While most of the Ric Ocasek obits are understandably focused on the importance of The Cars and his role in their success, it’s one of his solo songs, "Emotion in Motion," that is one of my all-time favorites of the 1980s and among all pop tunes in general. There's a magical quality to the synth-driven ballad that really takes me somewhere. Released in 1986 as the lead single for his second solo album This Side of Paradise, which largely sounds like a Cars album, it was Ocasek's only U.S. top 40 single as a solo artist (#15 pop, #8 AC, #1 rock tracks). It's a sweetly romantic track, in a good way, and it sits at #16 on my all-time Last fm scrobbles chart. Ocasek's final drawing/doodle that has been featured in the news says "Keep on Laughin'," which is the title of the opening track on This Side of Paradise. It's a good tune, but the second-best track on Paradise is "Mystery." Elsewhere among his solo albums, "Hang on Tight" from 1997's Troublizing, which featured some collaboration with Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins (not on this track, however), is also highly recommended, with an interesting evolution of the synth-pop-rock sound. As for The Cars' body of work, the moody ballad "Drive" and "Magic" are divine slices of pop music.
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