The Cars, Part 2

How to do this, how to do this? Well, yesterday, we posted the studio efforts of The Cars, from the debut (5 stars) through "Door to Door" (1 star).....like I did with Elvis Costello, I want to get through all of the commercially available stuff before I get into my stack of smoking hot rarities, bootlegs, etc.......you literally will not believe your own ears (I posted them YEARS ago, unless you've been "with me" forever, likely you have no memory of them. If you're a Cars fan, though.......this stuff is going to bash your skull.

First, though, I wanted to get through these. Another submission form the Link Machine John N, who also sent me the albums for yesterday's post as well and helped me to decide to do this post in the first place (the one from "years ago" was ONLY rarities, this post will give a much better overview. How I've changed over the years!).

Before I start the anthologies, I forgot (at least I WANTED to) that the band reunited in 2011 (sans bassist Benjamin Orr who had passed away from pancreatic cancer) to create "Move Like This".....after a 14 year layoff, they might likely have come up with something better than this, no question it was time to move these Cars to the scrapheap.......bad album, but I vowed to present the entire picture as best as I could, so here it is if you want it (why you would, I don't know, but......)

OK, the Anthology.....the two disc "Just What I Needed" contains a bunch of stuff culled from the albums posted yesterday, however, the Cars were a simply over-the-top singles band, so an anthology plays as wonderfully as some of the albums (they were rare in that they were a great album band AND a great singles band, aside from being an outstanding live act). This WOULD be quite redundant, had they not stacked the discs with some cool stuff.....to wit:

Disc 1 contains three previously unreleased tracks ("Take Me Now", "Cool Fool", and "Slipaway"), none a classic but still cool to hear. The disc also contains the original demo version of "Night Spots", and a pair of B-Sides, "That's It" and "Don't Go to Pieces", the latter being from the "Panorama" era and would have sounded fine on that album.

The second of the two discs also contains some goodies:  A pair of unreleased covers: a goofy take on "The Little Black Egg", and Bowie/Iggy's "Funtime". Also included is the B-Side "Breakaway", a pair of demos ("Leave Or Stay" and "Ta Ta Wayo Wayo"..... also an important inclusion is the fantastic single, "Tonight She Comes" which was heard only on a previously released "Greatest Hits" affair....I've always thought it was one of their better numbers.

Again, today I find myself thinking of my friend who hated this band so much, as they were "ripping off Roxy Music"......again, Roxy was my favorite band ever, The Cars took the Roxy sound/concept, updated it, and delivered it RIGHT AT THE EXACT TIME the market demanded it........to discredit The Cars for such market savvy and understanding of the musical trends is unbelievably naive and shortsighted, JMO.

MOVE LIKE THIS-01 Blue Tip/02 Too late/03 Keep On Knocking/04 Soon/05 Sad Song/06 Free/07 Drag On Forever/08 Take Another Look/09 It's Only/10 Hits Me

JUST WHAT I NEEDED DISC 1-01 Just What I Needed/02 My Best Friend's Girl/03 Good Times Roll/04 You're All I've Got Tonight/05 Don't Cha Stop/06 Moving In Stereo/07 Take Me Now (previously unreleased)/08 Cool Fool (previously unreleased)/09 Let's Go/10 Candy-O/11 Dangerous Type/12 Double Life/13 Got a Lot On My Head/14 It's All I Can Do/15 Night Spots (original demo version)/16 Slipaway (previously unreleased)/17 That's It (B Side)/18 Panorama/19 Gimme Some Slack/20 Don't Go to Pieces

JUST WHAT I NEEDED DISC 2-01 Touch and Go/02 Don't Tell me No/03 Shake it Up/04 Since You're
Gone/05 I'm not the One/06 Cruiser/07 The Little Black Egg (previously unreleased)/08 Funtime (previously unreleased)/09 You Might Think/10 Drive/11 Magic/12 Hello Again/13 Why Can't I Have You/14 Breakaway (B Side)/15 Tonight She Comes/16 You Are the Girl/17 Strap Me In/18 Door To Door/19 Leave Or Stay (1977 demo version)/20 Ta Ta Wayo Wayo (1977 demo version)

OK, a few odds and ends for you to investigate and keep you Cars fans busy until (either later today or tomorrow) when I begin putting up the treasure trove of live shows and other surprises!