The show started on December 12, 2008, and all of our shows, they are online still, at Treet TV.  We had the official opening at Pop Art Lab, my sim in Second Life.  We spent most of the first half of 2008 on designing the set and streaming and getting stable streaming.

The people who helped, it was the community I joined during my first six months in Second Life.  I happened to meet some–well, a lot of–clever artists.  Mainly designers and sim owners, and they knew I was working with music in real life and know I was very serious about what I wanted to do in there.  I mentioned in the beginning, I wanted to do something with music and I wanted to create some music services.  So it was natural to ask my closest friends in there if they were able to and if they wanted to help me design this.  And this goes for both the PopArt Lab and also the very first TV studio we created.  It was all the same designers that also designed PopArt Lab.  So it was like, “hey, Claus is doing some cool things, we would love to help, and we would love to be part of all this.”

The very first show back then with Greg Hawkes, I was in the cast.  I hadn’t thought much about it, what my role was.  Usually we made these shows and Treet TV would put them online.  It was actually when I saw the rolling text at the end of these shows saying produced by Claus Uriza, I thought, okay, cool, I’m a producer now.

So it wasn’t anything I thought about that way, but looking back, I did handle all these tasks.  Well, what is a producer?  Making shows, I think.   My problem has always been I’m doing a bit about everything and I’m not very good at letting other people do things.  The problem running the first few shows, or maybe more, was that I was really doing a lot at the same time.  If you’re going to interview a rock star, you have to be pretty focused, but when you have to answer IMs and prepare group invitations at the same time as you’re sitting there…  So I didn’t think about what it was to be a producer back then.  It was just something that happened.

I remember, many times, they told me after the show–Starr Sonic from Treet TV–that everything must be very scheduled.  I have to create a run sheet for each show, and when you make virtual TV as live TV, as live recordings, everyone just has to be online, everything just has to be very precise.  Or else you waste everyone’s time.  And I was really new to all this.

Starr, she was very, what you call, tough.  I remember several shows when we were done with the show, she was asking questions and giving criticism.  And, of course, I’m the kind of guy who really likes and appreciates that kind of feedback.  Because that’s the only way we can make an effort.   So of course it was also made in a good way – we learned, it wasn’t bad intentions.  It was just to get the shows more tight.

And it was also Treet TV who said “Claus, you have to get people on board on this and that.”  When we did this first show with Greg Hawkes, I hadn’t been Skyping a lot and my English was not good, but it was okay, and I think that first interview I actually think I did a lot of the interview myself.  I met Persia Bravin, and she became the host on all shows.  I met her a week before the first Pop Vox show.  She’s actually a journalist in real life, and she’s interviewing people for real life all the time.  And that was one thing – because we wanted a good accent, we wanted someone who could speak English perfect.  Since Persia is from the U.K. and she’s very interested in music, it very soon became Persia who actually did most of the interview parts of our show.

We created the interview questions together, usually on Google Shared Docs.  And when we ran the show, she were actually doing 80 to 90% of the interview parts.  Then we usually had a host for the in-world audience.  It was also people from Pop Art Lab who came and told people where to sit and just help people who arrive at the show know how to, well, behave.

And of course we had Emily Hifeng; she’s pretty much been Pop Art Lab’s designer since back then.  And we also always had to argue with Treet TV, because we didn’t want a real life look-alike TV studio; we wanted to make all kinds of crazy stuff.  I mentioned for several shows, well, I want to jump up on an elephant and come into the studio on this elephant.  Or, I’m a cowboy for this show, I want to fire some guns and stuff like that.  But Treet TV turned down those ideas.

Overall, I was focused on getting an interested artist in for the show.  That was part one.  Secondly, my role was to create the final run sheet, which means we had a formula from Treet TV, where you have to put up the entire show, what happens each minute in the show.  And, well, I’m an audio guy, so the technical stuff about getting streams up, running, sounding good, and getting the set secure so there were no griefers.  Some of our shows had to be closed, which means we had to send invites out so only the people who were added to the accept list on the sim could attend.  So I handled more technical stuff in the shows, but also the promotion, which means posting on the web about the shows.

I think it’s not to put myself up on something, but I pretty much was involved with everything.  That was also the problem, at times, which was why I tried to delegate all these tasks and had hosts for the audience.

So when we had done like five or six shows, the only thing I really had to do was to put out the final run sheet and get the artists we were going to interview – that was big part, too, to get the artist familiar with Second Life, first of all.  Not all the artists have tried Second Life and so you had to get them seated correctly, tell the artist do not teleport your friends right in the middle of the show, and all kinds of stuff.

But maybe some people are not aware of how many – there are a lot of small, you could call, components, making a show, which have to be done correctly or else.  We did a show once where everything was prepared and we had done audio checks–usually we did checks with the artist, streaming their stuff a few days prior to the show–and finally when we were sitting there, we couldn’t get the streaming there, because the studio where they were going to record was in some office building, so actually we had to cancel that live recording.  We did the interview, but we couldn’t make the live recording due to a firewall in London!

As for the live studio audience, in the beginning we didn’t really ask them to do much.  We just asked them to come and we had created the studio where they were going to sit.  We asked them to come early and then our host would guide them to their seats and it went pretty well.  Later on we spent the last five minutes of each interview part where we asked the audience to put up questions in text so we were able to ask the artist questions from the audience.

All of our shows have been run using Skype, which means we make our conference call via Skype.  Treet TV would catch  the call and send it to a server, and that server creates a URL, and this  URL you would put in your land media settings in your sim.  Which means that if we were going to record voice questions from the audience, we would have to had another set-up, to allow them to speak.  It’s much easier if you do that entirely on Second Life voice.

We have done it a few times; some of our shows have been machinima shorts and concert shows and those shows we did entirely using Second Life voice, as I remember.  But that was because we had speakers, and speakers were just better.  It’s easier to use Second Life voice and it’s actually more stable than many people say.  The only thing you have to worry about is that the speaker has to be placed in the same place.  If you have a stage, you have to ask the speaker to get up to the microphone on the stage.  And that was pretty hard to do in these live interview Pop Vox shows because then you had to ask the avatar to go up to the microphone and often we had to deal with a lot of lag.  And that’s also why I wasn’t allowed to ride into the shows on an elephant…too much lag…

And so to bring the audience up for questions live on voice is a bit more of a challenge.

It was good and bad, because people were a bit shy, because everything was recorded.  You could watch the whole show live on the internet, and you have to remember this is three years ago, so we usually limited our shows to about forty attendees.  So we didn’t get as much questions as I would have thought, or I would have liked, but it was a fun part, because it’s interesting if fans can ask artists questions directly.

The Cars are an American rock band that emerged from the New Wave music scene in the late 1970s. The band originated in Boston, Massachusetts, with lead singer and rhythm guitarist Ric Ocasek, lead singer and bassist Benjamin Orr, guitarist Elliot Easton, keyboardist Greg Hawkes and drummer David Robinson. They were signed to Elektra Records by George Daly, then A&R head, in 1977.

The Cars were at the forefront in merging 1970s guitar-oriented rock with the new synth-oriented pop that was then becoming popular and which would flower in the early 1980s. The Cars started fresh with their debut album The Cars which went on to go platinum in late 1978. The Cars’ debut album was called a “genuine rock masterpiece” by Allmusic. The most successful and well known song from the album, “Just What I Needed”, started as a demo in 1977. The song was sent as a mix tape to a local DJ in the Boston area, who played the song in heavy rotation. This soon caught the attention of other DJs, which led to the signing of the band by Elektra Records in 1977.

The band broke up in 1988, and Ocasek had always discouraged talk of a reunion since then, telling one interviewer in 1997 “I’m saying never and you can count on that.” Bassist Benjamin Orr died in 2000 from pancreatic cancer. In 2005, Easton and Hawkes joined with Todd Rundgren to form a spin-off band, The New Cars, which performed classic Cars and Rundgren songs alongside new material. The surviving original members reunited in 2010 to record a new album, titled Move Like This, which was released May 10, 2011, and a tour to start on the same day.  - Wikipedia

Rundgren welcomes you to his psychedelic world. Photo by Lynn vala

Glenside PA – I will have to explain the two albums being played live by Rundgren and company at the Keswick Theater before we get into the review.  The first is the self titled album Todd.  It remains my favorite album by him to date.  Starting out with some backwards masking (sounds played backward) of a voice asking for a little fanfare, it maintains a non-stop adventure right to the protracted fade of the last track, recorded live with a chorus of audience members from both coasts and mixed together (long before digital signal stretching in Pro-Tools) in one track.

The second album is a collection of songs pertaining to the science (?) of psychic healing.  Side one of Healing deals with the voyage of one who is anointed with the power to heal, and the taxation of a greedy society, all clamoring for the healing touch.  Trivia time:  The bonus 7” vinyl that was included with the original 12” plastic waffle release was the single from the album called “Time Heals” and was the 7^th original video aired on MTV’s broadcast debut.

There weren’t many videos to choose from then, and Rundgren and MTV are not the best of friends.  Read on for more dish…

When MTV made its debut, Rundgren was pissed off at MTV as they outbid him for available channel space on a satellite launched for broadcast.  Rundgren was hoping to acquire that channel in conjunction with a new video studio he had built from the revenue and points he had earned producing and (initially) bankrolling Meatloaf’s first album Bat Out Of Hell.  Yes, it was Rundgren who initially paid the members of Bruce Springsteen’s E-street band to co-perform on the album with the members of Utopia.

I am always reminded of a story Utopia bassist Kasim Sulton (who plays bass and does vocals with Rundgren to this day) told about touring with Marvin Lee Aday (Meatloaf to the uninitiated), and Fatloaf being so out-of-shape that after his acrobatic performances, he would stumble off stage and pass out.  The newcomer Sulton would always ask “Is he OK?  Is he going to be alright?”  That reminds me of another Sulton story, when Aday (or The Loaf) and songwriter Jim Steinman first entered Utopia studios to record their operatic rock and roll opus, Sulton looked at them and wondered “Who are these people? What are they doing here?”

Whenever I hear those damn songs in the doctor’s office, elevator or pancake house, I wonder what they were doing there.  But then again, I wondered what Rundgren did producing Shaun Cassidy’s Wasp (a killer album featuring some Rundgren tunes as well as Who, Talking Heads, Eric Burdon and the Animals covers) and today I am wondering about a recent press release informing me that after this tour and the holidays, Rundgren will be producing Donny Osmond…

What the…?

Back to the show at hand.

I have been let in on the inside, by someone who has attended one of the earlier shows, it seems at this point (I always write these intros a day or two before or in my seats at the show) like it will be a clusterfunk of poor judgment.

