Turntable Tuesday

Turntable Tuesday! The Cars’ “Candy-O”

January 25, 2022

It’s Turntable Tuesday because life is too short not to listen to great music! This week on Turntable Tuesday I am opening my vinyl copy of the 1979 classic from the Cars titled “Candy-O.” I’ll cover all the usual background for the album on my companion podcast.

Life is short! Time is precious! Crank up your music device, enjoy vinyl, or get out there and support your favorite live band! Stay safe! What are YOU listening to right now?

On the piano stool this week is my 180 gram copy of the album “Candy-O” from the Cars. This cover was a very nice piece of art drawn by the 83 year old at the time Alberto Vargas who was coaxed out of retirement for this one project by his niece who was a fan of the band. Vargas was known for his many paintings of pin-up girls that appeared Esquire and Playboy magazines for three decades beginning in the 1940s through the 1960s. The idea for this cover came from Car’s drummer David Robinson who was a collector of the art. The painting subject is a woman sprawled across the hood of a Ferrari 365 GTC/4. When you look at the gate fold of the 180 gram album version you will see some of the prints from the shoot that inspired the art for the cover. The photos were taken at a Ferrari dealership with David Robinson directing the photographer. The model was Candy Moore who may or not have had something to do with the album name. She dated David Robinson after the shoot. I really love Vargas art. I would like to have a large version of this canvas.

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The gate fold of the album featuring the band on the left and the photo shoot prints for the album cover art on the left. Many of the earlier releases of this album had only one piece of vinyl and no gate fold. I have several copies of this album including a box set version and Original Master Recording version that is fabulous. If you have not listened to this one in a while I would encourage you to add one of the versions to your collection!
The band from the back cover of the album with the track list. Vinyl is so cool with all the reference materials included. This is a very nice package indeed and the music is great fun to listen to on any day.
A lyrics sheet and band photo is included in this version of the album.

Fall 1978. I was living in Starkville, Mississippi at Mississippi State University and very deep into listening to all kinds of music. I had signed up for a DJ spot at the 3 watt “WMSU” station with my lowly 3rd class broadcasting license and was writing the Columbia House Record Club for those 11 “free” albums for 99 cents as long as I bought a few million more for retail plus some exaggerated value PLUS shipping. I can remember most all of the details of that time as I wanted to spin records, work in a recording studio, and go to as many concerts as a human could endure. I was going to concerts constantly as great artists were flowing through the college campuses and new music of all kinds was hitting the stores faster than one could collect it. One of those bands was the Cars with their debut self-titled album and it was fabulous material indeed. The songs “Just What I Needed,” “Let the Good Times Roll,” and “My Best Friends Girl” were all over the radio with tons of other now classic tracks and I can testify that this was a golden era to listen to FM radio. My only disclaimer is some stations got really stuck on some tracks or artists and could almost turn you off from listening from repetition. I have written about this before and I know I am not alone on this point.

By 1979 the second album “Candy-O” came out and of course many people were not as impressed with the tracks on this one as they had been spoiled by a debut record that just really had a complete “A list” of songs on both sides. If “Candy-O” had been the first album it still would have sold well as it is a great album as well. The entire package from music to art is great and really captures a moment in music history well. I want to tell you all about this album from the tracks to the production crew. Tune into my companion podcast for this episode and put this album on your list for a listening party with friends. This is a great album that every person who loves Rock music should have in their collection.

Until next time I’ll see you, down the road.