Ric Pens Song For Berlin's Terri Nunn

Back in 1992 Ric wrote a song called “Fly By Night” for Terri Nunn who is best known for her vocal work for the Los Angeles-based synth pop group Berlin. The track appears on Nunn's only solo album to date entitled Moment Of Truth. Berlin has been aided by Cars members in the past. The Cars former guitarist Elliot Easton had lent some guitar work for them , appearing on Berlins 1986 Count Three And Pray album.

RO’s lyrics aren’t very special and I was a bit disappointed when I unearthed the track. But nonetheless It’s Ric . Here is a sample of what the track sounds like. As well as the lyrics. I will have the complete track available to you once the quite impatient Noisician Fletcher gets a package.

Terri Nunn - Fly By Night

Fly By Night

Pale dolls dancin in the street
Harlequin lovers stamp their feet
They want to fly forever
Rough and ready Romeos
Skin tight angels that never show
They want to fly forever
And when you come away
It's your holiday

You got to fly by night
Once in awhile
You got to fly by night
Fly by night
Once in awhile
You got to fly by night

Bad boys bouncin boom box beat
You better never take their heat
They want to cry forever
And when you want to play
You got to slip away

You got to fly by night
Once in awhile
You got to fly by night
Fly by night
Once in awhile

You got to fly by night
And leave us your smile
It could go on forever
And when you want to play
You got to slip away

Deftones Cover The Cars Drive

Ric wrote Drive on a keyboard in a hotel room in Chicago. Eventually it was given the Orr/Hawkes treatment and became a multi synth layered, beautifully sung track off The Cars Heartbeat City album. Drive also became a huge hit. After Drive peaked on the Billboard charts on 8/11/84 at #3 (Tthe Cars highest charting single ever) it has been covered many times by artists you may have never heard of.

But occasionally somebody with some musical cred comes along and pays homage to the tune. The last time it was covered by a prominent name was by Ziggy Marley. Now a cover of Drive comes from a very unlikely source the Deftones. The Deftones are if you had to pigeon hole them are an Alternative Metal band that has been around for quite some time. So it is kind of interesting they decided to cover Drive. The Drive cover is included as a Bonus Track only from their just released "Saturday Night Wrist" CD.

I think they did a fine job with the tune. It starts off a bit dull but finishes nicely.

Take a Listen

Deftones - Drive

Ocasek Interviewed about Unlocked In Cleveland Plain Dealer

Written By John Soeder

The irony of releasing a DVD of the Cars in concert isn't lost on singer-guitarist Ric Ocasek, who led the new-wave rock 'n' roll band. The group didn't exactly go down in history as a dynamic live act.

"We weren't doing back flips," Ocasek said. "A lot of people said we were cold and distant, which was perfect -- exactly what I wanted us to be.

"I respected bands like Captain Beefheart and the Velvet Underground. They put the music out there without a lot of fanfare onstage or a lot of nonsense talk. I wanted to stay away from saying things to the audience, because then it becomes an exercise in showmanship.

"I was more anti-show. Some people loved it, and some people hated it. But I was comfortable with it."

A new DVD, "The Cars Unlocked," captures Ocasek, singer-bassist Ben Orr, guitarist Elliot Easton, keyboardist Greg Hawkes and drummer David Robinson working their way up the rock food chain, from playing clubs in the 1970s to headlining arenas in the 1980s.

"I work with a lot of new bands, and they always say to me, I wasn't born when the Cars played,' " the soft-spoken Ocasek said during a recent phone interview from his home in New York City.

After the Cars broke up in 1988, Ocasek went on to work as a producer for Weezer and No Doubt, among others.

"I didn't think there was anything out there to represent what the Cars were like over the years, except the Musikladen' DVD [featuring a 1979 appearance by the band on German television], which I've never been a great fan of," said Ocasek, 57. "After going in the basement and going through these tapes, I decided to put together something we could release as a DVD."

The video features live renditions of "My Best Friend's Girl," "Shake It Up," "You Might Think" and other Cars hits, along with behind-the-scenes shenanigans. Some footage is grainy, adding a certain punk quality. The package includes a 14-track CD, too, with songs from the DVD.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer Article

The Cars Unlocked Official Site

Ric's Early Board Work : 1979

Peter Dayton

Peter Dayton was one of the founding members of the legendary punk band La Peste. The band had a huge following, with good reason. Great songs, incredible energy, and amazing "like-ability" for a punk band.

Peter left La Peste to pursue a solo project, which owed more to artists like The Cars, or Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers than to bands like the Sex Pistols or the Clash. Ric was a big fan of Peter's songwriting, and produced some demos for him.

But ultimately none of it was released with the exception of a couple songs that made it onto vinyl compilation LPs. Well we here at Daily Events Book have obtained an actual Ric Ocasek produced Peter Dayton tune Entitled “The Last Supper” This is one of Ric’s initial works as a Producer this song was recorded in 1979.

Peter Dayton - The Last Supper

The Fast

Ric also worked with NYC’s scenesters The Fast. The Fast core members were primarily made up of two brothers Miki and Paul Zone. The Fast were playing at The Rat in Boston when they were spotted by Ric O. who perhaps was searching to hone his "bare bones" production sound.

Ric brought the band to Electric Ladyland Studios, for sessions that would result in The Fast's debut LP, For Sale. This also another example of Ocasek's early works as a producer. Both these songs are over 25 years old, they even pre-date Ric's more well known work with Suicide.

