While listening to ROOM ON FIRE it hits me....

[Jefferson]

.....that to my ear at least one of their more obvious influences has to be The Cars , and I'm not refering to just the sometimes quirky bubblegum asthetic they hide behind either, I'm talking about the keyboards on The end has no end and 12:51 and a lot of the guitar work on both albums. Sure the VU influence especially on Casablancas is there and at times you can catch echo's of simpler Television like guitar sounds but the Cars influence is present like it? or not.

Cheers

Rick

[-Jar-]

.....that to my ear at least one of their more obvious influences has to be The Cars , and I'm not refering to just the sometimes quirky bubblegum asthetic they hide behind either, I'm talking about the keyboards on The end has no end and 12:51 and a lot of the guitar work on both albums. Sure the VU influence especially on Casablancas is there and at times you can catch echo's of simpler Television like guitar sounds but the Cars influence is present like it? or not.

Cheers

Rick

If you like that neo-Cars sound, check out Menthol's DANGER: ROCK SCIENCE! .. this album has a weird history.. Menthol had a minor hit back in 1995 with the song "Stress is Best" - then they started recording their 2nd album for Capitol.. apparently, it was too "retro 80s" for Capitol back in 1998/1999.. obviously the trend hadn't hit yet at that point, I guess the music world was still concerned about that whole big band thing or whatever... so, Capitol shelves the album and drops the band. Finally, Menthol re-recorded the album themselves for a fraction of the cost and it finally saw release in 2002. It's a fine alt-rock/power pop album, with definate tinges of 80's, mostly Cars, Devo and maybe Gary Numan a little, though the basic sound remains Menthol. Those guys have a knack for lyrics and vocal interplay that is really original. Even though it's pretty retro, it was ahead of its time, considering bands like Interopol, Hot Hot Heat and British Sea Power are getting all the press these days. Menthol should have beat them to the punch, it's just that Capitol wussed out. Sad.

-jar