Ric Ocasek – Beatitude

This is a great record. I think of it as a more stripped down version of a Cars record. Sorta minimal synth/electronics but very melodic with good song structures. And by the way, a couple of people’s reviews saying this was Ric Ocasek’s attempt to redeem himself from “Panorama” LP by The Cars. First off, Panorama is a FANTASTIC album—ESPECIALLY the title track! Secondly, “Panorama” LP came out in 1980 followed by “Shake It Up” LP in 1981. Ric Ocasek-Beatitudes (this record) came out in 1982. I will listen to this over “Heartbeat City” (1984) any day of the week—started to sound too commercial for me. This is an enjoyable record all the way through. If you’re a Cars fan this is definitely worth having as an extension of their anthology.

This one's a bit more Synth Pop/New Wave heavy than the stuff that he had been doing with The Cars up until this point. It's a great solo album. It's a much better album than the previous one he did with The Cars (Panorama). You can definitely tell from the following cars album (Heartbeat City), that he may have learned something when he was putting this album together.

Vastly underrated debut solo album of Cars prime mover, Rick Ocasek. Easily his best solo album, and other than the Cars 1st album Beatitude is as good as any Cars album - better than most. Yes, you can identify immediately that the year was 1982 from the record production. But the songwriting is sharp, concise, and moving in and out of robotic darkness. Electronic mantras. Making Beatitude seemed to reinvigorate Ocasek after the lackluster Cars album, Panorama. And he continued mining his darker inner robot with the Cars afterward. Jimmy Jimmy and Connect Up to Me really shine here and are among Ocasek's best songs. Mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound, these recordings are 1st rate.