I envisioned Rundgren doing Healing first accompanied only by midi, his guitar and MAYBE some vocalists, as side two of Healing is a continuous song, “Healing 1,2 & 3” and is VERY mellow.  Todd is a raucous collection of more ear-catching pop trips, pot boiling rock and roll songs, and experiments galore.  The logical conclusion is that Rundgren would tempt the audience with a mellow, solo performance, and bring out the band for the explosive conclusion, climaxed (care for a cigarette?) by the audience participation song, the namesake for the webpage that contains all the info you might need about the shows, “Sons Of 1984”.

Gotta learn to lay off the assumptions.  Because when you assume…

My source, Mark Blanc (you know him as former Goodz bandmate of mine) tells me that the album Todd comes first, leaving the a-fore mentioned “Sons Of 1984” last AFTER the entire Healing album.  Hackneyed and haphazard, but that’s the way either Rundgren or event sponsor RundgrenRadio wants it.  He attended the first show of the tour.  If you read my last blog about the Alan Parsons show, the first show of the tour stigma was annihilated.

I can mention Parsons as he and Rundgren were bandmates along with Ann Wilson of Heart, and John Entwhistle of the Who in the Walk Down Abbey Road band of a few years ago.  When my resident photographer and best thing to ever happen to me was chatting with Mr. Parsons’ sound person, he was not fully aware of the connection.

Few people are.

But I had labored under the delusion that first shows of the tour were often ill-rehearsed, poorly coordinated and weakly executed exercises in performance.

From what Mr. Blanc tells me, Rundgren maintained this myth during the first show of this tour.  Flubbing piano parts (Rundgren was always confused as to why Playboy magazine would always vote him as one of the top ten keyboardists when they used to dally in such things), and the unusual arrangement of songs in the set list, again, clusterfuck.

As the topic of Healing might suggest, I have faith.  I have faith that Rundgren is enough of a professional and perfectionist, and the members of the band are competent enough that they will pull things together by the time they roll into Glenside PA.

Let’s talk about the band (always fun).

Rundgren will play guitar and piano and (of course) vocals.

Sulton will play bass, keyboards and do vocals

Long time Rundgren and Tony Levin guitarist Jesse Gress will play guitar, keyboards and vocals.

Greg Hawkes of The Cars and The New Cars as well as being keyboardist for Rundgren’s A Wizard A True Star tour from last year, repeats his role as noisemaker for this tour.

Prairie Prince will be drumming, leaving his usual daytime gig as pounder for San Francisco humor-rock act The Tubes.

Lastly, and never least, Bobby Strickland on keyboards and various wind instruments brass, wood and electronic.

I guess the only thing to do is pick up the photo pass for my best thing to ever happen to me and wait for the action.  We gotta bring you the photos…

We do arrive early, but the press passes are not prepared.  I smell clusterfunk…  We ran into the promoters as we arrived, and they informed us that there would be a pre-show gathering at the nearby Keswick Tavern.

On an aside, if you find yourself in Glenside PA and are hungry, I recommend stopping by the Tavern to fill yourself up as I ordered the burger, and this thing was the size of a small dog!  As Laurie Anderson said during “Walk The Dog” from United States Parts 1-4 “Delicious food, uh-huh, interesting people, uh-huh, terrific music, uh-huh…”  But the servers were a bit overwhelmed as they were busy running around amidst a sea of Todd Rundgren T-shirts.

Mr. Blanc arrived shortly after with his lovely wife, a first time Rundgren concert goer and cousin James.  James brother, John, is an occasional contributor to this blog, contributing interview questions for Willie Wilcox, which to this day, remain unanswered.

Some of those T-shirts were filled with some very nice people Mr. Blanc introduced me to, a lot of them named Paul…

After what seemed like an interminable amount of delay, we decide to saunter over to the Keswick Theater to collect the photo pass and take our seats.  What did I say about Clusterfunk?  There is no photo pass prepared for my best thing to ever happen to me.  As we camp in front of one of the ticketing windows, we are grilled about who we are, who authorized the photo pass, what is the angle of the cosign if the radius of the triangle is 74.8 degree, who directed “Once Upon A Time In Mumbai…”?

Once we were in the theater itself, we went through a series of ushers, who kept referring us further and further down towards the stage.  We were seated by someone highly knowledgeable about the theater, its set-up, its history.  The usher, named Steve, explained that the theater was set-up that the seats were numbered odd along the left side (facing the stage) even numbered along the right, and the center is numbered continually.

We took our seats in what amounted to be front row.  I could have thrown wind at Rundgren and he would have felt it.

That close.

There are video cameras set up for the webcast.  My best thing to ever happen to me has been advised as to where the cameras are and where and where not to shoot pictures from.

I spend my pre-show time conversing about non-mainstream music with Steve.  It was an enthralling conversation about Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Cassidy, OLD Jefferson Airplane, and other acts of substance from the past.

As my best thing to ever happen to me is taking pictures of the mixing console, getting the lay-of-the-theater, some fat chick loudly proclaims as she walks by her empty seat, “Ooh, I should sit there” and I think to myself “you do and A) my best thing to ever happen to you will kick the crap out of you (former Tae Kwon Do Olympic hopeful), B) I will have security kick you out of the venue altogether.”

The rudeness did not stop there, more on THAT later.

Show time is near as the PA announcer makes a hysterical announcement that short of a dire catastrophe, we should place our heads between our knees and…  The people around me, John, Beth and Kat are die hard fans and Kat’s favorite album is Healing.  A kindred spirit, my favorite is Todd. Lights go down, we are ready to go.  Melinda Cain and Doug Ford are interviewed for the webcast.

After a taped intro of the backward masking, the musicians push out their instruments like old people wheeling about in their walkers with wheels.  The keyboards, the drum riser, all have casters on the bottom that lock into place to allow for mobility, flexibility and variety.  Even Prince’s drum kit is mobile.

Rundgren comes out with a high collared overcoat.  As Rundgren warbles the words to “I Think You Know”, Gress solos on top.  As is on the LP.  A flawless rendition, replete with Hawkes as noisemaker-in-residence and Strickland adds synth layers.  Then Rundgren picks up the replica “Fool” SG and gets a wail or two in.

The band are attired in pseudo-psychedelic garb.  Most likely crafted by Michelle Rundgren, another jack-of-all-trades.  Singer, dancer, seamstress, mother, launderer, lover, daughter, and most likely more I don’t know about.

Once the opening track is done, all the instruments are pushed off stage, and an upright piano is wheeled in front of Rundgren and he hangs up the SG on the side of it and sits behind it.  Pre-recorded tracks provide the studio excess of the original recording of “Spark Of Life”.  His voice is effected to match the album track, and Sulton wanders out behind him.

Hawkes “Hoverounds” his keyboard out again, and Prince contributes drum hits as he is wheeled out from the side of the stage.  Gress and Strickland are also added to the stage.  While Prince has softened the attack of the drums with mallets, Gress solos to rival the original guitar track.

I wonder how the stage-crafters union feels about all these musician-staging-equipment activities?

Another one of those boom camera set-ups is present, this time it lives on stage left (facing).  It hovers over Gress and Sulton.  The dynamic builds right along with Gress’s solo, the more and more furious the track becomes, Rundgren smirks at Gress.

“An Elpee’s Worth Of Tunes” is performed as humorously as it can and Gress, who is just a vocalist at this point, and Bobby Strickland mime a game of Frisbee with a clear blue vinyl album.  Adding to the hilarity and of no surprise to me, the boom conks Sulton on the head right before Rundgren exclaims “No no no, a little more humanity please.”

At the tavern previous to the show, I had a conversation with a woman (whose name I did not jot down, I am losing my touch) said she was at the Stamford AWATS show and was ducking the boom like I was.  She is of above-average height so I could see her getting conked a couple of times.  She was seated closer to the boom than I was and would have been a much easier target.

Rundgren’s voice is pitched up for the “help me” vocal (as was on the album) and pitched back down for the final line.  He then chides the crew for not taking away the piano.  He claims they will get it right before the end of the tour.

That’s only one more show in Morristown NJ so far, er…

“A Dream Goes On Forever” allows Sulton to play synth bass and midi or tape drums (however they played pre-recorded instruments, ProTools, etc.) and lets Prince do some standing scraper playing.  Upon closer examination, Sulton is providing the main piano chordal structure and Hawkes is again playing noise-maker.  A tight as hell ending.

Rundgren stands as conductor for “Lord Chancellor’s Nightmare Song” by Gilbert and Sullivan.  Rundgren has been a fan of Musical Theater since his father played those sort of songs from albums like HMS Pinafore and South Pacific.  For the live version, he varies the vocal cadence ever so slightly.  Again Sulton and Hawkes provide most of the chordal key work.  Gress returns with Strickland and ALL are playing keyboards with Strickland adding some digi-horn as Rundgren revels in his Gilbert and Sullivan element.  One hiccup, a digital click is heard as Strickland hits a button on his keyboard.  Otherwise, this is a perfect, royalty-free version.

“Drunken Blue Rooster” is trotted out as are Prince’s drums and Rundgren’s piano.  He mugs it up on the high note every time he hits the solitary “ping”.  He should have practiced this piano part as he played it much better when he took over for Paul Shaffer on Dave Letterman’s show once after regular fill in guest musical director Warren Zevon passed away.

Everyone but Prince is playing synths now.  After the climax of the piece which feature Hawkes providing pitch-bends downward, the lights go down and a spotlight focuses on Rundgren as he attempts the piano part double-timed, complete with double-timed mugs in it!  Now it’s time for…

“The Last Ride”.

A favorite of mine, gonna sit back and enjoy this one.  Sulton dons a bass and Gress still has keys in front of him, but a guitar is slung over his back.  Rundgren is brought out his SG by a crew member.  While Rundgren gets his guitar, Strickland solos on soprano sax.  Both solos (Rundgren’s and Strickland’s) are nothing short of divine!  Rundgren’s voice is in great shape for a sixty-two year-old.

From my vantage point, every time Rundgren plays to my side of the theater, it is like an up-close guitar lesson for me.  Simply amazing.

We are ready to rock to a slightly slower “Everybody’s Going To Heaven/King Kong Reggae” (which is not a reggae tune at all).  Prince plays this tricky, riff laden duo-tune super tight.  Gress ducks off stage left (facing) for a bit.  Rundgren solos and does vocals at once.  For this guitars only tune, the keyboards are gone and Sulton occupies stage right (facing), directly in front of me.  He recognizes me (it isn’t hard to recognize me, I’m the dingus who spends more time writing than viewing) or more accurately, recognizes my best thing to ever happen to me (we talked with Sulton after 2008/9 NYE at Painted Bride, after 09-09-2009’s AWATS show in Stamford, that was where he touched her face and said she was gorgeous, never said he didn’t have good taste in women).

I have only this to say to Sulton: WHERE ARE THOSE FREE TICKETS YOU OFFERED IN PRINT?  YOU PLAYED PHILLY AND BLEW ME OFF!!

From what I was told, it wasn’t Sulton who forgot, it was one of his handlers.  The people who handle artists REALLY shouldn’t forget us media writers, Sulton is planning a new album and would probably appreciate the publicity I could offer.  When I was pre-syndicated, I helped promote his DVD Kasim Sulton Live In Atlanta and Roger Powell could not deny that I helped Powell get a record deal for his Blue Note Ridge CD.  I really doubt I did anything, but it was nice for Powell to say “It didn’t hurt.”

I am getting some of that Laurie Anderson syndrome, where at my proximity, I am hearing Rundgren project from his diaphragm past the PA.  It got a little sloppy after the bridge, but what the hell, it’s only rock and roll.

For this two-for song, Hawkes and Strickland’s walkers were wheeled out again, and Sulton situates himself between them.  Keeping things on track.  The trade-off solos between Gress and Rundgren were prime examples of “I can do better than you can.”  Only neither one could!  This dueling brought us right into the “King Kong Reggae”.  Rundgren does monkeyesque gesticulations!  What a goof!

Rundgren invites us to sing along to the call and response lyrics.  I take a glance back and the house is grooving.

Two killer shows in four days!!  I don’t know if my heart can take it!!!

Rundgren removes the SG but is reminded by Sulton that he needs it.  Then it takes him multiple requests for a B note to tune the B string.  “We’ll get it right before the tour’s over” Rundgren announces.

The “sex” song “Number One Lowest Common Denominator” is next.  Another guitar feature tune, Gress ducks under the boom and exits stage left (facing).  A key line is triggered that sounds well out of place (actually, to me, it sounds like one of the triggers from “Flesh”, to be played later as part of Healing).  Rundgren points and mouths something at those keyboardists off stage.

Gress and Rundgren harmonize guitar lines into Rundgren’s thunderous solo.  Gress jams with Prince as the four-piece wails a chord strummed ending with lasers piercing from the back of the stage.

As they once again wheel out the piano, Rundgren performs a divestiture of his vest.  The drums are removed for the Linn-drum style recorded drums of “Useless Begging”.  Sulton does keys, but a bass is hanging from his shoulder.  Rundgren motions for a monitor adjustment.  They are using in-ear monitors and ear-mounted microphones.  Rundgren is the pioneer of the “clean” stage.

Meaning that there are no on-stage amplifiers, no mic stands, no monitors (for Rundgren to trip over, see the Utopia video An Evening With Utopia, specifically the song “Infrared And Ultraviolet”).

During the album track, there is a ‘tap-dance’ solo.  Well, Rundgren’s own Mr. Bojangles (as he was announced by Rundgren), Prince comes out with tap shoes and actually performs the part as opposed to merely clicking out the part on the drum rims.  Even Strickland laughs as Prince dances his way into our hearts.  A mic dangles from Prince’s monitor system to pick up the tap heel clicks!

Rundgren leaves the stage but his mic is still up as he was complaining about something or someone.  Midi drums do supply the rhythm for “Sidewalk Café”.  Strickland and Gress trade-off lead notes.  Sulton keeps his eye on the intrusive boom cam.

Perhaps one of the things Rundgren was complaining about was a cameraman who got in the way of the crew members wheeling Prince back onstage for “Izzat Love”.  Rundgren sings as he strides side to side, stage left to right.  Those high notes he recorded in his twenties are a bit hard to get to now in his sixties.  Please allow me to recite the Peter Gabriel theorem one more ‘gain:  “The notes you write in your twenties and thirties are harder and harder to hit in your forties and fifties.”  But Prince is tight and on fire playing his “mini” kit.

Once again, difficult to reproduce tape effects ring in “Heavy Metal Kids” as Strickland appears with a baritone sax.  Sulton and Strickland jam in front of Prince.  Here I go again, singing along…  Sorry.  Sulton and Gress do the old ‘back-against-back’ maneuver before the whole band executes the crazed-three-fingered-maniac-solo ending.

Rundgren claims “Don’t You Ever Learn” is a classic.  Hmmm.  Rundgren starts the song on piano, then gives a slight count in to cue Prince and company so they can join in.  Again, Rundgren needs to spend some time practicing piano as he lets a few clunkers fly.

While it is a true treat to hear these songs interpreted live, there remain slips and flub-ups.  Something just isn’t jiving during the melody and “ooh” bridge.  They pull it back together for the sequencer-filled ending replete with crisp backing vocals.  It ended up being ok.

Intermission.

Rundgren flashing one of the many Fool SG replicas that pollute stages of all levels. One was even featured on a recent episode of Auction Kings. Photo by Lynn Vala

Whilst waiting for part two of the show, I manage to talk to some fans, as well as Doug Ford, Steve the usher who tells me that some of the more raucous songs are not only not for him, but at the back of the theater, sound like mud.  THAT’S a shame.  I am fortunate enough to make the acquaintance of Tim Luciano, who, through his brother Pete (‘Lucky’) is friends with and grew up with Rundgren’s brother Robin Rundgren, who is here at the show along with Rundgren’s mother Ruth.  Mrs. Rundgren attends many of Rundgren’s east coast shows and is a heavy contributor to Rundgren biographer Billy James’ two editions of ‘A Dream Goes On Forever, The Continuing Story Of Todd Rundgren’.

As the second half nears, we see under the curtain the movement of feet, we hear Rundgren talking and errant notes here and there.  The house lights die as album 2,Healing begins.  From behind closed curtain we hear Rundgren vocally proclaim ‘My child…’

“Healer” begins with the entire band dressed in Hindi Nauru jackets.  Rundgren is barefoot for the second half.  This album is being performed by the band, which was a surprise to me.  I thought this would be a good opportunity to save on band expenses and utilize midi or some other pre-recorded form of instrumentation performance.

Human is better, always.

A choir is joining the band onstage in front of Prince.  At first they are barely audible.  Rundgren hits the high notes much more easily in the second half.  Strickland’s electric wind device is also buried in the mix, but I can FEEL Sulton’s bass and Gress is ALL OVER the guitar part.

“Pulse” starts and the choir is dispersed.  Prince’s kit is now fixed in place and is surrounded by glass to prevent bleed-through to the choir mics.  We wouldn’t have heard them if they did.  No guitars on this one.  While I am getting a kick out of the Hindi outfits, right down to Prince’s turban,  Shahrukh Khan is still the MAN!!!  Rundgren’s voice is delayed like on the album so that he might duet with himself.  As Rundgren moves from side to side of the stage, as this part is vocal and sequencer only, I can hear Rundgren’s feet plod on the stage.

Hawkes and Rundgren start “Flesh” by themselves.  After Strickland takes the stage with a sax, the choir rejoin.  Prince and Gress join for the second chorus.  Rundgren hits the high note great before the break.  Goosebumps!

In between songs, ‘water’ he screamed…

“Golden Goose” is in full effect and is full of humor and joviality, as is on the album.  There is usually always one funny tune on a Rundgren album.  Prince keeps the turbaned time midi perfect with synth drum and tambourine.  Like Parsons, we clap along in a one, two, one-two-three rhythm.  In the lyrics, he asks “How long can this go on, oy vey!”

Mazel tov!

During the lyrics, which are “A paparattzi’s at the door, he says he’s here from People Magazine” Rundgren then asks “Does anybody read that anymore?” during the song!

Open note to Todd:  they read it online, or they watch TMZ…

Rundgren hoedowns during the chorus, Hawles provides the duck calls right to the obscenity suggesting last two duck notes.

Duck notes, not to be confused with Duck Boats, which have a tendency to sink in Philly rivers.

Again, too soon?

Sulton dons a bass and the choir returns for “Compassion”.  Strickland is contributing heavy keyboards, but somewhere is an off note before the second verse.  Rundgren and the conductor lead the choir through the bridge.  The ending vocal ad-libs are a bit choppy.  He’s sixty-two, a break please.  Strickland motions to offstage that his monitor is dead.  Fortunately we are at the end of the track and he can be re-outfitted.

The upright piano is wheeled out again so Rundgren can start “Shine” by himself.  Fog fills the stage, which may have hurt his voice a touch, but the passion is still in tact.  Once he finishes the intro portion of piano and vocal, one, long, continually building note gains in volume slowly as the piano is wheeled off, the sequencer starts and the band and choir join him onstage.  From dark to full light, from near-silence to that one building note to full band explosion of dynamic.

All members are playing keyboards with Strickland once again on electric wind device, which is triggering a French horn sample.  The dynamic will rise and fall a bit for that French horn break, then blast back to full.  Then end is a total blow-out for all the members, and just when you think it can’t get any bigger, Rundgren pulls out the SG.  Lights and band explode.

The rudeness is back as some old blond broad insists on getting in my way, my best thing to ever happen to me’s way, and the cameramen for the webcast’s way.  Her friend in the front row exclaims to her as she returns to her seat (well behind us) “I love you”, I retort “I hate you” to her.

I do.

She came close to nearly clocking me in the glasses.  Who will be responsible if I am struck in the eye by an errant hand clap and blinded by my glasses being driven into my retina?

NO ONE!

Security is NOWHERE to be found.  This story will get uglier later on.

The ‘B’ side from the 7” extra vinyl from the original vinyl release, “Tiny Demons” is next and Gress maintains the guitar part while Strickland adds the oddball noises originally recorded by Rundgren as pickscrapes, scratches and so on.

LOVE IT!

Sulton is singing but I don’t hear him.  Strickland is taking the oddball noises and running with them.  Rundgren’s voice is getting better as the night progresses.

?!?!?!?!?!

I guess that is a good thing as “Healing Parts 1,2 and 3” are a bit taxing on the vocal chords.

Rundgren squeezes his throat, I’m not sure if that’s a symbolic gesture or if he is trying to milk his vocals.

But they don’t even take a break, right into it.  Strickland puts on a sax and Sulton takes over on synth bass.  Rundgren implores us to listen.

Like we haven’t been all night?

Gress joins and grooves as his keyboard.  An aside here, Rundgren has asked both Strickland and Gress to step out of their comfort zones and play a heavy percentage of keyboards.

With that Playboy poll and all.

I am just relieved he has not called upon that abomination of a keyboard player, John Ferenzik to play.  He was terrible on the Liarstour and every appearance he made with Rundgren.  When I called him on this, he more or less said “Hey, Todd’s checks clear.”  That wasn’t the point, the point was “Don’t you feel guilty taking the money from Rundgren for your substandard performance?”

I’m not a big Ferenzik fan.  I hope those checks weren’t upper-scale.

A screen much like the one Adrian Belew used at World Café Live has been behind the band all night.  For Healing it is generating psychedelic images galore.  Strickland’s sax solo is impassioned, between his keyboard parts.  Hawkes is having a great time generating the keyboard chordal structure and keeping it going.  Once again, another sax solo by Strickland reaches heights and depths above and beyond the recording.

As Strickand performs in front of me, I hear his instrument above the PA.  Gress is made nervous by the moving camera boom.  I am fascinated by Prince’s left hand movement, striking the synth drum to his left and returning the stick above his snare to his right WITHOUT hitting the snare.

