''This Side of Paradise'' is the second solo studio album released by

Ric Ocasek Richard Theodore Otcasek (March 23, 1944 – September 15, 2019), known as Ric Ocasek ( ), was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He was the primary vocalist, rhythm guitarist, songwriter, and frontman for the America ...

, lead singer and songwriter of

the Cars The Cars were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the New wave music, new wave Subculture, scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek (rhythm guitar), Benjamin Orr (bass guitar), Elliot Easton (l ...

. It was released in 1986 by

Geffen Records Geffen Records (formerly The David Geffen Company from 1980 to 1992 and Geffen Records Inc. from 1993 to 2004) is an American record label, founded in late 1980 by David Geffen. Originally a music subsidiary of the company known as Geffen Pi ...

. Though it was a solo album, other members of the Cars played significant roles.

Greg Hawkes Gregory A. Hawkes (born October 22, 1952) is an American musician who is best known as the keyboardist and founding member of the American new wave band the Cars. Hawkes is credited with helping popularize new wave and synth-pop in American popu ...

plays keyboards and bass throughout the album (he appears on most of Ocasek's solo albums), and also co-wrote "Hello Darkness" (most Cars albums feature one Ocasek/Hawkes tune).

Benjamin Orr Benjamin Orr (, September 8, 1947 – October 3, 2000) was an American musician. He was best known as the bassist, co-lead vocalist, and co-founder of the band the Cars. He sang lead vocals on several of their hits, including "Just What I Nee ...

is on backing vocals for three songs. Along with Hawkes and Orr, the track "True to You" also features

Elliot Easton Elliot Easton (born Steinberg, December 18, 1953) is an American musician who is best known as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for the American new wave band the Cars. His melodic guitar solos are an integral part of the band's music. ...

on guitar. Both production and drumming were by

Chris Hughes Christopher Hughes (born November 26, 1983) is an American entrepreneur and author who co-founded and served as spokesman for the online social directory and networking site Facebook until 2007. He was the publisher and editor-in-chief of ''The ...

(formerly known as "Merrick", drummer for

Adam and the Ants Adam and the Ants were an English Rock music, rock band that formed in London in 1977. The band existed in two versions, both fronted by Adam Ant, between 1977 and 1982. The first phase began when the band were founded in May 1977 and were call ...

). Hughes had been the recent producer of

Tears for Fears Tears for Fears are an English pop rock band formed in Bath in 1981 by Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal. Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, Tears for Fears were associated with the synth-pop bands o ...

Promotion

Guitarist G.E. Smith's involvement with the album proved convenient when Ocasek assembled a backing band (including Greg Hawkes on keyboards) to appear as musical guest on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'', mostly using the Saturday Night Live Band, which then featured Smith as bandleader. Appearing on Episode 3 of Season 12, Ocasek performed "Emotion in Motion" and "Keep on Laughin'". Ocasek also appeared in a comedy sketch starring Dana Carvey's

recurring character A recurring character is a fictional character, usually in a prime time TV series, who frequently appears from time to time during the series' run. Recurring characters often play major roles in more than one episode, sometimes being the main f ...

the Church Lady Enid Strict, better known as The Church Lady, is a fictional character portrayed by Dana Carvey on American sketch comedy television show ''Saturday Night Live.'' The character appeared on the show from 1986 to 1990, and again in 1996, 2000, 2011 ...

, who incorrectly introduced him as

Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943) is an English musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who is an original member, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-principal songwriter of the Rolling Stones. His songwriting partnership wi ...

. After Ocasek corrected her, she then addressed him as "Ricky". In her typical way, the Church Lady piously criticized the sensuality of his rock and roll music.

Title

This is the second consecutive Ocasek album to derive its title from an indirect poetry reference. In this case, ''This Side of Paradise'' shares its title with 1920

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to pu ...

F. Scott Fitzgerald Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940), widely known simply as Scott Fitzgerald, was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and exces ...

