Cars - Complete Greatest Hits

The Cars | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 19, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Elektra / Wea
• ASIN: B00005Y1XY
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (120 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #259 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #1 in Music > Alternative Rock > New Wave & Post-Punk > New Wave
  • #10 in Music > Classic Rock > Album-Oriented Rock (AOR)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

If rock's most successful and memorable acts have usually succeeded by wrapping their own distillation of music history and personal tastes in whatever fashionable trappings are currently gripping the culture, it's hardly surprising that the Cars remain one of the most enduring symbols of the punk/new wave era. This 20-track anthology distills that argument perfectly. Ric Ocasek's songs embody a solid '60s sense of pop craftsmanship informed by a trend-conscious stylistic sheen and a cynical, slippery emotional detachment that's often betrayed by his own distinctly weary brand of romanticism, from the anxious pop of "Just What I Needed" and "You're All I've Got Tonight" to the melancholy-on-ice musings of "Drive" and "Tonight She Comes." Sixteen of the 20 cuts here were chart singles, and radio staples like "Bye Bye Love" and "Dangerous Type" might as well have been. --Jerry McCulley

Product Description

20 of their best tracks available on 1 CD, including 'Just What I Needed', 'You're All I've Got Tonight', Touch and Go', 'Magic', 'You Might Think' & more. Rhino Records. 2002.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

65 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A more hit-efficient collection of the Cars, January 25, 2004

By 

Daniel J. Hamlow (Narita, Japan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Cars - Complete Greatest Hits (Audio CD)

Though starting out in the late 70's as part of the New Wave/pop sound, the Cars unique sound of running bass line, rhythm guitar, and prominent keyboards helped define the sound of the 1980's.

The ongoing bass pulse with guitar riffs defining their first single "Just What I Needed" gives the girl in the song a lackadaiscal, left-handed compliment as well as visual observations: "I don't mind you coming here, wasting all my time" and "it's not the perfume that you wear/it's not the ribbons in your hair."

The instrumentation and harmonies that accompany "Here she comes again when she's dancing underneath the starry sky" from "My Best Friend's Girl" is a sign of the sound that would explode into hit-mania in Heartbeat City. And "Let The Good Times Roll" with its layered backing vocals was another defining sound with the Cars.

Judging a group solely by the number of Top Forty or Top Ten hits isn't always a good barometer. The Cars didn't have many during their decade-long career, and only four of those hit the Top Ten. And it took till their fourth album, Shake It Up, to do so. The first one of those was "Shake It Up", whose pulsing racing synths and upbeat drums, and Ocasek's quirky voice, which to me is the epitomy of the Cars sound.

"You Might Think" with its pulsing keyboards, rhythm guitar, and heavy guitar, is my second favourite song, and a more produced sound is apparent here without sacrificing the usual Cars sound. I remember this from the video where Ric Ocasek turned into a flying insect. This came from their Heartbeat City, their masterpiece album produced by Mutt Lange. Also from there is my favourite Cars song, their highest charting one, the haunting and sombre Ben Orr-sung ballad "Drive" which got to #3 on the charts abetted by its multiple atmospheric synths. The girl in this song seems in need of a reality check or a fast lifestyle with that refrain "you can't go on thinking nothing's wrong/who's gonna drive you home tonight?" The verses consist of questions to this girl: "who's gonna pay attention to your dreams/who's gonna plug your ears when you scream?" A similar feel was later attained in Orr's solo single hit "Stay The Night."

The #7 "Tonight She Comes" was their fourth and last Top Ten single. The new song from their Greatest Hits, it was just as quick-tempoed as "You Might Think" with a cool guitar solo by Easton, but by 1985, the arrival of new groups and the novelty of New Wave was dying down.

With the exception of "Drive", they didn't seem to have much luck on their moodier songs such as "Since You're Gone" or the keyboard-oriented "I'm Not The One."

Of the other three singles from Heartbeat City, "Magic" scores great with its opening space-age sounds and the hard guitars even though the tempo's a bit slower than "You Might Think." "Hello Again" is good, but its #20 showing denoted that the album was selling more, and was "oversingled" by the time "Why Can't I Have You" was released.

As for their last Top Forty hit, "You Are The Girl", it was more of the same but more polished and programmed. The song itself is more musing and romantic, and lyrical, "why don't you flash that smile like you used to do?" and "You are the girl in my dreams", and I'm partial to it due to the crazy sci-fi/planet of alien women video it spawned.

A more budget-priced and hence hit-efficient compilation compared to the sprawling Just What I Needed anthology, Complete Greatest Hits has the essentials in one disc, with peak positions and release dates for the albums and singles included.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truly the Cars "Complete" Greatest Hits, June 21, 2002

By 

Eric Hansen (Denver, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cars - Complete Greatest Hits (Audio CD)

This album is called the "Complete" Greatest Hits because it is an update of the previous Greatest Hits, released prior to their final album, Door To Door. Not only does the earlier release not cover the entire Cars catalog, it was released during the vinyl-era, when it was still common to release cd's containing only 40 to 50 minutes of music to corresponded to their vinyl counterparts. All of the tracks on the original Greatest Hits are here with the exception of the song "Heartbeat City", which seems to have been replaced in favor of "Why Can't I Have You" (why can't we have Heartbeat City is more like it!).

If you are a die-hard or just casual Cars fan considering this purchase, it is a very strong single disk compilation which is literally packed with over 79 minutes of music (the maximum). If you haven't already picked up the "Just What I Needed" 2CD Anthology, you can't go wrong. Everyone has their opinion of what should be on a compiliation album, but based on the wealth of material available, this collection would be hard to improve.

Another reviewer of this album wrote 'I could have done without "Tonight She Comes" and "You Are the Girl", both of which I consider inferior songs and which were not included in the original "Greatest Hits"'. Correction, "Tonight She Comes" was a new song released only on the original Greatest Hits and became a huge hit, while "You Are The Girl" (also a top-ten hit from Door to Door, 1987) was not even written at the time of the original Greatest Hits, 1985. It is unfortunate that "You Are the Girl" is the only inclusion from their final album, Door To Door. The title track or Ta Ta Wayo would have also been worthwhile additions, but there is no room for more!

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Complete Version Of The Cars Greatest Hits!, July 17, 2002

By 

Barron Laycock "Labradorman" (Temple, New Hampshire United States) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cars - Complete Greatest Hits (Audio CD)

The Cars were a group destined to be quickly forgotten in terms of who they were, for they lived professional lives that were marginal in the sense that they recorded and toured, but were hardly interested in the hard rock life style. Instead, it is the body of music that they left behind that will be remembered, for they were incredibly successful at turning out song after song, with each dancing its way all the way into the top ten hit list. From "Just What I Needed' to "Since You're Gone", from "You Might Think", from "Good Times Roll" to "Touch And Go", this is a collection of songs that make you want to hear more. And there is plenty more here for your listening enjoyment, from "Drive" to "Tonight She Comes", from "My Best Friend's Girl" to "Heartbeat City", from "let's Go" to "I'm Not The One". My personal favorites here are "Magic", and of course, the terrific "Shake It Up", but all of these songs are great. Enjoy!