Wednesday, June 6, 2007

The Cars - Candy-O



I've been on a Cars kick the past week, so I'll choose this cover. We used to have a wonderful record palace in Baltimore called The Record Theatre, which was at its peak during the late seventies to the late eighties, and it was just huge for its time. I always relished the opportunity to go there, particularly when Candy-O came out, because the store had the album cover in a giant lit display that glorified the dripping sexuality of the cover, and if my parents were with me, I'd have to get crafty as I stared at it. Without them, I gawked like an absolute pervert, particularly at the erect nipple pushing through the tight fabric of the redhead splayed out on the car. I was fascinated with the fact that the artist chose to leave the car transparent with the girl represented in full. It represents the male fantasy aspect of fast cars and fast women with an emphasis on faster women in this case. The car is merely a subtle pedestal to display the beauty of the girl who seems to softly beckon you to her. Every so often I still get my loins stirred into an uproar by this cover. My wife thanks The Cars for that. Not.

8 Comments:

Blogger bob_vinyl said...

It definitley the Cars' best cover. I like that it's sexy without being obscene and, as Nigel said in Spinal Tap, "What's wrong with being sexy?"

June 6, 2007 at 6:14 AM  
Blogger Metal Mark said...

Oh, yeah there is a car on the cover too.

June 6, 2007 at 6:58 AM  
Blogger Ray Van Horn, Jr. said...

Yeah, imagine a car being there, oddly enough!

Sexy is exactly the word for it, and it's often preferable to being blatant, as least from a visceral sense.

June 6, 2007 at 11:34 PM  
Blogger David Amulet said...

A great cover. Pushing the limits of the time, I'm sure ... but it still works today.

I've never wanted to be a car so much in my life.

-- david

June 7, 2007 at 5:39 AM  
Blogger taotechuck said...

I was kind of down on Varga girls until you made me look at this with fresh eyes. It really is a good cover. Thanks for reminding me not only about this cover, but about how great these pin-up girl paintings are.

(FYI, Alberto Vargas also did the covers for a couple of Bernadette Peters albums.)

June 7, 2007 at 9:43 AM  
Blogger Ray Van Horn, Jr. said...

Luckily I married a redhead, or I'd be joining you in your wish, David!

Chuck, glad you got something out of this. I've never bothered to check out the artist's name, which is so funny since I do a quarterly column in Pit mag dedicated to cover artists, lol... I've never grown tired of this cover; I still take more than a few seconds to soak it up, no matter how often I've checked it out

June 7, 2007 at 9:56 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Whoa. That's one racy album cover. The girl doesn't wear any nipple covers to boot. Well, I love The Car's "Drive" at par with the album cover. :P

December 2, 2008 at 3:39 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have this album and have been trying to find the value for it. Except on side says the correct thing and the other side was mislabeled "The Doors" any one have any ideas. email me @ natanecc@q.com

August 3, 2009 at 5:14 PM  

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