Song of the Week: Gino Vannelli and Drag

Gino Vannelli was born and raised in Montreal and reached his musical pinnacle commercially with the LP Brother to Brother in 1979 which includes "I just Wanna Stop" a pop music gem written by his brother Ross. The sweetly eccentric musician has a new collection of songs called These Are the Days. In a stroke of marketing genius included are some of his past endeavours among which is "Black Cars" -- his acknowledgment and critique of drag. It's about drag queens and how certain types of lighting makes them look more authentic. Here let it be said that there are many kinds of drag worn by many kinds of people enacting whatever it is that enhances their fantasies which in turn enhances their personal reality.




From All Music Guide: Between 1981 and 1985, the music industry was rocked by the emergence of MTV, which rewrote the rules of success while bringing the new wave crashing into the American mainstream. All veterans had to find a way to come to terms with the new music and the new presentation, whether it was embracing it or scorning it. Gino Vannelli embraced it, accepting it as the way things were now done. Consequently, "Black Cars" is definitively of the moment -- it's hard to imagine a record that sounds more 1985 than this. Every cut on the record is built on synthesizers, with Yamaha's infamous DX7 in the forefront. There are hints of mild dance rhythms and little concessions to new wave that pop up now and again. This is all essentially window dressing, though, since the core of the record is firmly in the smooth, lightly soulful, soft pop territory staked out on Brother to Brother and Nightwalker.



Still, that window dressing is awful flashy, calling attention to itself on every single track on the record. Since Vannelli is a professional, he does make it work on occasion, most notably on the minor hit singles "Black Cars" and "Hurts to Be in Love." Yet, this is more noteworthy for what he attempted than what he achieved. Consequently, Black Cars is primarily interesting as an artifact for '80s fanatics and as a transitional record in Vannelli's career. He did one other record in a similar vein, Big Dreams Never Sleep, in 1987, before he started to break away from strictly mainstream pop, culminating in 1995's Yonder Tree, his first explicitly jazz album. That journey would not have been possible without this record.
- Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide





Under the cover of night
She crawls into sight
Her skin is cold china white
She's a dark angel wearing dark glasses
Dark shadows under long false lashes

The night exposes the cracks
She wears her makeup like wax
To hide every scratch
'Cause she a dark angel riding dark horses
Sitting pretty in her dim lit covers ... I say

Black cars look better in the shade
She smears her lipstick on right before she sleeps
For all those phantom lovers in her dreams

She smokes them french cigarettes
In cocktail gloves and a strapless dress
She cuts a perfect silhouette

But she's a dark angel wearing dark glasses
A fading beauty as the night time passes ... I say

Black cars look better in the shade
Black cars look better in the shade