The Cars Part 3

I went back to the "C" shelf to see just how much material I have for the rest of The Cars post, as we move on to live/rare stuff and GOOD LORD there is a lot.....I know I did part 2 only this morning, but I need to get moving on this, a LOT LOT LOT of stuff here, if you hate the Cars, you are temporarily at least in the complete wrong place.

I think I'll put up about half of it here, and at it'll take at least one or two more posts to wrap it.....time was, when it was fairly hard to catch quality boots of this band, much like their early 80's cousins The Pretenders, but in recent years there has been an absolute deluge of them, and I have a load of them.

But, to that end, let's start off this chapter with NON-live stuff, it's more than interesting, some of it is quite wonderful.

First up, I have a full length album of demo material from the first classic album. The entire album is recreated, in order, completely with demo versions (most of which are VERY good), and as a bonus, there are demo versions of five tracks that never made an album. Fascinating stuff.

I have an EP simply entitled "Alternate Versions", for the life of me I don't remember who gave me this one, but again, six tracks from the first two albums, very, very good stuff to listen to as well. This was one band whose demos and alternates EASILLY could have replaced the final product in some cases, a testamony to their skill/musicianship.

Another EP simply titled "Live/Rare" contains but 4 tracks, with a bit of overlap too, "They Won't See You" also appears on the demo disc above, but a demo "Moving In Stereo"/"All Mixed Up" and a couple of live tracks fill it out nicely.

"The Candy-O Monitor Mixes", naturally, contains different mixes of the stuff from THAT album, and this one as well adds on a couple of non-LP tracks "That's It" and "Slip Away".

For the hell of it, and just because I happen to have it, I'm going to put up a Ric Ocasek solo effort, "Troublizing".....it's not awful or anything, but he misses the context of the Cars.....The Cars, like their godfathers Roxy Music, were a BAND in the truest sense of the word, as no one member EVER dominated the sound, it was ALWAYS an even distribution, and this is a bit TOO much Ocasek, however, certainly interesting and listenable.

I seem to have about twelve (by my loose count) live boots, so if I pop a pair of those up this evening, the next two parts can be 5/5 and finito!.....so let me tease this thing with a couple of the older boots I have. The first disc I have is from 1977, before the band broke.....it contains a pair of shows, both from their Boston home, one from the Rathskeller (April 77), and a very short set (4 songs) from Boston U (March 77), which includes two tunes ("Cool Fool" and "Strawberry Moonlight") that you certainly don't hear every day.

Wrapping up this post is a fairly straight forward show from Toronto's El Mocambo, a good performance, in particular the set closing "You're All I've Got Tonight", but no unusual song selections or anythng, just a fine concert recording.

OK, that's TWO Cars posts for today, maybe I'll get to the next part tomorrow, or maybe I won't....you never know what I might feel like doing. But please let me know what you think of this series, as The Cars seem to be quite popular here (the "regular" studio albums have had quite a bit of traffic)

I don't know if I'm going to put up anything more this evening or not, if not, likely see you tomorrow, but I AM quite bored so I might get around to a few more gems, we'll just have to see!

1ST ALBUM DEMOS-01 Good Times Roll (Live)/02 My best Friend's Girl (Demo)/03 Just What I Needed (Demo)/04 I'm In Touch With Your World (Demo)/05 Don't Cha Stop (Demo)/06 You're All I've Got Tonight (Demo)/07 Bye Bye Love (Demo)/08 Moving In Stereo (Demo)/09 All Mixed Up (Demo)/10 They Won't See You (Demo)/11 Take What You Want (Demo)/12 Wake Me Up (Demo)/13 You just Can't Push Me (Demo)/14 Hotel Queenie (Demo)

ALTERNATE VERSIONS EP-01 Moving In Stereo/02 Let the Good Times Roll/03 You're All I've Got Tonight/04 Candy-O/05 Best Friend's Girl/06 Just What I Needed

RARE/LIVE EP-01 Moving In Stereo/All Mixed Up (Demo)/12 Good Times Roll (Live)/13 Just What I Needed (Live)/14 They Won't See You (Unreleased Demo)

CANDY-O MONITOR MIXES-01 Let's Go/02 Since I held You/03 It's All I Can Do/04 Double Life/05 Shoo Be Doo/06 Candy-O/07 Nightspots/08 You Can't Hold On Too Long/09 Lust For Kicks/10 Got a Lot On My Head/11 Dangerous Type/12 That's It/13 Slip Away

TROUBLIZING (OCASEK)-01  The Next Right Moment/02 Hang On Tight/03 Crashland Consequence/04 Troublizing/05 Not Shocked/06 Situation/07 Fix On You/08 People We Know/09 Here We Go/10 Society Chance/11 Asia Minor

LIVE BOSTON THE RATHSKELLER 4/77-01 Just What I Needed/02 I'm In Touch With Your World/03 Strawberry Moonlight/04 Lover and a Holiday/05 Bye Bye Love/06 Wake Me Up/07 Cool Fool/08 Looking To See You/09 Don't Cha Stop/10 You're All I've Got Tonight/LIVE AT BOSTON U 3/77 11 Just What I Needed/12 I'm In Touch With Your World/13 Cool Fool/14 Strawberry Moonlight/15 (Emcee)

LIVE AT THE EL MOCAMBO TORONTO 9/14/78-01 Good Times Roll/02 Bye Bye Love/03
Nightspots/04 My best Friends Girl/05 Moving In Stereo/06 Since I Held You/07 Take What You Want/08 They Won't See You/09 Don't Cha Stop/10 Just What I Needed/11 Candy-O/12 You're all I've Got Tonight

Remember I still have about ten or so live albums to go, so stay tuned......