Moving in Stereo: Ric Ocasek, the Driving Force of the Cars

This scrupulous account from music journalist Aaron (If You Like the Ramones) pays tribute to the Cars’ late front man, who died in 2019. The author briefly recounts Ocasek’s early years in Baltimore, noting that his strictly religious and “emotionally distant” parents may have contributed to the singer’s famously “walled-off” personality, which was often mistaken for aloofness. The family moved to Cleveland in Ocasek’s teens, where he imbibed the “spiritually questioning” literature of the Beat generation and Bob Dylan’s music. The bulk of the book chronicles Ocasek’s stints in various bands: Id Nirvana, Leatherwood, Milkwood, Richard and the Rabbits, Cap’n Swing. These projects gave Ocasek and his future Cars bandmates time to hone their sound, which became a kind of “fifties-to-future” amalgamation of punk, “electro-synth,” and rockabilly. Drawing on extensive research, including interviews with surviving members of the Cars, Aaron traces the band’s career arc and delves into the complexities of Ocasek’s musical evolution, even if he sometimes gets sidetracked along the way (at one point, he speculates that the title of the song “Magic Pants” might have been “a reference to some glittery satin trousers the fashion-conscious vocalist [Ben Orr] was sporting when it was written”). Flaws aside, it’s an intimate and exhaustive portrait of a key new wave band and the enigmatic musician at its center. (Sept.)