The great thing about this being live is, they can stretch out the parts as long or as short as they feel.  As Strickland brings the dynamic down, they meld slowly into “Part 2”.  It reduces to Prince’s bass drum, Hawkes and Sulton build the piece.  Strickland returns with an actual wooden recorder for the part.  At the second verse, Gress brings in the capoed guitar line.  Prince adds a synth drum with discipline.  Hawkes is allowing the keyboards oscillating patch to dictate the tempo.  The choir returns.  Rundgren ad libs the part as the dynamic is an ever-so-slight build.

Sulton fiddles with settings, Hawkes adds bird like sounds.  Rundgren leaves the stage, the lyrics for “Part 2” are over.  The band can once again stretch out.  Hawkes seems to have difficulty with his monitor, but keeps the oscillation going.  They run down the instrumentation until it is only that oscillation and Hawkes affects its alteration.  As Hawkes transitions to “Part 3”, the band remains still.

“Part 3” is on and full.  It is just really Sulton, Hawkes and Prince, with the choir clapping.  Strickland adds keyboard melodies.  I hear a little guitar feedback as Gress is offstage adjusting settings.  Rundgren is belting the lyrics and stretching for the ad libs.  The choir adding “You are home”.  Prince is filling with all his single stroke glory.  As Rundgren welcomes us home, he straps on the SG as one of the nameless choir adds vocal ad libs.

Rundgren admittedly gives his all during live performances, or at least tries to. In spite of the rowdy, unruly mobs in his audience. Photo by Lynn Vala

They go right into “Time Heals”.  It is a little too loud, and things are starting to distort.  Just like Steve the usher said was happening at the back of the theater, now is occurring throughout the theater.  Gress is handling the chordal guitar structure, Rundgren plays an over-the-top solo.  The musicians must love not having to provide the backing vocals.

As a tribute to my late sister, I will pause this review to sing along with the crowd as she did for the original recording of “Sons Of 1984” in Wollman Rink in New York in 1973/4.

Before the closer commences, Rundgren introduces the band.  I had covered this in the first half of this review.  Additionally, the choir director is announced as (I believe) Dirk Hillyard and the choir is (only) identified as the Barbara England School For The Arts singers.

There is a howling feedback coming from somewhere.  I cannot detect where, and I cannot comment on the rest of the track except to say the curtain closed on the sing along chorus at the end which the audience continued well after the end of the show.  Why can I not comment on the rest of the song?

Here’s is where the rudeness I mentioned earlier is explained, and I will separate this from the review under the guise of being an editorial:

EDITORIAL:  During this song, every drunken lout, over-eager, under-considerate (once again, as Robert Fripp would KINDLY refer to them as) boobies rushed the front of the stage and totally eschewed the order and hierarchy of the ticket sales.  Now it was one thing for Melinda Cain to come to stage front, she is one of the promoters (the odd thing was, I got better seats than Doug Ford, how the hell does THAT work?), after my best thing to ever happen to me removed one ignorant boobie from in front of her (and away from a webcast camera man) Melinda took their place.  They commented to my best thing to ever happen to me “Do you want me to remove her, give you a hand?”  My best thing to ever happen to me explained, “She’s the promoter, she can stand where she wants”.  I moved my chair up to the front right in front of a road case being used by the webcast camera man.  Well, some curly red haired drunken moron bowled my best thing to ever happen to me out of her seat, dumping her purse, containing her wallet, her data manager, several other items of value, dumping the camera bag (which contained the memory cards that retained the pictures you are seeing with this review) as well as batteries for the camera, lens covers, the battery charger and other expensive items and proceeded to trod all over them as if they weren’t there!  This idiot did not care, he was too intent on shaking Rundgren’s hand, which he had no intention of doing.  Furthermore, he damn near plowed Melinda Cain OVER as well as the webcast camera operator.

For the record, that webcast camera operator was witness to what happened and assisted my best thing to ever happen to me FIND one memory card that had been kicked under the road case my chair was up against, even loaning her a flashlight to help look for any items red curly haired boobie kicked, trashed and displaced.

Melinda Cain DEFENDED his actions, dismissing it as someone who was too enthusiastic trying to get Rundgren’s attention.  Maybe this sort of behavior is acceptable to Ms. Cain, Mr. Ford, the entire production crew at Rundgren Radio, Rundgren’s crew, but it is NOT acceptable behavior to me.

During “Sons Of 1984”, red curly haired booby ran into Mr. Blanc (who, by the way, is a big guy) and was detained trying to get around Mr. Blanc.  I had the chance to express my displeasure with red curly haired boobie man and tell him “you drunken loser, you just knocked over a working photogrpaher’s camera bag, disrupted MY job, and assaulted both my best thing to ever happen to me and the promoter!”  From what Mr. Blanc informed my best thing to ever happen to me during a phone call he made to the house while I was at class, he wasn’t sure who to restrain, me or red curly haired booby man.

After reading the program while researching this post, I wish I had read it prior to the show, as it states: “Please ask your usher to inform the House Manager if anything is interfering with your enjoyment.”

Had I known this, I would have held Mr. red curly haired boobie (or better yet, had Mr. Blanc detain him by any means necessary) and gotten the ushers to call security and had red curly haired boobie man arrest for:

A)   destruction of private property

B)   restraint of trade

C)   physical and sexual assault (he managed to grab at my best thing to ever happen to me’s breasts during the melee).

Melinda Cain was nice enough to extend an invitation to the band’s after show dinner as a way to make up for it, which was very nice, but at that point (once the music had ended, I had to GO, I mean to the bathroom, and that was an experience, a theater that seats 1200 – 1300 people, has a total of 5 relief stations, 3 exclusively for men, 2 stalls) my best thing to ever happen to me told Ms. Cain “I just want to gather my stuff (paraphrased for publication) and get the heck (once again paraphrased) out of here!”

Which we did.

To add insult to injury, one doofus looked at me and said “Oh, he must not go to a lot of rock shows”.  Idiot.  I have probably been to more Rundgren shows in my life than he has been to concerts overall.

I’m the one who is a syndicated critic.  He was just another one of those boobies like Mr. red curly haired inconsiderate jerk, or old broad who wants to hit someone in the face, or fat broad who wants to steal seats that were paid for with my money.

But I should know better than to expect anything less from Philadelphia fans.  Remember, up until recently, the local Philadelphia football franchise had a jail cell facility built right into their old stadium!  It reminds me of the story my best thing to ever happen to me recalled:  She was working for a major phone provider in NJ when they had a “day out” for employee appreciation (which is a paradox as I know first hand this phone provider cares LEAST about it’s employees).  Part of this appreciation was the appearance of two NY Giants players, one of whom was Donovan McNabb (recently departed from the Philadelphia Eagles).  McNabb took a particular shine to my best thing to ever happen to me and hit on her as hard as he gets hit by linebackers.  He asked “Is it true that Philly has a jail cell in their stadium?” and was astounded by her response: “Yup!”

That jail cell has been torn down as was that stadium.  Now the Philadelphia Police department stations a number of “paddy-wagons” outside the events to collect and take away the trouble-makers.  The very next weekend after this show, a 17-year-old-fan, dressed in head to toe red spandex (with a full head hood, similar to a devil’s costume without horns and tail) ran onto the field of a Philadelphia Phillies home game.

Perhaps Rundgren Radio promoters should heed and follow suit and prepare for the local police department to send out the paddy wagons next time Rundgren plays Philly.

While this has left a bad taste in my mouth for live performances, my next post will be covering the Killing Joke show from December 3rd.  It will be a departure from my usual style of coverage thanks to a comment posted during the first half of this review.  We have our year-end review after that, then a series of album reviews.  I have been so disgusted by the Philadelphia attendees, that (as some of you know from Part 1 of this review) we have decided to move into the house we inherited.  FURTHER AWAY from Philly.

I will be covering more shows in New York than Philadelphia now.  If I DO go to a Philly show, I will do so heavily armed.

The group formally disbanded in 1988. Insisting a reunion was unlikely; the members chose to follow solo-career paths. In 2005, former Cars members Greg Hawkes and Elliot Easton formed a group with Todd Rundgren, Prairie Prince and Kasim Sulton known as The New Cars which performed Cars classics and some of Rundgren’s material.

However, The New Cars success was short lived, hampered by a broken clavicle suffered by Easton during the band’s 2006 tour when traveling from a Cleveland show to Washington D.C.. Easton continued to play through pain for four more shows until further touring had to be scrapped.

But the dissolution of The New Cars led to something fans thought they wouldn’t see again, a reunion of the original band. The Cars reunited in 2010 without vocalist/guitarist Benjamin Orr who passed away in 2000 from pancreatic cancer. The remaining members released the album “Move Like This” the following year, its first new compilation in more than 20 years.

Benjamin Orr and Ric Ocasek first met in Columbus in the early 70s where they started as a duo covering other band’s music. After relocating to Boston, the two shuffled through members until teaming up with guitarist Elliot Easton, keyboardist Greg Hawkes and drummer David Robinson.

Even if you don’t know The Cars’ origin, you definitely know the music. Specializing in an eclectic mix of soft rock and electronic beats, the group helped define the new wave genre with hits like “Just What I Needed” and “My Best Friend’s Girl.”

The band’s 1978 eponymous album went on to reach multiple platinum status and was recognized by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of the top 500 albums of all time. The band found continued success with the release of its sophomore album “Candy-O,” bolstered by more smash hits like “Let’s Go” and “It’s All I Can Do.”

- John Milligan/WNCX

Ben Orzechowski became Ben Orr and Ric Otcasek was shortened to Ric Ocasek the pair being the foundation of The Cars. Okay it didn’t quite start that way, the band was first called Cap’n Swing. Ric is very talented not just the bass and keyboard but singing the majority of the band’s songs as well as writing them. Ric has gone on to produce quite a large number of albums.

Also with a great eye for talent and beauty met model Paulina Porizkova during filming of the music video for The Cars’ song “Drive”. Have been together for almost 25 years now, today is Ric Ocasek’s birthday that’s for all the fun. Happy Birthday Ric!

I have been a long time Cars fan, all the way back to the late 70′s when I was a young pup. So, when Ric Ocasek put out his first solo album back in 1982, I was hoping that it wouldn’t mean the end of the Cars, which thankfully it wasn’t. And while I had high hopes for his solo work, it didn’t quite rise to the level of The Cars. There were a few gems on the first album, and this is definitely one of them. I actually think it would have been a great Cars song, if Ben Orr and Greg Hawkes had some input into the direction of the song, but this was Ric’s song… So, here it is… Something to Grab For…

Greg Hawkes, keyboardist and saxophonist with The Cars

Getty Images

Summer’s almost over and you still haven’t given that Mustang a nice cleaning. You and your car have places to go, whether it’s the lake, a barbecue, or just succumbing to the pull of the open road before summer is over. You both must look your best. So here are five sonic car-wash necessities to get the suds flowin’ and your motor runnin’.

