This Side of Paradise by Ric Ocasek

This Side of Paradise, Ric Ocasek's second solo album, came out on Geffen on September 13, 1986, and for a side trip away from the Cars it keeps a lot of Cars in the room. Greg Hawkes plays keyboards and bass all the way through and co-wrote "Hello Darkness", Benjamin Orr adds backing vocals to three songs, and "True to You" brings Elliot Easton in on guitar too, so that track is nearly a band reunion.

Chris Hughes, the former Adam and the Ants drummer who had just steered Tears for Fears to their biggest records, produced it and played the drums, and Billy Idol's guitar slinger Steve Stevens plays on more than half of it. Roland Orzabal, Tony Levin, Tom Verlaine and G. E. Smith drop by as well. The result is sleek, synth-laced new wave with Ocasek's cool, clipped delivery right up front. "Emotion in Motion", pushed along by a video MTV played to death, topped the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for a week, the only solo chart-topper of his career.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.