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Greg Hawkes (curler)
Gregory A. Hawkes (born October 22, 1952) is an American musician who is best known as the keyboardist and founding member of the American new wave band The Cars. Hawkes is credited with helping popularize new wave and synth-pop in American popular music as a member of The Cars. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest keyboardists of all time. Hawkes, a native of Fulton, Maryland, United States, attended Atholton High School where he played in a band called Teeth. He then attended Berklee College of Music for two years, majoring in composition and flute. He left to play in various bands, including Martin Mull and his Fabulous Furniture, where he played flute, saxophone, and clarinet. He also played in a band called Richard and the Rabbits, which included future Cars bandmates Ric Ocasek and Benjamin Orr. He was the last member to join The Cars. Hawkes was also in the New Cars with original Cars member Elliot Easton, along with vocalist/guitarist Todd Rundgren, bassist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Cars
The Cars were an American rock band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the new wave scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek ( rhythm guitar), Benjamin Orr (bass guitar), Elliot Easton (lead guitar), Greg Hawkes (keyboards), and David Robinson ( drums). Ocasek and Orr shared lead vocals, and Ocasek was the band's principal songwriter and leader. The Cars were at the forefront of the merger of 1970s guitar-oriented rock with the new synthesizer-oriented pop that became popular in the early 1980s. Robert Palmer, music critic for ''The New York Times'' and ''Rolling Stone'', described the Cars' musical style: "They have taken some important but disparate contemporary trends—punk minimalism, the labyrinthine synthesizer and guitar textures of art rock, the '50s rockabilly revival and the melodious terseness of power pop—and mixed them into a personal and appealing blend."Palmer, Robert. "Pop: Cars Merge Styles" ''The New York Times'' August 9, 1978: C17 T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Todd Rundgren
Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, multimedia artist, sound engineer and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Utopia. He is known for his sophisticated and often unorthodox music, his occasionally lavish stage shows, and his later experiments with interactive entertainment. He also produced music videos and was an early adopter and promoter of various computer technologies, such as using the Internet as a means of music distribution in the late 1990s. A native of Philadelphia, Rundgren began his professional career in the mid 1960s, forming the psychedelic band Nazz in 1967. Two years later, he left Nazz to pursue a solo career and immediately scored his first US top 40 hit with "We Gotta Get You a Woman" (1970). His best-known songs include "Hello It's Me" and " I Saw the Light" from ''Something/Anything?'' (1972), which get frequent air time on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crafty Hands
''Crafty Hands'' is an album by the progressive rock band Happy the Man, released in 1978. Only one track, "Wind Up Doll Day Wind," contains vocals. Reception Mike McLatchey of Exposé Online stated that the album displays "some of the best, most elaborate and sophisticated symphonic rock ever produced, played by technical geniuses," but noted that, in comparison with the group's debut album, "''Crafty Hands'' seems more polished, yet overall slightly less impressive." Pete Pardo, writing for Sea of Tranquility, commented: "As far as US prog goes, it doesn't get much better than this folks. ''Crafty Hands'' is classy stuff all the way." Track listing #"Service with a Smile" (Ron Riddle, Greg Hawkes) – 2:44 #"Morning Sun" ( Kit Watkins) – 4:05 #"Ibby It Is" (Frank Wyatt) – 7:50 #"Steaming Pipes" (Stanley Whitaker) – 5:30 #"Wind Up Doll Day Wind" (Watkins, Whitaker, Wyatt) – 7:06 #"Open Book" (Wyatt) – 4:53 #"I Forgot to Push It" (Watkins) – 3:08 #"The Moon, I Sing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Happy The Man
Happy the Man is an American progressive rock band formed in 1973. The name Happy the Man is a reference to Goethe’s " Faust" and the Bible, rather than the 1972 Genesis single. History Early days (1973–76) The group formed in 1973 in Harrisonburg, Virginia. Guitarist Stanley Whitaker and bassist Rick Kennell first met in Germany in 1972. Whitaker, whose army officer father had left his native Missouri for Germany four years earlier, had formed Shady Grove, with fellow US expatriate, keyboardist David Bach, while Kennell had just been drafted and was stationed there, beginning a two-year stint in the army. The pair met when Kennell attended a Shady Grove gig in mid-1972, and discovering a shared love of British progressive rock, decided to form a band together. While the soon-to-be-graduate Whitaker was soon to return to the US, Kennell wasn't due back for a while, but he gave Whitaker the contacts of two former members of his teenage band Zelda, back in Fort Wayne, Indian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Niagara Falls (Greg Hawkes Album)
''Niagara Falls'' is the first solo album released by Greg Hawkes, best known as an original member of the Cars. It was released in 1983 by Passport Records. Hawkes plays all instruments (with one exception—see below), with programmed drums and multiple layers of keyboard parts, as well as rhythm guitar. It was recorded at Syncro Sound, then The Cars's private recording studio. Tuneful and not overly experimental, it sounds (despite the instrumental nature of the material) very much like the ''Shake It Up'' era of The Cars. "Jet Lag" and "Voyage Into Space" are the only tunes to feature lyrics: ''"Jet lag / It's a real drag"'' and ''"Voyage into space / Check out some other place"''—sometimes processed through a vocoder. "Voyage Into Space" also features the artist's wife, Elaine Hawkes, on flute. Hawkes would not release another solo album for 25 years. His second solo album, though also instrumental, was very different in sound than this, his first: ''The Beatles Uk ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Move Like This
''Move Like This'' is the seventh and final studio album by American rock band the Cars, released on May 10, 2011. The album was their first since 1987's '' Door to Door'', and the only one without bassist and vocalist Benjamin Orr, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2000. The album reached the top ten of the ''Billboard'' 200 and peaked at number 2 on the ''Billboard'' Top Rock Albums chart; a single from the album, " Sad Song", reached number 33 on the ''Billboard'' Rock Songs chart. Following the release of the album, the band launched an 11-city tour of North America. ''Move Like This'' was Ric Ocasek's last studio appearance before his death in September 2019. Background In 1997, Ocasek had told a journalist that the band would never reunite: "I'm saying never and you can count on that." A partial reunion of the band occurred in 2005 when keyboardist Greg Hawkes and lead guitarist Elliot Easton toured with singer Todd Rundgren, drummer Prairie Prince and bassist Kasim Sult ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shake It Up (The Cars Song)
"Shake It Up" is a song by American rock band the Cars from their fourth studio album of the same name (1981). It was released on November 9, 1981, as the album's lead single. Although appearing for the first time in 1981, it was actually written years earlier by the band's songwriter and lead singer Ric Ocasek. The song became one of the Cars' most popular songs, peaking at number four on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number two on the ''Billboard'' Top Tracks chart in early 1982. With the track "Cruiser" as its B-side, it reached number 14 on the ''Billboard'' Disco Top 80 chart. Background The song is primarily reliant on dance-pop as its main genre, with pop rock elements audible. Ocasek referred to the song as "the big return to pop" after the more art rock style of the preceding album, ''Panorama''. Add to these keyboardist Greg Hawkes' synthesizer lines, the associated instrument of bands labeled "new wave" at the time, and it is a prime example of The Cars' genre blending ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arpeggio
A broken chord is a chord broken into a sequence of notes. A broken chord may repeat some of the notes from the chord and span one or more octaves. An arpeggio () is a type of broken chord, in which the notes that compose a chord are played or sung in a rising or descending order. An arpeggio may also span more than one octave. Being an Italian noun, its plural is ''arpeggi''. The word ''arpeggio'' comes from the Italian word ''arpeggiare'', which means ''to play on a harp''. Even though the notes of an arpeggio are not played or sung all together at the same time, listeners hear the sequence of notes as forming a chord. When an arpeggio also contains passing tones that are not part of the chord, different music theorists may analyze the same musical excerpt differently. Arpeggios enable composers writing for monophonic instruments that play one note at a time (e.g., flute, saxophone, trumpet), to voice chords and chord progressions in musical pieces. Arpeggios and brok ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hello Again (The Cars Song)
"Hello Again" is a song by American rock band the Cars from their fifth studio album, '' Heartbeat City'' (1984). It was released on October 15, 1984, as the album's fourth single. The song was the fourth top-20 entry from the album, reaching number 20 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart; it also reached number eight on the Hot Dance/Disco chart and number 22 on the Top Rock Tracks chart. Ric Ocasek sings lead vocals on the track. Critical reception ''Billboard'' said that "Hello Again" goes "back to the staccato synth beat and wry mannered style that typified the group's singles before 'Drive' changed all that." "Hello Again" was retrospectively described as "eccentric" by AllMusic critic Greg Prato, who also cited the track as a highlight from the '' Heartbeat City'' album. Donald Guarisco, also of AllMusic, wrote, "One of their strongest tracks n ''Heartbeat City'' with experimental rootswas 'Hello Again,' a stylish new wave rocker with plenty of experimental touches." Guaris ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Let's Go (The Cars Song)
"Let's Go" is a song by American rock band the Cars, written by Ric Ocasek for the band's second studio album, ''Candy-O'' (1979). A new wave rock song, the song's hook was inspired by the Routers. The song's vocals are performed by bassist Benjamin Orr. "Let's Go" was released in 1979 as the debut single from ''Candy-O'' on Elektra Records. The single was a chart success, reaching number 14 in the United States and charting in multiple other countries. It has since appeared on several compilation albums and has seen critical acclaim. It was the 100th video to be played on the first day of MTV on August 1, 1981. Composition "Let's Go" was described by Brett Milano as "another double-edged anthem" in the liner notes for '' Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology''. The song's signature hook is a series of claps followed by a shouted "Let's go!", which is derived from the 1962 song " Let's Go (Pony)" by the Routers, as well as a simple synth melody played by Greg Hawkes, using th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sequential Circuits Prophet-5
The Prophet-5 is an analog synthesizer manufactured by the American company Sequential. It was designed by Dave Smith and John Bowen in 1977, who used microprocessors, then a new technology, to create the first polyphonic synthesizer with fully programmable memory. This allowed users to store sounds and recall them instantly rather than having to reprogram them manually; whereas synthesizers had once created unpredictable sounds, the Prophet-5 moved synthesizers to producing "a standard package of familiar sounds". Between 1978 and 1984, about 6,000 units were produced across three revisions. In 1981, Sequential released a 10-voice, double-keyboard version, the Prophet-10. Sequential introduced new versions in 2020, and it has been emulated in software synthesizers and hardware. The Prophet-5 has been widely used in popular music and film soundtracks. Development The Prophet-5 was created in 1977 by Dave Smith and John Bowen at Sequential Circuits. At the time, Smith had ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drive (The Cars Song)
"Drive" is a song by American rock band the Cars from their fifth studio album, '' Heartbeat City'' (1984). It was released on July 23, 1984, as the album's third single. Written by Ric Ocasek, the track was sung by bassist Benjamin Orr and produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange with the band. Upon its release, "Drive" became the Cars' highest-charting single in most territories. In the United States, it peaked at number three on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and topped the Adult Contemporary chart. It reached number five (number four on re-entry in 1985) in the United Kingdom, number four in West Germany, number six in Canada and number three (number five on re-entry in 1985) in Ireland. The song is most associated with the July 1985 Live Aid event, where it was performed by Benjamin Orr during the Philadelphia event; the song was also used as the background music to a montage of clips depicting the contemporaneous Ethiopian famine during the London event, which was introduced by E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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