Monday, September 29, 2014

The Cars Greatest Hits (1985)


The original "greatest hits" package for the Cars has been largely rendered unnecessary thanks to about five later similar compilations. This is one of those collections that came out mid-career for the Cars, so Door to Door hadn't even been released and is not featured here (and you aren't missing much in that regard). So why do I keep this lying around? Well, initially it was a good place to officially collect the non-album single "Tonight She Comes"* (the collection is essentially a vehicle for this song) and also this was the only collection to include "Heartbeat City" among the "greatest", something it would fail to do on the later sets. Finally, and the reason it sticks around, it that at least one of the tracks ("I'm Not the One") was remixed for the collection.

Overall, it's a pretty thin collection. For some reason Candy-O gets almost totally shut out, as is Panorama, although the latter typically doesn't contribute much to these collections. Also, whoever compiled this must have had it out for Benjamin Orr, as he only sings on three of the tracks, even though it reality he sang somewhere around 40% of their material. In fact, unless you absolutely cannot live without "Heartbeat City" (and refuse to buy its namesake album) or the "I'm Not the One" remix, you should skip this one completely, and invest in the more substantial Just What I Needed, which also delivers some nice rare tracks in addition to being a robust greatest hits collection.

* - The Cars are nothing if not notorious for double-entendre songs like "Tonight She Comes", "Strap Me In", etc. etc. In the immortal words of guitarist Eliot Easton: "It doesn't actually say in the song that she reaches orgasm. Maybe she's just coming over to make popcorn."

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