Originally Posted by VEGANGELICA

No, I hadn't heard this song or Ben's only solo album before. "Skyline" is pretty and comforting. Thanks for telling me about the song and album, Trollheart.

I actually didn't know he was dead until last year. I had watched a YouTube video with Ben Orr in it and then looked him up (after looking at him! ) to find out more about him...only to learn that he was dead.

I'm sorry he didn't have a longer life. One gets what one gets, I suppose, and something is better than nothing. :/ And it looks like he must have enjoyed his time, filled with creativity and close friends.

Originally Posted by FRED HALE SR.

I remember being amazed by these guys at a young age. This is one of those bands that separates from a genre. I remember the metalheads, punk rockers, jocks, girly girls, pop lovers, you can name it, everybody seemingly appreciated The Cars. Their songwriting skills were brilliant and they had two outstanding vocalist with different range and ability. Truly one of my alltime favorite bands and something i'll never stop listening to. Hard for me to pick a favorite between The Self titled and Candy-O.

Originally Posted by VEGANGELICA

Earlier in this thread I posted my favorite Cars songs ( http://www.musicbanter.com/rock-meta...ml#post1103682 ), but I haven't commented yet on Benjamin Orr.

He was definitely one handsome man, I feel.

When I got my first Cars cassette in the '80s, I didn't really notice or know how they all looked. I think there was just a drawing on the front of the cassette and no picture of the band. I was inspired by the music alone, which sounded hot and risqué.

Then last year when I saw Benjamin Orr in videos, similar to this excellent video below of their 1978 performance of "Just What I Needed," I realized to my surprise that...he was lovely.

I also had to laugh because I noticed that the keyboard player looks like a slender little 15-year-old boy, and I remembered reading wisdom's hypothesis that keyboard players tend not to be very manly. Based on this one band, that hypothesis would be proven, in my opinion.

The Cars - Just What I Needed - The Midnight Special 1978
I love the "chuck, chuck, chuck" of the rhythm guitar complemented by Ben's warm singing.

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Have you heard Ben's one and only solo album? What a shame he never got to record more. RIP Ben...

Originally Posted by Holerbot6000

I think Panorama was their best album. It was a slow decline into commercial irrelevance after that.

Originally Posted by Janszoon

Yeah, those are my two favorites by them as well. There are really no bad tracks on either one of them.

Originally Posted by eraser.time206

If you can't deal with the fact that there are 6+ billion people in the world and none of them think exactly the same that's not my problem. Just deal with it yourself or make actual conversation. This isn't a court and I'm not some poet or prophet that needs everything I say to be analytically critiqued.

Originally Posted by Unknown Soldier

I think that's a poor album as he doesn't have Ric Ocasek writing for him, its basically just a tame AOR album and Ben's vocals are wasted on it.

Originally Posted by Trollheart

Ah, we all know you're just an Ocasek fanboy!
Seriously, I think it's a great album, hardly any bad tracks although yes, like some of Ocasek's stuff it does borrow riffs from well-known songs, but even then it does that well. I was impressed with the album, personally.

And I'm sure it won't be popular with people here, but my own favourite Cars has to be "Heartbeat City" (who said BOOO?) with "Door to door" running a close second. Did not think much of the "comeback" album last year however...

Originally Posted by eraser.time206

If you can't deal with the fact that there are 6+ billion people in the world and none of them think exactly the same that's not my problem. Just deal with it yourself or make actual conversation. This isn't a court and I'm not some poet or prophet that needs everything I say to be analytically critiqued.