Retro Spins: Benjamin Orr - The Lace

 

Benny 11 Letters, or Benny Orzechowski was big time in the 80's. Many of you probably remember him as Benjamin Orr from The Cars.

Leading up to the formation of the group, a  young Orr performed in the house band, The Grasshoppers, who provided the music for WEWS-TV Cleveland Television's, Big 5 Show. The band would ultimately dissolve in 1966, as members got drafted to the US Army. Among them was Orr.

He would meet Ric Ocasek in the 60's, and after returning from the army, the two moved to Columbus, Ohio, and worked together in several musical ventures, including the 1970's group, Milkwood with guitarist James Goodkind. Their single album, 1973's How's The Weather? failed to chart, and the trio disbanded. 

Ocasek and Orr would then form Richard and the Rabbits with keyboardist Greg Hawkes, which led to the formation of another group, Cap'n Swing, which included guitarist Elliot Easton. While this group too would break up, the four members would stay together, adding drummer David Robinson to the lineup, forming The Cars.

The Cars would go on to great success, officially disbanding in 1988 after six studio albums. They would later reunite for 2011's Move Like This, and be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2018. However, these would both be without Orr, who sadly passed away in 2000.

After their highly successful 1984 album, Heartbeat City, and the subsequent superstardom that followed, the group took a hiatus. It was during this period that Orr would release his first, and only, studio album, The Lace.

The album features his top ten solo hit, Stay The Night, which is the song I in turn purchased the album for. While The Lace may have not have been riddled with top forty hits, as a whole, it's hardly bad. In fact, I found myself saying, "Why couldn't The Cars albums have been this good?

It was interesting to note that Elliot Easton, of The Cars, provided guitar work for the album, and could very well have contributed to its overall familiar sound. And with that, I think I hit home with why this album was so enjoyable. It definitely sounds like it easily could have been an album from the group.

Of the ten tracks, I grabbed about eight of them. I honestly lost track. It kind of made me wish that Orr had released more solo work. I suppose, at least I still have a ton of albums from The Cars to work through in my collection. For now though, I'm off to another artist and album.

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below. 

Disclaimer: They Toy Box does not endorse or contribute to piracy. Retro Spins posts are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. None of the music discussed here is available for sale, downloading or distribution.