5. Queen, “I’m in Love with My Car”

Let’s face it: Your ride deserves an owner like you. Thoughtful. Caring. Devoted to its happiness. It was fate that brought you together. Queen’s Roger Taylor understood this relationship in “I’m in Love with My Car.” “The machine of a dream, such a clean machine,” he purred in that blues-ragged voice, “with the pistons a-pumpin’, and the hubcaps all agleam.” Your car looks sharp when it’s smoothed immaculate, its grime blasted clear, washed toward oblivion. Brian May’s guitar doubles as the suds and those layered Queen harmonies bring this auto-erotica to a heavenly apex.

4. The Cars, “Moving in Stereo”

Pretty much anything by The Cars qualifies as car-washing music, as my own father would attest. But there’s something about “Stereo,” with Greg Hawkes’ intergalactic keys and Elliot Easton’s low guitar growl, that lends itself to a driveway summer scrub-down. It also stirs visions of a poolside Phoebe Cates in and out of a bikini top (“Fast Times,” indeed), a definite plus, and, um — sorry: what’s the topic, again?

3. Derek and the Dominos, “Layla”

While not technically about cars, soap, water, or Phoebe Cates in a red bikini, “Layla” works precisely for its two-part assault. The multiple threads of Eric Clapton/Duane Allman guitars (Allman on that screaming, got-me-on-mah-knees riff) serve as perfect accompaniment to the car-wash act itself, followed by the cool-down of Jim Gordon’s arresting piano coda — when the other instruments fall back in reverence, only to slowly slip in again — which complements the post-wash wax-sculpt as the car’s youthful vigor reveals itself for all the world to behold.

2. Big Boi feat. Gucci Mane, “Shine Blockas”

When you gaze into that water-mist rainbow as it settles upon your hood, what do you see? The outlines of cities that unfold to your roll as you and your car — your true-blue partner — rule the night together in your lady-killing primes. The soundtrack for this moment and other promised moments: Big Boi and Gucci Mane, their wicked flow cut with the croon and groove of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes’ “I Miss You” (subtract the begging, multiply the smooth). With a night-life buzz reflected in your windshield, the town at your feet and under your wheels, nothing’s gonna block your shine.

1. Rose Royce, “Car Wash”

You knew this one was coming (it’s in the title, for God’s sake), but honestly, isn’t it a lot more fun and way more efficient to wash cars as a team, especially if they’re passing through one right after the other? Rose Royce establishes the importance of teamwork in the track’s opening seconds as a play on an old koan: More effective than one pair of hands clapping are many hands clapping, all for the greater good. In this case, it’s to provide a backbeat for a sleek, slick disco/soul/funk hybrid that, as the ’76 movie of the same name claimed, put “more dip in your hip, more glide in your stride.” Can’t say as much for Christina Aguilera’s 2004 rehash, a hunk of junk best left in the trunk.

Check Out More Music…

Getty Images

Summer’s almost over and you still haven’t given that Mustang a nice cleaning. You and your car have places to go, whether it’s the lake, a barbecue, or just succumbing to the pull of the open road before summer is over. You both must look your best. So here are five sonic car-wash necessities to get the suds flowin’ and your motor runnin’.

5. Queen, “I’m in Love with My Car”

Let’s face it: Your ride deserves an owner like you. Thoughtful. Caring. Devoted to its happiness. It was fate that brought you together. Queen’s Roger Taylor understood this relationship in “I’m in Love with My Car.” “The machine of a dream, such a clean machine,” he purred in that blues-ragged voice, “with the pistons a-pumpin’, and the hubcaps all agleam.” Your car looks sharp when it’s smoothed immaculate, its grime blasted clear, washed toward oblivion. Brian May’s guitar doubles as the suds and those layered Queen harmonies bring this auto-erotica to a heavenly apex.

4. The Cars, “Moving in Stereo”

Pretty much anything by The Cars qualifies as car-washing music, as my own father would attest. But there’s something about “Stereo,” with Greg Hawkes’ intergalactic keys and Elliot Easton’s low guitar growl, that lends itself to a driveway summer scrub-down. It also stirs visions of a poolside Phoebe Cates in and out of a bikini top (“Fast Times,” indeed), a definite plus, and, um — sorry: what’s the topic, again?

3. Derek and the Dominos, “Layla”

While not technically about cars, soap, water, or Phoebe Cates in a red bikini, “Layla” works precisely for its two-part assault. The multiple threads of Eric Clapton/Duane Allman guitars (Allman on that screaming, got-me-on-mah-knees riff) serve as perfect accompaniment to the car-wash act itself, followed by the cool-down of Jim Gordon’s arresting piano coda — when the other instruments fall back in reverence, only to slowly slip in again — which complements the post-wash wax-sculpt as the car’s youthful vigor reveals itself for all the world to behold.

2. Big Boi feat. Gucci Mane, “Shine Blockas”

When you gaze into that water-mist rainbow as it settles upon your hood, what do you see? The outlines of cities that unfold to your roll as you and your car — your true-blue partner — rule the night together in your lady-killing primes. The soundtrack for this moment and other promised moments: Big Boi and Gucci Mane, their wicked flow cut with the croon and groove of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes’ “I Miss You” (subtract the begging, multiply the smooth). With a night-life buzz reflected in your windshield, the town at your feet and under your wheels, nothing’s gonna block your shine.

1. Rose Royce, “Car Wash”

You knew this one was coming (it’s in the title, for God’s sake), but honestly, isn’t it a lot more fun and way more efficient to wash cars as a team, especially if they’re passing through one right after the other? Rose Royce establishes the importance of teamwork in the track’s opening seconds as a play on an old koan: More effective than one pair of hands clapping are many hands clapping, all for the greater good. In this case, it’s to provide a backbeat for a sleek, slick disco/soul/funk hybrid that, as the ’76 movie of the same name claimed, put “more dip in your hip, more glide in your stride.” Can’t say as much for Christina Aguilera’s 2004 rehash, a hunk of junk best left in the trunk.

Check Out More Music…

Getty Images

Summer’s almost over and you still haven’t given that Mustang a nice cleaning. You and your car have places to go, whether it’s the lake, a barbecue, or just succumbing to the pull of the open road before summer is over. You both must look your best. So here are five sonic car-wash necessities to get the suds flowin’ and your motor runnin’.

5. Queen, “I’m in Love with My Car”

Let’s face it: Your ride deserves an owner like you. Thoughtful. Caring. Devoted to its happiness. It was fate that brought you together. Queen’s Roger Taylor understood this relationship in “I’m in Love with My Car.” “The machine of a dream, such a clean machine,” he purred in that blues-ragged voice, “with the pistons a-pumpin’, and the hubcaps all agleam.” Your car looks sharp when it’s smoothed immaculate, its grime blasted clear, washed toward oblivion. Brian May’s guitar doubles as the suds and those layered Queen harmonies bring this auto-erotica to a heavenly apex.

4. The Cars, “Moving in Stereo”

Pretty much anything by The Cars qualifies as car-washing music, as my own father would attest. But there’s something about “Stereo,” with Greg Hawkes’ intergalactic keys and Elliot Easton’s low guitar growl, that lends itself to a driveway summer scrub-down. It also stirs visions of a poolside Phoebe Cates in and out of a bikini top (“Fast Times,” indeed), a definite plus, and, um — sorry: what’s the topic, again?

3. Derek and the Dominos, “Layla”

While not technically about cars, soap, water, or Phoebe Cates in a red bikini, “Layla” works precisely for its two-part assault. The multiple threads of Eric Clapton/Duane Allman guitars (Allman on that screaming, got-me-on-mah-knees riff) serve as perfect accompaniment to the car-wash act itself, followed by the cool-down of Jim Gordon’s arresting piano coda — when the other instruments fall back in reverence, only to slowly slip in again — which complements the post-wash wax-sculpt as the car’s youthful vigor reveals itself for all the world to behold.

2. Big Boi feat. Gucci Mane, “Shine Blockas”

When you gaze into that water-mist rainbow as it settles upon your hood, what do you see? The outlines of cities that unfold to your roll as you and your car — your true-blue partner — rule the night together in your lady-killing primes. The soundtrack for this moment and other promised moments: Big Boi and Gucci Mane, their wicked flow cut with the croon and groove of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes’ “I Miss You” (subtract the begging, multiply the smooth). With a night-life buzz reflected in your windshield, the town at your feet and under your wheels, nothing’s gonna block your shine.

1. Rose Royce, “Car Wash”

You knew this one was coming (it’s in the title, for God’s sake), but honestly, isn’t it a lot more fun and way more efficient to wash cars as a team, especially if they’re passing through one right after the other? Rose Royce establishes the importance of teamwork in the track’s opening seconds as a play on an old koan: More effective than one pair of hands clapping are many hands clapping, all for the greater good. In this case, it’s to provide a backbeat for a sleek, slick disco/soul/funk hybrid that, as the ’76 movie of the same name claimed, put “more dip in your hip, more glide in your stride.” Can’t say as much for Christina Aguilera’s 2004 rehash, a hunk of junk best left in the trunk.

Check Out More Music…

Getty Images

Summer’s almost over and you still haven’t given that Mustang a nice cleaning. You and your car have places to go, whether it’s the lake, a barbecue, or just succumbing to the pull of the open road before summer is over. You both must look your best. So here are five sonic car-wash necessities to get the suds flowin’ and your motor runnin’.

5. Queen, “I’m in Love with My Car”

Let’s face it: Your ride deserves an owner like you. Thoughtful. Caring. Devoted to its happiness. It was fate that brought you together. Queen’s Roger Taylor understood this relationship in “I’m in Love with My Car.” “The machine of a dream, such a clean machine,” he purred in that blues-ragged voice, “with the pistons a-pumpin’, and the hubcaps all agleam.” Your car looks sharp when it’s smoothed immaculate, its grime blasted clear, washed toward oblivion. Brian May’s guitar doubles as the suds and those layered Queen harmonies bring this auto-erotica to a heavenly apex.

4. The Cars, “Moving in Stereo”

Pretty much anything by The Cars qualifies as car-washing music, as my own father would attest. But there’s something about “Stereo,” with Greg Hawkes’ intergalactic keys and Elliot Easton’s low guitar growl, that lends itself to a driveway summer scrub-down. It also stirs visions of a poolside Phoebe Cates in and out of a bikini top (“Fast Times,” indeed), a definite plus, and, um — sorry: what’s the topic, again?

3. Derek and the Dominos, “Layla”

While not technically about cars, soap, water, or Phoebe Cates in a red bikini, “Layla” works precisely for its two-part assault. The multiple threads of Eric Clapton/Duane Allman guitars (Allman on that screaming, got-me-on-mah-knees riff) serve as perfect accompaniment to the car-wash act itself, followed by the cool-down of Jim Gordon’s arresting piano coda — when the other instruments fall back in reverence, only to slowly slip in again — which complements the post-wash wax-sculpt as the car’s youthful vigor reveals itself for all the world to behold.

