The Cars - C or D/S&D

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).

Yeah, I wondered about that - maybe they're trying to appeal to a younger demographic that knows all the modern bands that are ripping off the Cars but don't actually know the Cars themselves and that they're old men now? Originally I was wondering if it was some shady "hey it's not really the band you remember but Elliot Easton and some sidemen of varying levels of fame" type of New Cars bullshit.

I like the new song! Sounds like Arcade Fire covering the Cars (though I like Arcade Fire a lot more than most people here, I think.)

in that 'in touch with your world' live video, what's that can opener type instrument the mega nerd guy with glasses is playing?

stupendously shit editing in that video btw

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/exclusive-listen-the-cars-first-album-in-24-years-20110503

After one listen, I'd give the album a "B". As far as unexpected reunion albums go, though, I'd give it an "A+".

I'm gonna declare "Drag on Forever" an all-time Cars track. Sketching out the perils of longterm cohabitation with Porizkova provides Cohenesque levels of zen dissatisfaction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nE4p5yeAHA

http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/LDXKZxaqxgQ/hqdefault.jpg

Holy Shit!

http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/LDXKZxaqxgQ/hqdefault.jpg

https://pitchfork.com/news/the-cars-ric-ocasek-dead-at-75/amp/

:-(

This guy was immense, and I hope our obits do him justice. The Cars defined New Wave in the best sense: chords and harmonies recognizable to Foreigner fans, but with music indebted to Roxy Music and Wire.

Master of hooks, architect of one of the best guitar sounds in existence. RIP

gutted by this. such a genius. ugh.

Ah shit. Truly one of the great ones.

“Magic” isn’t supposed to make me cry goddammit

The way the drums hit on “You’re All I’ve Got Tonight” >>>

Worth remembering that when they showed the clip of ‘Drive’ cut to footage of children affected by famine during the British Live Aid gig, more telephone donations came in at that point than at any other time during the show. Having seen it a few days earlier via his manager, Bowie was so shocked and touched by the clip he supposedly insisted on dropping one of his planned songs (‘Five Years’) just so they could fit it in the running order. An extraordinary thing to have played a part in.

I've got to admit, not someone I ever thought about dying before. He seemed perpetually in his 30s. Hitting pretty hard.

he was 75! Amazing.

The Cars will be forever linked in my mind with the summer of 1978. I got fired from my radio job in part because I kept deviating from the playlist to include “Just What I Needed.” It sounded like the future of pop music to me.

I've been going through a lot of my vinyl in the last few months which included listening to the first four Cars albums. It was such a joy to hear them all again. I'm always blown away by how many hooks and ideas they crammed into every song. Incredible playing too. Some days I think Touch & Go is the best song ever made.

RIP Ric

I karaoke'd "Just What I Needed" to my wife on one of our first dates (and yes I know Ben sang it but Ric wrote it).