Some things are never change and it give us a kind of feeling of security. The seventh album by The Cars comes after a “break” of 24 years, but “Move Like This” sounds exactly the same as “Door to Door” or any other previous release of the band, I wonder if they kept all the equipment locked-up in a basement since? The voice of Ric Ocasek (age 62!) sounds fresh and clean as it was two and half decades ago, it’s quite incredible. And Mr. Ocasek it’s also a successful producer, he worked with artist such as Weezer, Bad Brains, Bad Religion, Nada Surf, No Doubt, Guided by Voices, Bran Van 3000, and Suicide, also he released eight solo albums meanwhile. Guitarist Elliot Easton released only one solo album back in ’85, but he joined Creedence Clearwater Revisited, the modern touring version of Creedence Clearwater Revival and also played with Ocasek and he was a member of The New Cars, along with original Cars keyboardist Greg Hawkes, singer/songwriter Todd Rundgren, former Utopia bassist/vocalist Kasim Sulton, and Tubes drummer Prairie Prince. Keyboardist Greg Hawkes signature sounds include the Prophet-5 “touch sync” sound heard on “Let’s Go” and “Hello Again” as well as arpeggiated and syncopated synth lines such as on “Shake it Up” and “Heartbeat City”, he pushed the limits of available technology and sequencing helping to forge the sound of the 1980s and since 2001 Hawkes has been playing and experimenting with the ukulele. Drummer David Robinson has performed with many rock bands including The Modern Lovers and DMZ. The only missing member is bass guitarist Benjamin Orr who unfortunately died in 2000, he sang several of their best known tracks, including “Just What I Needed”, “Let’s Go”, and the major success “Drive”.
This is a nice, clean, classy New Wave album, actually an excellent work. “Sad Song”, “Soon”, “Blue Trip”, “Keep On Knocking” or “Take Another Look” are all songs which could easily fit into any other The Cars release, well, it’s a quite accurate trip back to the 80s, but The Cars sounds still fresh, natural and it seems they don’t lost their charm. Nostalgia or not, I love them back then, I enjoy it the same way now.
2 comments on “The Cars – Move Like This (2011)”
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For those who love’em to bits here’s the whole album to play on Rolling Stone
http://www1.rollingstone.com/hearitnow/player/cars.html
Don’t know but this time round I am more of a fan of Devo – Something for Everybody … though in the 80’s and 90’s too, loved the Cars more than Devo.
Good that your site is back up my man !
Thanks man. You know, s*it happens, it was some mess with the hosting service and the server, hopefully it’s resolved for good.
Devo sound much better now than in the 80s – in my opinion – while The Cars sounds just the same as back than. I like “Something for Everybody” and it was fun to listen “Move Like This” as well, but yeah, are two different things.