2. Big Boi feat. Gucci Mane, “Shine Blockas”

When you gaze into that water-mist rainbow as it settles upon your hood, what do you see? The outlines of cities that unfold to your roll as you and your car — your true-blue partner — rule the night together in your lady-killing primes. The soundtrack for this moment and other promised moments: Big Boi and Gucci Mane, their wicked flow cut with the croon and groove of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes’ “I Miss You” (subtract the begging, multiply the smooth). With a night-life buzz reflected in your windshield, the town at your feet and under your wheels, nothing’s gonna block your shine.

1. Rose Royce, “Car Wash”

You knew this one was coming (it’s in the title, for God’s sake), but honestly, isn’t it a lot more fun and way more efficient to wash cars as a team, especially if they’re passing through one right after the other? Rose Royce establishes the importance of teamwork in the track’s opening seconds as a play on an old koan: More effective than one pair of hands clapping are many hands clapping, all for the greater good. In this case, it’s to provide a backbeat for a sleek, slick disco/soul/funk hybrid that, as the ’76 movie of the same name claimed, put “more dip in your hip, more glide in your stride.” Can’t say as much for Christina Aguilera’s 2004 rehash, a hunk of junk best left in the trunk.

Check Out More Music…

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Summer’s almost over and you still haven’t given that Mustang a nice cleaning. You and your car have places to go, whether it’s the lake, a barbecue, or just succumbing to the pull of the open road before summer is over. You both must look your best. So here are five sonic car-wash necessities to get the suds flowin’ and your motor runnin’.

5. Queen, “I’m in Love with My Car”

Let’s face it: Your ride deserves an owner like you. Thoughtful. Caring. Devoted to its happiness. It was fate that brought you together. Queen’s Roger Taylor understood this relationship in “I’m in Love with My Car.” “The machine of a dream, such a clean machine,” he purred in that blues-ragged voice, “with the pistons a-pumpin’, and the hubcaps all agleam.” Your car looks sharp when it’s smoothed immaculate, its grime blasted clear, washed toward oblivion. Brian May’s guitar doubles as the suds and those layered Queen harmonies bring this auto-erotica to a heavenly apex.

4. The Cars, “Moving in Stereo”

Pretty much anything by The Cars qualifies as car-washing music, as my own father would attest. But there’s something about “Stereo,” with Greg Hawkes’ intergalactic keys and Elliot Easton’s low guitar growl, that lends itself to a driveway summer scrub-down. It also stirs visions of a poolside Phoebe Cates in and out of a bikini top (“Fast Times,” indeed), a definite plus, and, um — sorry: what’s the topic, again?

3. Derek and the Dominos, “Layla”

While not technically about cars, soap, water, or Phoebe Cates in a red bikini, “Layla” works precisely for its two-part assault. The multiple threads of Eric Clapton/Duane Allman guitars (Allman on that screaming, got-me-on-mah-knees riff) serve as perfect accompaniment to the car-wash act itself, followed by the cool-down of Jim Gordon’s arresting piano coda — when the other instruments fall back in reverence, only to slowly slip in again — which complements the post-wash wax-sculpt as the car’s youthful vigor reveals itself for all the world to behold.

2. Big Boi feat. Gucci Mane, “Shine Blockas”

When you gaze into that water-mist rainbow as it settles upon your hood, what do you see? The outlines of cities that unfold to your roll as you and your car — your true-blue partner — rule the night together in your lady-killing primes. The soundtrack for this moment and other promised moments: Big Boi and Gucci Mane, their wicked flow cut with the croon and groove of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes’ “I Miss You” (subtract the begging, multiply the smooth). With a night-life buzz reflected in your windshield, the town at your feet and under your wheels, nothing’s gonna block your shine.

1. Rose Royce, “Car Wash”

You knew this one was coming (it’s in the title, for God’s sake), but honestly, isn’t it a lot more fun and way more efficient to wash cars as a team, especially if they’re passing through one right after the other? Rose Royce establishes the importance of teamwork in the track’s opening seconds as a play on an old koan: More effective than one pair of hands clapping are many hands clapping, all for the greater good. In this case, it’s to provide a backbeat for a sleek, slick disco/soul/funk hybrid that, as the ’76 movie of the same name claimed, put “more dip in your hip, more glide in your stride.” Can’t say as much for Christina Aguilera’s 2004 rehash, a hunk of junk best left in the trunk.

Check Out More Music…

Getty Images

Summer’s almost over and you still haven’t given that Mustang a nice cleaning. You and your car have places to go, whether it’s the lake, a barbecue, or just succumbing to the pull of the open road before summer is over. You both must look your best. So here are five sonic car-wash necessities to get the suds flowin’ and your motor runnin’.

5. Queen, “I’m in Love with My Car”

Let’s face it: Your ride deserves an owner like you. Thoughtful. Caring. Devoted to its happiness. It was fate that brought you together. Queen’s Roger Taylor understood this relationship in “I’m in Love with My Car.” “The machine of a dream, such a clean machine,” he purred in that blues-ragged voice, “with the pistons a-pumpin’, and the hubcaps all agleam.” Your car looks sharp when it’s smoothed immaculate, its grime blasted clear, washed toward oblivion. Brian May’s guitar doubles as the suds and those layered Queen harmonies bring this auto-erotica to a heavenly apex.

4. The Cars, “Moving in Stereo”

Pretty much anything by The Cars qualifies as car-washing music, as my own father would attest. But there’s something about “Stereo,” with Greg Hawkes’ intergalactic keys and Elliot Easton’s low guitar growl, that lends itself to a driveway summer scrub-down. It also stirs visions of a poolside Phoebe Cates in and out of a bikini top (“Fast Times,” indeed), a definite plus, and, um — sorry: what’s the topic, again?

3. Derek and the Dominos, “Layla”

While not technically about cars, soap, water, or Phoebe Cates in a red bikini, “Layla” works precisely for its two-part assault. The multiple threads of Eric Clapton/Duane Allman guitars (Allman on that screaming, got-me-on-mah-knees riff) serve as perfect accompaniment to the car-wash act itself, followed by the cool-down of Jim Gordon’s arresting piano coda — when the other instruments fall back in reverence, only to slowly slip in again — which complements the post-wash wax-sculpt as the car’s youthful vigor reveals itself for all the world to behold.

2. Big Boi feat. Gucci Mane, “Shine Blockas”

When you gaze into that water-mist rainbow as it settles upon your hood, what do you see? The outlines of cities that unfold to your roll as you and your car — your true-blue partner — rule the night together in your lady-killing primes. The soundtrack for this moment and other promised moments: Big Boi and Gucci Mane, their wicked flow cut with the croon and groove of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes’ “I Miss You” (subtract the begging, multiply the smooth). With a night-life buzz reflected in your windshield, the town at your feet and under your wheels, nothing’s gonna block your shine.

1. Rose Royce, “Car Wash”

You knew this one was coming (it’s in the title, for God’s sake), but honestly, isn’t it a lot more fun and way more efficient to wash cars as a team, especially if they’re passing through one right after the other? Rose Royce establishes the importance of teamwork in the track’s opening seconds as a play on an old koan: More effective than one pair of hands clapping are many hands clapping, all for the greater good. In this case, it’s to provide a backbeat for a sleek, slick disco/soul/funk hybrid that, as the ’76 movie of the same name claimed, put “more dip in your hip, more glide in your stride.” Can’t say as much for Christina Aguilera’s 2004 rehash, a hunk of junk best left in the trunk.

Check Out More Music…

Getty Images

Summer’s almost over and you still haven’t given that Mustang a nice cleaning. You and your car have places to go, whether it’s the lake, a barbecue, or just succumbing to the pull of the open road before summer is over. You both must look your best. So here are five sonic car-wash necessities to get the suds flowin’ and your motor runnin’.

5. Queen, “I’m in Love with My Car”

Let’s face it: Your ride deserves an owner like you. Thoughtful. Caring. Devoted to its happiness. It was fate that brought you together. Queen’s Roger Taylor understood this relationship in “I’m in Love with My Car.” “The machine of a dream, such a clean machine,” he purred in that blues-ragged voice, “with the pistons a-pumpin’, and the hubcaps all agleam.” Your car looks sharp when it’s smoothed immaculate, its grime blasted clear, washed toward oblivion. Brian May’s guitar doubles as the suds and those layered Queen harmonies bring this auto-erotica to a heavenly apex.

4. The Cars, “Moving in Stereo”

Pretty much anything by The Cars qualifies as car-washing music, as my own father would attest. But there’s something about “Stereo,” with Greg Hawkes’ intergalactic keys and Elliot Easton’s low guitar growl, that lends itself to a driveway summer scrub-down. It also stirs visions of a poolside Phoebe Cates in and out of a bikini top (“Fast Times,” indeed), a definite plus, and, um — sorry: what’s the topic, again?

3. Derek and the Dominos, “Layla”

While not technically about cars, soap, water, or Phoebe Cates in a red bikini, “Layla” works precisely for its two-part assault. The multiple threads of Eric Clapton/Duane Allman guitars (Allman on that screaming, got-me-on-mah-knees riff) serve as perfect accompaniment to the car-wash act itself, followed by the cool-down of Jim Gordon’s arresting piano coda — when the other instruments fall back in reverence, only to slowly slip in again — which complements the post-wash wax-sculpt as the car’s youthful vigor reveals itself for all the world to behold.

2. Big Boi feat. Gucci Mane, “Shine Blockas”

When you gaze into that water-mist rainbow as it settles upon your hood, what do you see? The outlines of cities that unfold to your roll as you and your car — your true-blue partner — rule the night together in your lady-killing primes. The soundtrack for this moment and other promised moments: Big Boi and Gucci Mane, their wicked flow cut with the croon and groove of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes’ “I Miss You” (subtract the begging, multiply the smooth). With a night-life buzz reflected in your windshield, the town at your feet and under your wheels, nothing’s gonna block your shine.

1. Rose Royce, “Car Wash”

You knew this one was coming (it’s in the title, for God’s sake), but honestly, isn’t it a lot more fun and way more efficient to wash cars as a team, especially if they’re passing through one right after the other? Rose Royce establishes the importance of teamwork in the track’s opening seconds as a play on an old koan: More effective than one pair of hands clapping are many hands clapping, all for the greater good. In this case, it’s to provide a backbeat for a sleek, slick disco/soul/funk hybrid that, as the ’76 movie of the same name claimed, put “more dip in your hip, more glide in your stride.” Can’t say as much for Christina Aguilera’s 2004 rehash, a hunk of junk best left in the trunk.

