C/D: Ric Ocasek Solo

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As A Cars fan It hurts me, but I gotta call out Ric on it.

Beatitude- Quite banal but pleasantly quirky. It was what solo albums should be: a chance to experiment, expand on ideas and bend the rules that don't fly in the full-time gig. Greg Hawkes kept the home fire burning and Steve Stevens brought in the noise from the west coast.

This Side Of Paradise- I never got down with "Emotion In Motion." The tunes are structurally tight but mostly limp. Paulina did it.

Fireball Zone- Enter a funkified rhythm section including Nile Rodgers, female vocalists and a new major label. It was nice to hear Ric rockaway (no pun intended) with some hot energy, but this foray into all-things-not-Cars-sounding could be considered a disaster.

Quick Change World- Ric had to redo this album to please someone which resulted in divided tracks of polished Mike Shipley Cars-like tracks and Beatitude Part Deux. Ric likely preferred the later. It was a good album for old Cars fans but again, the cutout bin made it's appearance far too quickly.

Troubilizing- Billy from the Pumpkins, Melissa from Hole.. Can't miss.. I thought. Likely Ric's best post-Cars work but the snoozer single choice "Hang On Tight" doomed the whole thing.

Here's hoping Ric's next solo disc will learn from this.

― ZionTrain, Tuesday, 26 April 2005 21:42 (twenty years ago)

Wow, Zion, are we the only ones on ILM with Ric solo shit? I don't have Beatitude, but I burned "Jimmy Jimmy" on a CD-R a few months ago. It's a shame the Cars never pursued this direction: thud-thud synth-pop with detached Ferry-esque vocals, offering sympathy to a troubled teen.

I got "This Side of Paradise" years ago for $2 on tape. Uninteresting. Sounds like Cars rejects - and very expensive, in an mid 80's way (Fairlights, syn-drums, lots of echo), although I like "True to You," "Hello Darkness," and, yes, "Emotion in Motion."

"Fireball Zone" is by far the most interesting solo album. Nile Rodgers is unable to produce an album w/out adding a frisson of rhythmic tension (dig "Flowers of Evil" and "Rockaway"). I heard "The Way You Look Tonight" at the cleaners a month ago and remembered what a lovely melody it had. My fave: "They Tried," which is like Pere Ubu at their most pastoral.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 22:10 (twenty years ago)

The Cars played "Jimmy Jimmy" on their 1984 tour, I remember it sounding real good. Good points on "Fireball Zone", I forgot all about "Flowers of Evil"- that was a good one.

― ZionTrain, Tuesday, 26 April 2005 22:16 (twenty years ago)

On the Troubilizing tour, they did a flat-out amazing version of "Drive" with Auf Der Maur on vocals. It should be released!

― Bob Crain (bobcrain), Thursday, 28 April 2005 01:12 (twenty years ago)

Good catch Bob. She surely did nail it. Maybe she'll be Ben Orr's replacement in the rumored Cars reunion.

― ZionTrain, Thursday, 28 April 2005 14:03 (twenty years ago)

Was "Give Me Something to Grab For" the single from Beatitude? I remember thinking it was alright, but that it wasn't especially different from the work he'd done in the Cars. I mean, what was the point?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 28 April 2005 15:50 (twenty years ago)

Most of his solo stuff inpsires the same reaction. I mean, "This Side of Paradise" sounds note for note like a Cars album (a better Cars album than "Door To Door," I guess).

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 28 April 2005 15:51 (twenty years ago)

Ric admitted once that with respect to record sales, he wasn't down with the 5-way split.

"Fireball Zone" (see my post above) was the only Ocasek solo CD that mostly didn't sound like The Cars or Suicide.

― ZionTrain, Thursday, 28 April 2005 15:54 (twenty years ago)

That's pretty generous of him: a 5-way split? He got all the songwriting credit.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 28 April 2005 16:01 (twenty years ago)

No, Publishing is a given 100% Ocasek. However- touring, merchandising, album sales.. a different story.

― ZionTrain, Thursday, 28 April 2005 16:04 (twenty years ago)

He's one of those guys who upon his death you'll read in all the obits that he quietly amassed a $52 million fortune or something.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 28 April 2005 16:10 (twenty years ago)

Oh dude, he is so wealthy.

And with the recent licensing of "Just What I Needed" to the Circuit City ad campaign.. he waits outside his mansion for Brinks to arrive.

