The Cars - C or D/S&D

Actually though - I did have Heartbeat City a long time ago. I forgot about that.

Me too. And there aren't many vocalists who could have delivered such perfectly-judged performances to a pair of songs as stylistically diverse as Just What I Needed and Drive. Props to Ocasek too, for having humility enough to hand over his two finest compositions to another guy to sing.

That Milkwood album is so weird. I keep listening to it and wondering how it's possible that you can't hear one single atom of similarity between it and anything the Cars ever did.

DRIVE = fucking amazing. anyone who thinks otherwise is flat out insane.

What is that song about, anyway?

Yeah I think "Drive" is my favorite song of theirs (fwiw I only know the singles).

I think it might be even better if it was in Japanese and sung in that really overwrought style like the guy from Hyde sings in.

I love synth gunk but "Drive" is too gunky.

buddy of mine once told me about a Cars non-album b-side, maybe from heartbeat city, that was awesome. i've googled around and got nothin'...by any chance does anybody know the title of what i'm talkin' about?

meant "heartbeat city era", sorry

xxxpost it's about who's going to drive you home. tonight.

because it won't be the dude singing the song, and he's sad about that, but maybe dodged a bullet too, because baby's a handful. or at least he's trying to convince himself of that. maybe she's headed for a crash, or maybe he just hopes she is. depends on who left whom, and that's unresolved in the lyric.

/songmeanings

Loved it when we saw the photos of dead Ethiopian babies accompanying this track at Live Aid.

buddy of mine once told me about a Cars non-album b-side, maybe from heartbeat city, that was awesome. i've googled around and got nothin'...by any chance does anybody know the title of what i'm talkin' about?

― KC & the sunshine banned (outdoor_miner), Wednesday, October 13, 2010 11:18 AM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark

Discogs lists a bunch of singles, there is a remix version and a dub version of "Hello Again" and one track I don't know (not on LP, but there are other B-sides w/older material) called "Breakaway" on the B-side of "Why Can't I Have You"

http://www.discogs.com/Cars-Why-Cant-I-Have-You/master/69679

They just posted a clip of a new song "Blue Tip" on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=445115559565&comments&ref=mf

It's not bad, methinks.

I'm enjoying the new one, as well. Not surprising--I really liked "Nexterday," and that was only five years ago.

That's Rundgren singing, right?

No, that's Ocasek.

Hunh! Hi voice doesn't sound the same, even if the melody and delivery recognizably him. It is good.

...His voice...

i don't know much about The Cars, was Ric Ocasek the usual singer? or was it the Drive guy? i wonder what Ric O made of 'the other guy' singing the big radio smash?

Ocasek and Orr traded off pretty regularly, and each had a number of hits under their belts (Orr sang "Just What I Needed" as well, fwiw). I don't think the lack of variety will really weigh down this reunion too much, because there were many times when you couldn't tell for sure who actually was singing a particular song.

this is pretty dope

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmGkuiC9hM4

Synth-pop pioneers or a dollar store Talking Heads? YOU make the call!

are they one thing they aren't or another thing they aren't? you make the call!

How amazing that Rik Ocasek got married to the girl in the DRIVE video.

Other brilliant thing about The Cars: at Nirvana's last ever gig, they started with this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgvefPgXlgg

:'(

Just posted another clip of a new one, "Sad Song": http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=473649429565&oid=189146859928&comments

They're 2-for-2 now, and I'm actually looking forward to this album.

wow, that's a cool Nirvana video. Totally unexpected, and damn, I miss Kurt Cobain's voice.

Another new clip of a song named "Free": http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=489559699565&oid=189146859928&comments

That's 3-for-3.

Also, here's the album cover I guess?

http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/180546_10150109654249929_189146859928_6032173_2167932_n.jpg

so old

It's out May 10th, apparently.

Man, why did they have to wait after that New Cars nonsense to do this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpJQWGA1O8s

Reminds me of
http://cdn.sheknows.com/articles/crave/electric-company-silhouette.jpg

hm.

it's . . . flat.

Flat, really? I think it sounds pretty good for a band who last recorded together in 1987. I mean, it's at least as good as last year's Devo record.

i thought that one devo song had a lot more pep-in-its-step.

i mean, i agree this new cars' song is "pretty good for a band who last recorded together in 1987." it's okay; just kind of flat-sounding.

Sounding flat is nothing I would hold against The Cars. The bridge here isn't quite flat enough. I like this more than Heartbeat City stuff.

I do like the idea of the Cars sound being the Cars sound, and not just the sound of the band beholden to '80s tech. Like, this is the way they were made to sound, no matter the decade. It just so happened that lots of other new wave bands in the late '70s and '80s sounded this way, too.

Another new video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxqxNzlEFM4

Definitely looking forward to this album - these tracks are sounding good enough to have a small level of excitement over, at least.

What's up with them not actually showing face in any of these new videos though? They seem to be going out of their way to not appear in the videos even when they're actually appearing in the videos.

It is kind of weird, but maybe they're just vain and want people to remember them young (not that any of them besides Orr were ever attractive in the first place).