4. More
Artist: The New Cars
Album: It's Alive! (2006)
Todd's role(s): co-producer, co-writer, lead vocals, guitar
Writer(s): Todd Rundgren, Elliot Easton and Greg Hawkes
The song: That's ... the Cars ... isn't it? So why is Todd Rundgren singing?
The Cars disbanded in 1987. Nearly 20 years later, despite the death of singer/bassist Ben Orr and lack of interest by singer/songwriter/guitarist Ric Ocasek, lead guitarist Elliott Easton and keyboardist Greg Hawkes (an old friend of wikkidpissah's) decided they wanted to work together again under the Cars name. They recruited Rundgren, whom Easton had worked with on Jules Shear's first solo album (#18 on my list), and Rundgren brought in his former Utopia bandmate Kasim Sulton on bass and his sometime collaborator Prairie Prince from the Tubes (he also played on XTC's Skylarking and a few of Todd's albums and tours) on drums. (Cars drummer David Robinson declined an offer to participate, saying he was retired.)
The main purpose of this venture was a "reunion" tour, but the band also went into the studio to record three tracks (two of which had Kenny Aronoff on drums instead of Prince). The best of these is "More," which has the churning guitar patterns found on many of the old Cars hits, and a swelling, harmony-heavy chorus, just like many Cars songs from the '80s and also like many of the Utopia songs from their new wave phase. It captures the new wave sounds of the '80s well -- especially in the second half when Hawkes' distinctive synth sounds come to the fore -- without coming off as cheesy.
The album: This is not a "serious work" -- Rundgren called it "an opportunity... for me to pay my bills, play to a larger audience, work with musicians I know and like, and ideally have some fun for a year." Ocasek gave his blessing because "I want Elliott and Greg to be happy" but told Stephen Colbert that he was putting Rundgren "on notice."
The vast majority of
It's Alive is concert recordings featuring 12 Cars songs, two Rundgren songs ("I Saw the Light" and "Open My Eyes") and one new song (the single "Not Tonight"). Rundgren handled all the lead vocals except for the Ben Orr showcase "Drive," which was sung by Sulton.
The album ends with three new songs recorded in the studio with production credited to the entire band. (One would think Rundgren called most of the shots, given his experience with the producer role compared with the others.)
The critical consensus seemed to be that the project was cromulent. "It's not earth-shaking, but it's far better than nearly any other reunion of this kind," the allmusic.com review states. The record didn't move the public, selling less than 20,000 copies in its first 5 months of release. When the band returned to the road after a hiatus due to Easton breaking his collarbone, it played much smaller venues than the initial dates.
The New Cars played their last shows in 2007, but members worked together in various combinations after that. A Rundgren solo tour in 2009 included Hawkes, Prince and Sulton in his backing band; the following year, Prince and Sulton went on the road with Rundgren again. In 2010, the four surviving members of the Cars reunited for an album and tour; one wonders if the New Cars venture made Ocasek change perspective about his old material. And Rundgren and Sulton were part of a Utopia reunion tour in 2018.
You Might Also Like: "Not Tonight" appears twice on
It's Alive, in live and studio forms. It's more self-consciously quirky than "More" -- and also seems to wink at two similarly titled Cars songs, "You're All I've Got Tonight" and "Tonight She Comes" -- but it too does a good job of replicating the '80s new wave thing, though the reference to a Blackberry in the lyrics dates it to the mid-00s.
https://open.spotify.com/track/77ICoMA25MLKM8PHNWPyiS?si=0344590bc06345f7
At #3, the longest song that isn't prog or jazz/rock fusion on a Rundgren-related album.
