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The New Cars: "Not Tonight"

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  • The New Cars: "Not Tonight"

    Anyone heard this? They're playing it a lot on The Big Kahuna lately. It's the Cars, but with Todd Rundgren on lead vocals and a new guitar-player. I think it sounds great! Rundgren sounds enough like Ric Ocasek to make this sound like a Cars song, but different enough so that he doesn't sound like a guy in a tribute band. That's my take, anyway.

    The background vocals really make the song work, I think, and this song makes me eager to pick up the new album (live stuff plus a few new things, is what I hear) when it drops.
    But I'm disturbed! I'm depressed! I'm inadequate! I GOT IT ALL! (George Costanza)
    GrouchyTeacher.com

  • #2
    Re: The New Cars: "Not Tonight"

    I actually heard it in the car right after you asked me about it at the picnic, Scriv. And I like it! I think Rundgren sounds more like Benjamin Orr, personally, but it does sound just like early 80's Cars. Thumbs up.

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    • #3
      Re: The New Cars: "Not Tonight"

      I bought this track from iTunes about a month ago. Good song.
      I'm still here. Are you?

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      • #4
        Re: The New Cars: "Not Tonight"

        I'm just glad they found a singer who sounds like Rick Ocasek.

        Van Halen took a risk changing their entire sound with Sammy Hagar, but fortunately it worked (for the general public, but NOT hardcore fans).

        Journey made an equally good choice with their new singer who matches Steve Perry's voice.

        I don't think any original rock band will sound like their tribute counterpart as long as either the founding guitarist or lead singer is still present.

        The Atomic Punks (tribute band) sure sound better than any original Van Halen in years though.

        Just like most other rock bands, The Cars's earliest work (namely the first album and Candy-O) are still my favorite.
        sigpic The Tasty Island

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        • #5
          Re: The New Cars: "Not Tonight"

          Originally posted by Pomai
          Van Halen took a risk changing their entire sound with Sammy Hagar, but fortunately it worked (for the general public, but NOT hardcore fans).
          This is a matter of opinion, of course, and I've heard lots of people say it, but I consider myself almost a hardcore VH fan, and as soon as I heard that Sammy Hagar was going to be VH's new singer, I knew VH was going to be better than ever. And it was. I don't know if you remember what VH was like just before Roth got the axe, but it was getting tiresome. Dave was already turning into a lounge act or a circus act or something. It's true that Hagar lacks a certain subtlety in presentation, but his shortcoming there are more than made up for by (a) the ability to write a decent song lyric, (b) the ability to play the guitar, and (c) a loud, clear, ringing voice that knows how to rock. In his solo concerts, pre-VH, Sammy often performed Led Zep's "Whole Lotta Love," and it rocked. Dave never could have pulled that off. Give another listen to "Finish What You Started" and tell me VH didn't become a better band when Sammy was its lead singer.

          Journey made an equally good choice with their new singer who matches Steve Perry's voice.
          Gotta disagree here, too. Remember when Steve Perry joined Journey? The dynamic between the new singer and the old singer, Gregg Rolie, was fantastic. Perry took the band in a new direction when Rolie left, leaving us with three distinct but cool Journey eras: The pre-Perry era, the Rolie-and-Perry era, and the Perry era, and they were all good. Each was different from the rest, but it was the same band each time, in the same way that Styx was always Styx, whether the lead vocals were performed by DeYoung, Shaw, or Young. When Journey unceremoniously dumped Perry, replacing him with Steve Augieri, it made a big mistake finding a guy who sounded (to some) exactly like Perry. To his credit, Augieri never tried to sound like Perry -- he was just doing what he has always done, and it was Neil Schon who heard Augieri on the radio and thought this should be Journey's lead singer. Schon has said that fans "won't even know the difference," but that's an insult. Fans know the difference. I saw Journey at the Arena when it was only Steve Smith and Ross Valory who weren't with the band (Valory's replacement on that tour, by the way, was American Idol's Randy Jackson) and even that didn't feel like Journey. It felt like Schon, Cain, and Perry with two hired guns. Journey messed up.

          I don't think any original rock band will sound like their tribute counterpart as long as either the founding guitarist or lead singer is still present.
          David Lee Roth was on Later with Craig Ferguson a couple of weeks ago, fronting a bluegrass VH tribute band. It was actually quite good; Roth was always a good live singer and he doesn't seem to have lost that. I would not complain if VH got him back. But it takes more than an original guitarist or vocalist to make the actual band not sound like just a cheap tribute act. The other guys in the band are, in the good bands, there for a reason. The founding members of Journey were all in Santana before they started Journey, so right up through Frontiers, when three-fourths of that original band were still with the group, Journey was Journey. By the time they came here for Raised on Radio, the only original member was Schon, and it just didn't seem like Journey. Similarly, I consider the one binding agent in all of VH's work to be the background vocals of Michael Anthony, the group's bassist. Listen to ANY VH song from ANY era, and you hear him back there, putting that distinctive VH sound on everything. Hagar's on tour now and he took Anthony with him. Hagar knows who really makes VH sound like VH.

