right, even though an ignorant press often says he is. In a world where if you complain, someone's afraid to speak to the veracity of such a claim, where you can return stuff with impunity at Costco, enabled customers think they can beat the system. But when demand exceeds supply, the tables turn. Those who get tickets are thrilled, and those left out just can't wait to go the next time. As for those complaining today, do you think they'll stop seeing concerts in the future? Of course not! They'll become more informed, the same way they learned about Stubhub, et al, to begin with. And now the secondary market will have to police its wares. Shouldn't resellers know what can and cannot be resold, isn't this their business?
Then again, the purveyors have screwed up ticketing to begin with. You've got to join the fan club, get a credit card...by time of the public on-sale date, oftentimes fewer than 10% of the tickets are available. Why do acts do this? Because the credit card company and the fan club pay! It's extra money. The acts say it's for marketing, but the truth is it goes straight to their bottom lines.
So, if a gig is "oversubscribed," if all the tickets are gonna sell instantly anyway, with Safetix shouldn't we also go to randomized ticketing? As in everybody who says they want a ticket signs up and then the computer picks buyers at random?
Now in theory Safetix shuts out the secondary market. But it won't be long before scalpers sell the smartphone the tickets are purchased on. Yup, a cheap smartphone for expensive tickets. It's a war I tell you.
But now the act and ticketing company have a new weapon.
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This is the best thing that ever happened to Safetix.
Now most people know.
Technology solves problems. It enables a step forward. But something is always lost in this transition.
For years, the touring industry discussed "paperless" tickets. Now, everybody going to a concert has a smartphone, otherwise they wouldn't be able to afford the ducat. So, just like in recorded music, physical has gone by the wayside, enabling the act to control the ticket.
Who controls the ticket? That's another thing debated for decades in the business. Is it the act, the promoter, the ticket-seller or the building or..?
Now I'm not saying brokers have not provided a service. I'm also not saying that acts don't take advantage of the secondary market. But if the acts want to control who gains entry, isn't this their right?
Never forget, Ticketmaster always gets the blame. It's got to be somebody's fault that little Trevor and Madison can't see the show. But the acts are revered, it can't bet their fault, so the blame is shifted to Ticketmaster, which is paid to take the heat. Ticketmaster just does what the acts tell them to do, but no matter how many times this message goes out, no one seems to believe it.
Then there's the problem getting the message out to begin with.
How big a Black Keys fan could these excluded buyers be if they didn't know this was a non-transferable ticket show?
Oh, maybe Ticketmaster and the Black Keys didn't make the message clear. But next time they will.
But now that it's news, more people will know how Safetix work. That's how hard it is to get the message across these days. In a world where Fox and the rest of the media are arguing whether the whistleblower is a bad actor.
Acts hate the secondary market because they don't get the uplift.
Unless they sell directly to the secondary market to not only gain more profit. but guarantee sales.
But concerts are different from other products for sale, the customer is not always right, even though an ignorant press often says he is. In a world where if you complain, someone's afraid to speak to the veracity of such a claim, where you can return stuff with impunity at Costco, enabled customers think they can beat the system. But when demand exceeds supply, the tables turn. Those who get tickets are thrilled, and those left out just can't wait to go the next time. As for those complaining today, do you think they'll stop seeing concerts in the future? Of course not! They'll become more informed, the same way they learned about Stubhub, et al, to begin with. And now the secondary market will have to police its wares. Shouldn't resellers know what can and cannot be resold, isn't this their business?
Then again, the purveyors have screwed up ticketing to begin with. You've got to join the fan club, get a credit card...by time of the public on-sale date, oftentimes fewer than 10% of the tickets are available. Why do acts do this? Because the credit card company and the fan club pay! It's extra money. The acts say it's for marketing, but the truth is it goes straight to their bottom lines.
So, if a gig is "oversubscribed," if all the tickets are gonna sell instantly anyway, with Safetix shouldn't we also go to randomized ticketing? As in everybody who says they want a ticket signs up and then the computer picks buyers at random?
Now in theory Safetix shuts out the secondary market. But it won't be long before scalpers sell the smartphone the tickets are purchased on. Yup, a cheap smartphone for expensive tickets. It's a war I tell you.
But now the act and ticketing company have a new weapon.
--
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Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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Thursday 19 September 2019
The Robbie Robertson Video
https://bit.ly/2knvV1x
At first I ignored it, figuring it was just hype for his new movie and LP. Yup, Robbie's selling something, and when the tsunami of hype starts, I tune out.
Now Robbie Robertson can't sing. Oh, everybody can sing, and his vocal is perfect for his composition "Broken Arrow," which is more about emotion and feel than perfection, Rod Stewart's cover doesn't come close, but there was a reason the songs were sung by Rick, Levon and Richard in the Band.
I don't understand why they had to stop working together. Then again, the Band albums got progressively worse, certainly after "Stage Fright," although the double live LP "Rock Of Ages" was great, especially with the horns. But like Steely Dan, the band could have continued to make records without going on the road, after breaking up, nobody equaled what came before.
I won't get into the politics, the wars, the competing books, what we're truly left with is the music. Most famously "The Weight."
Now my favorite cut is "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)." The first time I heard it was in Brad Weston's playroom, we had identical split-levels in the development. Brad told me I had to hear this one track, not the whole album, just this one cut, and he dropped the needle and...
"Dry summer, then comes fall
Which I depend on most of all"
This was not the 1960s, all shiny and mechanized, this was a guy living off the land, dependent upon Mother Nature, from seemingly the last century.
And at this late date, I love "Look Out Cleveland" and "Rag Mama Rag" from the second LP, which I think is the best, I can even listen to their take on "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," but I push the button whenever Joan Baez's version comes on the radio.
And I'm a huge fan of "Stage Fright," which is seen as second-tier, but not by me, maybe it's the Todd Rundgren engineering. The killer is "The W.S.Walcott Medicine Show."
"There'll be saints and sinners, you'll see losers and winners
All kinds of people you might want to know"
Actually, no. Today no one wants to know anybody not from their class. Losers are pooh-poohed, hell, look at the homeless situation.
But the truth is life is only about people, they're all that counts. Your possessions won't keep you warm at night. And one thing about people is they'll surprise you, even the ones you think you know, but if you're open to adventure you'll be wowed and excited on a regular basis, that's why you travel.
To Hawaii, the Congo, Japan, Jamaica, even Venice Beach in this video.
The rendition is not that memorable, but the video is. You've got Ringo, you've got Robbie, but the rest are a surprise.
Now the first thing you notice is Robbie is playing a brand new Stratocaster, in a world where old is better, you never see a star playing a brand new axe. Even better is the tone, it's live, it's not fed through studio sweeteners, it's a guitar, it's the sound that kicks you in the gut in live shows.
And I've never seen Marcus King live, but his vocal didn't quite resonate, but it was cool to see him.
But not as much as Roberto Luti in Livorno, Italy. THEY'VE GOT ROCK AND ROLL IN ITALY? Man, if you didn't see the credit, you'd think this guy was picking down in the delta.
Then Larkin Poe at Venice Beach? Hell, I've heard their name a zillion times, but have never heard them or seen them, I didn't even know it was two women, now I've got to check them out.
And I don't want to spoil it. But I will say that Lukas Nelson was the highlight for me, as well as the women singing in Trenchtown.
You start to smile, you're intrigued, you come to believe music does link us all together, that it's an alternative world from the politics dominating the discussion today. Somehow everybody got the message, everybody has commonality, everybody's on the same page.
You almost feel like it's the sixties again.
But that was fifty years ago.
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At first I ignored it, figuring it was just hype for his new movie and LP. Yup, Robbie's selling something, and when the tsunami of hype starts, I tune out.
Now Robbie Robertson can't sing. Oh, everybody can sing, and his vocal is perfect for his composition "Broken Arrow," which is more about emotion and feel than perfection, Rod Stewart's cover doesn't come close, but there was a reason the songs were sung by Rick, Levon and Richard in the Band.
I don't understand why they had to stop working together. Then again, the Band albums got progressively worse, certainly after "Stage Fright," although the double live LP "Rock Of Ages" was great, especially with the horns. But like Steely Dan, the band could have continued to make records without going on the road, after breaking up, nobody equaled what came before.
I won't get into the politics, the wars, the competing books, what we're truly left with is the music. Most famously "The Weight."
Now my favorite cut is "King Harvest (Has Surely Come)." The first time I heard it was in Brad Weston's playroom, we had identical split-levels in the development. Brad told me I had to hear this one track, not the whole album, just this one cut, and he dropped the needle and...
"Dry summer, then comes fall
Which I depend on most of all"
This was not the 1960s, all shiny and mechanized, this was a guy living off the land, dependent upon Mother Nature, from seemingly the last century.
And at this late date, I love "Look Out Cleveland" and "Rag Mama Rag" from the second LP, which I think is the best, I can even listen to their take on "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," but I push the button whenever Joan Baez's version comes on the radio.
And I'm a huge fan of "Stage Fright," which is seen as second-tier, but not by me, maybe it's the Todd Rundgren engineering. The killer is "The W.S.Walcott Medicine Show."
"There'll be saints and sinners, you'll see losers and winners
All kinds of people you might want to know"
Actually, no. Today no one wants to know anybody not from their class. Losers are pooh-poohed, hell, look at the homeless situation.
But the truth is life is only about people, they're all that counts. Your possessions won't keep you warm at night. And one thing about people is they'll surprise you, even the ones you think you know, but if you're open to adventure you'll be wowed and excited on a regular basis, that's why you travel.
To Hawaii, the Congo, Japan, Jamaica, even Venice Beach in this video.
The rendition is not that memorable, but the video is. You've got Ringo, you've got Robbie, but the rest are a surprise.
Now the first thing you notice is Robbie is playing a brand new Stratocaster, in a world where old is better, you never see a star playing a brand new axe. Even better is the tone, it's live, it's not fed through studio sweeteners, it's a guitar, it's the sound that kicks you in the gut in live shows.
And I've never seen Marcus King live, but his vocal didn't quite resonate, but it was cool to see him.
But not as much as Roberto Luti in Livorno, Italy. THEY'VE GOT ROCK AND ROLL IN ITALY? Man, if you didn't see the credit, you'd think this guy was picking down in the delta.
Then Larkin Poe at Venice Beach? Hell, I've heard their name a zillion times, but have never heard them or seen them, I didn't even know it was two women, now I've got to check them out.
And I don't want to spoil it. But I will say that Lukas Nelson was the highlight for me, as well as the women singing in Trenchtown.
You start to smile, you're intrigued, you come to believe music does link us all together, that it's an alternative world from the politics dominating the discussion today. Somehow everybody got the message, everybody has commonality, everybody's on the same page.
You almost feel like it's the sixties again.
But that was fifty years ago.
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Ahmet Zappa-This Week's Podcast
Majordomo of the Zappa Trust, son of Frank and Gail (as they told him to call them from birth), TV show host, writer, entrepreneur, Ahmet Zappa grew up by the Utility Muffin Research Kitchen, he has stories to tell.
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2EiD1fz3yU8BLuWNga9Gk1
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ahmet-zappa/id1316200737?i=1000450342714
https://www.stitcher.com/s?eid=64009616
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https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-30806836/
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2EiD1fz3yU8BLuWNga9Gk1
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ahmet-zappa/id1316200737?i=1000450342714
https://www.stitcher.com/s?eid=64009616
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Wednesday 18 September 2019
The PBS Woodstock Documentary
It's on Netflix. I just finished watching it.
Wasn't gonna watch it, but then I started getting e-mail and texts about it, and last night while Felice was taking a shower I started it and got hooked.
Now if this was 1970, the documentary would only play in movie theatres. We'd line up to go, it'd be a tribal rite. You were either on the bus or off the bus, and you wanted to be on it.
But today no one goes by bus except for the disadvantaged. It's like the sixties are only a memory. But this documentary brings them back.
The war. Started off as a rumor. We just had "advisors" there. And "there" was so far away. China was closed, Australia wasn't advertising, Americans went to Europe, but if you flew east, you were positively exotic, because no one did, at least no one I ever encountered. The only reason to fly east was to get your ass shot off in Vietnam, which eventually we saw in black and white every night on the TV screen.
At first we were gonna win the war, after all we were America! And then some on the left started to say we never would and that the Domino Theory was hogwash. And then you started to approach eighteen and got scared. Would I have to go?
They'd find you, you couldn't escape. You could get a deferment, like Arlo Guthrie, but most of us were not hippies, we were gonna qualify and we were positively freaked.
And the body count kept getting higher. And then there were protests.
The youth were all on the same side. The news referred to it as a "youthquake." Sure, some areas caught on later rather than sooner, but the baby boomers, the population bulge, decided to question norms and deviate from them if they found them unworthy, and with music as the grease, we pushed ahead.
No one was a Republican. And if they were, you knew who they were. And it was not about being a Republican because you were rich, nobody was that rich. The Republican Party represented what had come before, the Democratic Party was about pushing ahead. It started in 1960 with JFK, and when LBJ started to put on the brakes, he encountered blowback. LBJ did so much good, but he couldn't get us out of Vietnam. And then Nixon and Kissinger kept saying they were pulling back while just the opposite was true, kids were being killed day after day.
Let's make it simple. You can either vote for the people who are gonna send you to Vietnam...
Or not.
Then again, you had to be twenty one to vote. You could die in Vietnam before that, the draft age being 18.
And when Mick Jagger sings "I shouted out, Who killed the Kennedys?" today, there's no darkness, no reflection, it's just entertainment, but it didn't used to be. In the sixties they killed the leaders, today we kill the hoi polloi. Come on, admit it, when you're invited to a mass gathering, when you go to an open-air concert in a non-traditional space, it crosses your mind, "I could die here."
So they organize the Woodstock festival to make money. But people came for the music. And at the time, it was the bill of all bills, no show had featured so many stars, and this woke up all the fans and they made a pilgrimage to Bethel, New York. It'd kinda be like having a videogame festival outdoors today, based on the most popular multiplayer game, people have no idea how many people are hooked, then again, you play inside.
Back then we went outdoors on a regular basis.
No one is fat in this documentary. What is it, the fructose, the additives, the lazy lifestyle? I don't know, but that was long ago, and in this footage the times look glorious.
Now you can only do something like this once. You can only push the envelope once. Like Radiohead's "In Rainbows" promotion. Once people have seen the trick, it can't be replicated. And today's music festivals are about anything but the music, they sell tickets before the lineup is even announced. It's not so much who's on stage, but who's in the audience.
But back then, we were all in it together. There was no VIP. Everybody was equal. Kids didn't judge hippies, they wanted to be one! That was the freedom they were yearning for, and the exploration. You wanted to be all you could be, as opposed to studying economics so you could work at the bank. Who in the hell would want to work at a bank? As for the money...no one we knew, almost no one at all, was a millionaire. Society was much more homogenous. And you could make it on minimum wage.
