The Cars
Release Date: 6th June 1978
Genre: Rock
Elektra
Let the good times roll, it’s The Cars debut album! One of my favourite classic albums as it mixes catchy pop beats with a tinge of depressed irony. No road works in sight.
It starts with the slow dry ‘Good Times Roll’, a track which exemplifies from the off this is a mature well produced record. They mix positive themes with melancholy undertones and make you bop your head to songs about flying through a window. Nice. Rare a debut has such a degree of polish to it and it continues from start to finish with progressive rock synth sounds merging with the simple choruses and dark tones. It certainly has a set theme going for it, though it can make the album as a whole feeling stuck on one beat. It never really steps out of the car and goes for something a little louder, a little quicker. Still, the steady pace and soft voice keep a steady atmosphere. Just right, no jarring sudden changes to break the mood. Just what I needed.
It finishes off on a mesmerising note with the tracks ‘Moving In Stereo’ and ‘All Mixed Up’, two tracks which merge together and deliver something truly sensational. It’s dark, beautiful and a funky. People remember The Cars mainly for the soft sounded record ‘Drive’, but the debut will make it fade out in the distance as the tracks sink their teeth into your ears. Life is the same except for the music you listen to. The kookiness of Talking Heads meeting nu wave and mixing it all up.
