Cars - Cars - Complete Greatest Hits
List Price:
Our Price: $8.88
You Save: $10.10 (53%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $6.86 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
CD Details
Artist: CarsBrand: CARS
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2002-02-19
Music Label: Elektra / Wea
Soundtracks:
- Just What I Needed
- My Best Friend's Girl
- Good Times Roll
- You're All I've Got Tonight
- Bye Bye Love
- Moving In Stereo
- Let's Go
- It's All I Can Do
- Dangerous Type
- Touch And Go
- Shake It Up
- Since You're Gone
- I'm Not The One
- You Might Think
- Drive
- Magic
- Hello Again
- Why Can't I Have You
- Tonight She Comes
- You Are The Girl
Music reviews of Cars - Complete Greatest Hits
Music Review: High Octane
Rating: 4 Stars
Making a case for The Cars as brilliant singles band, "Complete Greatest Hits" is twenty songs that are all incredible. From 1978 till they dissolved in 1987, this Boston band helped to define what American New Wave music sounded like. A touch of Roxy Music, a dash of David Bowie, a really strong helping of melody and top that off with two solid lead vocalists in Ric Ocasek and the late Ben Orr, and you had the formula for the albums from "The Cars" classic to the lackluster final bow, "Door To Door."
As brilliant as the debut was, it is the most represented CD on this collection, with six songs. Of those, three were singles, with "Just What I Needed" being one of the most important top 40 records of 1978. (Oddly enough, this was about the same time Van Halen's cover of "You Really Got Me" cracked the charts - both of these bands arguably changed the state of radio.) The simple handclaps and harmonies of "My Best Friend's Girl" were irresistible. The debut's artier leanings were well represented on AOR radio (hey old-timers, remember that?) by "Moving In Stereo."
When the sophomore album arrived, it was with the brash mix of Buddy Holly and The Beatles that collided on "Let's Go." That probably remains my favorite Cars single, exploding from the radio in the summer of 1979. Even though it was never a single, "Dangerous Type" was a great radio song. It also pretty much hews to the blueprint of great Cars music. Enigmatic lyric, moody synths and hot solo from Elliot Easton.
The underrated "Panorama" followed. Ocasek had become interested in experimental music, like the art duo Suicide, and "Panorama" reflected that. The tricky key changes in "Touch and Go" were not the average hit single fare, and it's the only song from that CD. (I would have preferred the title track - surely one of the six songs from "The Cars" could have been sacrificed?) Ocasek's solo albums often had more of a "Panorama" feel to them, and I guess he needed to get it out of his system.
Then it was a return to popland. "Shake It Up," with its cheesy picture-disk styled cover art, produced the first top ten single for the group. "Shake It Up" (the single) was a prefect mash of Beach Boys sunniness and new wave dancablity. It also became a harbinger of the next album, as the moody ballad "I'm Not The One" set the stage for the band's biggest hit.
When "Heartbeat City" arrived in Spring of 1984, it matched the artiness of "Panorama" with the pop splendor of "Shake It Up" and the debut. Jumping from producer Roy Thomas Baker to Robert Lange, the sound went from arthouse to dancehouse, and the pop sheen was unmistakably Cars. Ben Orr rode that sound to the band's biggest single, "Drive," climbing to number three that summer. The videos for that song and the giddy "Magic," the Andy Warhol directed "Hello Again" and "You Might Think" (remember Ocasek as a human fly) were all over MTV that summer, and The Cars had their greatest success to date. Five "Heartbeat City" songs grace this CD.
The success also came with strain. Easton, Ocasek and Orr each releasing solo albums (with Orr charting a single with "Stay The Night") and only convening to record a one-off single for a Christmas best of in 1985. "Tonight She Comes" was a great double-entendre of a lyric, as were many of the best Cars songs. It was also their last top ten single. The Ocasek produced "Door To Door" found the band in a non-cohesive state, even dredging up songs written around the time of the debut. Only "You Are The Girl" managed to chart. Like much of "Door To Door," it only seemed to echo what the band had achieved before, but still sounds pretty good almost 20 years later.