It's fascinating to see how word about the festival was spread through alternative newspapers. Those were the internet of their day. Radio was Twitter. There was no Facebook or Instagram, self-promotion was not lionized, you had no thought of becoming a business, first and foremost you were a person.
And the way everybody talked to each other, helped each other...today we judge people and exclude them.
Now I'm not saying everything was better in the sixties, there was poverty and racism but there was hope and a can-do spirit. As for Obama running on hope, wasn't that a joke. And anybody proposing something new is criticized. We can't have Medicare for All, the public won't go for it! It's like we're going backwards, we're isolating our country from the world, people want to go back to what once was as opposed to what can be.
But that can't happen. And if it did, people wouldn't like it. They'd lose their conveniences and just be a face in the crowd, if you were special back then it was based on your personality, not your clothing or your ride.
Oh, we've strayed so far from the garden.
And we're never going back there.
But when you watch the footage of Crosby, Stills & Nash performing "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," you tingle.
Do you know what it was like to hear this "wooden music"? These were people on stage, evidencing their humanity, the tunes weren't made by machines without melody.
It's getting to the point where there's no fun anymore. Everybody feels powerless, everybody is greedy, they and their family come first.
But back then Sly wanted to take us higher. If we believed in the music our lives were complete. In 1976 Don Henley sang "we haven't had that spirit here since 1969." Now we've gone even further off course. But it's those acts from the sixties and seventies who are still alive who sell out stadiums, who fill every seat. Sure, it was about the money, but first and foremost it was about music.
Back at Woodstock they let the music set them free.
You'll feel the same way when you watch this documentary.
"Woodstock: Three Days That Defined A Generation": https://bit.ly/2OfsTe0
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Wasn't gonna watch it, but then I started getting e-mail and texts about it, and last night while Felice was taking a shower I started it and got hooked.
Now if this was 1970, the documentary would only play in movie theatres. We'd line up to go, it'd be a tribal rite. You were either on the bus or off the bus, and you wanted to be on it.
But today no one goes by bus except for the disadvantaged. It's like the sixties are only a memory. But this documentary brings them back.
The war. Started off as a rumor. We just had "advisors" there. And "there" was so far away. China was closed, Australia wasn't advertising, Americans went to Europe, but if you flew east, you were positively exotic, because no one did, at least no one I ever encountered. The only reason to fly east was to get your ass shot off in Vietnam, which eventually we saw in black and white every night on the TV screen.
At first we were gonna win the war, after all we were America! And then some on the left started to say we never would and that the Domino Theory was hogwash. And then you started to approach eighteen and got scared. Would I have to go?
They'd find you, you couldn't escape. You could get a deferment, like Arlo Guthrie, but most of us were not hippies, we were gonna qualify and we were positively freaked.
And the body count kept getting higher. And then there were protests.
The youth were all on the same side. The news referred to it as a "youthquake." Sure, some areas caught on later rather than sooner, but the baby boomers, the population bulge, decided to question norms and deviate from them if they found them unworthy, and with music as the grease, we pushed ahead.
No one was a Republican. And if they were, you knew who they were. And it was not about being a Republican because you were rich, nobody was that rich. The Republican Party represented what had come before, the Democratic Party was about pushing ahead. It started in 1960 with JFK, and when LBJ started to put on the brakes, he encountered blowback. LBJ did so much good, but he couldn't get us out of Vietnam. And then Nixon and Kissinger kept saying they were pulling back while just the opposite was true, kids were being killed day after day.
Let's make it simple. You can either vote for the people who are gonna send you to Vietnam...
Or not.
Then again, you had to be twenty one to vote. You could die in Vietnam before that, the draft age being 18.
And when Mick Jagger sings "I shouted out, Who killed the Kennedys?" today, there's no darkness, no reflection, it's just entertainment, but it didn't used to be. In the sixties they killed the leaders, today we kill the hoi polloi. Come on, admit it, when you're invited to a mass gathering, when you go to an open-air concert in a non-traditional space, it crosses your mind, "I could die here."
So they organize the Woodstock festival to make money. But people came for the music. And at the time, it was the bill of all bills, no show had featured so many stars, and this woke up all the fans and they made a pilgrimage to Bethel, New York. It'd kinda be like having a videogame festival outdoors today, based on the most popular multiplayer game, people have no idea how many people are hooked, then again, you play inside.
Back then we went outdoors on a regular basis.
No one is fat in this documentary. What is it, the fructose, the additives, the lazy lifestyle? I don't know, but that was long ago, and in this footage the times look glorious.
Now you can only do something like this once. You can only push the envelope once. Like Radiohead's "In Rainbows" promotion. Once people have seen the trick, it can't be replicated. And today's music festivals are about anything but the music, they sell tickets before the lineup is even announced. It's not so much who's on stage, but who's in the audience.
But back then, we were all in it together. There was no VIP. Everybody was equal. Kids didn't judge hippies, they wanted to be one! That was the freedom they were yearning for, and the exploration. You wanted to be all you could be, as opposed to studying economics so you could work at the bank. Who in the hell would want to work at a bank? As for the money...no one we knew, almost no one at all, was a millionaire. Society was much more homogenous. And you could make it on minimum wage.
It's fascinating to see how word about the festival was spread through alternative newspapers. Those were the internet of their day. Radio was Twitter. There was no Facebook or Instagram, self-promotion was not lionized, you had no thought of becoming a business, first and foremost you were a person.
And the way everybody talked to each other, helped each other...today we judge people and exclude them.
Now I'm not saying everything was better in the sixties, there was poverty and racism but there was hope and a can-do spirit. As for Obama running on hope, wasn't that a joke. And anybody proposing something new is criticized. We can't have Medicare for All, the public won't go for it! It's like we're going backwards, we're isolating our country from the world, people want to go back to what once was as opposed to what can be.
But that can't happen. And if it did, people wouldn't like it. They'd lose their conveniences and just be a face in the crowd, if you were special back then it was based on your personality, not your clothing or your ride.
Oh, we've strayed so far from the garden.
And we're never going back there.
But when you watch the footage of Crosby, Stills & Nash performing "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," you tingle.
Do you know what it was like to hear this "wooden music"? These were people on stage, evidencing their humanity, the tunes weren't made by machines without melody.
It's getting to the point where there's no fun anymore. Everybody feels powerless, everybody is greedy, they and their family come first.
But back then Sly wanted to take us higher. If we believed in the music our lives were complete. In 1976 Don Henley sang "we haven't had that spirit here since 1969." Now we've gone even further off course. But it's those acts from the sixties and seventies who are still alive who sell out stadiums, who fill every seat. Sure, it was about the money, but first and foremost it was about music.
Back at Woodstock they let the music set them free.
You'll feel the same way when you watch this documentary.
"Woodstock: Three Days That Defined A Generation": https://bit.ly/2OfsTe0
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More Ric Ocasek
This is an extra tough one for me. Ric and I have been friends since I was 17, when we formed a band together with Ben Orr, Greg Hawkes and a drummer named Ron Riddle. Jonathan Richman named our band Richard and the Rabbits and we played shows around Boston and the NE. We spent a few years recording stuff as well, and had a consistently great time working & playing together until I moved away from Boston before the birth of The Cars.
Ric was always genuine, unpretentious and quite fearless, both before and after massive fame. In his lyric writing, he didn't waste a syllable and was usually about 30% more surreal and off the beaten path than you'd expect. His knack for concise melodies backed by the unexpected chord in the right place was always there. He had a great balance of the satisfying/expected and the surprise twist all along. In The Cars, he found the focused vehicle for his writing and a combination of elements that worked beautifully. Greg's perfect keyboard sounds and parts were often the secret sauce that glued the tracks together.
In 1982, in the midst of The Cars' great success, Ric felt the urge to go out on more of a creative limb and recorded his first solo album, Beatitude. He called me up in Miami and asked me to come play guitar and keyboards on it, and I was happy to jump back up to Boston and work with him again. We had a ball - Ric would pick me up and drive me back to my hotel every night, treating me beautifully and still the same no nonsense, thoughtful guy I'd known as before. Success hadn't made him lazy, he was a prolific writer and eager to get to work.
We didn't see each other often over the last 15 years or so, but it was always a deep pleasure to reunite, never any distance between us. Thanks to the recently departed Paul Allen, my girl & I were treated to a trip to The Cars' induction into the R&R Hall of Fame last year, and it was amazing to sit next to my old friends and see them rightly honored as the fantastic band they were & hear them play one more time. That was the last time Ric & I had together, we hung out most of the night and it couldn't have been sweeter.
I share this Heartbreak City with many friends and loved ones of Ric's - all of us are in shock. Please take care of your heart, Bob, mine needs some mending right now.
Fuzzbee Morse
___________________________________________
You'd be hard pressed to find an American male between 45 and 55 years old that doesn't immediately transport back to that ICONIC scene in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" whenever the intro to "Moving in Stereo" is played.
Lee Huddleston
___________________________________________
Sometime in 1972 I picked up two guys with guitars hitchhiking outside of Boston. I was in my first year of being a musician and had a great time chatting on the ride. They had just had their first record released and they gave me a promo copy, which I still have. The record was by Milkwood. Turned out to be Ric Ocasek and Benjamin Orr. RIP, Ric.
John
___________________________________________
I remember the first time I heard them, when Jimmy Knight brought a stack of records over to Angie Guthrie's party (our friend with the cool mom). He also brought a Jackson Browne record, but that's a different fangirl freakout. I remember dragging my mom to the Record Bar at the mall (after suffering through the obligatory JC Penney and Sears expeditions), trying to look cool while she paid for my record, bugging her to hurry up and GET HOME ALREADY so we could listen to it!! That slim square bright yellow paper bag that one LP barely fit in, sort of mocking us for not buying more--then taking that record to friends' houses to play every chance I could, especially the friends whose parents worked evenings and had killer stereos. The Cars were a monumental presence in the soundtrack of my youth and Ric's passing just brings so many memories into sharp, poignant focus. Damn.
Tina Withrow
___________________________________________
Bob great piece. The Cars hit me as a young kid and immediately made me go out and buy the album. Which of course meant I had to ride my bicycle and save money to buy it. And of course I played the album on my parents stereo. Literally it was that album, Devo and The Clash that made me become a record producer and songwriter.
R.I.P Ric
Johnny Vieira
___________________________________________
Their 2011 Move Like This is Good!
Listened to the CD over and over again in my car.
Larry Green
___________________________________________
bob…….you made me want to buy all these recordings again!
Peter Noone
___________________________________________
I remember when the Cars first album came out and you are exactly right about it. There was an album that was worth buying for the ENTIRE album. I was not as cool as you - I bought it at Licorice Pizza.
Keep well, keep going - courage.
Adam Keller
___________________________________________
I'm surprised you didn't mention the final Cars LP, "Move Like This," from
2011. It was really good, a return to form, especially the opening track
"Blue Tip," which should be on any Best-of-the-Cars playlist. The album
had all of the original members except for Ben Orr (Ocasek did bass
duties). Maybe you never got a chance to hear it.... it wasn't exactly
all over the place, sad to say. But it deserved to be.
"Forget about reality, 'cause nothin' is the norm" - (Blue Tip)
Mike Blakesley
Former record store guy
___________________________________________
This piece inspired me to write about The Cars from a Canadian perspective:
I got to Kinney Music (soon to be WEA Canada, then Warner Music Canada) in 1978. I was 25 and had been anointed the Elektra/Asylum/Atlantic Records label manager for Canada. The Canadian quarterback. Think about those labels' rosters at that time. Holy smokes. Thought I had died and gone to heaven.
Atlantic was on a hellacious rock roll. The Stones of course, Foreigner was huge, and you could feel AC-DC about to explode with the underrated Powerage, then Highway To Hell in '79. Abba, Roxy Music, Yes, Genesis, King Crimson. And on and on.
Elektra/Asylum was only a few years from hitting the wall and the gutting of the executive suite and the roster, when Bob Krasnow was brought in with a big broom, sweeping out the detritus, and Don Henley and Tom Waits with it, though that's another tale. In '78 they were still riding high with The Eagles, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, plus Joe Walsh and Warren Zevon were about to drop their big albums.
But god bless Mel Posner. Mel would later have a solid run at Geffen but back then he was entrenched at Elektra, a key lieutenant and a great guy, running the International Department. Very soon after I got the job Mel called with a crystal clear message: we've got a new band from Boston called The Cars and this is THE ONE! When Mel spoke, especially in that fashion, we listened. The advance cassette, Elektra 6E 135, arrived soon after and it was just an explosion, a detonation. The entire company lost its mind.
Late October '78, it might have even been Halloween night, The Cars played The Whisky in Los Angeles. I was lucky to be there. A total scene of course, Rodney holding court. Elektra out in force in its home town. Woodwork squeaks and out come the freaks, to quote Was Not Was, especially on Halloween. A great memory.
The Canadian company never stopped running with that first album through all those singles and straight into Candy-O. The first album did well in America obviously but we sold 750,000 copies in 18 months in Canada, a massive number, equal to 8 million plus in U.S. terms. In those days we were always judged by our percentage of sales vs. America. We would be lauded one day and flayed the next, but we punched way above our weight on 6E 135. Canada flat out loved The Cars. Two years later, on the release of Candy-O, the band headlined Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. They swung by our building and I can remember Ric Ocasek hiding out in A & R man Gary Muth's office, finding a bit of quiet and calm before the never-ending media storm.
It's sad, sobering and hard to process that he's gone.
Kim Cooke
___________________________________________
My favorite was "My best friends girl" the intro and the musical hooks unforgettable.
Alan Segal
___________________________________________
Thanks Bob, The Cars was Ric Ocasek's band, though I love each of the parts and how they contributed.
I inherited my older brother's cassettes of The Cars when he "graduated" to AC/DC. I am 5 years his junior and am currently 48, so this was probably around 82. I picked up Heartbeat City on my own.
The song I picked in my wedding to dance with my bride was Ric Ocasek's Emotion In Motion.
The Cars got me through the teen angst years while I tried to figure out girls. Their lyrics spoke to my intense shyness, and when I miraculously found my soulmate, Ric's lyrics painted the picture my heart was pounding out.
I appreciate you and your perspective, and agree that their work continues to sound like it was created today, year after year.
PS. There isn't a song I skip in their entire catalogue- The Cars through Move Like This, with Door to Door holding many of my favorite gems.
Jamie Rogerson
___________________________________________
Also, much like Howard Stern, Ric Ocasek had that one-of-a-kind look...just iconic in the 80s. The tremendous talent, combined with the look, made him seem almost not of this world.
....and the 2011 reunion album did not get enough play. Even though it's missing Benjamin Orr, it is a classic Cars album.
It's a shame....I don't think I realized just how much The Cars music meant to me until the last couple days. After the initial craze, you sometimes start taking certain bands "greatness" for granted. I guess that's the way it goes.
Rudy Falco
Asbury Park, NJ
___________________________________________
You're spot on. Those first 2 Cars albums, in particular, sound as good today as ever. They sound so contemporary. Sharp, bright, punchy, cool, sleek, and forceful.
It's funny, in real time back in the late 70's and through the 80's - I I thought The Cars were a second-tier band. Not nearly as cool or important compared to all the British heavyweights like The Clash/The Cure/The Jam/U2 etc.
But you nailed it - they made fantastic, innovative, slyly edgy hit records. And now in 2019, those records sound way better than most of the more revered artists of the 80s & 90s.
It's a big loss.
Jack Isquith
___________________________________________
Your tribute to The Cars and Ric was spot on.
A revolutionary band, all virtuosos.
And Ric wrote all the songs.
But it really was the sound that hooked us from the very first time you heard the Intro to "Good Times Roll."
So thank you for mentioning Roy Thomas Baker:
...with totally different words, the tracks still would have hit, they were just that powerful. To what degree was that the result of Roy Thomas Baker's production...who knows? But he was a master, he'd done Queen.
Unlike Producers who came from the Arranging side, like Quincy Jones and Arif Marvin, Roy was an Engineer first.
He had recorded Free's "All Right Now," which still sounds perfect today.
In just 1978 Roy produced the first Cars album, his fifth with Queen, Jazz ("Fat Bottomed Girls"), and Journey's Infinity ("Lights", "Wheel In the Sky"). And then in '79 he produced Candy-O, and Journey's Evolution.
In that imaginary Producers Hall of Fame, Roy is in the pantheon.
And The Cars' albums that he produced is one of the major reasons why.
Thanks Roy, for all the great records.
Thanks Bob for reminding us how great they really were and are.
Hank Neuberger
___________________________________________
Fall of 1977 I was a senior in high school outside of Boston (Lincoln-Sudbury, where we had Paula Poundstone, the Johns from They Might be Giants in my class, and Mike Gordon from Phish a freshman - something was definitely up with that school). The demo of Just What I Needed was all over the air on WBCN, well before the album came out the following summer. Saw the Cars that fall at the Boston Music Hall opening for Robin Trower (an odd mix for sure, only to be topped following year my freshman year at Middlebury where they booked NRBQ opening for Aztec Two Step, but that's another story). Summer of 1978 my parents had moved to small town Minnesota, and went to the local record store and had to special order the debut. Guy looked at me like I had twelve heads, hoped for his sake that he ordered more than one as it just blew up.
Great band and a great column.
Best
Mike Wyatt
___________________________________________
Beautifully put, Bob. Just lovely.
I was honestly never much of a Cars fan...but they were really. Fucking. Good. No question. Never met him. Wish I had.
HugoB
___________________________________________
In 1978 I was on tour with Genesis on the "Then There Were 3 Tour" (9 months in total) and one of the truck drivers from Edwin Shirley turned me onto The Cars, we had this album (cassette) in the cab and it was the final song on the album that we played and played and played as we toured through the UK and Europe…."Moving In Stereo", the bottom end was amazing and keyboards something special and a touch of Eno. When I got home for Christmas I got the album on vinyl dropped the needle and just turned the volume up through my hand made Turbosound speakers. Something else.
Memories.
Sir Harry Cowell
___________________________________________
Right on. Here's to a real visionary. The Cars first album really does sound brand new even today.
I also wanna raise a glass to Ben Orr, who had the great voice in The Cars -kinda like Dave Gilmour to Ric's Roger Waters.
It was cool how Ric and Ben sounded similar -when I was a kid I guess I thought it was all Ocasek. Ric had the instantly identifiable weird hiccup, while Ben sounded like the confident rock star, even sang the pretty stuff like
"Drive". Between the two they gave The Cars that one distinct sort of voice. .
"Candy-O", though !
spuggard
___________________________________________
I got to know and work with Ric musically and professionally when I was Director of A&R at Elektra Records in the early 2000's, and he was my neighbor in NYC. Our VP of Rock A&R was let go (the second in my tenure) and it was announced by our CEO Sylvia Rhone that Ric had been hired to take his place, making him one of my bosses, with an office just feet away from mine.
In an area of the business full of surreal creative/business encounters/relationships with people you grew up idolizing and listening to, this was on an entirely different level. There were only a few of us left in the A&R department that would report to him (this was leading up to the Elektra/Atlantic merger) and we had no idea what to expect. We watched movers and decorators slowly bring loads of his personal, modern furniture to decorate his office, rather than the standard company fare. The office then sat furnished but unoccupied for weeks as we wondered if/when he would ever show. And then one day, quiet and unannounced, in walked Ric, straight into his office, just sitting there.
I conjured up the confidence to walk in and introduce myself. I was a huge fan of The Cars as a kid, having borrowed all the records from my older brother, and grew to appreciate them even more over time as a fan of music and being in the business. I expressed this as well as how big of a fan I was of his production, including his work with Bad Brains, which he appreciated. One thing lead to another and the conversation turned to what part of NYC each other lived, when we learned we were neighbors, just yards away from each other, me at 18th and Irving and Ric at 19th and Irving. He then said straight faced to the few of us that would report to him, with the look of a rock star mixed with someone that had done it all in the business and had no F's left to give, that "I don't need to be here."
And he wasn't much at all after that, preferring to work from his home instead of the corporate label office. But how cool was it to be able to talk music with him, and drop off music and demos at his home, right around the corner from mine, and bump into him on the block, Paulina too, walking our dogs or on the way somewhere.
I moved out of the neighborhood a few years ago but often return and always think about Ric and his family when I walk by his home, feeling blessed to have made his acquaintance the way I did. And now that's where he passed.
Steve Tramposch
___________________________________________
The only article I ever wrote that Jann Wenner ever noticed was a cover story I did on The Cars in 1984 for the old Record magazine. I had known the band since '78 when my favorite Warner promo man Nick Panaseiko snuck me into the El Mocambo for their first show in Toronto (months after the Stones immortalized the place). It was beyond oversold. The debut was so hot that summer, stores were sold out. For weeks. I was just a punk rock kid at the paper so I didn't get to review the show. I think. But I do remember writing somewhere that Ocasek had "all the stage presence of a praying mantis". Yet the tracks were untouchable and they could execute. Went to the dressing room. Talked to Hawkes. Shook Ocasek's hand. Went on to Interview Roy Baker specifically about The Cars. I did some stories on them around Candy-O which is a better album now than it was 40 years ago. I pissed on their live show a little harder because they were an arena band now and Ocasek just didn't share anything on stage. And he wasn't thrilled with what I had to say especially about some of the fill they used in the live mix.
Then it got too arty and less relevant until Heartbeat City and I picked up the assignment. I was living in New York so I flew to Boston to interview 'the band' and then back to New York for Ocasek who went on a rant about how the four other members would be still be fucking around at Berklee if it wasn't for him. Or something like that. On the record.
That night I was at Area with Steve Rubell and my fiance and Ocasek was there and gave me a rare smile that said "I hate rock writers but you've been hanging around so I threw you a bone." Ultimately a complicated guy who did not suffer fools like me. But with thanks to Ocasek the resulting story was noticed by Wenner.
Thirty five years later and everyone from that moment at Area are gone.
But I still treasure that debut album which stands as the Pet Sounds of the 70s. Candy-O isn't too far behind.
And Bob, good point about Ocasek not making it until well into his 30s. The age thing was tamped down back in the day.
Now, this many years later, its Ocasek's tenacity that is part of his legacy. Never give up kids.
I'll always love The Cars for my time with them a couple of lives ago.
Jonathan Gross
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That was really great Bob. I was in Boston when The Cars broke. Had the red vinyl first single before the album was released. I was in a comedy group called "Boston Comedy Network". We opened for The Cars at an MIT Friday afternoon "beer blast". Elliot wasn't yet wearing a toupe. I did my Bryan Ferry impression as part of our show. Ric came up afterwards and told me how much he liked my Ferry impression. That always stuck with me....BTW: My CA license plate read "BMWS UGH" lol
Michael Fremer
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Fantastic! Panorama is a grower though!
Tim Tolbert
___________________________________________
I waited impatiently for two straight days to get your take on Ric's passing. You did him great justice in his own light, just as you did for Eddie Money.
As an eleven and twelve year old boy, I really didn't distinguish new wave from rock-n-roll as this is what was on the rock radio station as I shot hoops in the backyard.
I loved The Cars… my earliest thoughts of fawning over girls at my young age are tied up in these songs… My Best Friend's Girl… The Dangerous Type… Bye Bye Love… these songs got me through and are imprinted on my soul…
You can't fully appreciate the song Candy-O without listening to the pre-cursor: Shoo Be Doo… with headphones on, it's scary as it builds and leads up to the title cut… "ride around in your cadium car…"
You were also spot-on about The Cars being an amalgamation of styles in a compact fashion… the flat-out rock-a-billy guitar solos against the new wave synth beds and rock drumming… wow… I didn't even know what I was listening to at the time, but now, in hindsight, it's absolutely genius.
Thanks for appreciating Ric and The Cars, you didn't let me down (I knew I wasn't wrong about them).
Phil in Detroit
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Yo Bob,
Yeah, as a child of the MTV era, and the youngest extended family member of all boys (and one girl), music was a huge part of our lives. My oldest cousin always had a cool car with an insane stereo system. The girl cousin was a punker, but I think I got most of my punk influence during our skateboarding/surfing days (from day one I guess you could say). Anyway, I dug the cars and we had the albums floating around the house. Timeless shit by all means. Who cares what they're saying? It's the melody and the emotion of the singer. Words are more important than the message. I appreciate a great sound system, but I also dig listening to the earbuds on a bike ride. RATM? The Police? In your ears? That shit is untouchable when the sun is shining. Anyway, these guys like Bowie and, whomever really, killing themselves with cigarettes? Are you kidding me? It ain't that enjoyable. The brilliance of Bowie brought to an end for cigarettes? Hey, sex, maybe a drug like heroin (I guess, I've never done it), but nicotine? But I digress.
Health Note:
You know when you hear of a 90+ year old telling the secret of their longevity? They say something like, "I ate watermelon every day". Well, it ain't the watermelon that keeps them alive, it's the fact that they aren't eating chips and cookies and soda every day. The watermelon, apple, orange, or whatever, is just to keep you off the garbage. Simple, but elusive if you're a slave to the calories/salt/sugar.
Chris Flesher
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Joe Benson did the Seventh Day on KLOS.
Mike Johnson
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My first taste of the Cars was riding home on a Sunday night from Niagara Fall with my parents and older brother back to T.O. and on came My Best Friends Girl. I went out that week to buy the debut and after listening to it again tonight remembered every song word for word.. I played it to death. I bought Candy-O and loved it just as much. The cross between rock and new wave was a sound that was fresh. You never got guitar rock and synth-pop together in one band.. The Cars broke the mold..
Michael DiStasi
___________________________________________
RIP Ric Ocasek. Was a lad of 13 when my cool 20-something neighbor told me about a new band from Boston who would be hitting big, then I spent the summer and following months listening to the record and hearing the singles and album tracks on KMET, KLOS...even KDES when I'd go out to Palm Springs to my grandparents's place for occasional weekends. Couldn't escape it, and didn't want to.
Very best.
Craig Turner
___________________________________________
I was a freshman at BU in '79 and flying from Logan to Buffalo. The Cars were at my gate. All signed my Econ text book (the only only I've kept.) I sat next to Ric while waiting for the flight and he couldn't have been any nicer. Telling stories about the road and saying that the in El Paso was the craziest. I think they "jumped the shark" a bit with Magic but that first album is like Tapestry. Every cut is a classic!
Gary Sender
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It's funny you mention 'I Want To Hold Your Hand' in relation to The Cars.
It's not 'Good Times Roll', but, rather, 'Just What I Needed' that, as far as I've observed over the decades, may be the only popular song that totally lifted the chord changes from The Beatles' breakthrough hit. Listen again and you'll hear. I can't imagine that I'm the only one who's noticed but I'm the only one I know who has.
'Great artists don't borrow, they steal'. Well stolen, Ric, and here's to a life well lived.
Eric Bazilian
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And speaking of "I Want To Hold Your Hand"… It's the same chord progression they used in the verses of Just What I Needed.
James Sadler
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Thank you for writing about Ocasek and The Cars. I was eagerly awaiting your take.
But you said something everyone else is saying, as well, which is distressing.
In every Ocasek obit and memorial, The Cars' third album is quickly dismissed.
Which is feeling like the Old Guard Gatekeeper White Rock Guy Writer narrative. They all wrote their negative consensus opinion when the album was released, and no one has ever gone back and listened to it again because: Narrative.
Like you, I was there from Day One with The Cars, but as a 13-year old girl Top 40 pop music fanatic who knew from the first listen how different, refreshing and wonderful that Cars sound was.
The second album sounded like the first album, which was fine. It was just what we needed.
But Panorama was The Shit because they finally walked new ground.
Not worried about hits, just making a rock record for themselves. And it was awesome.
The only hit single from it was Touch & Go and it was/is GLORIOUS!
Easton's guitar solo?!? EASILY in the Top 5 all-time great guitar solos that made the Top 40. And a stellar solo by ANY parameter.
Considering the complexity and beauty of Touch & Go it's shocking that it even MADE it into the Top 40, which was already constricting in the wake of what The Cars wrought.
Panorama rocked harder, weirder and deadlier than the previous 2. Which is why it wasn't "a hit."
And it's odd how not repeating the same formula for the third time was held against them at the time. And no one has ever revisited the record to reassess.
And it's the ONLY Cars record I listen to all the way through on a regular basis because it's the only one that feels like an unfettered rock band, rather than a hit-making machine.
Which is what they returned to with the 4th and subsequent albums.
No shame to that, and bless 'em for all those amazing hits!
But during all the memorial respect for Ocasek and The Cars, sure would be nice if Panorama could get even a tiny bit of retrospective respect.
Thanks for inspiring a rant,
Toby Weiss
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You've gotta give Panorama another chance. Of their 3 initial albums it was the least immediate but when you revisit it how can you not love Touch & Go, Gimme Some Slack, the sublime Misfit Kid, Down Boys, You Wear Those Eyes and Running To You? Maybe just not your cup of tea but in hindsight this one stands up to the 1st 2 as a stone cold classic in my book and The Cars (along with Heart) were one of my absolute favorites all through High School.
