THE CARS

As with Cheap Trick I had heard a lot about the Cars without actually hearing a lot by them. I was therefore in the position, unheard of to many, envious to some, of listening to this album without being familiar with any of the songs on it and therefore hearing them for the very first time. The Cars were, of course, famous for being one of the central players in developing the sound of eighties pop music through adopting the trends of new wave and even post-punk and selling it to the public at large as pure pop music; Blondie being a similarly seminal band in that respect. Singer and songwriter Ric Ocasek is the one to get most of the plaudits but drummer David Robinson is certainly the member with the coolest credentials, having played on the legendary Modern Lovers aborted debut. In effect, Robinson can have his cake and eat it - having played on two of the most influential albums of the seventies, one of the biggest selling and one of the best. Not that Ocasek's efforts aren't entirely commendable, of course, but it would take an almost superhuman talent to match the sheer rock'n'roll perfection of Jonathan Richman's youthful efforts. Although the Cars are credited mainly as being a pop band it would be unfair to suggest they were completely unfaithful to the arty new wave scene. Ocasek's whiny, half-hysterical vocals take a fair slice from David Byrne's characteristic paranoid yelping and the tight, taut interplay of the guitars and keyboards are still influencing bands today, including Franz Ferdinand and, particularly, the Strokes. Indeed, the main reason why the Cars proved to be so successful is, unsurprisingly and uncontroversially, because Ocasek wrote so many catchy little melodies. It is a relatively self-contained album, with ideas rarely getting above their station, but the best songs share the universal currency of the poor old listener not being able to get the damn things about of their head for the rest of the day. I don't know how many times I have heard the choruses of "My Best Friend's Girl" and "You're All I've Got Tonight" actually coming through the speakers but I must have heard them about ten bloody billion times circulating round my head at work. I don't think I have yet reached the stage where I start muttering lyrics to myself but I know it to be a dependable way to become the office weirdo. If I have any criticism of the first seven songs it might be that, surprisingly, some of them can be a little slow. The album opener "Good Times Roll" never really gets going, and is a little underwhelming as a result, and the kooky "I'm in Touch with Your World" suggests they knew what the Talking Heads sounded like without knowing what made them so great. They are niggling criticisms really, though, as the set is so unpretentious and, well, fun that it would be churlish to remonstrate excessively. Besides, "Just What I Needed" is probably my favourite song on the album, as brilliantly poppy as new wave ever got, and the segue from "You're All I've Got Tonight" to "Bye Bye Love" is just pure class. What really makes the album, though, is the final two tracks that abruptly do away with the party pop angle in favour of weightier and more mysterious atmospherics. "Moving in Stereo" is a dark and eerie (in context) ballad with it demonstrating again the band's ease in blending pop music with artier overtones. The album then concludes with the almost poignant electro-elegance of "All Mixed Up" which, as with before, is amplified and enhanced by a flawless segue. Both tracks go to show that although the veneer of this album is superficially disposable the band had far more intelligence and depth than at first appears. Indeed, it is for that reason that this album continues to enjoy that most precariously balanced of accolades - a pop classic that the serious critics can also enjoy.

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