Main menu
Fretplay home Submit tabs

The Cars
The Cars tabs The Cars discography

Channels
Guitar channel Bass channel Guitar videos Reviews

Message Forum
Guitar forum Bass forum Bands and artists Promote your band Recent discussions All categories

Fretplay.com

The Cars guitar tabs

CD reviews

Shake It Up

The Cars - Shake It Up Audio CD

A fair review of the The Cars "Shake It Up" 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: Shake It Up
Rating:

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

Tracks: 1: Since You're Gone 2: Shake It Up 3: I'm Not the One 4: Victim of Love 5: Cruiser 6: Dream Away 7: This Could Be Love 8: Think It Over 9: Maybe Baby

Shake It Up...The Last Great Cars Album
Although I didn't realize this upon first listen, a few listens later I understood this album to be exceptional. Shake It Up is a fantastic album. It incorporates more synthesizer parts than before but the arrangements are good, and every guitar, synth and vocal line is purposeful and concise. David Robinson also regrettably started using a lot of synthesized drums in addition to his standard drum kit which in time began to date even the Cars best songs. But the songs on Shake It Up are thankfully untouched by such horribly dated sounds.

"Since You're Gone" is one of Ric Ocasek's finest songs, the lightly psychedelic "Victim Of Love" and the fun, mindlessly-catchy throw-away title track are some of the best singles of 81/82. "Cruiser" is a fine straight-ahead rocker and "This Could Be Love" is melodically twitchy. Songs such as "Think It Over", "I'm Not The One" and "A Dream Away" are the weakest songs here and none of them are bad, just weak only by comparison. Nothing here sounds like filler even if it is.

As far as the currency of the songs: "Since You're Gone" and "Shake It Up" were both featured in the film and soundtrack to 'The Last American Virgin' and "I'm Not The One" was in 'Billy Madison'. For some reason I still associate these songs directly with both of these films.

In fact this was the last Cars album where non-single tracks got just as much airplay as some singles might have (in fact some may very well have charted as a result). It's also the last cohesive Cars album (Heartbeat City was wildly uneven) as all of the tracks are strong and are relatively well-sequenced.

Recommended? Surely.

better then I remember
I remember being disapointed with the polish and the silly title track
(it's far better live)but this album I now find far more likeable
I always liked Ocasek's quirkiness and they do stretch with "dream away"
other strong numbers are opener "Since your gone" "Cruiser" "think it over" and the percusiion of "Maybe baby" definitely eighties
and not anywhere near as good as there debut or Candy O
and not as interesting as Panorama
but still as I said better then I remember.

In the back of the Cars
The music brings back memories of a simpler time and after a couple of tracks I find my stress level subsiding. While this CD will never be classified as one of The Cars best, it has enough to make it a disc that I reach for when driving with the top down. Maybe I am just getting older but I thought when it first came out Shake It Up had a brighter sound. This version the music seemed a little more muted. Overall though it has found a place in my CD rotation.

Solid songs carry this not too extensive CD
"Shake It Up" is no exception. Almost every Cars CD contained songs with infectuous hooks, simple but fabulous guitar work, and songs driven by powerful rhythm and catchy lyrics. Not unlike other artists of their time, however, the Cars also weren't exempt from tossing in a muligan or two to fill out their albums and/or contract obligation. Despite that fact, the first 6 songs on this CD are strong enough to outweigh the remaining fluff. "Since You're Gone" is my favorite Cars song for so many reasons. One of the best heartbreak/love songs ever written is an unrelenting, powerful, impossible not to sing along with tune, even if you can't relate to the simple but brilliant lyrics penned by Ric Ocasek (his solo effort, "Emotion in Motion" in my opinion, would provide the next best Cars' related love song). "Shake It Up" was the other radio darling from this CD. But you can't emphasize those 2 simply for that fact. "Victim of Love" and "A Dream Away" are 2 of the most unheralded songs by the Cars, certainly by radio play standards. Though "A Dream Away" didn't escape the astute ears of the deep AOR stations who know great music when they hear it. Talk about your infectuous songs. I challenge anyone to listen to this song cranked on a quality sound system and try to sit still. "Victim of Love" too has typical Cars hooks and is another Ocasek sung empathetic dity to the love lorn that is also one of my favorite Cars songs. "Cruiser" and "I'm Not The One" round off the best six songs for other reasons and make this CD worth buying, particularly at the bargain prices it can be found at. The last three songs are throwaways, but that doesn't make any difference as far as how I rate this CD. My last edition of this CD, though not remastered had very good sound quality. It was bought several years after the intial release of this CD (I bought the album my first copy) so it may have benefited from a quality production by that time. The point being you needn't wait for remastering to enjoy a solid Cars CD. .

More New Wave than Rock
Each one is not quite as good as the one that came before it, but this was a great band, so even this fourth one, "Shake It Up," is still a four-star album in my book. The first four Cars albums, all produced by Roy Thomas Baker and released in the space of four years, are a really solid body of work. It's probably not the one to start with, but if you own a couple others and you're still curious about the Cars, give it a try.

"Shake It Up" is more commercial than the previous album, "Panorama," but at the same time, it has a warmer, more intimate sound, more along the lines of "Candy-O. " The biggest difference is that "Shake It Up" is not as guitar-oriented as any previous Cars album (nor any of the later ones, for that matter). After delivering great solos on the first two songs, Elliot Easton only gets one more solo, on "Victim of Love," though he does play some really nice, raunchy fills at the end of "Cruiser. " There is not a single solo on the entire second half of the album, as the keyboards carry the melodies and the guitar is relegated to a complementary role.

Still, this album sticks in my mind just as much as the first three. Ric Ocasek was still wrting good tunes, and even the weaker material toward the end is so cleverly arranged that it jumps right out of the speakers and into your head. "Think It Over" and "Maybe Baby" would've been dumb songs in the hands of lesser musicians, but the Cars make them come alive. "Maybe Baby" is the only song where David Robinson has a chance to cut loose on drums, and he attacks them with all the ferocity of a guy who has spent the entire album up till then playing with a drum machine.

There are two first-rate keyboard-driven slow songs on this album, "I'm Not the One" and "A Dream Away. " "Since You're Gone" is one of the funniest, most fatalistic songs Ocasek ever wrote, and "Cruiser" is a great crunching rocker in the tradition of "Candy-0. " Some people hate the title song, but I've always loved it.

Yes, the Cars were less of a "rock" band here, but being a "rock" band was never the point anyway. They always walked both sides of the line between rock and new wave. They just chose to be more of a new wave band with this album. And it worked out just fine, as far as I'm concerned. .

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.