I don't know how I passed up this. I've been listening to this all day. Fantastic. Benjamin Orr is the most underrated singer in rock and one taken away from us way, way too soon.
Why would anyone put "thumbs down" on these Ben Orr vocals?!! I'm truly in heaven just listening to his voice only! But of course, I absolutely love all The Cars' stuff - listen to them every single day.
I’ve been stuck listening to the cars every single day for a year now and I don’t know why it’s like I have to hear them every day lost in the 80s I guess it resonates with me and I have that old feeling of that time of my life and they were part of the soundtrack for my life at that time
This is absolutely mesmerizing! SO much talent in this band! Benjamin's voice is honey and sexuality and tears all flowing in on one ribbon. Accompanied Elliot's powerful riffs, this version is worth listening to over and over!
so poetically expressed, SPJ. This is a treat and a rare beauty, stripped down. God, I am so glad we have him singing his heart out live, with the rest of the band in Rock Goes to College. Rare stuff indeed.
Agreed #sweetpurplejune You mentioned this on the show on in your blog.All you said and I'm just haunted in a way that make's me goose bump's and joy we had Ben for that short time. Hearing his breath here bare is chilling.
Instruments/Players - The guitar kicking off is Elliot Easton on the Telecaster with both pickups engaged (Bartolini HIAV Firebird pickup in the neck) - When the song kicks in full, that clicky, tubey sounding thing is Ric Ocasek's black pinstripe Gibson SG with the white DiMarzio pickups - The watery guitar sound is the Tele going through a Roland CE-1 Chorus pedal, Sounds like Elliot was using some kind of light overdrive or fuzz on this song (hard to tell, it' has a slight fuzz-like soupiness to it, but it also has a light grinding drive like an overdrive)
It’s 2021 and I just discovered this version and I am blown away! It’s been said already … haunting, aching … an amazing vocal and the isolation of the guitars 🎸 is perfection.
This is FANTASTIC - thank you for this stripped down rendition of All Mixed Up! I had never considered that it could be just as effective when played this way... I can imagine it done acoustically, just a guitar and a voice. It would be awesome! Would love to hear more isolations of The Cars songs - especially with Benjamin doing vocals. Thanks!
HOLY CROW, that fancy chicken' pickin' in the beginning is somewhat buried in the original recording mix on the LP. Thank you for posting this. What a treat! LOVELY!
yeah todzzzzz, it's nice isn't it? i oftentimes will listen to one song five times to isolate out each musicians part. And I find anything done live is so much richer and filled out than the more regimented, controlled studio cut. These guys were pros.
Hey Joe, i am truly loving your book! I cant believe all the cool things Ben did with his life! what an awesome adventure he lived. I've laughed through reading parts and had tears through others. I'm trying to read slowly because I dont want it to end. I just happened upon this awesome version of "All mixed up", which is my favorite Car's song as well. Hearing Ben sing with just the guitar is so cool, I could listen to just his voice with nothing else, its just that perfect. Thank you Joe for all the years of work on your wonderful book, perfectly written and totally enjoyable.
Thank you so much for the fantastic book about Benjamin. It is a real gift to me and to all those who love him. Benjamin had a short, but, indeed, very interesting life. It is good to know, that at the end of his life there were so nice people around him. Especially it was so good for him to have had July Snider until the last minutes. What I want to know - did he speak Russian? I never heard about that. I've learned Russian in the school. It was in Croatia. At that time we protested and wanted to learn English. In the meantime I'm happy to have learned it, because it is a very nice language and for us was not difficult to learn it. It is also Slavic language like Croatian. Only writing is different. Greetings from lake of Constance (Germany)
WOW, thanks for this! (I don't know how I was listening to the bass & vocal mix, nine months ago, without seeing a link to this channel.) I have two books of Cars tab transcriptions, but this song's been sadly overlooked. Ric Ocasek plays the really difficult part, interestingly - at least, live, he did. I never heard Elliot's low-note solo at the end, in the normal mix. I'm glad it wasn't too loud, the sax is better. I've heard it live, though. The New Cars did this song extremely well.
Beautiful! Just beautiful. Was that all Elliot or some Ric playing guitar too? It was so wonderful to hear all the little parts. Thanks so much for posting this xx
I'm sure the dislikes are a slip of the finger. The thumbs up and thumbs down are so small and close together. It's happened to me before and I couldn't take it back.
I am sure the first verse is not Ben's voice nor Ric's. Have you listened carefully? Is there a possibility that it is the voice of Elliot or Greg? What an amazing track!
This was my old account (10 years ago). It's Ben. It's the multi-track version from the album itself. I just muted everything bar the vocal and guitar tracks.
Watch any live version and It's Benjamin and sounds exactly like this. He's just singing more softly at the beginning then builds up to the dramatic part. Love Elliot's guitar, but he's no match for Ben on vocals.
Beautiful vocal and I love the acoustic at the beginning, but the electric lead is in comepetition with the vocal and makes me anxious. It’s a strong counterpoint to the sentiment that everything will ‘be alright.’ I need the other insturments.
only a few. :) Some people don't like stripped down music or maybe they don't like the tune or they don't like the singer's voice. Or maybe they are only Ric O fans and don't like Ben's taking the lead. Whatever; it doesn't matter,. What matters is how it makes YOU feel.