― ZionTrain, Thursday, 28 April 2005 16:12 (twenty years ago)

For some reason, I don't begrudge Ric/the Cars allowing their music to be used in ads. They're just not one of those bands I felt any emotional reasonance with that such a move would feel like a betrayal. Sort've like Kiss. I adore Kiss, but they were never hung up about artistic convictions. They were born to sell out....that was their mission (although, like Colonerl Kurtz, they went quite beyond the pale in that mission..culminating in embarassing stunts like that fuckin' Pepsi ad). SImilarly, I can't imagine anyone feeling shaken to their emotional core when hearing "Just What I Needed" used to sell kitchen appliances (or whatever). "Hey, a new toaster overn is just what I needed!"

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 28 April 2005 17:08 (twenty years ago)

BTW, the is not to say that the Cars sucked or anything....quite the contrary. They were great at what they did, but I don't think anyone would accuse their music of being especially deep.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 28 April 2005 17:09 (twenty years ago)

My earlier post was not a smack to Ric licensing out the tune. However, as someone who also adores KISS, I do believe that The Cars held artistic merit at a much higher value point. Deep? Nah.

Alex, OTM that KISS were "born to sell out."

OTOH, Cars however are now selling out as result of living in new times. This is the right thing to do at this juncture. Nostalgia sells. I'm just glad Ric didn't license "Drive" to Buick or "Magic" to eharmony.com

― ZionTrain, Thursday, 28 April 2005 18:52 (twenty years ago)

one year passes...

The video for "Emotion in Motion" is a horror.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 6 November 2006 01:17 (nineteen years ago)

I completely forgot that video ever existed. Pure banal vidiot eye-wash.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Monday, 6 November 2006 04:20 (nineteen years ago)

three years pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx7l2nvIfpk&feature=related

omigod

― Filmmaker, Author, Radio Host Stephen Baldwin (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 20 June 2010 23:49 (fifteen years ago)

three years pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h35cAmx_Uik

This extended mix of 'Jimmy Jimmy' was posted on that 'Post Punk Junk' blog years ago but I lost my copy of it and couldn't find it anywhere on the internet, I bought a second hand vinyl copy via discogs eventually. I just noticed that someone posted it on youtube last month. I think it's my favourite ever Ric Ocasek related thing.

― There's a lack of... soul on Radio 1. (bends), Wednesday, 16 October 2013 22:05 (twelve years ago)

Do people know of things that have a similar feel to this track?

― There's a lack of... soul on Radio 1. (bends), Wednesday, 16 October 2013 22:11 (twelve years ago)

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2004/10/17/arts/vinc.184.1.jpg

― There's a lack of... soul on Radio 1. (bends), Wednesday, 16 October 2013 22:16 (twelve years ago)

Maybe more overtly Devo-esque, but somewhat similar:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eshk1tId4eE

― Low down bad refrigerator (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 16 October 2013 22:29 (twelve years ago)

"Jimmy Jimmy" is as good as any Cars track.

― the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, 16 October 2013 22:30 (twelve years ago)

four months pass...

lotsa interesting looking punk/new wave stuff he produced that I've never heard

http://www.discogs.com/artist/113688-Ric-Ocasek?type=Credits&subtype=Production

― death and darkness and other night kinda shit (crüt), Thursday, 27 February 2014 17:15 (twelve years ago)

that sharp cuts collection has at least a couple super cuts, dunno if Ric had anything to do with suburban lawns - unable or the alley cats - black haired girl

― Tom Waits for no one (outdoor_miner), Thursday, 27 February 2014 18:19 (twelve years ago)

This Side of Paradise was my go-to "oh shit I forgot to grab a fresh one!" car tape in the nineties.

― Bryan Fairy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 27 February 2014 18:24 (twelve years ago)

eight years pass...

Granted, not really musical, but Paulina's thoughts in the new book are definitely worth considering

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/12/books/review/no-filter-paulina-porizkova.html

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 15 November 2022 00:38 (three years ago)

Porizkova first crushed on Ocasek while watching him on MTV. She was drawn to his fellow Czech surname and his unique look: “He was a Modigliani, not a baseball card.” Their initial spark, lit the night before she starred in the Cars’ “Drive” video in 1984, spiraled into obsession, which Porizkova compares to the Soviet Union’s occupation of her native Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic) — a metaphor that lands. “At 19, I watched Ric roll into my life in his tank, and I greeted him with flowers and cheers,” she writes. “Being occupied made me feel safe. I was home.

― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 15 November 2022 00:42 (three years ago)

“And then a few years later it all came crumbling down”

― Sam Weller, Tuesday, 15 November 2022 07:16 (three years ago)

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