Leigh Lust
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One thing I noticed the first time I played that first album: those first three songs were exactly the same length, 3:43 if I recall correctly. It was like they'd found a magic formula.
(That's what the label said, anyway; it also occurred to me that might be a joke.)
Anthony Saunders
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At 14 you couldn't tell me I wasn't the biggest Cars fan there was. I mean, I knew every word to every song. I had created scrapbooks dedicated to them and had a major crush on Ric (when it seemed like everyone else was crushing on Ben Orr). That year I went to my first concert ever, The Candy-O tour at The Spectrum in Philly. However once there I felt totally deflated. I looked around at the 10,000 people in attendance and thought to myself, how can this be? I'm their number one fan, how am I just another face in the crowd? I hated that feeling. I said, I don't want to be someone just sitting in the audience, I want to be someone who makes these things happen. I want to be in the music business! Long story short, by 21 I was already a VP at Def Jam Records and I've been on this crazy ride ever since. I thank The Cars for setting that fire under me. It changed my life. Rest peacefully Ric.
FAITH NEWMAN
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I remember clearly the first time I heard that first album - summer camp in Connecticut - and how fresh and different, yet overly familiar the songs sounded. My mind was blown. That first listen made them my favorite band for years. Thanks for writing this.
Danny Cooper
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I remember hearing "Just What I Needed" for the first time, sitting in the back seat of my friend's boat of a car, with his Jenson Triaxles (the Holy Grail!) making it happen. The Cars were next-up in a musical era that was an embarrassment of riches, with bands inventing new ways to write, play and arrange. Little did we know that the golden age was beginning its decline for rock and rollers.
Ben Orr's delivery was distant and disconnected like Devo, but couched in rough guitars, melody and harmony that made up this irresistible spoonful of angular sugar that a Beatles-reared, Elton John-nurtured and Led Zeppelin-transformed teen could only find thrilling and completely irresistible. My friends and I often talk about those bands that you recognize within four bars of a song. The Cars are one of those, and Ric Ocasek was a giant that the world has scarcely appreciated.
Funny note: My high school band got a gig playing a spring quad festival at Northeastern University that following May. I was blond and baby-faced but no threat to Ben Orr, but after we finished "Just What I Needed" this cute coed came up and asked me "Are you guys the Cars?" I've regretted my flustered response ever since. Peace.
Ted Doyle
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Ric produced tracks for HANSON.
Walter Sabo
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It was either in late 1979 or early 1980 and I was a professional tennis player trying to make it playing satellite tennis events throughout Europe. A friend from New Zealand had recently joined the tour - he was recently in the US when their album dropped and he could not stop raving about the Cars. When we heard that they were coming to Amsterdam for a show we hopped a train from Deventer in Holland to get to Amsterdam to see them at a tiny club. There were only about 50 people there and I was unfamiliar with their songs. I will never forget the performance. I was hooked. What a band. Such fantastic songs.
coopert
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Roy Thomas Baker knew how good The Cars were and then we all did. Their first two albums were non-skip albums. They sounded like they looked and looked like they sounded. Ric was smart and he knew Ben could sing his most treasured songs better. Elliot may be one of the most underrated guitar players ever and David and Greg were perfect pieces of the puzzle. After Candy-O they continued to make good records sprinkled with a few great songs, ie Touch and Go, You Might Think, Drive...etc. MTV transitioned The Cars from the 70's to the 80's. They never lost their audience or their appeal. Ric made a solid solo record with Emotion in Motion and True to You. He produced, mentored and inspired younger musicians. Thankfully he lived to see his band get the recognition they deserved with their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. He was a rock star that will be missed.
Jeff Sacks
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Ric Ocasek's passing has truly moved me.
If you were a keyboard player growing up in the 80s, The Cars gave you a reason to exist. I still remember learning Greg Hawkes' synth solo on "Just What I Needed" for my high school cover band. Was there a cooler riff to play in a rock band? For me it was the first time I felt as needed as the guitar player.
Ric's music has hooks and wit and heart and grit. And part our collective youth just left with him.
Thanks for the music, Ric. It truly was just what this guy needed.
Jon Regen
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Ric was truly one of a kind. I know he recently got into the hall, but I still don't feel like this guy ever got the recognition he deserved. Here's a little known demo from a side project of his a few years back that never saw the light of day, but now seems like the perfect time, an eerie send-off written by the man himself (about himself, with tongue planted firmly in cheek).
Tonight!
Casey Geisen
https://youtu.be/2SqinzCybN8
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Still have Ric's email in my inbox from October 2013 re a possible Weezer collaboration w my friend producer/mixer Ken Allardyce (in Glasgow at the time hangin' with Mick Fleetwood and Lindsey). Unfortunately we didn't get to work with Ric who went on to produce Everything Will Be Alright in the End, the ninth studio album by Weezer and his third collaboration with the band. In that email I congratulated him for his book: Lyrics & Pros and expressed interest in his artwork. It was an honor to know him. A renaissance man, Ric Ocasek now making music w his buddies in heaven.
RIP RO -- March 23, 1944 – September 15, 2019
http://ricocasek.com/; https://www.wentworthgallery.com/ocasek.html
Claris Sayadian-Dodge
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The band I was managing for Bruce Lundvall's Manhattan label (and A&R'd by Bruce Garfield) wanted Ric to produce their album. I met Ric at a rehearsal for the MTV Awards and told him about the band. He wrote down the address to send the demo. When he handed me the address, he said, "Dear, I promise you I will listen to it." (PS he didn't produce it, but he did call me "dear").
I can't remember the first song I ever heard on a Walkman. I can mos def remember the second one I heard - and played, over and over and over again. I was sitting on a beach chair at the top of a walk street hill in Manhattan Beach, looking at the ocean and listening to, "Good Times Roll".
Janie Hoffman
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I was 16 years old when The Cars debut album hit. Living in Milwaukee, we had AOR rock stations. All my friends listened to Skynyrd, Zeppelin, The Eagles and, of course, Boston. It was a daily offering that was inescapable. Think of the Dazed and Confused movie soundtrack. In the mid-late 70's and being 15-16 years old, we had no other options. College radio hadn't hit yet. MTV wasn't even a zygote. Punk rock was a London/New York thing where the only access we had to it was seeing photos in Creem Magazine. And good R&B was mainly underground. Disco wasn't an option - until we got drunk on Old Style beer and wanted to dance with girls.
And then The Cars hit. And very few of my friends would give them a listen. But for me, it opened a door. Made me wonder what else was out there. It piqued curiosity. I first heard "Just What I Needed". And then came "My Best Friend's Girl". After that, I rushed out to by the album. The Cars first album was meant to be played start to finish. Peaks and valleys. The look. The leather. The horizontal striped shirts. What was this? None of my friends would give it a listen. They absolutely refused. I brought the album to my best friends' beer and maddog party. I showed it to him. He held it, then threw it against the wall and screamed "I ain't playing no fucking punk rock!". I was devastated. This was my friend.. but I suddenly saw the line being divided right there.
The Cars opened the door for me and I imagine for many others. They made it ok to immediately accept something different. More challenging. The Police were right around the corner. Local radio even played Split Enz. I would surf the record stores for hours and hours curious about what was out there but not being played in Milwaukee, WI. All because of The Cars.
John Hauser
Milwaukee, WI USA
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Ric was my neighbor. He lived directly behind us for as long as I've been in my apartment, so about 16 years.
The Cars were inescapable growing up. Seems rude to say but... their music never did it for me. But Paulina sure did. And if there was ever a relationship that proved the Joel - Brinkley truism that talented guys can be with the absolute hottest women....
My wife & I saw Ric in our neighborhood all the time. Even every time we voted as we went to the same polling station. (We didn't see her often enough. But she was around.)
As I said, the Cars never did it for me but... Ric Ocasek was so unfailingly nice at every interaction, to every person... a kind, smart, funny, genius who would crack up the cashier at our local deli... it made me revisit The Cars
And then I got the joke.
The Cars are about those subtle interactions. Between real human beings. There's cleverness everywhere.
Ric personified them and now I miss my neighbor
Love you Bob,
Lee T. Guzofski
Ric was always genuine, unpretentious and quite fearless, both before and after massive fame. In his lyric writing, he didn't waste a syllable and was usually about 30% more surreal and off the beaten path than you'd expect. His knack for concise melodies backed by the unexpected chord in the right place was always there. He had a great balance of the satisfying/expected and the surprise twist all along. In The Cars, he found the focused vehicle for his writing and a combination of elements that worked beautifully. Greg's perfect keyboard sounds and parts were often the secret sauce that glued the tracks together.
In 1982, in the midst of The Cars' great success, Ric felt the urge to go out on more of a creative limb and recorded his first solo album, Beatitude. He called me up in Miami and asked me to come play guitar and keyboards on it, and I was happy to jump back up to Boston and work with him again. We had a ball - Ric would pick me up and drive me back to my hotel every night, treating me beautifully and still the same no nonsense, thoughtful guy I'd known as before. Success hadn't made him lazy, he was a prolific writer and eager to get to work.
We didn't see each other often over the last 15 years or so, but it was always a deep pleasure to reunite, never any distance between us. Thanks to the recently departed Paul Allen, my girl & I were treated to a trip to The Cars' induction into the R&R Hall of Fame last year, and it was amazing to sit next to my old friends and see them rightly honored as the fantastic band they were & hear them play one more time. That was the last time Ric & I had together, we hung out most of the night and it couldn't have been sweeter.
I share this Heartbreak City with many friends and loved ones of Ric's - all of us are in shock. Please take care of your heart, Bob, mine needs some mending right now.
Fuzzbee Morse
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You'd be hard pressed to find an American male between 45 and 55 years old that doesn't immediately transport back to that ICONIC scene in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" whenever the intro to "Moving in Stereo" is played.
Lee Huddleston
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Sometime in 1972 I picked up two guys with guitars hitchhiking outside of Boston. I was in my first year of being a musician and had a great time chatting on the ride. They had just had their first record released and they gave me a promo copy, which I still have. The record was by Milkwood. Turned out to be Ric Ocasek and Benjamin Orr. RIP, Ric.
John
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I remember the first time I heard them, when Jimmy Knight brought a stack of records over to Angie Guthrie's party (our friend with the cool mom). He also brought a Jackson Browne record, but that's a different fangirl freakout. I remember dragging my mom to the Record Bar at the mall (after suffering through the obligatory JC Penney and Sears expeditions), trying to look cool while she paid for my record, bugging her to hurry up and GET HOME ALREADY so we could listen to it!! That slim square bright yellow paper bag that one LP barely fit in, sort of mocking us for not buying more--then taking that record to friends' houses to play every chance I could, especially the friends whose parents worked evenings and had killer stereos. The Cars were a monumental presence in the soundtrack of my youth and Ric's passing just brings so many memories into sharp, poignant focus. Damn.
Tina Withrow
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Bob great piece. The Cars hit me as a young kid and immediately made me go out and buy the album. Which of course meant I had to ride my bicycle and save money to buy it. And of course I played the album on my parents stereo. Literally it was that album, Devo and The Clash that made me become a record producer and songwriter.
R.I.P Ric
Johnny Vieira
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Their 2011 Move Like This is Good!
Listened to the CD over and over again in my car.
Larry Green
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bob…….you made me want to buy all these recordings again!
Peter Noone
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I remember when the Cars first album came out and you are exactly right about it. There was an album that was worth buying for the ENTIRE album. I was not as cool as you - I bought it at Licorice Pizza.
Keep well, keep going - courage.
Adam Keller
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I'm surprised you didn't mention the final Cars LP, "Move Like This," from
2011. It was really good, a return to form, especially the opening track
"Blue Tip," which should be on any Best-of-the-Cars playlist. The album
had all of the original members except for Ben Orr (Ocasek did bass
duties). Maybe you never got a chance to hear it.... it wasn't exactly
all over the place, sad to say. But it deserved to be.
"Forget about reality, 'cause nothin' is the norm" - (Blue Tip)
Mike Blakesley
Former record store guy
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This piece inspired me to write about The Cars from a Canadian perspective:
I got to Kinney Music (soon to be WEA Canada, then Warner Music Canada) in 1978. I was 25 and had been anointed the Elektra/Asylum/Atlantic Records label manager for Canada. The Canadian quarterback. Think about those labels' rosters at that time. Holy smokes. Thought I had died and gone to heaven.
Atlantic was on a hellacious rock roll. The Stones of course, Foreigner was huge, and you could feel AC-DC about to explode with the underrated Powerage, then Highway To Hell in '79. Abba, Roxy Music, Yes, Genesis, King Crimson. And on and on.
Elektra/Asylum was only a few years from hitting the wall and the gutting of the executive suite and the roster, when Bob Krasnow was brought in with a big broom, sweeping out the detritus, and Don Henley and Tom Waits with it, though that's another tale. In '78 they were still riding high with The Eagles, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, plus Joe Walsh and Warren Zevon were about to drop their big albums.
But god bless Mel Posner. Mel would later have a solid run at Geffen but back then he was entrenched at Elektra, a key lieutenant and a great guy, running the International Department. Very soon after I got the job Mel called with a crystal clear message: we've got a new band from Boston called The Cars and this is THE ONE! When Mel spoke, especially in that fashion, we listened. The advance cassette, Elektra 6E 135, arrived soon after and it was just an explosion, a detonation. The entire company lost its mind.
Late October '78, it might have even been Halloween night, The Cars played The Whisky in Los Angeles. I was lucky to be there. A total scene of course, Rodney holding court. Elektra out in force in its home town. Woodwork squeaks and out come the freaks, to quote Was Not Was, especially on Halloween. A great memory.
The Canadian company never stopped running with that first album through all those singles and straight into Candy-O. The first album did well in America obviously but we sold 750,000 copies in 18 months in Canada, a massive number, equal to 8 million plus in U.S. terms. In those days we were always judged by our percentage of sales vs. America. We would be lauded one day and flayed the next, but we punched way above our weight on 6E 135. Canada flat out loved The Cars. Two years later, on the release of Candy-O, the band headlined Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. They swung by our building and I can remember Ric Ocasek hiding out in A & R man Gary Muth's office, finding a bit of quiet and calm before the never-ending media storm.
It's sad, sobering and hard to process that he's gone.
Kim Cooke
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My favorite was "My best friends girl" the intro and the musical hooks unforgettable.
Alan Segal
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Thanks Bob, The Cars was Ric Ocasek's band, though I love each of the parts and how they contributed.
I inherited my older brother's cassettes of The Cars when he "graduated" to AC/DC. I am 5 years his junior and am currently 48, so this was probably around 82. I picked up Heartbeat City on my own.
The song I picked in my wedding to dance with my bride was Ric Ocasek's Emotion In Motion.
The Cars got me through the teen angst years while I tried to figure out girls. Their lyrics spoke to my intense shyness, and when I miraculously found my soulmate, Ric's lyrics painted the picture my heart was pounding out.
I appreciate you and your perspective, and agree that their work continues to sound like it was created today, year after year.
PS. There isn't a song I skip in their entire catalogue- The Cars through Move Like This, with Door to Door holding many of my favorite gems.
Jamie Rogerson
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Also, much like Howard Stern, Ric Ocasek had that one-of-a-kind look...just iconic in the 80s. The tremendous talent, combined with the look, made him seem almost not of this world.
....and the 2011 reunion album did not get enough play. Even though it's missing Benjamin Orr, it is a classic Cars album.
It's a shame....I don't think I realized just how much The Cars music meant to me until the last couple days. After the initial craze, you sometimes start taking certain bands "greatness" for granted. I guess that's the way it goes.
Rudy Falco
Asbury Park, NJ
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You're spot on. Those first 2 Cars albums, in particular, sound as good today as ever. They sound so contemporary. Sharp, bright, punchy, cool, sleek, and forceful.
It's funny, in real time back in the late 70's and through the 80's - I I thought The Cars were a second-tier band. Not nearly as cool or important compared to all the British heavyweights like The Clash/The Cure/The Jam/U2 etc.
But you nailed it - they made fantastic, innovative, slyly edgy hit records. And now in 2019, those records sound way better than most of the more revered artists of the 80s & 90s.
It's a big loss.
Jack Isquith
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Your tribute to The Cars and Ric was spot on.
A revolutionary band, all virtuosos.
And Ric wrote all the songs.
But it really was the sound that hooked us from the very first time you heard the Intro to "Good Times Roll."
So thank you for mentioning Roy Thomas Baker:
...with totally different words, the tracks still would have hit, they were just that powerful. To what degree was that the result of Roy Thomas Baker's production...who knows? But he was a master, he'd done Queen.
Unlike Producers who came from the Arranging side, like Quincy Jones and Arif Marvin, Roy was an Engineer first.
He had recorded Free's "All Right Now," which still sounds perfect today.
In just 1978 Roy produced the first Cars album, his fifth with Queen, Jazz ("Fat Bottomed Girls"), and Journey's Infinity ("Lights", "Wheel In the Sky"). And then in '79 he produced Candy-O, and Journey's Evolution.
In that imaginary Producers Hall of Fame, Roy is in the pantheon.
And The Cars' albums that he produced is one of the major reasons why.
Thanks Roy, for all the great records.
Thanks Bob for reminding us how great they really were and are.
Hank Neuberger
___________________________________________
Fall of 1977 I was a senior in high school outside of Boston (Lincoln-Sudbury, where we had Paula Poundstone, the Johns from They Might be Giants in my class, and Mike Gordon from Phish a freshman - something was definitely up with that school). The demo of Just What I Needed was all over the air on WBCN, well before the album came out the following summer. Saw the Cars that fall at the Boston Music Hall opening for Robin Trower (an odd mix for sure, only to be topped following year my freshman year at Middlebury where they booked NRBQ opening for Aztec Two Step, but that's another story). Summer of 1978 my parents had moved to small town Minnesota, and went to the local record store and had to special order the debut. Guy looked at me like I had twelve heads, hoped for his sake that he ordered more than one as it just blew up.
Great band and a great column.
Best
Mike Wyatt
___________________________________________
Beautifully put, Bob. Just lovely.
I was honestly never much of a Cars fan...but they were really. Fucking. Good. No question. Never met him. Wish I had.
HugoB
___________________________________________
In 1978 I was on tour with Genesis on the "Then There Were 3 Tour" (9 months in total) and one of the truck drivers from Edwin Shirley turned me onto The Cars, we had this album (cassette) in the cab and it was the final song on the album that we played and played and played as we toured through the UK and Europe…."Moving In Stereo", the bottom end was amazing and keyboards something special and a touch of Eno. When I got home for Christmas I got the album on vinyl dropped the needle and just turned the volume up through my hand made Turbosound speakers. Something else.
Memories.
Sir Harry Cowell
___________________________________________
Right on. Here's to a real visionary. The Cars first album really does sound brand new even today.
I also wanna raise a glass to Ben Orr, who had the great voice in The Cars -kinda like Dave Gilmour to Ric's Roger Waters.
It was cool how Ric and Ben sounded similar -when I was a kid I guess I thought it was all Ocasek. Ric had the instantly identifiable weird hiccup, while Ben sounded like the confident rock star, even sang the pretty stuff like
"Drive". Between the two they gave The Cars that one distinct sort of voice. .
"Candy-O", though !
spuggard
___________________________________________
I got to know and work with Ric musically and professionally when I was Director of A&R at Elektra Records in the early 2000's, and he was my neighbor in NYC. Our VP of Rock A&R was let go (the second in my tenure) and it was announced by our CEO Sylvia Rhone that Ric had been hired to take his place, making him one of my bosses, with an office just feet away from mine.
In an area of the business full of surreal creative/business encounters/relationships with people you grew up idolizing and listening to, this was on an entirely different level. There were only a few of us left in the A&R department that would report to him (this was leading up to the Elektra/Atlantic merger) and we had no idea what to expect. We watched movers and decorators slowly bring loads of his personal, modern furniture to decorate his office, rather than the standard company fare. The office then sat furnished but unoccupied for weeks as we wondered if/when he would ever show. And then one day, quiet and unannounced, in walked Ric, straight into his office, just sitting there.
I conjured up the confidence to walk in and introduce myself. I was a huge fan of The Cars as a kid, having borrowed all the records from my older brother, and grew to appreciate them even more over time as a fan of music and being in the business. I expressed this as well as how big of a fan I was of his production, including his work with Bad Brains, which he appreciated. One thing lead to another and the conversation turned to what part of NYC each other lived, when we learned we were neighbors, just yards away from each other, me at 18th and Irving and Ric at 19th and Irving. He then said straight faced to the few of us that would report to him, with the look of a rock star mixed with someone that had done it all in the business and had no F's left to give, that "I don't need to be here."
And he wasn't much at all after that, preferring to work from his home instead of the corporate label office. But how cool was it to be able to talk music with him, and drop off music and demos at his home, right around the corner from mine, and bump into him on the block, Paulina too, walking our dogs or on the way somewhere.
I moved out of the neighborhood a few years ago but often return and always think about Ric and his family when I walk by his home, feeling blessed to have made his acquaintance the way I did. And now that's where he passed.
Steve Tramposch
___________________________________________
The only article I ever wrote that Jann Wenner ever noticed was a cover story I did on The Cars in 1984 for the old Record magazine. I had known the band since '78 when my favorite Warner promo man Nick Panaseiko snuck me into the El Mocambo for their first show in Toronto (months after the Stones immortalized the place). It was beyond oversold. The debut was so hot that summer, stores were sold out. For weeks. I was just a punk rock kid at the paper so I didn't get to review the show. I think. But I do remember writing somewhere that Ocasek had "all the stage presence of a praying mantis". Yet the tracks were untouchable and they could execute. Went to the dressing room. Talked to Hawkes. Shook Ocasek's hand. Went on to Interview Roy Baker specifically about The Cars. I did some stories on them around Candy-O which is a better album now than it was 40 years ago. I pissed on their live show a little harder because they were an arena band now and Ocasek just didn't share anything on stage. And he wasn't thrilled with what I had to say especially about some of the fill they used in the live mix.
Then it got too arty and less relevant until Heartbeat City and I picked up the assignment. I was living in New York so I flew to Boston to interview 'the band' and then back to New York for Ocasek who went on a rant about how the four other members would be still be fucking around at Berklee if it wasn't for him. Or something like that. On the record.
That night I was at Area with Steve Rubell and my fiance and Ocasek was there and gave me a rare smile that said "I hate rock writers but you've been hanging around so I threw you a bone." Ultimately a complicated guy who did not suffer fools like me. But with thanks to Ocasek the resulting story was noticed by Wenner.
Thirty five years later and everyone from that moment at Area are gone.
But I still treasure that debut album which stands as the Pet Sounds of the 70s. Candy-O isn't too far behind.
And Bob, good point about Ocasek not making it until well into his 30s. The age thing was tamped down back in the day.
Now, this many years later, its Ocasek's tenacity that is part of his legacy. Never give up kids.
I'll always love The Cars for my time with them a couple of lives ago.
Jonathan Gross
___________________________________________
That was really great Bob. I was in Boston when The Cars broke. Had the red vinyl first single before the album was released. I was in a comedy group called "Boston Comedy Network". We opened for The Cars at an MIT Friday afternoon "beer blast". Elliot wasn't yet wearing a toupe. I did my Bryan Ferry impression as part of our show. Ric came up afterwards and told me how much he liked my Ferry impression. That always stuck with me....BTW: My CA license plate read "BMWS UGH" lol
Michael Fremer
___________________________________________
Fantastic! Panorama is a grower though!
Tim Tolbert
___________________________________________
I waited impatiently for two straight days to get your take on Ric's passing. You did him great justice in his own light, just as you did for Eddie Money.
As an eleven and twelve year old boy, I really didn't distinguish new wave from rock-n-roll as this is what was on the rock radio station as I shot hoops in the backyard.
I loved The Cars… my earliest thoughts of fawning over girls at my young age are tied up in these songs… My Best Friend's Girl… The Dangerous Type… Bye Bye Love… these songs got me through and are imprinted on my soul…
You can't fully appreciate the song Candy-O without listening to the pre-cursor: Shoo Be Doo… with headphones on, it's scary as it builds and leads up to the title cut… "ride around in your cadium car…"
You were also spot-on about The Cars being an amalgamation of styles in a compact fashion… the flat-out rock-a-billy guitar solos against the new wave synth beds and rock drumming… wow… I didn't even know what I was listening to at the time, but now, in hindsight, it's absolutely genius.
Thanks for appreciating Ric and The Cars, you didn't let me down (I knew I wasn't wrong about them).
Phil in Detroit
___________________________________________
Yo Bob,
Yeah, as a child of the MTV era, and the youngest extended family member of all boys (and one girl), music was a huge part of our lives. My oldest cousin always had a cool car with an insane stereo system. The girl cousin was a punker, but I think I got most of my punk influence during our skateboarding/surfing days (from day one I guess you could say). Anyway, I dug the cars and we had the albums floating around the house. Timeless shit by all means. Who cares what they're saying? It's the melody and the emotion of the singer. Words are more important than the message. I appreciate a great sound system, but I also dig listening to the earbuds on a bike ride. RATM? The Police? In your ears? That shit is untouchable when the sun is shining. Anyway, these guys like Bowie and, whomever really, killing themselves with cigarettes? Are you kidding me? It ain't that enjoyable. The brilliance of Bowie brought to an end for cigarettes? Hey, sex, maybe a drug like heroin (I guess, I've never done it), but nicotine? But I digress.
Health Note:
You know when you hear of a 90+ year old telling the secret of their longevity? They say something like, "I ate watermelon every day". Well, it ain't the watermelon that keeps them alive, it's the fact that they aren't eating chips and cookies and soda every day. The watermelon, apple, orange, or whatever, is just to keep you off the garbage. Simple, but elusive if you're a slave to the calories/salt/sugar.
Chris Flesher
___________________________________________
Joe Benson did the Seventh Day on KLOS.
Mike Johnson
___________________________________________
My first taste of the Cars was riding home on a Sunday night from Niagara Fall with my parents and older brother back to T.O. and on came My Best Friends Girl. I went out that week to buy the debut and after listening to it again tonight remembered every song word for word.. I played it to death. I bought Candy-O and loved it just as much. The cross between rock and new wave was a sound that was fresh. You never got guitar rock and synth-pop together in one band.. The Cars broke the mold..
Michael DiStasi
___________________________________________
RIP Ric Ocasek. Was a lad of 13 when my cool 20-something neighbor told me about a new band from Boston who would be hitting big, then I spent the summer and following months listening to the record and hearing the singles and album tracks on KMET, KLOS...even KDES when I'd go out to Palm Springs to my grandparents's place for occasional weekends. Couldn't escape it, and didn't want to.
Very best.
Craig Turner
___________________________________________
I was a freshman at BU in '79 and flying from Logan to Buffalo. The Cars were at my gate. All signed my Econ text book (the only only I've kept.) I sat next to Ric while waiting for the flight and he couldn't have been any nicer. Telling stories about the road and saying that the in El Paso was the craziest. I think they "jumped the shark" a bit with Magic but that first album is like Tapestry. Every cut is a classic!
Gary Sender
___________________________________________
It's funny you mention 'I Want To Hold Your Hand' in relation to The Cars.
It's not 'Good Times Roll', but, rather, 'Just What I Needed' that, as far as I've observed over the decades, may be the only popular song that totally lifted the chord changes from The Beatles' breakthrough hit. Listen again and you'll hear. I can't imagine that I'm the only one who's noticed but I'm the only one I know who has.
'Great artists don't borrow, they steal'. Well stolen, Ric, and here's to a life well lived.
Eric Bazilian
___________________________________________
And speaking of "I Want To Hold Your Hand"… It's the same chord progression they used in the verses of Just What I Needed.
James Sadler
___________________________________________
Thank you for writing about Ocasek and The Cars. I was eagerly awaiting your take.
But you said something everyone else is saying, as well, which is distressing.
In every Ocasek obit and memorial, The Cars' third album is quickly dismissed.
Which is feeling like the Old Guard Gatekeeper White Rock Guy Writer narrative. They all wrote their negative consensus opinion when the album was released, and no one has ever gone back and listened to it again because: Narrative.
Like you, I was there from Day One with The Cars, but as a 13-year old girl Top 40 pop music fanatic who knew from the first listen how different, refreshing and wonderful that Cars sound was.
The second album sounded like the first album, which was fine. It was just what we needed.
But Panorama was The Shit because they finally walked new ground.
Not worried about hits, just making a rock record for themselves. And it was awesome.
The only hit single from it was Touch & Go and it was/is GLORIOUS!
Easton's guitar solo?!? EASILY in the Top 5 all-time great guitar solos that made the Top 40. And a stellar solo by ANY parameter.
Considering the complexity and beauty of Touch & Go it's shocking that it even MADE it into the Top 40, which was already constricting in the wake of what The Cars wrought.
Panorama rocked harder, weirder and deadlier than the previous 2. Which is why it wasn't "a hit."
And it's odd how not repeating the same formula for the third time was held against them at the time. And no one has ever revisited the record to reassess.
And it's the ONLY Cars record I listen to all the way through on a regular basis because it's the only one that feels like an unfettered rock band, rather than a hit-making machine.
Which is what they returned to with the 4th and subsequent albums.
No shame to that, and bless 'em for all those amazing hits!
But during all the memorial respect for Ocasek and The Cars, sure would be nice if Panorama could get even a tiny bit of retrospective respect.
Thanks for inspiring a rant,
Toby Weiss
___________________________________________
You've gotta give Panorama another chance. Of their 3 initial albums it was the least immediate but when you revisit it how can you not love Touch & Go, Gimme Some Slack, the sublime Misfit Kid, Down Boys, You Wear Those Eyes and Running To You? Maybe just not your cup of tea but in hindsight this one stands up to the 1st 2 as a stone cold classic in my book and The Cars (along with Heart) were one of my absolute favorites all through High School.
Leigh Lust
___________________________________________
One thing I noticed the first time I played that first album: those first three songs were exactly the same length, 3:43 if I recall correctly. It was like they'd found a magic formula.
(That's what the label said, anyway; it also occurred to me that might be a joke.)
Anthony Saunders
___________________________________________
At 14 you couldn't tell me I wasn't the biggest Cars fan there was. I mean, I knew every word to every song. I had created scrapbooks dedicated to them and had a major crush on Ric (when it seemed like everyone else was crushing on Ben Orr). That year I went to my first concert ever, The Candy-O tour at The Spectrum in Philly. However once there I felt totally deflated. I looked around at the 10,000 people in attendance and thought to myself, how can this be? I'm their number one fan, how am I just another face in the crowd? I hated that feeling. I said, I don't want to be someone just sitting in the audience, I want to be someone who makes these things happen. I want to be in the music business! Long story short, by 21 I was already a VP at Def Jam Records and I've been on this crazy ride ever since. I thank The Cars for setting that fire under me. It changed my life. Rest peacefully Ric.
FAITH NEWMAN
___________________________________________
I remember clearly the first time I heard that first album - summer camp in Connecticut - and how fresh and different, yet overly familiar the songs sounded. My mind was blown. That first listen made them my favorite band for years. Thanks for writing this.
Danny Cooper
___________________________________________
I remember hearing "Just What I Needed" for the first time, sitting in the back seat of my friend's boat of a car, with his Jenson Triaxles (the Holy Grail!) making it happen. The Cars were next-up in a musical era that was an embarrassment of riches, with bands inventing new ways to write, play and arrange. Little did we know that the golden age was beginning its decline for rock and rollers.
Ben Orr's delivery was distant and disconnected like Devo, but couched in rough guitars, melody and harmony that made up this irresistible spoonful of angular sugar that a Beatles-reared, Elton John-nurtured and Led Zeppelin-transformed teen could only find thrilling and completely irresistible. My friends and I often talk about those bands that you recognize within four bars of a song. The Cars are one of those, and Ric Ocasek was a giant that the world has scarcely appreciated.
Funny note: My high school band got a gig playing a spring quad festival at Northeastern University that following May. I was blond and baby-faced but no threat to Ben Orr, but after we finished "Just What I Needed" this cute coed came up and asked me "Are you guys the Cars?" I've regretted my flustered response ever since. Peace.
Ted Doyle
___________________________________________
Ric produced tracks for HANSON.
Walter Sabo
___________________________________________
It was either in late 1979 or early 1980 and I was a professional tennis player trying to make it playing satellite tennis events throughout Europe. A friend from New Zealand had recently joined the tour - he was recently in the US when their album dropped and he could not stop raving about the Cars. When we heard that they were coming to Amsterdam for a show we hopped a train from Deventer in Holland to get to Amsterdam to see them at a tiny club. There were only about 50 people there and I was unfamiliar with their songs. I will never forget the performance. I was hooked. What a band. Such fantastic songs.
coopert
___________________________________________
Roy Thomas Baker knew how good The Cars were and then we all did. Their first two albums were non-skip albums. They sounded like they looked and looked like they sounded. Ric was smart and he knew Ben could sing his most treasured songs better. Elliot may be one of the most underrated guitar players ever and David and Greg were perfect pieces of the puzzle. After Candy-O they continued to make good records sprinkled with a few great songs, ie Touch and Go, You Might Think, Drive...etc. MTV transitioned The Cars from the 70's to the 80's. They never lost their audience or their appeal. Ric made a solid solo record with Emotion in Motion and True to You. He produced, mentored and inspired younger musicians. Thankfully he lived to see his band get the recognition they deserved with their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. He was a rock star that will be missed.
Jeff Sacks
___________________________________________
Ric Ocasek's passing has truly moved me.
If you were a keyboard player growing up in the 80s, The Cars gave you a reason to exist. I still remember learning Greg Hawkes' synth solo on "Just What I Needed" for my high school cover band. Was there a cooler riff to play in a rock band? For me it was the first time I felt as needed as the guitar player.
Ric's music has hooks and wit and heart and grit. And part our collective youth just left with him.
Thanks for the music, Ric. It truly was just what this guy needed.
Jon Regen
___________________________________________
Ric was truly one of a kind. I know he recently got into the hall, but I still don't feel like this guy ever got the recognition he deserved. Here's a little known demo from a side project of his a few years back that never saw the light of day, but now seems like the perfect time, an eerie send-off written by the man himself (about himself, with tongue planted firmly in cheek).
Tonight!
Casey Geisen
https://youtu.be/2SqinzCybN8
___________________________________________
Still have Ric's email in my inbox from October 2013 re a possible Weezer collaboration w my friend producer/mixer Ken Allardyce (in Glasgow at the time hangin' with Mick Fleetwood and Lindsey). Unfortunately we didn't get to work with Ric who went on to produce Everything Will Be Alright in the End, the ninth studio album by Weezer and his third collaboration with the band. In that email I congratulated him for his book: Lyrics & Pros and expressed interest in his artwork. It was an honor to know him. A renaissance man, Ric Ocasek now making music w his buddies in heaven.
RIP RO -- March 23, 1944 – September 15, 2019
http://ricocasek.com/; https://www.wentworthgallery.com/ocasek.html
Claris Sayadian-Dodge
___________________________________________
The band I was managing for Bruce Lundvall's Manhattan label (and A&R'd by Bruce Garfield) wanted Ric to produce their album. I met Ric at a rehearsal for the MTV Awards and told him about the band. He wrote down the address to send the demo. When he handed me the address, he said, "Dear, I promise you I will listen to it." (PS he didn't produce it, but he did call me "dear").
I can't remember the first song I ever heard on a Walkman. I can mos def remember the second one I heard - and played, over and over and over again. I was sitting on a beach chair at the top of a walk street hill in Manhattan Beach, looking at the ocean and listening to, "Good Times Roll".
Janie Hoffman
___________________________________________
I was 16 years old when The Cars debut album hit. Living in Milwaukee, we had AOR rock stations. All my friends listened to Skynyrd, Zeppelin, The Eagles and, of course, Boston. It was a daily offering that was inescapable. Think of the Dazed and Confused movie soundtrack. In the mid-late 70's and being 15-16 years old, we had no other options. College radio hadn't hit yet. MTV wasn't even a zygote. Punk rock was a London/New York thing where the only access we had to it was seeing photos in Creem Magazine. And good R&B was mainly underground. Disco wasn't an option - until we got drunk on Old Style beer and wanted to dance with girls.
And then The Cars hit. And very few of my friends would give them a listen. But for me, it opened a door. Made me wonder what else was out there. It piqued curiosity. I first heard "Just What I Needed". And then came "My Best Friend's Girl". After that, I rushed out to by the album. The Cars first album was meant to be played start to finish. Peaks and valleys. The look. The leather. The horizontal striped shirts. What was this? None of my friends would give it a listen. They absolutely refused. I brought the album to my best friends' beer and maddog party. I showed it to him. He held it, then threw it against the wall and screamed "I ain't playing no fucking punk rock!". I was devastated. This was my friend.. but I suddenly saw the line being divided right there.
The Cars opened the door for me and I imagine for many others. They made it ok to immediately accept something different. More challenging. The Police were right around the corner. Local radio even played Split Enz. I would surf the record stores for hours and hours curious about what was out there but not being played in Milwaukee, WI. All because of The Cars.
John Hauser
Milwaukee, WI USA
___________________________________________
Ric was my neighbor. He lived directly behind us for as long as I've been in my apartment, so about 16 years.
The Cars were inescapable growing up. Seems rude to say but... their music never did it for me. But Paulina sure did. And if there was ever a relationship that proved the Joel - Brinkley truism that talented guys can be with the absolute hottest women....
My wife & I saw Ric in our neighborhood all the time. Even every time we voted as we went to the same polling station. (We didn't see her often enough. But she was around.)
As I said, the Cars never did it for me but... Ric Ocasek was so unfailingly nice at every interaction, to every person... a kind, smart, funny, genius who would crack up the cashier at our local deli... it made me revisit The Cars
And then I got the joke.
The Cars are about those subtle interactions. Between real human beings. There's cleverness everywhere.
Ric personified them and now I miss my neighbor
Love you Bob,
Lee T. Guzofski
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Tuesday 17 September 2019
Four Dead Ramones
Let me tell you how I do this.
I work on inspiration. And when it comes, the words flow out of me, and that's when it's best. I know when I do something great, which is difficult to achieve, a mountain I am always trying to climb, if anybody tells you they don't know what is great, chances are they are not a great artist.
I couldn't write yesterday. I was booked all day. I had a podcast and then the nutritionist and another doctor and then I had to drive downtown for dinner and a gig. Actually, in stop and go traffic on the 10, I was listening to Trump in New Mexico, on Fox. I was inspired to write then too. Because if you only listen to Trump, he's pretty convincing. And it's definitely not boilerplate, he's making it up as he goes, so you don't get bored. But needless to say, I can't write in my car.
Dinner was interesting. The manager of Slipknot and a guy who runs rock for Apple. We ultimately discussed politics, that's where the conversation goes these days. We were brought together by Jason Flom, to see his act Counterfeit at the Moroccan Lounge. We actually got there ten minutes late, service at the restaurant was slow. But from the moment I arrived, I got it. You know right away. First it was the melody, the old tracks I'd listened to online were more noise, more punk. And the frontman was a good one. And the girls adored him. The new album was cut by Rob Cavallo. Can rock make a comeback? That's what's Flom's fighting for.
And after discussing skiing with the aforementioned manager in his Land Cruiser, I drove home. But the map app said to take the 110 to the 10 to the 405. I'd been planning on stopping at the Shell station on Van Nuys Boulevard, but suddenly I wasn't going that way. And I really had to pee. So I told myself I'd fill up tomorrow, i.e. today, but then I remembered my radio show so I stopped at the 76 in Bel-Air, which is overpriced, but I had no choice. And after reading Mike Isaac's book on Uber, I retired, and when I woke up Amazon had gone CD quality. I was inspired to write something, but I did not have the time. How could Amazon catch Spotify and Apple flat-footed? Spotify is so busy trying to make the numbers work, primarily with non-music content, that they stopped pushing the envelope. As for Apple, it's a me-too company in music, there is no innovation. And now Amazon is offering an upgrade for much less than Tidal and Deezer, absolutely killing Tidal. Amazon is the sleeper, it's always the sleeper. Give 'em time and they'll catch up and then surpass you. Apple ceded voice to Amazon, Siri was first, Alexa now dominates.
So I drove to the shrink and Howard was going on about paying your dues, staying in school, hard work paying dividends.
And when I got back at 12:20 I had to answer the urgent e-mail and call to schedule some appointments and by time I got ready to write about Amazon's new music tier, I couldn't, like I said, I do it on inspiration, and I wasn't, inspired that is.
And I thought if I wrote about Ric Ocasek at all, it would be Wednesday, because I had to go do my radio show in Hollywood and I have dinner at 7:15.
But suddenly, I was inspired. I found an entry point. And when I turned on the music (Deezer HiFi actually), I was astounded how good it sounded, and I got into a trance, listening and writing, which is what I like to do most.
But suddenly, the clock was ticking. I looked up at the corner of my Mac, I was gonna have to leave to do my radio show. That's live, I cannot be late.
So I'm writing and I think there are four dead Ramones, but wanting to make sure, I do a quick Safari search. And whether it was misinformation or I read the page wrong it looked like maybe one Ramone was still alive, I told myself I'd check in the rewrite.
Now I reread/rewrite twice. I change almost nothing, I'll explain why sometime, but I've learned if I change anything, I ruin it, I'm just looking for obvious mistakes, lack of a word, a misspelling, and then...
I realize I probably can't do the second reread. I'm up against a hard deadline. I ultimately rush through it.
And since I've got dinner at 7:15 in Brentwood, I've got to send this Ric Ocasek missive before I leave for the radio show, otherwise I won't have a short window to write about Amazon.
Now it's getting really late, the software is running slowly. I'm running on sheer adrenaline. I didn't have time to check the Ramones again and...
I was wrong.
Now I wouldn't e-mail someone about this little mistake, but I do admit, I would judge someone if they made this mistake, so when I got to SiriusXM and I picked up my phone, my heart sank, I'd been bitten by the deadline.
And I was gonna let it slide, but the corrections kept pouring in.
So I thought of writing this.
But then I wouldn't be able to write about Amazon.
And right now I'm rushing because I have to make dinner!
I work on inspiration. And when it comes, the words flow out of me, and that's when it's best. I know when I do something great, which is difficult to achieve, a mountain I am always trying to climb, if anybody tells you they don't know what is great, chances are they are not a great artist.
I couldn't write yesterday. I was booked all day. I had a podcast and then the nutritionist and another doctor and then I had to drive downtown for dinner and a gig. Actually, in stop and go traffic on the 10, I was listening to Trump in New Mexico, on Fox. I was inspired to write then too. Because if you only listen to Trump, he's pretty convincing. And it's definitely not boilerplate, he's making it up as he goes, so you don't get bored. But needless to say, I can't write in my car.
Dinner was interesting. The manager of Slipknot and a guy who runs rock for Apple. We ultimately discussed politics, that's where the conversation goes these days. We were brought together by Jason Flom, to see his act Counterfeit at the Moroccan Lounge. We actually got there ten minutes late, service at the restaurant was slow. But from the moment I arrived, I got it. You know right away. First it was the melody, the old tracks I'd listened to online were more noise, more punk. And the frontman was a good one. And the girls adored him. The new album was cut by Rob Cavallo. Can rock make a comeback? That's what's Flom's fighting for.
And after discussing skiing with the aforementioned manager in his Land Cruiser, I drove home. But the map app said to take the 110 to the 10 to the 405. I'd been planning on stopping at the Shell station on Van Nuys Boulevard, but suddenly I wasn't going that way. And I really had to pee. So I told myself I'd fill up tomorrow, i.e. today, but then I remembered my radio show so I stopped at the 76 in Bel-Air, which is overpriced, but I had no choice. And after reading Mike Isaac's book on Uber, I retired, and when I woke up Amazon had gone CD quality. I was inspired to write something, but I did not have the time. How could Amazon catch Spotify and Apple flat-footed? Spotify is so busy trying to make the numbers work, primarily with non-music content, that they stopped pushing the envelope. As for Apple, it's a me-too company in music, there is no innovation. And now Amazon is offering an upgrade for much less than Tidal and Deezer, absolutely killing Tidal. Amazon is the sleeper, it's always the sleeper. Give 'em time and they'll catch up and then surpass you. Apple ceded voice to Amazon, Siri was first, Alexa now dominates.
So I drove to the shrink and Howard was going on about paying your dues, staying in school, hard work paying dividends.
And when I got back at 12:20 I had to answer the urgent e-mail and call to schedule some appointments and by time I got ready to write about Amazon's new music tier, I couldn't, like I said, I do it on inspiration, and I wasn't, inspired that is.
And I thought if I wrote about Ric Ocasek at all, it would be Wednesday, because I had to go do my radio show in Hollywood and I have dinner at 7:15.
But suddenly, I was inspired. I found an entry point. And when I turned on the music (Deezer HiFi actually), I was astounded how good it sounded, and I got into a trance, listening and writing, which is what I like to do most.
But suddenly, the clock was ticking. I looked up at the corner of my Mac, I was gonna have to leave to do my radio show. That's live, I cannot be late.
So I'm writing and I think there are four dead Ramones, but wanting to make sure, I do a quick Safari search. And whether it was misinformation or I read the page wrong it looked like maybe one Ramone was still alive, I told myself I'd check in the rewrite.
Now I reread/rewrite twice. I change almost nothing, I'll explain why sometime, but I've learned if I change anything, I ruin it, I'm just looking for obvious mistakes, lack of a word, a misspelling, and then...
I realize I probably can't do the second reread. I'm up against a hard deadline. I ultimately rush through it.
And since I've got dinner at 7:15 in Brentwood, I've got to send this Ric Ocasek missive before I leave for the radio show, otherwise I won't have a short window to write about Amazon.
Now it's getting really late, the software is running slowly. I'm running on sheer adrenaline. I didn't have time to check the Ramones again and...
I was wrong.
Now I wouldn't e-mail someone about this little mistake, but I do admit, I would judge someone if they made this mistake, so when I got to SiriusXM and I picked up my phone, my heart sank, I'd been bitten by the deadline.
And I was gonna let it slide, but the corrections kept pouring in.
So I thought of writing this.
But then I wouldn't be able to write about Amazon.
And right now I'm rushing because I have to make dinner!
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Ric Ocasek
1
My internist says if I do what he says, I will never die of a heart attack. Actually, he sent me to a heart specialist, because my cholesterol number is insane. This doctor, Sandra Fallon, gets this in-depth test and then creates a program for the individual. I take 5 mg of Crestor every day. She says upping the dose would not improve my condition. Of course I take other things she's prescribed, but at my last test, I had a high particle number. I was just retested last week, I'm going to see Fallon next week, you see I don't want to die of a heart attack.
I went for that scan when I first saw her, where they uncover how much plaque you have in your heart. I was in the fortieth percentile. As in, at my age, sixty percent of the people have more plaque, forty percent less. Freaked me out, my internist had to talk me down from the ledge. You think you're perfect, but you're not. Now I hew to a strict diet of no rice, no bread, no potatoes, no pizza...my nutritionist calls rice "filler food." I asked her about all the people my age I see eating fries and...she said they were going to DIE!
Not everybody, of course. But look at David Letterman and Bill Clinton, they had heart problems and they got scared straight. No one is forever and you want to increase your odds.
As for smoking and emphysema...I gave up smoking at five. My mother was an occasional smoker, I saw a lit cigarette in the ashtray, I asked her for a hit and she said SURE! So I took one puff and that cured me. That's right, I never wanted to look cool in high school, hell, I never WAS cool. So when I see youngsters puffing today I shake my head...who are you rebelling against, yourself?
2
Rock stars die young, or as Joe Walsh puts it, the challenge is staying alive, not dying. So whenever I see a rock star pass before his or her time, I wait for the cause. Too often it's "misadventure," a euphemism for O.D.'ing. Some of your favorite rockers are hooked on drugs. Who would have thought Tom Petty would get hooked on heroin long after his initial success? As far as the fentanyl that killed him...I ain't taking anything my doctor ain't prescribing. That may make me a nerd, but if you buy pills on the net, on the street, you never truly know what's in them. Another reason I quit smoking dope in the seventies. Sometimes I'd get fantastically high and wonder...WHAT'S IN THIS? There was no way of knowing.
Which is all to day, when I read that Ric Ocasek died, I held my breath until the cause was released.
Heart disease and emphysema.
3
Now the 1970s were an era of platinum sales and sold out arenas. But there started to be a backlash, against what was labeled "corporate rock." I purchased the Ramones' "Rocket To Russia," because I loved "Rockaway Beach." But it wasn't until Joey Ramone died, back in 2001, that the band was acknowledged for the breakthrough they were. The Sex Pistols, with their one LP, got most of the attention in the mainstream. And now three of the four original members are dead, they cannot bask in the Ramones' newfound glory.
But after the Ramones, there came a new sound, "New Wave." Can't tell you exactly what it sounded like, it was a catch-all for those not members, nor influenced by their progenitors, the legendary classic rock acts and the virtuosos in bands like Yes and ELP. Was Graham Parker new wave? At first he was considered so. Certainly Elvis Costello. And despite Costello's legendary appearance on SNL, most people were unaware of the new sound, which came primarily out of England, there was a slew of bands if you were a fan, but they weren't even played on AOR radio, they were too edgy, you needed free format outlets, like the original KROQ, before it was the tight-playlisted ROQ of the 80s.
Now at this point, record stores were religious temples. Chains littered the landscape, certainly in L.A. We not only had Tower, but the Wherehouse and Licorice Pizza and then Music Plus, where all records were always discounted. But if you were a true fan, you went to the indie shops. Aron's in West Hollywood, Rhino on Westwood Boulevard, my favorite Grammy 'n Granny on Gayley in Westwood. Because Grammy 'n Granny had the best promos. And I was one of their best customers, so they held the promos for me!
And when I walked in the clerks would talk to me about the new releases. There was a bin right in front of the store, and therein one day I saw the Cars' debut LP.
It turned me off. If you don't put yourself on the cover...
And I wasn't turned on by the woman in the picture, maybe she just wasn't my type, this did not look like a serious band, and then I heard them.
4
My girlfriend's parents were staying at La Costa. We drove down for the day. And on the way back, it was either KMET or KLOS, every Sunday night they'd play the complete side of an album. The industry hated it, this was the heyday of taping. But if you were a fan....
My BMW 2002 had a Blaupunkt in the dash and two rear deck mounted speakers. This was before the head unit was stolen and I upgraded, but even that setup pumped out a ton of sound. And the deejay gave a long intro and then dropped the needle.
Now the track was entitled "Good Times Roll," which was hard to fathom, since this was the moniker of a classic. But when the sound started pumping out of the speakers, this was a whole new kind of good times.
It sounded new. Infectious. It was loud without being in your face. I got it immediately. And that's oh-so-rare.
"Let them leave you up in the air
Let them brush your rock and roll hair
Let the good times roll"
Too much has been made of the Cars' lyrics, with totally different words, the tracks still would have hit, they were just that powerful. To what degree was that the result of Roy Thomas Baker's production...who knows? But he was a master, he'd done Queen.
But one thing was for sure, the band was in on the joke. They'd chosen the song's title intentionally. They wanted to have good times, but these were a new kind of good times. You could either get on board or not. But really, once you heard the sound you had no choice. I won't say it was like "I Want To Hold Your Hand," but on some level it was. There was no turning back, you got excited. This sound opened the channel for all kinds of new acts. And one thing's for sure, you had to turn it UP! And when you did, the good times played in your head.
Then came "My Best Friend's Girl," which at first hearkened back to the early sixties in sound, the track was totally different from "Good Times Roll"...and then this teenish song went through changes and had a great melody and...it wasn't the girl of the sixties, she had the nuclear boots, he wasn't pining for her, he knew he no longer had a chance, he was just telling the story, and pissed that she was now together with his friend. And there was even a guitar solo...who created this elixir of a mish-mash?
Even catchier was the third cut, "Just What I Needed." This was straight down the middle, it was an obvious hit, it was old, yet new. The Cars had what today's act don't, they knew how to meld sound, changes and a chorus to make a hit. You only had to hear "Just What I Needed" once. And, once again, they weren't feeding us pabulum. These were the cool kids commenting on what was going on, coming from the future back to the present.
The very next day I went back to Grammy 'n Granny. They still had two promo copies, this was before the almost instantaneous buzz began. I brought the album home and played the second side.
"You're All I've Got Tonight" was as catchy, as much of a hit as "Just What I Needed."
Even better was "Bye Bye Love." It was more intimate, akin to "I Want To Tell You" on "Revolver," with its descending riff. But even better was the way Ric uttered the words in the chorus..."bye, bye, love," after the bridge, they weren't quite sotto voce, but somehow less in your face than what had come before.
And then the album cut, "Moving In Stereo," the longest cut on the LP at 4:46, it wasn't made for the hit parade, but your bedroom, it was the song you ended up playing the most once you'd played the album a dozen times or so.
The Cars went from nobodies to A-list stars almost immediately. From nowhere to part of the firmament.
I bought the second LP, "Candy-O," the day it was released in the spring of '79. I just had to.
With the Vargas cover, I now understood the aesthetic, I got the cover of the debut.
You dropped the needle and you heard..."Let's Go."
The synth line alone puts the track over the top. The song was a tear, you went from zero to seventy instantly. And the concept was so rock and roll...LET'S GO! Take chances, explore the world, act, don't think. She likes the nightlife, take her hand and GO OUT!
But my favorite cut on "Candy-O" was "It's All I Can Do." It was so sweet, both in sound and message. It was a new piece in the puzzle.
"It's all I can do
To keep waiting for you
It's all I can do
It's all I can do"
How many times have you been in this situation? You're tapped, you've given it your all, it's their move.
And, once again, that synth!
Everything was so right. It's like they perfected it and pushed the faders up to drive your head just shy of explosion.
But, once again, it was the longest track, the album track, this time the very last cut, that got under my skin, that I kept playing.
Certain words stuck out..."uranium lover." The nuclear threat was emotionally greatest in the early sixties, this was almost an anachronism.
And the "museum directors"? How did this fit in?
But one thing's for sure, the chorus became part of your DNA.
"She's a lot like you
The dangerous type
Oh, she's a lot like you
Come on and hold me tight"
Girls go for bad boys. But boys go for bad girls. They ogle them, they're fearful of interacting, they let them wrap them around their little fingers...before the girls move on.
"Dangerous Type" was a mental movie.
I'd love to tell you I loved "Panorama," but I didn't. It never revealed itself to me. And then I gave up. Each LP was getting worse. After three, I was done.
But "Shake It Up" was a return to form. I heard "Since You're Gone" all over the radio, same deal with "Shake It Up." But they were no longer my band, I'd ceded them to the masses, it was the same act, I'd seen the trick, now the band seemed to be playing to the audience. And after four albums in four years, the Cars seemed to know this too. So they waited two and a half years to release their next, "Heartbeat City," made with Robert John "Mutt" Lange, who we'd first seen credited on those Graham Parker LPs, as well as City Boys', and then he'd done "Back In Black" and the Def Leppard LPs and was the easy choice for best producer in the world, the one who'd come through, who'd deliver, didn't he rescue Foreigner from the dead, endless repetition?
I don't have to laud "Heartbeat City," you saw the singles on MTV when everybody was watching, the Cars were part of the firmament, they'd come back and conquered.
The follow-up, without Mutt, produced by Ric and Greg Hawkes, was almost an afterthought, times had seemingly surpassed the Cars. The band broke up, but Ric Ocasek stayed. He produced LPs, he was married to a supermodel, he never faded away, he was always in the conversation, until he died.
3
The shock was that he was 75. He didn't make it just after puberty. He'd paid his dues, that's why the Cars could emerge fully-formed, the players had so much experience the band's expertise was easy to showcase.
Now the strange thing is if you play the Cars' records today...you're shocked, too much old stuff you have to apologize for, you wonder why you once liked it, but not this music, it sounds as fresh as '78, '84, as a matter of fact it sounds even better. Radio always muffled the lyrics, now they stand out and their wisdom and insight and humor stick out. But even better is that sound, an amalgamation of the old and new filtered through a hit record sensibility, the Cars didn't want to stretch out and noodle, they wanted to get it right, in a compact fashion, anything unnecessary was excised.
Now unlike Eddie Money Ric Ocasek wasn't friends with everybody, he wasn't the life of the party, he suffered no fools, he spoke through his music, that was enough, it was less emotion than intellect, the tracks were all you got, the band members were not individual stars, all you got was this vision, unique in the landscape, direct and oftentimes ironic, it kept you guessing, but the music did not.
So what we're left with is not stories so much as the impact of the sound, which was indelible then...
And still is.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
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My internist says if I do what he says, I will never die of a heart attack. Actually, he sent me to a heart specialist, because my cholesterol number is insane. This doctor, Sandra Fallon, gets this in-depth test and then creates a program for the individual. I take 5 mg of Crestor every day. She says upping the dose would not improve my condition. Of course I take other things she's prescribed, but at my last test, I had a high particle number. I was just retested last week, I'm going to see Fallon next week, you see I don't want to die of a heart attack.
I went for that scan when I first saw her, where they uncover how much plaque you have in your heart. I was in the fortieth percentile. As in, at my age, sixty percent of the people have more plaque, forty percent less. Freaked me out, my internist had to talk me down from the ledge. You think you're perfect, but you're not. Now I hew to a strict diet of no rice, no bread, no potatoes, no pizza...my nutritionist calls rice "filler food." I asked her about all the people my age I see eating fries and...she said they were going to DIE!
Not everybody, of course. But look at David Letterman and Bill Clinton, they had heart problems and they got scared straight. No one is forever and you want to increase your odds.
As for smoking and emphysema...I gave up smoking at five. My mother was an occasional smoker, I saw a lit cigarette in the ashtray, I asked her for a hit and she said SURE! So I took one puff and that cured me. That's right, I never wanted to look cool in high school, hell, I never WAS cool. So when I see youngsters puffing today I shake my head...who are you rebelling against, yourself?
