Candy-O
Candy-O is the second studio album by American new wave band the Cars, released on June 2, 1979, by Elektra Records.
For the title track, see Candy-O (song).Produced by Roy Thomas Baker, the album spawned two singles, "Let's Go" and "It's All I Can Do". The album outperformed the band's debut, peaking at number three on the US Billboard 200. The cover art was done by pin-up artist Alberto Vargas.
Background[edit]
Unlike the first album, Candy-O was created under a more democratic approach. Ric Ocasek said of this, "When one of my songs goes to the band in barest cassette form, we sit around and talk about it. If I'm outvoted, we don't do it. We almost didn't include 'Double Life' on the new album, it had been dropped. I think everybody in the Cars is open-minded and creative enough that they would do anything – nobody's holding anything back. Everybody appreciates the more radical, experimental kinds of music and likes it. But sometimes, when you're put together with five pieces, things are not as minimal as they could or should be. Everybody's developed a unique personal style, and we rely on their input. If they did it, it's good enough."[4]
Most of the songs on Candy-O were written after the release of The Cars, meaning that most of the leftovers from the first album (including the popular encore "Take What You Want") were scrapped; "Night Spots", a reject from the first album, was still included.[5]
For the album, the band once again worked with Queen producer Roy Thomas Baker. Ocasek said of their relationship with the producer, "Well, some of the things on that first album that we thought were a little slick, we toned down on the second, like on the background vocals. But if we were going to rely on the producer we had hired, there was no reason to try and change him. On the second album, it was easier to say, 'Roy, let's not do the multi-tracked harmonies this time.'"[4]
The band's label, Elektra, initially wanted to hold back the release of the album, but the band stood their ground. Ocasek said of this, "At first Elektra wanted to hold it back some, but we told them there was no way, because if they were going to hold that back, they were going to hold us back, and we can't just sit around and be held back."[4] Released as the follow-up to their 1978 debut album The Cars, Candy-O peaked at number three on the Billboard 200. The album re-entered the charts at number 179 in 1984. The record was also ranked number 82 on Billboard's "Top Albums of the Year" chart for 1979.[6]
Three singles were lifted from Candy-O: "Let's Go" reached number 14, making it the first top-20 Cars single, "It's All I Can Do" peaked at number 41, barely missing the top 40,[7] and "Double Life" failed to chart.