The Cars - Greatest Hits - Elecktra

Review by: Jennifer Perkins

I think the first time I remember seeing The Cars was on MTV and the video playing was for their song “Magic”. You remember Ric Ocasek looks like he is walking on water in that pool. I was mesmerized. Special effects in videos back then were far and few between, and I didn’t know what they were then anyway. The only other guy I knew that could walk on water was Jesus and I knew he was pretty damn important, so I immediately thought the same about The Cars.

Now in my old age I don’t quite hold old Ric or The Cars up as highly as I do the big guy upstairs, but I still think they are pretty bitchin’. They are a band with a greatest hits worth owning. Thirteen songs, one previously unreleased, all the qualities a greatest hits should have. And you better bet your sweet ass “Magic” is there.

You forget that The Cars had some rawkin’ songs in the late 70’s. “Just What I Needed” starts the disc off with it’s rigid stop and start guitar line that you recognize immediately. “Good Times Roll” makes you want to ride around in a big Camero wearing a mullet and drinking cheap beer. Both songs are so classic they are real mood setters.

Sure later in the 80’s The Cars got a soft around the edges and caved to societal pressures. However, songs like “Shake It Up” and “You Might Think” are still gems. By this point The Cars were appealing to the MTV generation and were starting to make some of the better videos of my youth. Remember Ric as a fly.

Like every good rock band there are the power ballads. “Sine Ya Gone” is a pseudo ballad really, and a damn good one. Lyrics like “Since ya gone the moonlight ain’t so great” always gets me. Their more famous slow jam “Drive” is here. This one is sung by that late Benjamin Orr. I always hated this song and never cared who drove that dumb bitch home.

The Cars are a band that are easy to overlook. There has not been a Behind the Music on them (yet) and no giant reunion tour with a bunch of cling-on wash outs. You hear them all the time on flash back lunch hours and with regularity on the classic rock station. The cars are still getting radio play today for a reason, “My Best Friend’s Girl” came out in 1978 and 23 years later in 2001 its still a great song.