, which in turn took its title from a line of the

Rupert Brooke Rupert Chawner Brooke (3 August 1887 – 23 April 1915The date of Brooke's death and burial under the Julian calendar that applied in Greece at the time was 10 April. The Julian calendar was 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar.) was an En ...

poem "Tiare Tahiti".

Song details

The album begins with sound-effects from the arcade game

Missile Command ''Missile Command'' is a 1980 shoot 'em up video game developed and published by Atari for arcades. Sega released the game outside North America. It was designed by Dave Theurer, who also designed Atari's vector graphics game '' Tempest'' from ...

, a woman's voice speaking a foreign language, and the musical theme of "Look in Your Eyes", before "Keep on Laughin'" begins. "Coming for You" features a recurring motif previously heard on "Nightspots" from the Cars' album ''

Candy-O ''Candy-O'' is the second studio album by American new wave band the Cars, released on June 2, 1979, by Elektra Records. Produced by Roy Thomas Baker, the album spawned two singles, " Let's Go" and " It's All I Can Do". The album outperformed ...

'': Under an E minor chord, B-C-B-A-E. "True Love" features a classical-styled solo on nylon-stringed

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

, played by Steve Stevens, who was then better known for the bombastic

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

style that he brought to Billy Idol's material. "P.F.J." is a

character sketch In literature, a character sketch, or character, is a rough-and-ready rendering and thumbnail portrayal of an individual, capturing, in brief, that person's physical characteristics, psychological attributes, and the like. The brief descriptions ...

of a young man called "Pink Flag Joe". It features Greg Hawkes on

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

and

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica incl ...

, as well as keyboards and bass. The second chorus to "Hello Darkness", beginning with ''"Hello darkness / You are my friend"'', could be a reference to the well-known

Simon and Garfunkel Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo comprising the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music acts of the 1960s. Their most famous recordings include three US number-one sing ...

song "

The Sounds of Silence "The Sound of Silence" (originally "The Sounds of Silence") is a song by the American folk rock duo Simon & Garfunkel, written by Paul Simon. The duo's studio audition of the song led to a record deal with Columbia Records, and the original a ...

", which begins ''"Hello darkness, my old friend"''. Ocasek has long had a habit of using well-known titles and lyrical references, such as the Cars songs "

Good Times Roll "Good Times Roll" is a song by American rock band the Cars released as the first track from their 1978 debut album ''The Cars''. Written by Ric Ocasek as a sarcastic comment on rock's idea of good times, the song features layered harmonies courte ...

", " Bye Bye Love", " Think It Over" and "Maybe Baby", among others. Before the last song, the title track, has quite faded away, it abruptly switches to an

instrumental An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...

, synthesizer-dominated

reprise In music, a reprise ( , ; from the verb 'to resume') is the repetition or reiteration of the opening material later in a composition as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though—originally in the 18th century—was simply any re ...

of "True Love", which gradually fades out to end the album.

Track listing

Personnel

*Ric Ocasek – vocals, bass, guitar, keyboards *

– guitar *

– guitar on "P.F.J." *Sandy McLelland – background vocals *

– guitar *

– bass, keyboards, background vocals *

– drums *

– stick bass *

– background vocals *

– guitar, background vocals * G.E. Smith – guitar *Andy Topeka – programming, synclavier, technical maintenance Technical *Ross Cullum – engineer *Joe Barbaria – mixing *

Nick Egan Nick Egan (born 4 July 1957 in London, England) is a British visual design artist and director of music videos, commercials and film. He graduated from the Watford College of Art and Design with a DGA in 1976.

– design *Arthur Eigort – photography

Charts

Use in ''EarthBound''

The intro to the track "Keep On Laughin'" was sampled in the SNES game

EarthBound ''EarthBound'', originally released in Japan as is a 1994 role-playing video game, role-playing video game developed by Ape, Inc., Ape Inc. and HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as the second e ...

. It was used in the background music for Moonside.

Notes

{{Authority control 1986 albums Ric Ocasek albums Albums produced by Ric Ocasek Geffen Records albums Albums produced by Chris Hughes (musician)