I DON'T MIND THEM COMING HERE AND WASTING ALL MY TIME: In May, The Cars are releasing their first new album in twenty-four years. Now, The Cars were a fine band who put together a terrific body of work in the 1970s and 1980s. More than that, if you told me that the new track, Sad Like This, was a B-Side to something off Heartbeat City, I wouldn't have doubted it for a moment. Given that -- and setting aside the perfectly reasonable pursuit of money -- is there something they didn't accomplish musically that merits a new album?
N.B.: Here's a second track, Blue Tip, which again sounds precisely like vintage The Cars.
Hot damn does that sound like classic Cars.
ReplyDeleteNo. Like some guys my age, it sounds like they haven't moved since 1982, and that's kind of sad.
ReplyDeleteWhy does a band need to "move"? Why do they need to "accomplish something musically"? If they have more songs that are in the same vein the ones I liked back then, works for me. Can't I just like the way their music sounds without them having to be artistes on some sort of musical journey?
ReplyDeleteIt's not sad they haven't evolved, but it's in a way surprising. They've been listening to all sorts of music for 20 years. Although, if you told me that was a new Interpol record, I might also believe you.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad when some things don't change. Let's go!
ReplyDeleteI go to school with the son of the keyboardist of The Cars, and I made a joke to him once where I imagined his dad having a bitter rivalry with Mark Mothersbaugh (of Devo and innummerable TV/movie soundtracks). Turns out they're actually friends. This then sent visions racing through my mind of a cartoon series wherein a team of keyboard players from the eighties go on daring adventures together.
ReplyDeleteThank you, thank you, a thousand times - thank you.
ReplyDeleteThe Cars was my first concert ever! Heartbeat City (and Purple Rain) = the soundtrack to the summer of my sophomore year. Good times.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a music snob. I like what I like, and I don't really care that some people find it banal or dull. I tried to like "cool" "alternative' music in junior high and I sucked at it. Bring on old-style Cars!
I heard this song on the radio yesterday, and thought to myself: "that sounds a lot like an old Cars song, but I've never heard it before."
ReplyDeleteShouldn't the new incarnation be called "Used Cars"?