Check Out More Music…

Getty Images

Summer’s almost over and you still haven’t given that Mustang a nice cleaning. You and your car have places to go, whether it’s the lake, a barbecue, or just succumbing to the pull of the open road before summer is over. You both must look your best. So here are five sonic car-wash necessities to get the suds flowin’ and your motor runnin’.

5. Queen, “I’m in Love with My Car”

Let’s face it: Your ride deserves an owner like you. Thoughtful. Caring. Devoted to its happiness. It was fate that brought you together. Queen’s Roger Taylor understood this relationship in “I’m in Love with My Car.” “The machine of a dream, such a clean machine,” he purred in that blues-ragged voice, “with the pistons a-pumpin’, and the hubcaps all agleam.” Your car looks sharp when it’s smoothed immaculate, its grime blasted clear, washed toward oblivion. Brian May’s guitar doubles as the suds and those layered Queen harmonies bring this auto-erotica to a heavenly apex.

4. The Cars, “Moving in Stereo”

Pretty much anything by The Cars qualifies as car-washing music, as my own father would attest. But there’s something about “Stereo,” with Greg Hawkes’ intergalactic keys and Elliot Easton’s low guitar growl, that lends itself to a driveway summer scrub-down. It also stirs visions of a poolside Phoebe Cates in and out of a bikini top (“Fast Times,” indeed), a definite plus, and, um — sorry: what’s the topic, again?

3. Derek and the Dominos, “Layla”

While not technically about cars, soap, water, or Phoebe Cates in a red bikini, “Layla” works precisely for its two-part assault. The multiple threads of Eric Clapton/Duane Allman guitars (Allman on that screaming, got-me-on-mah-knees riff) serve as perfect accompaniment to the car-wash act itself, followed by the cool-down of Jim Gordon’s arresting piano coda — when the other instruments fall back in reverence, only to slowly slip in again — which complements the post-wash wax-sculpt as the car’s youthful vigor reveals itself for all the world to behold.

2. Big Boi feat. Gucci Mane, “Shine Blockas”

When you gaze into that water-mist rainbow as it settles upon your hood, what do you see? The outlines of cities that unfold to your roll as you and your car — your true-blue partner — rule the night together in your lady-killing primes. The soundtrack for this moment and other promised moments: Big Boi and Gucci Mane, their wicked flow cut with the croon and groove of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes’ “I Miss You” (subtract the begging, multiply the smooth). With a night-life buzz reflected in your windshield, the town at your feet and under your wheels, nothing’s gonna block your shine.

1. Rose Royce, “Car Wash”

You knew this one was coming (it’s in the title, for God’s sake), but honestly, isn’t it a lot more fun and way more efficient to wash cars as a team, especially if they’re passing through one right after the other? Rose Royce establishes the importance of teamwork in the track’s opening seconds as a play on an old koan: More effective than one pair of hands clapping are many hands clapping, all for the greater good. In this case, it’s to provide a backbeat for a sleek, slick disco/soul/funk hybrid that, as the ’76 movie of the same name claimed, put “more dip in your hip, more glide in your stride.” Can’t say as much for Christina Aguilera’s 2004 rehash, a hunk of junk best left in the trunk.

Check Out More Music…

Getty Images

Summer’s almost over and you still haven’t given that Mustang a nice cleaning. You and your car have places to go, whether it’s the lake, a barbecue, or just succumbing to the pull of the open road before summer is over. You both must look your best. So here are five sonic car-wash necessities to get the suds flowin’ and your motor runnin’.

5. Queen, “I’m in Love with My Car”

Let’s face it: Your ride deserves an owner like you. Thoughtful. Caring. Devoted to its happiness. It was fate that brought you together. Queen’s Roger Taylor understood this relationship in “I’m in Love with My Car.” “The machine of a dream, such a clean machine,” he purred in that blues-ragged voice, “with the pistons a-pumpin’, and the hubcaps all agleam.” Your car looks sharp when it’s smoothed immaculate, its grime blasted clear, washed toward oblivion. Brian May’s guitar doubles as the suds and those layered Queen harmonies bring this auto-erotica to a heavenly apex.

4. The Cars, “Moving in Stereo”

Pretty much anything by The Cars qualifies as car-washing music, as my own father would attest. But there’s something about “Stereo,” with Greg Hawkes’ intergalactic keys and Elliot Easton’s low guitar growl, that lends itself to a driveway summer scrub-down. It also stirs visions of a poolside Phoebe Cates in and out of a bikini top (“Fast Times,” indeed), a definite plus, and, um — sorry: what’s the topic, again?

3. Derek and the Dominos, “Layla”

While not technically about cars, soap, water, or Phoebe Cates in a red bikini, “Layla” works precisely for its two-part assault. The multiple threads of Eric Clapton/Duane Allman guitars (Allman on that screaming, got-me-on-mah-knees riff) serve as perfect accompaniment to the car-wash act itself, followed by the cool-down of Jim Gordon’s arresting piano coda — when the other instruments fall back in reverence, only to slowly slip in again — which complements the post-wash wax-sculpt as the car’s youthful vigor reveals itself for all the world to behold.

2. Big Boi feat. Gucci Mane, “Shine Blockas”

When you gaze into that water-mist rainbow as it settles upon your hood, what do you see? The outlines of cities that unfold to your roll as you and your car — your true-blue partner — rule the night together in your lady-killing primes. The soundtrack for this moment and other promised moments: Big Boi and Gucci Mane, their wicked flow cut with the croon and groove of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes’ “I Miss You” (subtract the begging, multiply the smooth). With a night-life buzz reflected in your windshield, the town at your feet and under your wheels, nothing’s gonna block your shine.

1. Rose Royce, “Car Wash”

You knew this one was coming (it’s in the title, for God’s sake), but honestly, isn’t it a lot more fun and way more efficient to wash cars as a team, especially if they’re passing through one right after the other? Rose Royce establishes the importance of teamwork in the track’s opening seconds as a play on an old koan: More effective than one pair of hands clapping are many hands clapping, all for the greater good. In this case, it’s to provide a backbeat for a sleek, slick disco/soul/funk hybrid that, as the ’76 movie of the same name claimed, put “more dip in your hip, more glide in your stride.” Can’t say as much for Christina Aguilera’s 2004 rehash, a hunk of junk best left in the trunk.

Check Out More Music…

Getty Images

Summer’s almost over and you still haven’t given that Mustang a nice cleaning. You and your car have places to go, whether it’s the lake, a barbecue, or just succumbing to the pull of the open road before summer is over. You both must look your best. So here are five sonic car-wash necessities to get the suds flowin’ and your motor runnin’.

5. Queen, “I’m in Love with My Car”

Let’s face it: Your ride deserves an owner like you. Thoughtful. Caring. Devoted to its happiness. It was fate that brought you together. Queen’s Roger Taylor understood this relationship in “I’m in Love with My Car.” “The machine of a dream, such a clean machine,” he purred in that blues-ragged voice, “with the pistons a-pumpin’, and the hubcaps all agleam.” Your car looks sharp when it’s smoothed immaculate, its grime blasted clear, washed toward oblivion. Brian May’s guitar doubles as the suds and those layered Queen harmonies bring this auto-erotica to a heavenly apex.

4. The Cars, “Moving in Stereo”

Pretty much anything by The Cars qualifies as car-washing music, as my own father would attest. But there’s something about “Stereo,” with Greg Hawkes’ intergalactic keys and Elliot Easton’s low guitar growl, that lends itself to a driveway summer scrub-down. It also stirs visions of a poolside Phoebe Cates in and out of a bikini top (“Fast Times,” indeed), a definite plus, and, um — sorry: what’s the topic, again?

3. Derek and the Dominos, “Layla”

While not technically about cars, soap, water, or Phoebe Cates in a red bikini, “Layla” works precisely for its two-part assault. The multiple threads of Eric Clapton/Duane Allman guitars (Allman on that screaming, got-me-on-mah-knees riff) serve as perfect accompaniment to the car-wash act itself, followed by the cool-down of Jim Gordon’s arresting piano coda — when the other instruments fall back in reverence, only to slowly slip in again — which complements the post-wash wax-sculpt as the car’s youthful vigor reveals itself for all the world to behold.

2. Big Boi feat. Gucci Mane, “Shine Blockas”

When you gaze into that water-mist rainbow as it settles upon your hood, what do you see? The outlines of cities that unfold to your roll as you and your car — your true-blue partner — rule the night together in your lady-killing primes. The soundtrack for this moment and other promised moments: Big Boi and Gucci Mane, their wicked flow cut with the croon and groove of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes’ “I Miss You” (subtract the begging, multiply the smooth). With a night-life buzz reflected in your windshield, the town at your feet and under your wheels, nothing’s gonna block your shine.

1. Rose Royce, “Car Wash”

You knew this one was coming (it’s in the title, for God’s sake), but honestly, isn’t it a lot more fun and way more efficient to wash cars as a team, especially if they’re passing through one right after the other? Rose Royce establishes the importance of teamwork in the track’s opening seconds as a play on an old koan: More effective than one pair of hands clapping are many hands clapping, all for the greater good. In this case, it’s to provide a backbeat for a sleek, slick disco/soul/funk hybrid that, as the ’76 movie of the same name claimed, put “more dip in your hip, more glide in your stride.” Can’t say as much for Christina Aguilera’s 2004 rehash, a hunk of junk best left in the trunk.

Check Out More Music…

Getty Images

Summer’s almost over and you still haven’t given that Mustang a nice cleaning. You and your car have places to go, whether it’s the lake, a barbecue, or just succumbing to the pull of the open road before summer is over. You both must look your best. So here are five sonic car-wash necessities to get the suds flowin’ and your motor runnin’.

5. Queen, “I’m in Love with My Car”

Let’s face it: Your ride deserves an owner like you. Thoughtful. Caring. Devoted to its happiness. It was fate that brought you together. Queen’s Roger Taylor understood this relationship in “I’m in Love with My Car.” “The machine of a dream, such a clean machine,” he purred in that blues-ragged voice, “with the pistons a-pumpin’, and the hubcaps all agleam.” Your car looks sharp when it’s smoothed immaculate, its grime blasted clear, washed toward oblivion. Brian May’s guitar doubles as the suds and those layered Queen harmonies bring this auto-erotica to a heavenly apex.

4. The Cars, “Moving in Stereo”

Pretty much anything by The Cars qualifies as car-washing music, as my own father would attest. But there’s something about “Stereo,” with Greg Hawkes’ intergalactic keys and Elliot Easton’s low guitar growl, that lends itself to a driveway summer scrub-down. It also stirs visions of a poolside Phoebe Cates in and out of a bikini top (“Fast Times,” indeed), a definite plus, and, um — sorry: what’s the topic, again?

