The Album Review Club - End of Round #9 Break (page 1904)

I’ve quite enjoyed listening to this , the first three tracks were really good and one or two others after that.The main problem with this album is its nowhere as good as
their first, which understandably happens to artists and bands quite often.
I get why you chose this and not ‘The Cars’ Foggy but if you had I think the marks would‘ve been much higher.

6/10
 
I was in an exceptionally good mood when I last listened to this on Monday, having just had a half decent round of golf for once and there was something else I can't quite remember that had lifted the spirits. As such I was really getting into this initially on my journey home and quite surprised too having dismissed Let's Go for one as having nothing much to it a couple of listens before.

Similar to others the first three tracks were very good although slight warning signs that the familiar Cars sound might become a bit wearing. What the hell though, a good pop song is a good pop song and these are very good pop songs.

I'd have to echo what others have said though about what comes after. Nothing disastrous but nothing to get too excited about either and the synth sound wasn't really for me. I mentioned previously that I'd bought the Cars greatest hits from a charity shop but was disappointed with it; I've just checked as I've got a long journey coming up on Friday and I could have given it another listen but seems having downloaded it I deleted it from my library some time ago (probably around the time I cleared out all the other albums from this thread that weren't keepers). Will probably give Candy-O another spin on that journey and who knows, it might still grow on me but for the purposes of getting a score in before the deadline it's a 6 from me. Not too bad to be fair but it's 7 and above that get repeated plays.

Hopefully whoever is next up has a pick that enhances my driving on Friday as there will be opportunity for plenty of listens to it.
 
It is decent. Simple, effective, does what it sets out to. The guitar on Candy-o is my favourite bit. Not that much my thing, but didn't mind listening to it. A happy 6 from me.
 
I’ve quite enjoyed listening to this , the first three tracks were really good and one or two others after that.The main problem with this album is its nowhere as good as
their first, which understandably happens to artists and bands quite often.
I get why you chose this and not ‘The Cars’ Foggy but if you had I think the marks would‘ve been much higher.

6/10
I think you’re right about choosing the first. As I noted I think most Cars fans would pick it. It’s definitely an odd quirk in my brain/ear combo that I like Candy O a bit better! But I do like the first as well for sure. Thanks for reviewing.
 
The Album Review Club – Week #33

The Cars – Candy-O (1979)


Selected by FogBlueInSanFran

View attachment 43623

Well done to @Mancitydoogle -- the animals in my clue are all associated with cars (Mustang, Bee(a)tle, Jaguar), and my selection is The Cars’ second record “Candy-O” from 1979.

This is an album I’ve loved for over 40 years. After the rush I got with Bad//Dreems, I almost changed my selection to something garage-ier (pun intended), but I revisited this album recently and I still enjoy it a lot. So here we go.

To some extent The Cars were the punchier new wave Roxy Music, or maybe The Ramones meet Roxy Music, if Gary Numan was somehow, you know, in The Ramones (and therefore named Gary Ramone).

Unlike most fans I have always thought "Candy-O" is the best of what they had to offer. Most early fans would say their first record is definitive; pop fans would say “Heartbeat City” is. But I like this one because it’s bouncier, rockier, more cynical, has sharper guitar, and keyboard hooks everywhere.

This record takes me back to age 14 when suddenly punk was morphing to new wave and suddenly bleeding into pop and suddenly on the radio. Music was changing fast and everything was on the table, as became apparent in the early 1980s.

Like The Pretenders, The Cars were one of the most influential transitional bands everyone always forgets to cite – at least in the States, they were one of the first tagged with the “new wave” label who broke into pop radio. Surprisingly few followed them at the time, which is one of the reasons they retain their freshness, IMO. No one’s ever really sounded quite like them.

Noted physically-unattractive singer-guitarist geek Ric Ocasek has just as distinctively thin a vocal range as David Byrne without the quirkiness, but a lot of the best songs come from bassist Benjamin Orr (he who wrote and sang their biggest hit “Drive”), and Greg Hawkes’ semi-cheesy keyboards and Elliot Easton’s super-clean guitar all contribute a lot too.

The lyrics are pretty direct – girls screw up guys’ lives, and as nice as we try to be, we all get hammered in the end and they win, and thus men are resigned to a dark obsessiveness. I’d take this theme more seriously if Ocasek hadn’t nabbed Paulina Porizkova, one of THE super-models of the era. Rich rock stars have it tough, eh?

Romantic obsession is where the Bryan Ferry comparisons are pretty apt, though Ferry had (has?) style, while Ocasek decidedly did not. Roxy Music is also much more a collection of crazed genius weirdo musicians than The Cars.

As usual for me when it comes to pop, I like quality and quantity and to love a record I need every song to stand on its own as one that I’d put on shuffle, and to me, this record is chock full of potential singles beyond the three that were released. But one that was deserves special mention.

A long time ago bluemoon had a “perfect song” thread, and I think I offered up Sugar’s “If I Can’t Change Your Mind”, but I am certain I thought through a few Cars songs, especially “It’s All I Can Do” with its clever, wistful lyrics (“One too many times / I twisted the gate / When I was crazy / I thought you were great”), pristine guitar solo and chorus harmony with the organ chords backing up the last stanza and sending the whole tune soaring. I love it.

The opener (“Let’s Go”) is fun, and the two closers are strong, especially “Dangerous Type”. About the only weak spot is “Lust For Kicks.” “Shoo Be Doo” is a little odd (and less than two minutes long), but morphs right into “Candy-O” and “Nightspots”, two completely different songs (one rocks, one bounces) but my favo(u)rite 1-2 punch on the record.

I don’t think The Cars were quite as popular in the UK as the US, but if you don’t know them or aren’t old enough to remember the emergence and confluence of pop and new wave, this record marks a great examination of that crossroads.

Happy listening!
An amazing album and one of my favorites of all time.




Edit: I started playing this album after having not listened to it for over 20 years or so - and wow! Amazing!
 

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