The Road to Heartbeat City Collector's Series bundles the first five Cars' albums together in one awesome package!!
This bundle includes:
The Cars were formed in 1976 in Boston, Massachusetts by Ric Ocasek (vocals/rhythm guitar) and Benjamin Orzechowski (known professionally as Benjamin Orr) (bassist/vocals). The original line up consisted of Ocasek, Orr, Elliot Easton (lead guitar), David Robinson (drums) and Greg Hawkes (keyboardist).
The Cars were considered "New Wave"- which basically was power pop that included electronic music. In the 70's, New Wave was also called Post Punk. In the 80's, it had morphed into synth driven pop and in many ways dominated top 40 radio. It played a major role in early MTV. It includes bands like Blondie, Tears for Fears, Elvis Costello, The Talking Heads, The Go Gos, Duran Duran, The Bangles, Madness, The Cure, The Knack, The Pretenders and even The Police.
Modern bands that have been influenced heavily by this style range from the Strokes to The Killers and many more.
New Wave really broke from the independent club scene in the 70's and The Cars were one of the early standouts of the style. They really merged rock and new wave together.
The band signed with Elektra in 1977. Elektra's big acts at the time were The Eagles and Jackson Browne. So, the Cars were the only New Wave band on the label. They released their self titled debut in 1978. - It was recorded with legendary producer Roy Thomas Baker (Queen). It included the hit singles "Just What I Needed", "My Best Friend's Girl", and "Good Times Roll".
The Cars went on to sell over a million units. It peaked at #18 on the Billboard 200 in 1979. It remained on the chart for 139 weeks. Rolling Stone ranked the album #284 in its massive "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list. The self-titled LP has since gone 6X Platinum.
In June of 1979, the band released its second album, Candy - O. It featured the bands first Top 20 hit - "Let's Go". Once again, the album was produced by Roy Thomas Baker and peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200. Candy-O is 4X platinum.
Panorama was released in 1980. This is definitely the most experimental album of The Cars career, and once again, they recorded with Roy Thomas Baker. The record peaked at #5 on the Billboard 200, producing one single and eventually going platinum.
In 1981, The Cars released Shake It Up. They purchased a studio in Boston and named it Syncro Sound. This was the last album produced by Roy Thomas Baker, peaking at #9 on Billboard Pop Albums. It delivered the bands first top ten single with the title track "Shake It Up" and went to #4 on Billboard's Hot 100 and #2 on Mainstream Rock. Shake It Up also featured the singles "Cruiser", "Since You're Gone", "Think It Over", and "Victim of Love". The album is now 2X Platinum.
The band took a break after Shake It Up. Both Ocasek and and Hawkes released solo projects. In 1984, the band reunited and decided to make a key change in the producer. They went to London and recorded with Robert "Mutt" Lange. Although Lange had recorded a ton of huge acts, he had just finished a run of records starting in 1980 that included AC/DC - Back In Black, Foreigner - 4, Def Leppard - High N Dry, AC/DC - For Those About To Rock We Salute You, and Def Leppard - Pyromania. Next up was Heartbeat City.
Heartbeat City contains five American Top 40 singles. "Drive" and "You Might Think" were both Top 10 singles. Radio singles included "You Might Think", "Its Not The Night", "Magic", "Drive", "Hello Again", and "Why Cant I Have You". The album peaked at #3 on Billboard 200, and #25 on UK Albums (OCC). The singles also received significant airplay on MTV and the album went 4X Platinum.
In April, The Cars were inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. It's been 40 years since the bands self-titled debut and 34 years since the career defining Heartbeat City. The band was nominated for three Grammy Awards, has 13 Top 40 Singles, four straight Top 10 Albums, MTV Video of the Year Award, and Multiple MTV and Billboard nominations.
*You can listen to more on Episode 6 of the Blind Tiger Record Club Podcast with Guest Kevin Lee:
