Making Flippy Floppy

I've always loved this man.

The Cars were one of my first favorite bands, arriving in my awareness in 1980 along with Blondie and Devo. "Shake It Up" was the song form the album of the same name that I loved so much I played it over and over on my little portable tape player until the poor tape was literally worn out. Then, it was on to the self-titled debut and Candy-O, both of which quickly became as threadbare as Shake It Up. Now, I also have those albums on vinyl, CD and MP3 and I don't think I will ever tire of those classic tunes.

What was it about these Boston oddballs that turned me on at such a young age? They had a kind-of mystique, I think, looking gawky yet somehow so cool on the back of thier glamour-girl record sleeves. Their songwriting was tight and thier production immaculate, and sprinkled with just enough electronic experimentation to keep the intrigue. I can hear the influence of the early Cars records even today in all types of rock music.

Co-lead singer (RIP Ben Orr) Ric Ocasek was at least 8 feet tall and skinny as an eel, with a way messed-up face hiding under huge ugly sunglasses and an enormous spiky mullet. He always reminded me of some weird, tall bird, complete with beaky nose. However, we don't love Ric because of his good looks (how he scored supermodel Paulina Porizkova is one of the great mysteries of Rock), we love Ric because is one of the greatest, most inventive songwriters ever and has a tremenoulsy unique voice and outlook on the world.

Nextology, his new CD released today, his lyrics aren't quite as abstract as those early Cars records, but he still has his WTF moments, which is another reason we love him. Overall, the CD, like most of his other solo albums, has it's moments but probably won't create much of stir around here or anywhere. It's certainly a fine listen, but a mere it's glue is not sticky enough to hold interest for too long. Here is a highlight, enjoy: