''Change No Change'' is the first and only solo album released by

Elliot Easton Elliot Easton (born Elliot Steinberg, December 18, 1953) is an American guitarist. He played lead guitar and sang backing vocals for The Cars, and his guitar solos are an integral part of the band's music. Easton has also recorded music as a so ...

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), ...

. It was originally released in 1985 by

Elektra Records Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the 1 ...

, re-released in 1996 by Elektra Traditions/

Rhino Records A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species o ...

, and again released by Wounded Bird in 2006. The original album consists of ten songs written by Easton and

Jules Shear Jules Mark Shear (born March 7, 1952) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He wrote the Cyndi Lauper hit single " All Through the Night" and The Bangles' hit "If She Knew What She Wants", and charted a hit as a performer with "Stead ...

, who also contributed background vocals. Easton plays all guitars, including

12-string guitar A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in o ...

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in ...

and bass (with the exception of Side B, where Brad Hallen plays bass on four of the tracks). The album's producers were Stephen Hague, who had played with Shear in Jules and the Polar Bears, and

synth A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and f ...

player Jon Mathias.

Roy Thomas Baker Roy Thomas Baker (born 10 November 1946) is an English record producer, songwriter and arranger, who has produced rock and pop and songs since the 1970s. Career Baker began his career at Decca Records at the age of 14 and later worked as an a ...

, who had produced the first four Cars albums, is given thanks in the credits for his encouragement of Easton's solo project, but did not act as a producer. In the liner notes to the Rhino release, both Easton and Shear cite "Wide Awake" as their favorite track from the album, with Shear saying "It has a little fairy dust quality about it with all the singing." The 1996 and 2006 releases feature five tracks from the unreleased debut album by Band of Angels (not to be confused with the mid-60s pop group A Band of Angels), a project Easton formed with singer Danny Malone. Easton does not sing lead on these tracks. "Walk on Walden" is an instrumental on 12-string guitar in

drop D tuning Drop D tuning is an alternative form of guitar tuning in which the lowest (sixth) string is tuned down from the usual E of standard tuning by one whole step to D. So where standard tuning is E2A2D3G3B3E4 (EADGBe), drop D is D2A2D3G3B3E4 (DADGBe ...

Track listing

All songs written by Elliot Easton and

. # "Tools of Your Labor" # "(Wearing Down) Like a Wheel" # "Shayla" # "Help Me" # "(She Made it) New for Me" # "I Want You" # "The Hard Way" # "Fight My Way to Love" # "Change" # "Wide Awake"

Bonus tracks from Band of Angels

# "Lonely is the Dark" (Easton, Danny Malone) # "Walk on Walden" (Easton) # "Long, Long Time" (Easton, Malone) # "Stop the World from Turning" (Easton, Malone) # "Let It Slide" (Easton, Malone, Stan Lynch) Produced by

Engineered by Eddie Delano

Personnel

*Elliot Easton - vocals, guitars, electric sitar, bass * Stephen George - drums *Brad Hallen - bass on tracks 7,8,10 *Stephen Hague - synthesizer *Jon Mathias - additional synthesizer on "Wide Awake", additional backing vocals on "Tools of Your Labor" and "I Want You" *

- background vocals *Danny Malone - vocals on bonus tracks *

Stan Lynch Stanley Joseph "Stan" Lynch (born May 21, 1955) is an American musician, songwriter and record producer. He was the original drummer for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for 18 years until his departure in 1994. Early years Lynch was born in ...

- drums on bonus tracks *

Benmont Tench Benjamin Montmorency "Benmont" Tench III (born September 7, 1953) is an American musician and singer, and a founding member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Early years Tench was born in Gainesville, Florida, the second child of Benjamin ...

- keyboards on bonus tracks

References

Elliot Easton albums 1985 debut albums Albums produced by Roy Thomas Baker Albums produced by Stephen Hague Elektra Records albums Rhino Records albums Avant-pop albums {{1980s-album-stub