2
Rock stars die young, or as Joe Walsh puts it, the challenge is staying alive, not dying. So whenever I see a rock star pass before his or her time, I wait for the cause. Too often it's "misadventure," a euphemism for O.D.'ing. Some of your favorite rockers are hooked on drugs. Who would have thought Tom Petty would get hooked on heroin long after his initial success? As far as the fentanyl that killed him...I ain't taking anything my doctor ain't prescribing. That may make me a nerd, but if you buy pills on the net, on the street, you never truly know what's in them. Another reason I quit smoking dope in the seventies. Sometimes I'd get fantastically high and wonder...WHAT'S IN THIS? There was no way of knowing.
Which is all to day, when I read that Ric Ocasek died, I held my breath until the cause was released.
Heart disease and emphysema.
3
Now the 1970s were an era of platinum sales and sold out arenas. But there started to be a backlash, against what was labeled "corporate rock." I purchased the Ramones' "Rocket To Russia," because I loved "Rockaway Beach." But it wasn't until Joey Ramone died, back in 2001, that the band was acknowledged for the breakthrough they were. The Sex Pistols, with their one LP, got most of the attention in the mainstream. And now three of the four original members are dead, they cannot bask in the Ramones' newfound glory.
But after the Ramones, there came a new sound, "New Wave." Can't tell you exactly what it sounded like, it was a catch-all for those not members, nor influenced by their progenitors, the legendary classic rock acts and the virtuosos in bands like Yes and ELP. Was Graham Parker new wave? At first he was considered so. Certainly Elvis Costello. And despite Costello's legendary appearance on SNL, most people were unaware of the new sound, which came primarily out of England, there was a slew of bands if you were a fan, but they weren't even played on AOR radio, they were too edgy, you needed free format outlets, like the original KROQ, before it was the tight-playlisted ROQ of the 80s.
Now at this point, record stores were religious temples. Chains littered the landscape, certainly in L.A. We not only had Tower, but the Wherehouse and Licorice Pizza and then Music Plus, where all records were always discounted. But if you were a true fan, you went to the indie shops. Aron's in West Hollywood, Rhino on Westwood Boulevard, my favorite Grammy 'n Granny on Gayley in Westwood. Because Grammy 'n Granny had the best promos. And I was one of their best customers, so they held the promos for me!
And when I walked in the clerks would talk to me about the new releases. There was a bin right in front of the store, and therein one day I saw the Cars' debut LP.
It turned me off. If you don't put yourself on the cover...
And I wasn't turned on by the woman in the picture, maybe she just wasn't my type, this did not look like a serious band, and then I heard them.
4
My girlfriend's parents were staying at La Costa. We drove down for the day. And on the way back, it was either KMET or KLOS, every Sunday night they'd play the complete side of an album. The industry hated it, this was the heyday of taping. But if you were a fan....
My BMW 2002 had a Blaupunkt in the dash and two rear deck mounted speakers. This was before the head unit was stolen and I upgraded, but even that setup pumped out a ton of sound. And the deejay gave a long intro and then dropped the needle.
Now the track was entitled "Good Times Roll," which was hard to fathom, since this was the moniker of a classic. But when the sound started pumping out of the speakers, this was a whole new kind of good times.
It sounded new. Infectious. It was loud without being in your face. I got it immediately. And that's oh-so-rare.
"Let them leave you up in the air
Let them brush your rock and roll hair
Let the good times roll"
Too much has been made of the Cars' lyrics, with totally different words, the tracks still would have hit, they were just that powerful. To what degree was that the result of Roy Thomas Baker's production...who knows? But he was a master, he'd done Queen.
But one thing was for sure, the band was in on the joke. They'd chosen the song's title intentionally. They wanted to have good times, but these were a new kind of good times. You could either get on board or not. But really, once you heard the sound you had no choice. I won't say it was like "I Want To Hold Your Hand," but on some level it was. There was no turning back, you got excited. This sound opened the channel for all kinds of new acts. And one thing's for sure, you had to turn it UP! And when you did, the good times played in your head.
Then came "My Best Friend's Girl," which at first hearkened back to the early sixties in sound, the track was totally different from "Good Times Roll"...and then this teenish song went through changes and had a great melody and...it wasn't the girl of the sixties, she had the nuclear boots, he wasn't pining for her, he knew he no longer had a chance, he was just telling the story, and pissed that she was now together with his friend. And there was even a guitar solo...who created this elixir of a mish-mash?
Even catchier was the third cut, "Just What I Needed." This was straight down the middle, it was an obvious hit, it was old, yet new. The Cars had what today's act don't, they knew how to meld sound, changes and a chorus to make a hit. You only had to hear "Just What I Needed" once. And, once again, they weren't feeding us pabulum. These were the cool kids commenting on what was going on, coming from the future back to the present.
The very next day I went back to Grammy 'n Granny. They still had two promo copies, this was before the almost instantaneous buzz began. I brought the album home and played the second side.
"You're All I've Got Tonight" was as catchy, as much of a hit as "Just What I Needed."
Even better was "Bye Bye Love." It was more intimate, akin to "I Want To Tell You" on "Revolver," with its descending riff. But even better was the way Ric uttered the words in the chorus..."bye, bye, love," after the bridge, they weren't quite sotto voce, but somehow less in your face than what had come before.
And then the album cut, "Moving In Stereo," the longest cut on the LP at 4:46, it wasn't made for the hit parade, but your bedroom, it was the song you ended up playing the most once you'd played the album a dozen times or so.
The Cars went from nobodies to A-list stars almost immediately. From nowhere to part of the firmament.
I bought the second LP, "Candy-O," the day it was released in the spring of '79. I just had to.
With the Vargas cover, I now understood the aesthetic, I got the cover of the debut.
You dropped the needle and you heard..."Let's Go."
The synth line alone puts the track over the top. The song was a tear, you went from zero to seventy instantly. And the concept was so rock and roll...LET'S GO! Take chances, explore the world, act, don't think. She likes the nightlife, take her hand and GO OUT!
But my favorite cut on "Candy-O" was "It's All I Can Do." It was so sweet, both in sound and message. It was a new piece in the puzzle.
"It's all I can do
To keep waiting for you
It's all I can do
It's all I can do"
How many times have you been in this situation? You're tapped, you've given it your all, it's their move.
And, once again, that synth!
Everything was so right. It's like they perfected it and pushed the faders up to drive your head just shy of explosion.
But, once again, it was the longest track, the album track, this time the very last cut, that got under my skin, that I kept playing.
Certain words stuck out..."uranium lover." The nuclear threat was emotionally greatest in the early sixties, this was almost an anachronism.
And the "museum directors"? How did this fit in?
But one thing's for sure, the chorus became part of your DNA.
"She's a lot like you
The dangerous type
Oh, she's a lot like you
Come on and hold me tight"
Girls go for bad boys. But boys go for bad girls. They ogle them, they're fearful of interacting, they let them wrap them around their little fingers...before the girls move on.
"Dangerous Type" was a mental movie.
I'd love to tell you I loved "Panorama," but I didn't. It never revealed itself to me. And then I gave up. Each LP was getting worse. After three, I was done.
But "Shake It Up" was a return to form. I heard "Since You're Gone" all over the radio, same deal with "Shake It Up." But they were no longer my band, I'd ceded them to the masses, it was the same act, I'd seen the trick, now the band seemed to be playing to the audience. And after four albums in four years, the Cars seemed to know this too. So they waited two and a half years to release their next, "Heartbeat City," made with Robert John "Mutt" Lange, who we'd first seen credited on those Graham Parker LPs, as well as City Boys', and then he'd done "Back In Black" and the Def Leppard LPs and was the easy choice for best producer in the world, the one who'd come through, who'd deliver, didn't he rescue Foreigner from the dead, endless repetition?
I don't have to laud "Heartbeat City," you saw the singles on MTV when everybody was watching, the Cars were part of the firmament, they'd come back and conquered.
The follow-up, without Mutt, produced by Ric and Greg Hawkes, was almost an afterthought, times had seemingly surpassed the Cars. The band broke up, but Ric Ocasek stayed. He produced LPs, he was married to a supermodel, he never faded away, he was always in the conversation, until he died.
3
The shock was that he was 75. He didn't make it just after puberty. He'd paid his dues, that's why the Cars could emerge fully-formed, the players had so much experience the band's expertise was easy to showcase.
Now the strange thing is if you play the Cars' records today...you're shocked, too much old stuff you have to apologize for, you wonder why you once liked it, but not this music, it sounds as fresh as '78, '84, as a matter of fact it sounds even better. Radio always muffled the lyrics, now they stand out and their wisdom and insight and humor stick out. But even better is that sound, an amalgamation of the old and new filtered through a hit record sensibility, the Cars didn't want to stretch out and noodle, they wanted to get it right, in a compact fashion, anything unnecessary was excised.
Now unlike Eddie Money Ric Ocasek wasn't friends with everybody, he wasn't the life of the party, he suffered no fools, he spoke through his music, that was enough, it was less emotion than intellect, the tracks were all you got, the band members were not individual stars, all you got was this vision, unique in the landscape, direct and oftentimes ironic, it kept you guessing, but the music did not.
So what we're left with is not stories so much as the impact of the sound, which was indelible then...
And still is.
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
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Monday 16 September 2019
Re-Ric Ocasek
Bob,
I'm very sad to hear about the death of Ric Ocasek. I worked with Ric for 3 months in 1989 at the 19th Street townhouse that he just died in. John Kalodner introduced me to Ric to help develop and arrange his songs for his solo album. We demoed many of his songs and wrote a number of songs together including "Touch Down Easy" from his "Fireball Zone" album.
Ric was a very kind guy and a real gentleman. He told me about Andy Warhol and had a lot of art books and magazines lying around his studio. I feel privileged to have spent that time with him. He was a true original.
Rick Nowels
_______________________________________
Re Ric Ocasek. From Jim Kerr Simple Minds
THE CARS : GOOD TIMES ROLL
I was beside myself with excitement during the last week of November 1978. The chief scout of Arista Records (Home of Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, and Patti Smith, and our dream record label at that time.) made it clear that they were interested in signing Simple Minds, and as a result they suggested I immediately fly to London to discuss plans/producers for what would be Simple Minds debut album.
Walking through the doors of Glasgow Airport to make that journey was a first for me. My travel experiences up until then involved heading out to the motorway mostly - and sticking out my thumb. How was I to know that from that day on my hitch-hiking days were over - and that airports would soon feature among my life's pet(ty) hates.
The next twenty four hours are still a whoosh of
memories.
Chauffeur driven automobiles were laid on as Arista pulled out all the stops to make me feel both important and very much wanted throughout the trip, and I particularly loved chatting to their American executive Ben Edmonds who knew so much about music and had great taste to match.
Talking of taste. It was kind of them, but I could have done without being taken out afterward to what to me seemed like the poshest restaurant in London. I had never been in any kind of posh restaurant in my life, and felt hellishly intimidated throughout. What was I meant to do with all that cutlery for a start?
The highlight of the evening was very much still to come though as we then made our way to the Lyceum Theatre, where the hottest band on the planet (that week) were due to play. I'm talking about the Cars who were then making their UK debut, and anticipation for the show was running high, many doubtful as to whether they could reproduce live - the same highly polished sound of their huge selling debut studio album?
Afterwards, the jury seemed to be out? Critics slated the show and not for the first time I was left scratching my head with regards to the reasoning. I felt there was some kind of inverted snobbishness on their part, relating to the fact that the band had a distinct American professionalism about them. That they could sing and play, and write catchy songs, seemed to be causing suspicion among many whom I guess had still not had enough of turgid punk sounds still doing the rounds.
Me? I thought the Cars were inspirational with their intelligent mix of pop, rock and electronics. I liked the irony that showcased in some of the lyrics, and I especially liked the droll delivery from frontman Ric Ocasek.
Afterwards, along with Ben we were invited to go backstage and say hello. I felt much too shy to do so, and to this this day it is exceptionally rare that I accept an invite to go backstage after a show.
I sometimes wish I had though. Today is one of those days.
JK
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I'm very sad to hear about the death of Ric Ocasek. I worked with Ric for 3 months in 1989 at the 19th Street townhouse that he just died in. John Kalodner introduced me to Ric to help develop and arrange his songs for his solo album. We demoed many of his songs and wrote a number of songs together including "Touch Down Easy" from his "Fireball Zone" album.
Ric was a very kind guy and a real gentleman. He told me about Andy Warhol and had a lot of art books and magazines lying around his studio. I feel privileged to have spent that time with him. He was a true original.
Rick Nowels
_______________________________________
Re Ric Ocasek. From Jim Kerr Simple Minds
THE CARS : GOOD TIMES ROLL
I was beside myself with excitement during the last week of November 1978. The chief scout of Arista Records (Home of Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, and Patti Smith, and our dream record label at that time.) made it clear that they were interested in signing Simple Minds, and as a result they suggested I immediately fly to London to discuss plans/producers for what would be Simple Minds debut album.
Walking through the doors of Glasgow Airport to make that journey was a first for me. My travel experiences up until then involved heading out to the motorway mostly - and sticking out my thumb. How was I to know that from that day on my hitch-hiking days were over - and that airports would soon feature among my life's pet(ty) hates.
The next twenty four hours are still a whoosh of
memories.
Chauffeur driven automobiles were laid on as Arista pulled out all the stops to make me feel both important and very much wanted throughout the trip, and I particularly loved chatting to their American executive Ben Edmonds who knew so much about music and had great taste to match.
Talking of taste. It was kind of them, but I could have done without being taken out afterward to what to me seemed like the poshest restaurant in London. I had never been in any kind of posh restaurant in my life, and felt hellishly intimidated throughout. What was I meant to do with all that cutlery for a start?
The highlight of the evening was very much still to come though as we then made our way to the Lyceum Theatre, where the hottest band on the planet (that week) were due to play. I'm talking about the Cars who were then making their UK debut, and anticipation for the show was running high, many doubtful as to whether they could reproduce live - the same highly polished sound of their huge selling debut studio album?
Afterwards, the jury seemed to be out? Critics slated the show and not for the first time I was left scratching my head with regards to the reasoning. I felt there was some kind of inverted snobbishness on their part, relating to the fact that the band had a distinct American professionalism about them. That they could sing and play, and write catchy songs, seemed to be causing suspicion among many whom I guess had still not had enough of turgid punk sounds still doing the rounds.
Me? I thought the Cars were inspirational with their intelligent mix of pop, rock and electronics. I liked the irony that showcased in some of the lyrics, and I especially liked the droll delivery from frontman Ric Ocasek.
Afterwards, along with Ben we were invited to go backstage and say hello. I felt much too shy to do so, and to this this day it is exceptionally rare that I accept an invite to go backstage after a show.
I sometimes wish I had though. Today is one of those days.
JK
--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
Listen to the podcast:
-iHeart: https://ihr.fm/2Gi5PFj
-Apple: https://apple.co/2ndmpvp
--
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--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists/?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25
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