Though a lot was fabricated from their sense of latest wave cool throughout their heyday, the true cause that the Vehicles’ recorded work holds up so properly is that it’s constructed on stable pop songwriting. For proof, a listener want look no additional than “My Finest Pal’s Woman.” The Vehicles’ recorded model has an unmistakably new wave really feel however a take a look at its parts as a track reveal it’s pure pop by way of and thru. The lyrics, which depict a person’s annoyed want for the charms of a lady who’s relationship his finest buddy, are the type of basic pop-song state of affairs that has been utilized by everybody from Elvis Presley (“The Woman of My Finest Pal”) to Rick Springfield (“Jessie’s Woman”). Nevertheless, lyricist Ric Ocasek provides his personal nifty twist the story with the traces “She’s my finest buddy’s woman/However she was once mine.” The music additionally stays firmly in a pop vein by crafting a melody with a stable verse-chorus pop construction and layering its verses with singalong counterpoint traces to the primary vocal melody. The Vehicles’ recording pushes the track into new wave territory with a musical mix of sharp-edged guitar riffs, glacial synthesizer traces, and the irony-drenched vocal supply of Ocasek. Simply the identical, it retains its pop middle with components like handclaps and the call-and-response interaction between Ocasek and the background vocals. This pressure between crowd-pleasing pop hooks and new wave irony made “My Finest Pal’s Woman” stand out from the pack and it turned a Prime 40 hit because of this. It stays a favourite new wave oldie for radio programmers and one of many classics of the Vehicles’ catalog.
– allmusic.com
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