Cars- The Elektra Years 1978-1897
This past weekend the Cars released a remastered box set of their first six albums including all 60 tracks form the original releases.
The first Cars album was released in 1978 and the self-titled beauty was a pleasant surprise to say the least. In the late 鈥�70鈥檚 we were mired in the disco era that was becoming extremely stale.
Then along came the lads from Boston and we were instantly hooked to their original sound that booted disco in its shiny weird gyrating butt.
The album contained some future classics such as 鈥淢y Best Friend鈥檚 Girlfriend鈥�, 鈥淕ood Times Roll鈥�, 鈥淛ust What I Needed鈥�, and the song I can鈥檛 get enough of, 鈥淢oving In Stereo鈥�. C鈥檓on, the sound moving from left speaker to right and back again, was brilliant, admit it.
How does a band follow up this album? Well, 鈥淐andy O鈥� released in 1979, might be a good way.
From the opening few bars of 鈥淟et鈥檚 Go鈥�, we knew they were back. Some Cars greats are here. With songs like 鈥淐andy O鈥�, 鈥淚t鈥檚 All I Can Do鈥�, and the fun 鈥淟ust For Kicks.鈥� The band showed everyone they were not a flash in the pan.
In 1980 Panorama was released and was somewhat of a departure in sound and mood for the band.
Consisting of 10 songs that had a darker quality in lyrics and sound, Panorama was this reviewer鈥檚 favorite Cars album. It鈥檚 one I listen to from time to time and I welcomed the sound remix, as the original seemed a bit flat sounding. This new disc sounds as crisp as your Sunday morning bacon you forgot was cooking while you searched for your headache remedy that always was not where you thought it was. Ok, I digress.
The album has some real gems. 鈥淧anorama鈥�, 鈥楾ouch And Go鈥�, 鈥淕imme Some Slack鈥�, and 鈥淢isfit Kid鈥� are all highlights. The album has a more guitar oriented approach, which was represented perfectly on 鈥楧own Boys鈥�. The song that mostly infected my ears, surprisingly, was the brilliantly strange 鈥淕etting Through鈥�. Any song that contains a mid break that sounds like a game of Asteroids is all right with me. The result is probably my favorite Cars tune.
Shake It Up appeared a year later in 1981 and was a return to the original Cars sound. From the quirky 鈥淪hake It Up鈥�, to the slower paced 鈥淎 Dream Away鈥�, Cars fans were treated to the familiar.
The mostly synthesizer and electronic drum sound prevails and songs like 鈥淪ince Your Gone鈥�,聽 鈥淪hake It Up鈥�, and 鈥淚鈥檓 Not The One鈥�, delighted the die hard Cars fan again.
My pick for best of the bunch is 鈥淐ruiser鈥�, with its Devo sounding guitar riffs and spouting lyrics like 鈥淐hrome red eyeballs reflect and roll鈥� and 鈥淪et aside the screaming fish鈥�, even Captain Beefheart would tip his hat to the one who penned such coolness.
The band took a couple years to release the album that everyone has in his or her possession somewhere. 鈥淗eartbeat City鈥� came out during the beginning of the MTV era. Music videos were a very popular format at the time and the Cars used this to their benefit. The video for 鈥淵ou Might Think鈥� was played to death on MTV and was a breakthrough for the band and for videos in general.
I think every song on this album had produced a video, including Magic鈥�, Drive鈥� and 鈥淗eartbeat City鈥�.聽 By far the most commercial and successful of their albums, it鈥檚 my least favorite. But that鈥檚 just because I鈥檓 weird.
The final disc in the box set is the 1987 album 鈥淒oor To Door鈥�. The band was beginning to tire in sound and lyrical quality by this time. The album did contain a couple of diamonds in the rough however. 鈥淭a Ta Wayo Wayo鈥� and the rocker 鈥淒oor To Door鈥� were the rare sparklers here.
The impressive sound quality of this six disc box set is one reason to give it a listen. Original band member Ric Ocasek oversaw the remixing of the original albums and he did a fine job. The Cars are a band that everyone loves and you will enjoy listening and singing along to all of your favourites.
This is one compilation that belongs in your music collection.
It is available at your favourite streaming site, on CD and vinyl later this month.
