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The Cars

The Cars - The Cars Audio CD

A fair review of the The Cars "The Cars" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all The Cars reviews here, or go back to the The Cars tabs.

Band: The Cars
Title: The Cars
Rating:

Release Date: 1990-10-25
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Good Times Roll 2: My Best Friend's Girl 3: Just What I Needed 4: I'm in Touch With Your World 5: Don't Cha Stop 6: You're All I've Got Tonight 7: Bye Bye Love 8: Moving in Stereo 9: All Mixed Up

The Cars' 1978 debut is still one of the greatest rock debuts ever made 30 plus years on

The Cars was formed by rhythm guitarist/singer/songwriter Ric Ocasek and bass player/singer (the late) Benjamin Orr. My native Boston based rockers The Cars released their self-titled debut in June of 1978.
Prior to the formation of The Cars, Orr and Ocasek were in a popular Boston act called Cap'n Swing, along with lead guitarist and Berkeley School of Music grad Elliot Easton. They broke up in 1975 and the trio joined forces with former Modern Lovers drummer David Robinson and keyboard player Greg Hawkes in 1976.
For a year they did well gigging around New England and their demo of "Just What I Needed" became a hugely requested song on a local Boston rock station (WBCN for those who want to know). As a result, Elektra Records signed the band and the label decided to pull out the artillery for this new band and have legendary Queen producer Roy Thomas Baker produce this incredible debut which was recorded in London, England at George Martin's AIR Studios with engineer Geoff Workman (another Queen and Journey veteran).
When this album came out, it was a smash and 30 plus years later, it is still a masterpiece.
The album's first three tracks were all hit singles. "Good Times Roll" is a great opening song on this album with a killer guitar riff and what not. Next is "My Best Friend's Girl" is another great song and I think of this song from the 1979 Matt Dillon film debut Over the Edge where he told a cop off as the policeman was arresting one of his friends. The song is great too with a guitar solo reminiscent to The Beatles' "I Will" in tone. The song that follows was "Just What I Needed" which was America's intro to the band and was Orr's vocal debut on a Cars track (Ben and Ric would split the vocals evenly). The track is still a staple of rock radio. This track too appeared in Over the Edge prior to the film's party scene. "I'm In Touch With Your World" and "Dont'cha Stop" are also great rockers which close the first half of the album with classic Ric vocals (Ric sang most of the first half except as noted). Those tracks ended the first half wanting more.
The rock radio staple "You're All I've Got Tonight" kicks the second half off in a grand way and is a killer rocker (the only vocal from Ric in the second half as Ben did the rest). "Bye Bye Love" is next and another great rocker as well and a rock radio staple as is most of this album. We segue into the classic "Moving in Stereo" which is one of the band's best pieces of music and the song is forever etched in our brains as that image of Phoebe Cates in the red swimsuit coming out of the pool in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. The closing "All Mixed Up" is a great song as well and a great way to close this album.
This album fittingly got the success it deserved and not only did New Wave fans buy and embrace this album in droves but hard rock fans did as well and sold millions and peaked in the US Top 20.
This version of the album was remastered in 1998 by Joe Gastwirt and Rhino then upped the anty by issuing a deluxe edition in 1999.
Highly recommended!.

DCC gold review!
Good bass, nice clear detail in back round instruments and sounds. This is the best sounding version out there, better than the Rhino double set and the HDCD Elektra remaster. Another great job by Steve Hoffman. Check out Audio Fidelity for more great new gold cd releases by Steve! .

Learning to drive
It just changed the rules of the game. Learning to drive was one of the most liberating experiences I have had. I went from being a kid who had to be shuttled around to a more active participant in the world at large. I not only had a new lease on life but also new responsibilities (a 1990 Honda Civic to take care of - my parents' old car that became mine around 1995 or so) that felt adult-like. I think I grew a lot overall from the experience and now, many years later, can't imagine what life would be like if I couldn't get behind the wheel.

I've always associated driving with liberation and excitement, and to this day it's my best place to think. I have logged a lot of miles on several vehicles over the years and (wait, I'm reviewing something aren't I?) can think of no better soundtrack for this experience than the first Cars album.

This album was released the year after I was born, so I certainly didn't "grow up with it" through my formative (read: teenage) years like some of the other reviewers here. However I've always felt a certain kinship with this little classic, as if it's something that I should (in italics) have grown up with. Perhaps that's because, for all of its virtues, a lot of the music that came about in "my" era wasn't particularly fun and catchy. Driving to Nirvana or Soundgarden is (IMHO) a soup-sandwich unless you're really angry and/or depressed. The closest corollary is Teenage Fanclub (another band that has created some of my favorite driving music), Fountains Of Wayne (of course) and Canadian band Sloan.

The Cars' first disc is the driving album that every generation ought to have, full of good poppy rockin fun with an ever-so-slightly-twisted perspective (arched eyebrows at the ready) that allows you to still feel smart while singing along. I couldn't ask for more. However, absent any discoveries yet to be made, I don't believe there is such a thing for Gen-X and beyond. In the meantime, give this a spin the next time you head out on the road and try to picture that rush of liberation that you may have experienced when you first got behind the wheel unsupervised. It's a nice feeling.

They Don't Make Music Like This Anymore
So I turned it up real loud and started singing along. So, I'm driving home with my girlfriend after a wonderful dinner out, and out of no where Just What I Needed comes on the radio. I'm really not a very good singer but there is no way you can hear this song and not be moved to sing along with it. My girlfriend who is 15 years my junior even loved the song (but not my singing). Before we got home I said to her, "I've got to quickly throw up a review on Amazon when we get home!"

I was only 10 years old when the Cars debut album was released. I didn't actually listen to the album until two years later during my freshman year in junior high. I remember instantly falling in love with the entire album, every song. To my ears it still sounds as fresh as the day it was released. Take a trip down memory lane and put this album on for a listen and you to will realize why the saying "they don't make em like they used" is more true now regarding the music industry than ever more.
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How can you walk away from a classic at this price
You'll want to surf this new wave again and again. Front to back, this has to be one of the best debut albums of all time.

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You can see a complete list of all The Cars discography, or go back to the The Cars tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.