Ric Ocasek - This Side of Paradise

Hey Bottle, is Ric Ocasek's second solo album any good? No idea, what are you expecting it to be? Most of the Cars are here, Emotion in Motion was a #1 hit. It's Ric Ocasek acting natural, whatever that means to ya. The real question is "which side of paradise" are we talking about?

Love bites, love stinks, love is a bunch of synthpop songs about how complicated love is. It's a very 80s album, and by that i mean the overwhelming vibe is a drizzly 1AM on the 14th floor of a downtown hotel with the neon from the street signs flashing through the window blinds while you pace back and forth smoking a cigarette and wondering how you ended up being caught in all this noirish intrigue. Oh, and some ripping 80s guitar solos from Steve Stevens and G.E. Smith.

I'm intrigued by Ric's outsider perspective on his relationships, particularly how he manages to never come across as stalkery. I don't have an answer for that, his inner-poet monologue just seems sincere to me. It's better than Heartbeat City (i haven't reviewed that album, and i haven't listened to it in a while, so i might have to take that statement back at some point).

Sorry, this isn't a particularly clever or ridiculous review. Partly that's because i'm just so damned tired of talking about politics and death and drugs and economics, and partly because he died 13 days after my dad in 2019. You might say my emotions are in motion (and not at all in a bad way). 

But is it good? Yeah, it's great. Ric is a really good songwriter. Nothing dumb or cheesy, musically/thematically/stylistically consistent, nobody gumming up the works, making him include crap songs for filler, or ruining his ideas. If anything, it's proof positive that synthpop can be emotionally complex, introspective, and quirky at the same time. Give it a whirl some time. Cheers.

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