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Rating: 1979. Or the year after. The year after the cosmic success of the debut album, the live shows in the USA, the fans sneaking into your dressing rooms, the music videos... The year after you've become a star. When the band is young, the year after, they need to make another album, people must not lose interest: they haven't yet become accustomed to your style, and just as you've emerged, you could return to the nothingness from which you came.
1979. 'Candy-O'. The album of confirmation. "Let's Go" is exactly what you expect from a band like the Cars to start an album that "promises" to replicate the same formula as the previous one. The keyboards are already clearer, and the guitars even more gentle: forget about raising the wall of sound!
"Since I Held You" has a nice start and then becomes a charming little march. A good chorus for a very inspired song with a finale crescendo of choirs and guitar. "It's All I Can Do" has very airy keyboard parts, elevating the vocals. So far, they haven't missed a beat, and upon reflection, the simplicity and simultaneously the stylistic perfection of Ric Ocasek is nothing short of maddening. And again "Double Life": two chords simpler than you can imagine, a piece with guitar and drums... and (almost) that's it... It works, perhaps repetitive, perhaps with a bit more variety it would better support the "psychological wall" of the 4 minutes. From its fading comes "Shoo Be Doo": try to imagine it played by Suicide and not by a rock-wave band. It starts here, rather, from this minute and a half, the different Ocasek, the one who will work with Suicide, who will form brotherly friendships with Alan Vega, who will become a minimal artist, who will end up recording albums like Negative Theater, Getchertickitz and producing only alternative bands to (launch into) the mainstream.
"Candy-O" is the strongest episode of the album. The dark atmospheres originate from that part of the stomach from which "Moving In Stereo" was born the year before, but the rhythm has grown; the guitar-bass syncopation is great, Orr sounds like Ocasek when he hits low notes. Here the wall is raised, indeed! Perfect.. Imagine that it will be covered by none other than the sweet Melvins (staying very faithful to the original, unlike "Venus In Furs" by the Velvet Underground). The desire for "darkness" continues with "Night Spots", certainly not as immediately impactful as the previous one, with feverish keyboard and guitar work, for an almost punk (seventies) chorus. It's the antithesis of Ocasek's metropolitan protopunk, someone who at that time should have made four albums a year (plus one solo) to freely unleash his compositional capabilities and visions, yet "he will try," more and more in the years to follow, to converge all this within the Cars container, not always succeeding fully, a container that one day will end up "falling apart."
With "You Can't Hold On Too Long" we return to where we left off before "Shoo Be Doo": simple plots. The voice is still low, almost "tested" by the previous triad, almost convalescent. Perfectly returning to health with "Lust For Kicks", the easiest to listen to, absolutely disarming, straight out of a 60s juke box. Warning: I'm not saying it doesn't work, or that the 60s surf-pop from a Hawaiian shirt can't be yet another good idea by Ocasek, but after hearing what they're capable of in "Candy-O"... At least in "Got A Lot On My Head" there's a good guitar ride. "Traditional" finale with this track and with the "classic" of the Cars repertoire "Dangerous Type", similar in setting to the "colleague final song" of the previous album, which is "All Mixed Up". Ocasek still sings, although the piece requires more pathos, and perhaps not only for this reason does the piece seem less dreamlike. Finale without the splendid sax solo, as it was for "All Mixed Up".
If they had to confirm themselves, then "the album of the year after" by the Cars hit the mark. Everything that was expected is fulfilled... The fact is, the Cars seem to have emphasized the importance of their task (to ensure a solid base of fans as large as possible in the shortest possible time)... In fact, to be radio friendly, there's no need to lower the sound wall to zero... Repeating the same things and the same loops for the listener to memorize the song after 30 seconds can be a good thing, but also a bad thing, as those who learn it after 30 can also get tired of it after 60, due to too much predictability. To justify them, we could argue that they felt too strong a need-hope to establish themselves at all costs.
But then, if that were truly the case, how come tracks like "Shoo Be Doo" and "Night Spots" (I'm not saying "Candy-O" because a great song is a great song, so good it gives the title to the album, and also because it directly inherits from "Moving In Stereo" of the previous LP)?
This dualism will become even more pronounced when Ocasek transforms into a conceptual synth-beat author, even a year later, with the arguable album, "Panorama".
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Let's Go (03:33)
She's driving away with the dim lights on
She's making a play and she can't go wrong
She never waits too long
She's winding them down on her clock machine
And she won't give up 'cause she's seventeen
She's a frozen fire
She's my one desire
CHORUS
And I don't want to hold her down
Don't want to break her crown
When she says, let's go
I like the nightlife baby
She says, let's go
She's laughing inside 'cause they can't refuse
She's so beautiful now, she doesn't wear her shoes
She never likes to choose
She's got wonderful eyes and a risque mouth
And when I ask her before, she said she's holding out
She's a frozen fire
She's my one desire
04 Double Life (04:14)
it takes a fast car lady to lead a double life
it takes a slow star lady if you want to do it twice
you take your backseat rumble
take your frontseat wife
takes a fast car lady to lead a double life
it takes a light foot lady to lead a double life
it takes a good book maybe if you want to do it nice
when you idle at the stop light you better get the signal right
light foot lady, you need a double life
well, lift me from the wondermaze
alienation is the craze
and it's all gonna happen to you
you think it's a phase
and it's all gonna happen to you
when you drive in the haze
it takes a freeway lady to lead a double life
it takes some leeway lady if you want to do it twice
neon blinking on the street
everyone is bittersweet
freeway lady, you lead a double life
well, lift me from the wondermaze
alienation is the craze
and it's all gonna happen to you
you think it's a phase
and it's all gonna happen to you
when you drive in the haze
it's all gonna happen to you
(it's all gonna happen to you)
that's right I said
and it's all gonna happen to you
that's right well
gonna? say it to you-oo
(it's all gonna happen to you)
well that's right oh?
it's all gonna happen to you-oo, well
I said it's all gonna happen to you-oo-oo yeah
gonna tell ya again, I said
(it's all gonna happen to you) well
(fade)
05 Shoo Be Doo (01:38)
it's funny, honey, but you don't care
you never wanna take me anywhere
you ride around in your cadium car [echo]
you keep wishin' upon a star [echo]
why is it you don't care
don't ya go, don't ya go, makin' eyes at me
don't remind me [echo]
don't you tell me what to do
shoo be doo [echo]
shoo be doo
don't ya tell me what to do
don't ya tell me what to do
shoo be doo [echo]
don't ya tell me what to do
unintelligible [echo]
shoo be doo [echo]
06 Candy-O (02:36)
Candy-O, I need you
Sunday dress, ruby ring
Candy-O, I need you so
could you help me in?
purple hum, assorted cards
razor lights you'll bring
and all to prove you're on the move
and vanishing
Candy-O, I need you so
Candy-O, I need you so
edge of night, distract yourself
obstacles don't work
homogenize
decentralize
it's just a quirk
different ways to see you through
all the same in the end
peculiar star, a-that's who you are
do you have to win?
Candy-O, I need you so
Candy-O, I need you so
Candy-O, I need you so
(Candy-O)
Candy-O, I need you so
(Candy-O)
08 You Can't Hold On Too Long (02:49)
I can't put yout your fire, I know it's too late
I can't be up for hire, it's not my best trait
The gallow glass is cracking, it's starting to smash
How can you cry without blinking a lash
You're feeling cross and wavy on the edge of the cuff
You're pushing and popping, you don't get enough
You wish that it was over, you never slow down
You're looking for kicks, there's nothing around
CHORUS
You can't hold on too long, it's alright
You can't hold on too long, it's alright
You're surrounded by the laughing boys
They puncture your style
They send for their bandanas, you try for their smile
You'd like to come in colors, you don't know wich one
You can't be too choosy, it's just for fun
CHORUS
09 Lust for Kicks (03:53)
he's got his plastic sneakers
She's got her Robuck purse
He's got his butane flicker
She's got it worse
CHORUS
They're crazy about each other
Like a misplaced fix
They're mad about each other
They blame it all on the lust for kicks
He's got his own dumb waiter
She's reading one fell swoop
He gets around to it later
She fills the scoop
CHORUS
He's just a hit parader
She's just a cycle ride
He likes to masquerade her
And she tells him lies
CHORUS
10 Got a Lot on My Head (02:59)
CHORUS
I got a lot on my head
Most of it is you
I got a lot on my head
Can't forget about you
Lock me away where the silly boys go
I'm on top of my nerves, don't you know
Take me apart 'cause I'm out of control
Send me a letter on a midnight scroll
CHORUS
Dance by the window in flamingo pink
Go through the motions in your Romeo mink
Condition's red, disposition's blue
Why am I so attracted to you
CHORUS
Trip down the alleyway, take the back stairs
I know it's good but good isn't fair
That's what you said, flashbulb in your eye
How can I hold you whne you're waving goodbye
CHORUS
11 Dangerous Type (04:32)
can I touch you, are you out of touch
I guess I never noticed that much
geranium lover, I'm live on your wire
oo come and take me whoever you are
she's a lot like you
the dangerous type
she's a lot like you
come on and hold me tight
oo inside angel, always upset
keeps on forgettin' that we ever met
can I bring you out in the light
my curiosity's got me tonight
she's a lot like you
the dangerous type
oo she's a lot like you
come on and hold me tight
museum directors with high shaking heads
they kick white shadows until they play dead
they want to crack your crossword smile
oo can I take you out for awhile, yeah
she's a lot like you
the dangerous type
she's a lot like you
come on and hold me tight
she's a lot like you
the dangerous type
she's a lot like you
come on and hold me tight
tonight
she's a lot like you
the dangerous type
she's a lot like you
come on and hold me tight
tonight
she's a lot like you
the dangerous type, alright
she's a lot like you
come on and hold me tight
(tonight) tonight
she's a lot like you
the dangerous type
tonight
she's a lot like you
come on and hold me tight
tonight
she's a lot like you
the dangerous type
she's a lot like you
tonight
she's a lot like you
the dangerous type
she's a lot like you
come on hold me tight
tonight
she's a lot like you
the dangerous type
she's a lot like you
come on hold me tight
tonight
she's a lot like you
the dangerous type
she's a lot like you
(fade)
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