Today is Logan’s Day Off! Sounds like a delightful sixties theatre production,
doesn’t it? Like “Fop About Town!” or
something.
Actually, it is just me taking an
extra day off before a busy weekend. So
far I’ve cleaned the bathroom, tidied up some paperwork, did my banking and
practiced the guitar. Hardly delightful
theatre production material, but that’s life.
I also have a bit of headache from
not drinking coffee this morning. I usually
only have one cup, but miss that cup and the caffeine makes sure you know it
isn’t happy. I am ignoring its scorn to
show just who’s boss.
Disc 550 is…. The Cars (Self-Titled)
Artist: The Cars
Year of Release: 1978
What’s up with the Cover? A pretty girl has put on her brightest red lipstick
and gone for a drive. When I was a kid,
the clear steering wheel in the picture used to fascinate me. Now, I’m admittedly more interested in the
girl
How I Came To Know It: I’ve known this record since it came out. My brother bought it that year on vinyl and
it’s been in my life ever since.
How It Stacks Up: We have three albums by The Cars. This one is far and away their best, so #1.
Rating: 4 stars but very nearly 5
My first encounter with this album was at age eight,
when my brother Virgil (then 15) calling me into his room and had me sit equidistant
between his two speakers. He then played
“Moving in Stereo” to show how the
sound went from one speaker to the other.
For a while “Moving In Stereo”
and Prism’s “Spaceship Superstar”
were two of my favourite songs partly because of how they used this effect. I don’t know how people survived music in
mono; I assume it made them listless and without energy, a lot like the disease
of the same name.
While “Moving
in Stereo” demonstrates the depth of this record’s lineup, the first three
songs on this record are a tour de force in rock and roll brilliance.
“Good Times
Roll” starts the album off, demonstrating that even the simplest guitar
riff can be awesome when played with some brilliance. The same goes for “My Best Friend’s Girl” at number two and “Just What I Needed” at three.
Together these songs define the Cars early sound,
showing a New Wave edge couched within a foundation of hard rock. So many bands around this time struggled to
incorporate synthesizers into their rock and roll. The Cars not only include it, they make it so
good you can’t imagine the song without them.
The songs on this album are great for driving, they
are great for parties and they are great for just singing along or playing air
guitar as the mood moves you. I’ve heard this album at least a hundred times
and I never get tired of it.
They are hard to pin down. Clearly rock and roll, they also have early
punk influences, and their chord progressions remind me of early country
music. On “Best Friend’s Girl” the guitar sounds a lot like Buddy Holly. On “I’m
In Touch With Your World” the combination of strange sounds (whistles,
gears and what I think is someone trying to mimic a ray gun) I was reminded of mid-eighties
Tom Waits. “I’m in Touch With Your World” is a bit too New Wave for my tastes
but coming in the middle of the album it is a nice change of pace.
“You’re All
I’ve Got Tonight” is a brilliant piece of rock decadence, opening with:
“I don’t care if you hurt me some
more
I don’t care if you even the
score
Well, you can knock me and I don’t
care
You can mock me, I don’t care
You can rock me just about
anywhere
Because you’re all I’ve got
tonight.”
The song is driven along by a dirty guitar lick that
takes the free love of the sixties and inserts a healthy dose of seventies
cynicism. As booty calls go, this one is
about as painfully honest as they get.
Although I’m not giving this album five stars, it
comes pretty damned close. As seventies
rock and roll goes, this is almost as good as it gets. I was shocked when I looked the album up on
Wikipedia (which is never wrong) and found that it peaked at #18 in the U.S.
(below lesser albums like “Candy-O” and “Heartbeat City”) with no top ten hits. Yet more proof that radio doesn’t know that
the hell it is doing.
History has been kinder, thankfully, and tracks like
“My Best Friend’s Girl” are still
instantly recognizable thirty-five years later.
I’m glad that thanks to having a music loving older brother, I’ve got to
be a part of the journey from the beginning.
However, if this album is still unknown to you, that’s OK too. Go get it tomorrow; it’ll be just as good on
the first listen.
Best tracks: Good Times Roll, My Best Friend’s Girl, Just What I
Needed, You’re All I’ve Got Tonight, Bye Bye Love, Moving in Stereo
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