Quick Change
Ocasek's fourth solo album was originally intended to be "Negative Theater", an album consisting of a double CD and a book of poetry. However, in North America, Reprise Records declined to release the CD in Ocasek's original form. Instead, the company had him record 7 additional tracks with producer Mike Shipley, and added them to 7 tracks from Ocasek's "Negative Theater" project. The resulting 14-song record was issued as "Quick Change World" in North America only. (The Shipley-produced tracks comprise the "Right Side" of "Quick Change World"; the "Left Side" consists of Ocasek-produced "Negative Theater" tracks.) Stylistically, the right side represents pop rock in the vein of The Cars (the song "Hard Times" was initially intended for the Cars' album "Heartbeat City") while the left-side represents experimental music.