I was really into the Cars in high school. I even used to wear modern-looking collared shirts and skinny ties like they did. I understood their esthetic when I was 14. When this record came out I bought it, and loved it personally because it was so paired down and a really intimate demonstration of the potential of synthesizers, which I was fascinated by. To a Cars fan this album won’t measure up by comparison, but to a musician who follows the Cars, Niagara Falls is a rare treasure. I digitized my copy of the record ten years ago, and it’s on my iPhone as I type this. I keep it close. I never saw this video before - RU-vid is great for this kind of thing.
Yes, that is Denis Leary in this video. Wow ! I'm in this video too ! I'm the guy in black wearing shades that gets attacked by the Japanese guy. Brings back warm fuzzy memories of a really hot summer day in Kenmore Square shooting this for hours and hours with tons and tons of corn starch on the floor. We had white powder stains all over our clothes that day which lasted for 27 years. Haven't seen this video since 1984...
I never knew this existed. I'm a huge Cars fan and this has all the right 80's elements, right down to Greg's dweeb-bot stylings. But it also shows up how the Cars were so much more than the sum of the parts. I hear signature Hawkes keyboards, but they really shine when melded with the talents of the others.
Heartbeat City here we come on happy days we count on thumbs and nothing really gets us down as long as Jackys back in town, im glad you made it i cant complain ooh Jacky what took you so long on just a holiday ooh Jacky what took you so long i thought you knew the way.
Wow...I thought that looked like Denis Leary in the vid. Haven't seen this one since the ONE time I saw this on MTV at about 2am back in the day. Cool, spacey song...very 80's, which is a good thing. This is from the years when MTV was like a box of chocolates...you never knew what you would get from one vid to the next
Thanks a bunch for posting this! Wow - An actual, MTV-style video for Greg Hawkes? I never even knew it existed. No, wait - I might have read it in "Frozen Fire", the biography book of The Cars I used to have. (Just ordered a used copy from Amazon - "Very Good" and "Like New" copies go for a FORTUNE.) Now, I just need to see Elliot Easton's "Wearing Down Like a Wheel" video! Yes, he made one.
Hi Ben, My comment was more a philosophical musing about how amazing it is when individual talents combine, and not intended as a run down of a musician I admire.
You know, you're not wrong or anything, but I always hate comments like yours. It's like listening to some odd Pink Floyd track, say, "Paint Box", and someone like you comes in and says, "Cute, but the best Pink Floyd songs will always be 'Comfortably Numb' and 'Money'." Look, this was a TINY LITTLE solo album that did TINY LITTLE business, and isn't even available on CD. Never has been! So instead of comparing it to The Cars, unfavorably, can't we just applaud Greg for getting it done?
