LOST TREASURES – Milkwood (Ric Ocasek)

Posted on 18 April 2014

LOST TREASURES

 

MILKWOOD

How’s The Weather

Milkwood

By Peter Marston

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Here’s an entry from the Before They Were Famous file—well, maybe, before before before they were famous. Before Ric Ocasek and Ben Orr recorded what remains one of the greatest debut albums of all time with the Cars, they were in a band called Cap’n Swing. Before they were in Cap’n Swing, they were in a band called Richard and the Rabbits. And before that, they were in a three piece folk-rock outfit called Milkwood. While neither Cap’n Swing nor Richard and the Rabbits had the honor of being signed to a record label and releasing an album, Milkwood did, nearly five years before the first Cars LP hit the streets in 1978.

 Milkwood Promo

Now, let’s go back even further. Ocasek and Orr first met in Columbus, Ohio in the mid ’60s and performed as a duo and in various bands—first in Cleveland and, later, New York—before finally settling in Boston in the early ’70s. Their first successful venture in their new hometown was Milkwood, a band seemingly heavily influenced by Crosby, Stills and Nash and other practioners of the singer-songwriter movement. The band was signed to upstart Paramount Records who were busy finding trend-following acts to fill their stable.

 

In addition to Ocasek and Orr—credited on the Milkwood album by their real names, Octasek and Orzechowski—Milkwood featured lead guitarist Jas Goodkind. There are also several supporting musicians, including future Car Greg Hawks on saxophone. Nine of the ten songs were written by Ocasek, with Orr providing the down-home “Lincoln Park.”

 

When you put the needle down on How’s the Weather (or unzip that download), the most important thing you need to keep in mind is that Milkwood sounds nothing like the Cars. While the Cars’ music is driving, insistent; Milkwood’s is laidback and mellow. Where the Cars’ music is edgy and angular; Milkwood’s is as relaxed and even lazy. Now, if you can accept that, there is some rewarding stuff on How’s the Weather. The opening track, “With You With Me” is a wistful song with shifting tonalities and sensitive yet hopeful lyrics that seems almost like a primer on singer-songwriter pop. “Bring Me Back” features a charming, simple melody and backing vocals lifted directly from the Beatle’s “Girl.” “Time Train Wonderwheel” treads the line between folk-rock and psychedelia, building to a big hypnotic jazz-rock tag (provided and arranged by Hawks) that recalls sections of the Zombies’ “Beechwood Park.” On the whole, Milkwood is perhaps closest to the early Brinsley Schwartz (especially their self-titled debut). Both bands offer a sort of imitation of Crosby, Stills and Nash, and while Milkwood lacks some of the shambling Grateful Dead influence that is in evidence on Brinsley Schwartz, the basic approach to instrumental and vocal arrangment are quite similar.

 

How’s the Weather never charted and Milkwood disappeared without a trace. Ocasek and Orr—names altered—went on to Richard and the Rabbits, Cap’n Swing and, ultimately, the Cars .Ocasek and Orr reputedly disavowed their first LP together in later years, with one internet poster claiming that Ocasek threw the album into a nearby garbage can when asked to autograph it. That sounds unlikely, but it is certainly fair to say that Milkwood does not loom large in the Cars’ official bio.

 

How’s the Weather has never been reissued on CD and is difficult to find even on sites such as eBay and GEMM. However, it is often posted on various blogs for download. Highlights also can be found on YouTube as well. Have a listen and see where it all began!

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Pop Pioneer and “Lost Treasures” writer, Peter Marston is the leader of long-running power pop band, Shplang, whose most recent album, “My Big Three Wheeler” has been described as “the Beatles meet Zappa in pop-psych Sumo match.”  You check it out at this link:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/shplang

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LINKS:

ALL MUSIC – http://www.allmusic.com/album/hows-the-weather-mw0000861246

Boston Rock Archive:  http://bostonrockarchives.blogspot.com/2009/06/milkwood-hows-weather.html

On Power Pop blog:  http://powerpop.blogspot.com/2012/04/compare-and-contrast-portrait-of-artist.html

 

VIDEO:

“We’ve All Been Through”

3 Responses to “LOST TREASURES – Milkwood (Ric Ocasek)”

  1. Richard says:

    The file in the Boston Rock Archive post is no longer available on Rapidshare and I’ve not been able to find it elsewhere. Anybody?

  2. Tim King says:

    I too would be interested in this.

  3. dudeman says:

    I grew up in Boston in the 70s – there are SO many great bands with music recorded but which were never released.

    If anyone knows of a resource that has some of this music(or from other cities who had a lot of creative energy going on in the 70s and 80s), please post here….