3. Derek and the Dominos, “Layla”

While not technically about cars, soap, water, or Phoebe Cates in a red bikini, “Layla” works precisely for its two-part assault. The multiple threads of Eric Clapton/Duane Allman guitars (Allman on that screaming, got-me-on-mah-knees riff) serve as perfect accompaniment to the car-wash act itself, followed by the cool-down of Jim Gordon’s arresting piano coda — when the other instruments fall back in reverence, only to slowly slip in again — which complements the post-wash wax-sculpt as the car’s youthful vigor reveals itself for all the world to behold.

2. Big Boi feat. Gucci Mane, “Shine Blockas”

When you gaze into that water-mist rainbow as it settles upon your hood, what do you see? The outlines of cities that unfold to your roll as you and your car — your true-blue partner — rule the night together in your lady-killing primes. The soundtrack for this moment and other promised moments: Big Boi and Gucci Mane, their wicked flow cut with the croon and groove of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes’ “I Miss You” (subtract the begging, multiply the smooth). With a night-life buzz reflected in your windshield, the town at your feet and under your wheels, nothing’s gonna block your shine.

1. Rose Royce, “Car Wash”

You knew this one was coming (it’s in the title, for God’s sake), but honestly, isn’t it a lot more fun and way more efficient to wash cars as a team, especially if they’re passing through one right after the other? Rose Royce establishes the importance of teamwork in the track’s opening seconds as a play on an old koan: More effective than one pair of hands clapping are many hands clapping, all for the greater good. In this case, it’s to provide a backbeat for a sleek, slick disco/soul/funk hybrid that, as the ’76 movie of the same name claimed, put “more dip in your hip, more glide in your stride.” Can’t say as much for Christina Aguilera’s 2004 rehash, a hunk of junk best left in the trunk.

Check Out More Music…

Getty Images

Summer’s almost over and you still haven’t given that Mustang a nice cleaning. You and your car have places to go, whether it’s the lake, a barbecue, or just succumbing to the pull of the open road before summer is over. You both must look your best. So here are five sonic car-wash necessities to get the suds flowin’ and your motor runnin’.

5. Queen, “I’m in Love with My Car”

Let’s face it: Your ride deserves an owner like you. Thoughtful. Caring. Devoted to its happiness. It was fate that brought you together. Queen’s Roger Taylor understood this relationship in “I’m in Love with My Car.” “The machine of a dream, such a clean machine,” he purred in that blues-ragged voice, “with the pistons a-pumpin’, and the hubcaps all agleam.” Your car looks sharp when it’s smoothed immaculate, its grime blasted clear, washed toward oblivion. Brian May’s guitar doubles as the suds and those layered Queen harmonies bring this auto-erotica to a heavenly apex.

4. The Cars, “Moving in Stereo”

Pretty much anything by The Cars qualifies as car-washing music, as my own father would attest. But there’s something about “Stereo,” with Greg Hawkes’ intergalactic keys and Elliot Easton’s low guitar growl, that lends itself to a driveway summer scrub-down. It also stirs visions of a poolside Phoebe Cates in and out of a bikini top (“Fast Times,” indeed), a definite plus, and, um — sorry: what’s the topic, again?

3. Derek and the Dominos, “Layla”

While not technically about cars, soap, water, or Phoebe Cates in a red bikini, “Layla” works precisely for its two-part assault. The multiple threads of Eric Clapton/Duane Allman guitars (Allman on that screaming, got-me-on-mah-knees riff) serve as perfect accompaniment to the car-wash act itself, followed by the cool-down of Jim Gordon’s arresting piano coda — when the other instruments fall back in reverence, only to slowly slip in again — which complements the post-wash wax-sculpt as the car’s youthful vigor reveals itself for all the world to behold.

2. Big Boi feat. Gucci Mane, “Shine Blockas”

When you gaze into that water-mist rainbow as it settles upon your hood, what do you see? The outlines of cities that unfold to your roll as you and your car — your true-blue partner — rule the night together in your lady-killing primes. The soundtrack for this moment and other promised moments: Big Boi and Gucci Mane, their wicked flow cut with the croon and groove of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes’ “I Miss You” (subtract the begging, multiply the smooth). With a night-life buzz reflected in your windshield, the town at your feet and under your wheels, nothing’s gonna block your shine.

1. Rose Royce, “Car Wash”

You knew this one was coming (it’s in the title, for God’s sake), but honestly, isn’t it a lot more fun and way more efficient to wash cars as a team, especially if they’re passing through one right after the other? Rose Royce establishes the importance of teamwork in the track’s opening seconds as a play on an old koan: More effective than one pair of hands clapping are many hands clapping, all for the greater good. In this case, it’s to provide a backbeat for a sleek, slick disco/soul/funk hybrid that, as the ’76 movie of the same name claimed, put “more dip in your hip, more glide in your stride.” Can’t say as much for Christina Aguilera’s 2004 rehash, a hunk of junk best left in the trunk.

Check Out More Music…

Getty Images

Summer’s almost over and you still haven’t given that Mustang a nice cleaning. You and your car have places to go, whether it’s the lake, a barbecue, or just succumbing to the pull of the open road before summer is over. You both must look your best. So here are five sonic car-wash necessities to get the suds flowin’ and your motor runnin’.

5. Queen, “I’m in Love with My Car”

Let’s face it: Your ride deserves an owner like you. Thoughtful. Caring. Devoted to its happiness. It was fate that brought you together. Queen’s Roger Taylor understood this relationship in “I’m in Love with My Car.” “The machine of a dream, such a clean machine,” he purred in that blues-ragged voice, “with the pistons a-pumpin’, and the hubcaps all agleam.” Your car looks sharp when it’s smoothed immaculate, its grime blasted clear, washed toward oblivion. Brian May’s guitar doubles as the suds and those layered Queen harmonies bring this auto-erotica to a heavenly apex.

4. The Cars, “Moving in Stereo”

Pretty much anything by The Cars qualifies as car-washing music, as my own father would attest. But there’s something about “Stereo,” with Greg Hawkes’ intergalactic keys and Elliot Easton’s low guitar growl, that lends itself to a driveway summer scrub-down. It also stirs visions of a poolside Phoebe Cates in and out of a bikini top (“Fast Times,” indeed), a definite plus, and, um — sorry: what’s the topic, again?

3. Derek and the Dominos, “Layla”

While not technically about cars, soap, water, or Phoebe Cates in a red bikini, “Layla” works precisely for its two-part assault. The multiple threads of Eric Clapton/Duane Allman guitars (Allman on that screaming, got-me-on-mah-knees riff) serve as perfect accompaniment to the car-wash act itself, followed by the cool-down of Jim Gordon’s arresting piano coda — when the other instruments fall back in reverence, only to slowly slip in again — which complements the post-wash wax-sculpt as the car’s youthful vigor reveals itself for all the world to behold.

2. Big Boi feat. Gucci Mane, “Shine Blockas”

When you gaze into that water-mist rainbow as it settles upon your hood, what do you see? The outlines of cities that unfold to your roll as you and your car — your true-blue partner — rule the night together in your lady-killing primes. The soundtrack for this moment and other promised moments: Big Boi and Gucci Mane, their wicked flow cut with the croon and groove of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes’ “I Miss You” (subtract the begging, multiply the smooth). With a night-life buzz reflected in your windshield, the town at your feet and under your wheels, nothing’s gonna block your shine.

1. Rose Royce, “Car Wash”

You knew this one was coming (it’s in the title, for God’s sake), but honestly, isn’t it a lot more fun and way more efficient to wash cars as a team, especially if they’re passing through one right after the other? Rose Royce establishes the importance of teamwork in the track’s opening seconds as a play on an old koan: More effective than one pair of hands clapping are many hands clapping, all for the greater good. In this case, it’s to provide a backbeat for a sleek, slick disco/soul/funk hybrid that, as the ’76 movie of the same name claimed, put “more dip in your hip, more glide in your stride.” Can’t say as much for Christina Aguilera’s 2004 rehash, a hunk of junk best left in the trunk.

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Summer’s almost over and you still haven’t given that Mustang a nice cleaning. You and your car have places to go, whether it’s the lake, a barbecue, or just succumbing to the pull of the open road before summer is over. You both must look your best. So here are five sonic car-wash necessities to get the suds flowin’ and your motor runnin’.

5. Queen, “I’m in Love with My Car”

Let’s face it: Your ride deserves an owner like you. Thoughtful. Caring. Devoted to its happiness. It was fate that brought you together. Queen’s Roger Taylor understood this relationship in “I’m in Love with My Car.” “The machine of a dream, such a clean machine,” he purred in that blues-ragged voice, “with the pistons a-pumpin’, and the hubcaps all agleam.” Your car looks sharp when it’s smoothed immaculate, its grime blasted clear, washed toward oblivion. Brian May’s guitar doubles as the suds and those layered Queen harmonies bring this auto-erotica to a heavenly apex.

4. The Cars, “Moving in Stereo”

Pretty much anything by The Cars qualifies as car-washing music, as my own father would attest. But there’s something about “Stereo,” with Greg Hawkes’ intergalactic keys and Elliot Easton’s low guitar growl, that lends itself to a driveway summer scrub-down. It also stirs visions of a poolside Phoebe Cates in and out of a bikini top (“Fast Times,” indeed), a definite plus, and, um — sorry: what’s the topic, again?

3. Derek and the Dominos, “Layla”

While not technically about cars, soap, water, or Phoebe Cates in a red bikini, “Layla” works precisely for its two-part assault. The multiple threads of Eric Clapton/Duane Allman guitars (Allman on that screaming, got-me-on-mah-knees riff) serve as perfect accompaniment to the car-wash act itself, followed by the cool-down of Jim Gordon’s arresting piano coda — when the other instruments fall back in reverence, only to slowly slip in again — which complements the post-wash wax-sculpt as the car’s youthful vigor reveals itself for all the world to behold.

2. Big Boi feat. Gucci Mane, “Shine Blockas”

When you gaze into that water-mist rainbow as it settles upon your hood, what do you see? The outlines of cities that unfold to your roll as you and your car — your true-blue partner — rule the night together in your lady-killing primes. The soundtrack for this moment and other promised moments: Big Boi and Gucci Mane, their wicked flow cut with the croon and groove of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes’ “I Miss You” (subtract the begging, multiply the smooth). With a night-life buzz reflected in your windshield, the town at your feet and under your wheels, nothing’s gonna block your shine.

1. Rose Royce, “Car Wash”

You knew this one was coming (it’s in the title, for God’s sake), but honestly, isn’t it a lot more fun and way more efficient to wash cars as a team, especially if they’re passing through one right after the other? Rose Royce establishes the importance of teamwork in the track’s opening seconds as a play on an old koan: More effective than one pair of hands clapping are many hands clapping, all for the greater good. In this case, it’s to provide a backbeat for a sleek, slick disco/soul/funk hybrid that, as the ’76 movie of the same name claimed, put “more dip in your hip, more glide in your stride.” Can’t say as much for Christina Aguilera’s 2004 rehash, a hunk of junk best left in the trunk.

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