The Fast - Kids Just Wanna Dance

Producing : Not Always Glamour.. Sometimes God Fear

It’s not always a perfect marriage between producer and a bands personnel or it’s management team and ultimately sometimes the bands following . Even while in The Cars Ric hated the tedious monotous work Mutt Lange had him and his bandmates did during 1984’s Heartbeat City sessions. Even some Cars fan cringe at the sometime mechanical way HBC sounds.

Ric himself has occasionally ran into problems as a producer over the years, most often typified by the publicized falling out between Ric and the group Hanson’s management over the direction of the bands sound on the 2000 album “This Time Around”.

Ric also faced a similar problem a year prior in 1999 when he went behind the boards during the Guided By Voices sessions for their album “Do The Collapse’. GBV is best known as a low fi band fronted by Bob Pollard who had and still have a diehard fan base that loved the band for their bare bones four track album releases.

When it was announced that Ocasek was taking on the GBV project eyebrows were immediately raised. Because of Ric’s big time producer cred many feared GBV would lose the essence of their sound through over production. After it’s release this proved to be true at least in the minds of GBV‘s fans. Their hardcore fans still to this day views Ocasek production on that album with mostly disdain.

The following excerpt explains what GBV’s front man and songwriter Bob Pollard thought of Ocasek's production. The song he mentions in the following article "Hold On Hope" is excellent and I have made it available for download.

Bob Pollard on Ric Ocasek.

I’m a huge Cars fan. Especially the first record—that would probably be in my top 50 albums of all time. I think he did a good job (with us). I listened to Do The Collapse the other day for the first time in a couple of years and I think it’s a really good record. The thing about Ric Ocasek is he still has the same intimidating presence he’s always had. He still comes flamboyantly into the studio with the same kind of stuff he used to wear. It was kind of an intimidating experience, but he was a really nice guy and I appreciate the fact that he showed us the ropes in a big studio. I think we learned a lot from that experience.

Was “Hold On Hope” one of those songs?

It’s weird, but that wasn’t. “Hold On Hope” was like my own embarrassment. When I was sending all the songs to Ric Ocasek, I would talk to him on the phone three or four times a week and I’d tell him I’d written these new songs and he’d say to send them. When I was waking up one morning I kind of dreamt that chorus, and I thought, “Is that mine or someone else’s?” I told him I wrote this really pretty, ballad-type song, and he said send it, and I said, “Oh, man, it might be kind of embarrassing.” Naturally, he gets it and goes, “Oh, that’s the big one, that’s the monster ballad.” I go, “Oh, shit, here we go.” It got even worse. They did a remix that was really, really, creepy and creamy. I thought it was kind of career-threatening. I went through a complete tug-of-war with the label about that song. So, though it seems like that was one of the pop songs they coerced me into writing, no, that was my own thing.

Guided By Voices - Hold On Hope

Our One Year Anniversary Special

Time Flies while your having fun. I must have to say it has been a labor of love this past year. I want to thanks the following people for contributing directly or indirectly in some way to the blog. Big Ups go to the following people: Deb M. Peter K. Fletcher Monroe, Heg and all the contributing members of The Frozen Fire List and Ric Ocasek Crackpot discussion group. In addition I want to acknowledge the Fab Four of diehard Cars fans Deb M., John M., Dave L. and Dave C.

Now that I have gotten that out of the way, lets begin with the festivities. I am making available
to the Daily Events Book readers the Supergroups In Concert which was recorded live in 1979 from Memphis Tennessee. I am also including the audio lifted from the Cars DVD from the Muzikladen also in 1979. The files have been compressed into .rar format and when extracted become Mp3's. You will need WINRAR to extract the Mp3's. Here is a page that will guide you step by step through the process of extraction.

Also keep in mind these are HUGE files even compressed. The Supergroups tops out at 100 Meg and Musikladen out at 80 Megs. So I suggest you have broadband or dsl to download these shows.

Step By Step WINRAR extraction

The Cars Live Musikladen 1979

Password when prompted : Musikladen

Songs Include:
Good Times Roll- Bye Bye Love - Nightspots - I'm In Touch With Your World - My Best Friend's Girl- Candy-O - You're All I've Got Tonight -Take What You Want -Since I Held You-Don't Cha Stop - Just What I Needed

The Cars Supergroups in Concert

Password when prompted : live

This also has two short interviews with Ric on it.

Songs include:
Got a Lot on My Head - Good Times Roll - Let's Go - Night Spots - Since I Held You Double Life - Moving in Stereo - Candy-O - Don't Cha Stop - Bye Bye Love - All Mixed Up - Take What You Want - You're All I Got Tonight - Just What I Needed - Dangerous Type

Ric's Astrological Charts

You know it's a slow news week for The Daily Events Book Blog when we dig up a a site that actually has Ric Ocasek's astrological charts. I personally don't believe in this mumbo jumbo but if you read Ric's chart some of the stuff is on target.

Check It Out .

Ric's Chart

Troub

Ric Worked with Niki Aukema

Is Niki Aukema the hottest New York City club diva that Ric has chosen to work with ? The answer is a definitive no since Niki has been dead almost 14 years. But I have recently discovered that Aukema, a folkie turned Rocker had both Ric Ocasek and Ben Orr ( listed as Ben Orzechowski) contribute to her 1973 R&B-oriented album “Nothing Free.” Aukema was major player in the Boston scene at the time and played the same venues that Ric and Benjamin played even before The Cars. As far as her album goes, which was released by Paramount , Ric ironically does vocal work while Benjamin adds only his bass playing. Chronologically, Aukema’s LP follows Ocasek’s and Orr’s Milkwood album “How’s The Weather” which was released in 1972. The Niki Aukema release would be the second time that Ric and Ben’s names would appear on a major label.

Troub

The Niki Aukema Story
AMG Credit Listing For Aukema's "Nothing Free"