Thursday, December 24, 2015

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Ric Ocasek

Artist:Ric Ocasek
Song:Emotion In Motion
Album:This Side Of Paradise





Of course Ric Ocasek is best known as leader of The Cars and they had a lot of success in the 80s. Ocasek first recorded as a solo artist in 1982. While The Cars were still together, Ocasek scored a top 20 hit in 1986 with Emotion In Motion from the CD This Side Of Paradise. It is Ocasek's only big solo hit to date. He continued to record solo after The Cars disbanded in 1988 but Ocasek has not had further success as a solo artist. He was born Richard Otcasek Mar. 23, 1949 in Baltimore. His family moved to Cleveland and Ocasek graduated high school and attended college there. He met bassist Benjamin Orr and they recorded as Milkwood for Paramount Records in 1973. In 1976, they formed The Cars with Greg Hawkes, Elliot Easton and David Robinson. After The Cars finished touring to support the 1981 album Shake It Up, Ocasek and Hawkes both recorded solo albums. Hawkes played on Ocasek's album Beatitude but Jules Shear and his band Jules and the Polar Bears played on the album. After The Cars had their biggest success with their 1984 album Heartbeat City and the smash single Drive, Easton, Orr and Ocasek all released solo albums. Elektra released The Cars Greatest Hits in 1985 to tide them over. Ocasek's 1986 album This Side Of Paradise was released on Geffen Records. Hawkes, Orr and Easton all appeared on the album. It was almost a Cars reunion except the drummer and co-producer was Chris Hughes of Adam and the Ants. Emotion In Motion reached #15 on the Billboard Hot 100. Roland Orzabal of Tears For Fears plays guitar on the song. Apparently he is good friends with Hughes. Ocasek's future wife supermodel Paulina Porizkova stars in the video as she did in the video for Drive which is probably why the song was a hit because MTV played the video to death. Other guest musicians on This Side Of Paradise were Saturday Night Live band leader G.E. Smith and King Crimson bassist Tony Levin. The album is available as a budget CD. After one more album, The Cars split up in 1988. Ocasek had recorded for Reprise, Sony and Sanctuary without much success. He last recorded solo in 2005. Benjamin Orr died of cancer in 2000. But the other members of The Cars reformed and released a new CD in 2011. They toured but have been inactive since then. The Cars are nominated as 2016 inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Maybe that will get them off their butts. Here's the video for Emotion In Motion by Ric Ocasek.

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