          The Atomic Punks (tribute band) sure sound better than any original Van Halen in years though.
          Okay, this we can agree on, but you know what? It isn't because this band plays Roth-era VH music. It's because Van Halen, for one album, forgot how to write good songs. I thought Gary Cherone was an EXCELLENT choice for VH, because he has a great voice, he's a smart guy, and he writes good songs. I have a feeling that if the group had stuck it out for another album or two, Van Halen with Gary Cherone could have been terrific. Cherone's songs have always been thoughtful, and where Roth was always powered by hormones and Hagar by emotion, Cherone seems to be driven by something brainy and spiritual. Rock groups get old, and I think this would have been a good direction for the band to go in as it got older. As it was, though, even a great band (and I consider Van Halen to be the second-best band in America, behind REM and just ahead of Aerosmith) can't make pale songs sound good.

          Just like most other rock bands, The Cars's earliest work (namely the first album and Candy-O) are still my favorite.
          Something else we can agree on, maybe. I can never decide, except that I totally hate "Drive" and "Shake it Up." But would you still like the Cars if every album after those first two sounded just like that? There's a reason groups of the fifties, if they're still around, sound exactly the same as they've always sounded: they existed before the Beatles, who invented the whole idea of moving into new directions. Nobody did that before (in popular music), and it's something I appreciate.
          Last edited by scrivener; June 24, 2006, 03:26 PM. Reason: "i ain't no perfect man, but sam i am..."
          But I'm disturbed! I'm depressed! I'm inadequate! I GOT IT ALL! (George Costanza)
          GrouchyTeacher.com

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          • #6
            Re: The New Cars: "Not Tonight"

            Originally posted by scrivener
            Gotta disagree here, too. |-----> with Steve Augieri, it made a big mistake finding a guy who sounded (to some) exactly like Perry.
            Then who would you have recommended?

            My friend still swears by their earliest work when they were less commercialized and more of an instrumental power quartet. I'm not too familiar with Greg Rollie's vocals. The only albums I've personally owned by them were Escape, Frontiers and the Greatest Hits. Neal Schon is definately within the top 20 of my Rock Guitar Gods list. Ozzy Osbourne TOPS my Metal Gods Singer's list.

            I see where you're coming from about creating a new sound though. Iron Maiden turned out much better when they brought in Bruce Dickinson. AC/DC also made a good choice with Brian Johnson; both entirely different-sounding vocalists.

            Still, when I hear Brian Johnson sing Bon Scott-era songs (Live at Donington DVD), it sucks in my opinion. Just sing everything Back in Black and beyond. Same with Sammy singing Roth-era songs (Live Without a Net DVD). Sucks.

            Perhaps The Cars and Journey rather play it safe and stay with their classic sound than take a risk trying to reinvent themselves.

            You're probably right about a second Gary Cherone VH album. He was a brilliant vocalist with Extreme and matched the intricate stylings of guitarist Nuno Bettencourt. Something that should have been favorable with Eddie if given a fair chance and little more effort in the part of song writing. Going back to Sammy was kinda' like "sloppy thirds" so to speak.

            would you still like the Cars if every album after those first two sounded just like that?
            Actually, yeah I probably would. As long as it evolved and didn't sound like the same songs presented in another way... kinda' the problem it seems Lacuna Coil has, based on at least 10 tracks that I've listened to online samples of. The Police did a great job evolving their signature sound on each album, without becoming outright unfamiliar.. something that can chase away fans.
            Last edited by Pomai; June 26, 2006, 04:27 PM. Reason: Forgot to answer one of Scrivener's questions
            sigpic The Tasty Island

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            • #7
              Re: The New Cars: "Not Tonight"

              My son's pissed at the "new cars." He likes the "old cars."

              I've never heard of either!!

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              • #8
                Re: The New Cars: "Not Tonight"

                Originally posted by Pomai
                Actually, yeah I probably would. As long as it evolved and didn't sound like the same songs presented in another way... kinda' the problem it seems Lacuna Coil has, based on at least 10 tracks that I've listened to online samples of. The Police did a great job evolving their signature sound on each album, without becoming outright unfamiliar.. something that can chase away fans.
                But that's what the Cars did -- evolved so that it didn't sound like the same song over and again. Actually, I think I've forgotten what it was I meant when I asked this, so let's move on.

                The first time I read your response, the part about Lacuna Coil wasn't on there, and I didn't see it until just now. Lacuna Coil is a recent discovery for me, and I really, really, really like them. Just mail-ordered Karmacode after hearing a sample of something else and purchasing the EP on iTunes. They compared to a lot of bands I've never heard of, but musically, the band they most remind me of is White Zombie, a band I've always enjoyed. So I'm in no position to make any kind of declarative statement on the new stuff in comparison with the old stuff, but I do really like the new stuff!
                But I'm disturbed! I'm depressed! I'm inadequate! I GOT IT ALL! (George Costanza)
                GrouchyTeacher.com

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                • #9
                  Re: The New Cars: "Not Tonight"

                  The fact they actually retitled themselves THE NEW CARS is something I wasn't aware of before. I thought Scrivener just used that to describe this posting. Interesting. I hardly doubt Journey had any thought of adding NEW to their name with Steve Augieri. THE NEW JOURNEY. Nah. NEW FRONTIER... now I like that!

                  When I think of The Cars, I can't help but think of similar 80's rock-synth bands that I thoroughly enjoyed, such as The Fixx, Missing Persons and Duran Duran. At the time, that was my "mellow music", when I needed to take a break from headbanging metal.

                  Regarding Lacuna Coil, I really am interested in them, and judging them just by shortened online samples and youtube videos isn't enough to really hear their music. My immediate reaction was that they reminded of more metallic version of Evanescence. Pretty rockin' stuff.

                  Scrivener, when you get to really listen to your Karmacode album, I'd love to here your always interesting take on it!
                  sigpic The Tasty Island

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