"Complete Greatest Hits" is pretty close to a five star set. I would have maybe picked the title songs from "Panorama" and "Heartbeat City" over a couple of the album tracks here, but at the same time, putting this disc in the car will give you 20 songs of roadtime pleasure. More to the point, every single one of these songs stays with you. If you were a radio-geek (or an MTV geek) in the early 80's, this CD will take you back.
Description of Cars - Complete Greatest Hits
20 of their best tracks available on 1 CD, including 'Just What I Needed', 'You're All I've Got Tonight', Touch and Go', 'Magic', 'You Might Think' & more. Rhino Records. 2002.If rock's most successful and memorable acts have usually succeeded by wrapping their own distillation of music history and personal tastes in whatever fashionable trappings are currently gripping the culture, it's hardly surprising that the Cars remain one of the most enduring symbols of the punk/new wave era. This 20-track anthology distills that argument perfectly. Ric Ocasek's songs embody a solid '60s sense of pop craftsmanship informed by a trend-conscious stylistic sheen and a cynical, slippery emotional detachment that's often betrayed by his own distinctly weary brand of romanticism, from the anxious pop of "Just What I Needed" and "You're All I've Got Tonight" to the melancholy-on-ice musings of "Drive" and "Tonight She Comes." Sixteen of the 20 cuts here were chart singles, and radio staples like "Bye Bye Love" and "Dangerous Type" might as well have been. --Jerry McCulley
Alternative Rock CDs
Music Genres
Bestsellers in Alternative Rock CDs
Bouncing Souls - Maniacal LaughterRelease date: 1996-01-26; Music CD
Best price: $30.00
Blondie - Parallel LinesRelease date: 1994-07-29; Music CD
Best price: $149.98
Doors - L.A. WomanRelease date: 1993-04-09; Music CD
Best price: $99.99
Amon Duul - Phallus DeiRelease date: 1997-04-08; Music CD
Price in other shops:
Tangerine Dream - MelroseRelease date: 1990-10-02; Music CD
Best price: $74.98
Tangerine Dream - Private Music of Tangerine DreamRelease date: 1992-11-10; Music CD
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops:
![Ska Explosion [VHS] Image](/images/Ska-Explosion-VHS-6303381014-X.jpg){kind=small}
Ska Explosion [VHS]Cleopatra; Release date: 1995-02-28; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $14.99
Price in other shops:
![Little Earthquakes [VHS] Image](/images/Little-Earthquakes-VHS-6302488664-X.jpg){kind=small}
Little Earthquakes [VHS]Atlantic / Wea; Release date: 1992-11-10; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $12.50
Price in other shops:
Exileby Geoffrey Oryema
Music CD
Best price: $4.95
![Louder Than Live [VHS] Image](/images/Louder-Than-Live-VHS-6301627865-X.jpg){kind=small}
Soundgarden - Louder Than Live [VHS]A&M Video; Release date: 1991-07-01; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $202.44
Similar CDs
Styx - Styx - Greatest HitsRelease date: 1995-08-22; Music CD
Best price: $8.79
Price in other shops:
Huey Lewis & The News - Greatest HitsLEWIS,HUEY & THE NEWS; Release date: 2006-05-23; Music CD
Best price: $5.59
Price in other shops:
Foreigner - No End in Sight: The Very Best of ForeignerRelease date: 2008-07-15; Music CD
Best price: $8.36
Price in other shops:
INXS - The Best of InxsInxs; Release date: 2002-10-15; Music CD
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops:
The Steve Miller Band - Greatest Hits 1974-78Miller; Release date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $5.59
Price in other shops:
Boston - Boston Greatest HitsRelease date: 2009-01-27; Music CD
Best price: $3.99
Price in other shops:
Supertramp - The Very Best Of SupertrampSUPERTRAMP; Release date: 2001-12-11; Music CD
Best price: $6.38
Price in other shops:
Talking Heads - The Best of Talking HeadsTALKING HEADS; Release date: 2004-08-17; Music CD
Best price: $6.55
Price in other shops:
David Bowie - Best of David BowieRelease date: 2002-10-22; Music CD
Best price: $6.85
Price in other shops:
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers - Greatest HitsRelease date: 2008-05-20; Published: 2008; Music CD
Best price: $6.39
Price in other shops: