Music

Average customer rating:

No "Bye Bye Love"?!
Just what you need . . .
It IS just what I needed!
Why a Cars anthology?
PACKED with goodies, but I would change a coupla things...

Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology
The Cars
Manufacturer: Elektra / Wea
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

New Wave | New Wave & Post-Punk | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

General | Pop | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Album-Oriented Rock (AOR) | Classic Rock | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

The Cars: Deluxe Edition
Shake It Up
Panorama
Heartbeat City
Candy-O

ASIN: B000003474
Release Date: 1995-11-07

Tracks:

Just What I Needed
My Best Friend's Girl
Good Times Roll
You're All I've Got Tonight
Don't Cha Stop
Moving In Stereo
Take Me Now
Cool Fool
Let's Go
Candy-o
Dangerous Type
Double Life
Got A Lot On My Head
Gimme Some Slack
Nightspots
Slipaway
That's It
Panorama
It's All I Can Do
Don't Go To Pieces

Tracks:

Touch and Go
Don't Tell Me No
Shake It Up
Since You're Gone
I'm Not The One
Cruiser
The Little Black Egg
Funtime
You Might Think
Drive
Magic
Hello Again
Why Can't I Have You
Breakaway
Tonight She Comes
You Are The Girl
Strap Me In
Door To Door
Leave Or Stay
Ta Ta Wayo Wayo

Amazon.com

Despite musical roots that branched from the Velvets to Steely Dan and the likes of then-new wave icons Roxy Music, the Cars never strayed far from the crucial, hook-conscious, three-minute pop song sensibility which made them one of the most successful and long-lived radio staples of the '70s and '80s. As well as being catchy, Ric Ocasek's best songs are also ironic--"Good Times Roll" and "Just What I Needed" both contain winking lyrical twists. With Ben Orr vocalizing the sweeter material, guitarist Elliott Easton's and keyboardist Greg Hawke's often-quirky musical embroidery, and drummer David Robinson's rhythmic propulsion and fashion sense, the Cars became the self-contained rock juggernaut--or, if you prefer, new wave arena band--documented on these two discs.

The hit singles and select album cuts stretch from their improbably rich debut through moodier efforts like "Panorama" and the vibrant, yet satisfying "Shake It Up" and "Heartbeat City." The CD is well seasoned by a cache of previously unreleased demos, B-sides, and outtakes. The earliest of these ('77 demos of "Take Me Now" and "Cool Fool") demonstrate that the band's sound was intact before they met their first multiplatinum producer, while later rarities (playful covers of Iggy's "Fun Time" and the Nightcrawlers' "Little Black Egg") underscore their eclectic, seemingly incongruous tastes. --Jerry McCulley

Customer Reviews:

No "Bye Bye Love"?!.......2007-06-03

They chose to leave out the song that put the Cars on the radio? And some of these choices are not just what I needed; better left to a complete-est CD for those who must have every song no matter what. "All mixed up" would have been a better choice than some of the out takes they put on the set. Which points up the main weakness of the Cars; on Shake it up and later recordings they had become locked into the Techno sound and it seems that it was imposable for them to break the mold and they died out with the `80s.

Just what you need . . . .......2007-04-22

An outstanding 40 song compilation on 2 CDs. Owning this arguably eliminates the need for owning any individual Cars albums (I have them all). Packing these tunes onto 2 CDs allowed the producers to include all the best songs and even a few alternative numbers . . . unreleased demos and covers. Cool.

I noticed that Reviewer Larry Davis wrote that the playlist was perfect except that Dontcha Stop should have been replaced with Bye Bye Love. I concur. It would have made this collection perfect. But that is not a deal breaker. If you enjoy The Cars, this is just what you need.

It IS just what I needed!.......2007-04-06

When the Cars burst onto the scene in 1978 it was with an energy rarely seen in the increasingly stuffy and stagnant rock scene. The Cars embodied the then-emerging punk ethos of modern rock; edgy, dark, mysterious and somewhat retro with oblique lyrics about nothing and seemingly anything. They were on a par with other strong groups emerging at the time like Blondie, the Ramones, the Clash, and others that broke the traditional rock mold of groups like Aerosmith and the Rolling Stones. The group had an amazing decade long run with 13 Top 40 hits and six best-selling albums. Listen to any classic rock station today and you'll likely hear a Cars song before too long. But the Cars defied easy classification drawing fans of rock, new wave, and punk, even becoming popular with MTV.

"Just What I Needed" pulls in all their Top 40 hits and fan favorite tracks from their albums such as "You're All I've Got Tonight," "Moving In Stereo," "Touch and Go," and previously unreleased tracks such as their take on the Iggy Pop gem "Funtime." If you're a hardcore Cars fan who already has all of their six previous releases on CD then this is probably worth it for the previously unreleased tracks and demos and it's nice to have most of their best known tracks on two CDs. This compilation is perhaps the best out there and neatly sums up the Cars career including a really nice booklet covering their career. While they didn't last long their influence on other bands still reverberates today. When they reformed in 2006 adding Todd Rundgren to replace lead singer Ric Ocasek (who declined) and bassist/singer Ben Orr (who had died) it was something of a pale imitation of the first version of the Cars.

Why a Cars anthology?.......2006-12-18

The Cars released only seven or so studio albums in their short recording career. And, as evidenced by JUST WHAT I NEEDED: THE CARS ANTHOLOGY, the band did not have many other recordings (unreleased, flip sides, and so on) worth including on a 40-song repackage such as this.

So most of the JUST WHAT I NEEDED collection comprises songs already available on the Cars' readily available albums. As their seven or so albums are all worth owning, who needs this anthology? People who just want the hits can get the band's greatest hits CD.

PACKED with goodies, but I would change a coupla things..........2006-09-30

Now, I would actually give this set a 4.5, instead of the full 5. Why?? Well, I'll tell ya.

At the time this sucker was released, 11 years ago, it was perfect, but in 2006, 2 things were nagging me.

Firstly, it's the tracklisting. For 99% of it, it's perfection, the tracks selected and remastering. The one negative?? I'd replace "Dontcha Stop" with "Bye Bye Love", and that's it!!! "Bye Bye Love" belongs in "Dontcha Stop"'s slot, as on the first album, it comes immediately, without pause, after "You're All I Got Tonight" (and on rock radio in the late 70s/early 80s, stations would always play these two songs back-to-back), AND the song ends with the synth whoosh that goes into "Moving In Stereo", which is placed after "Dontcha Stop" on this collection. That song wasn't really a hit and it didn't get much airplay, BUT "Bye Bye Love" did. So I'd do that switcheroo, and not even have to move any of the other tracks!!!

Second, the packaging. It's too bulky!!! It's only 2 CDs, not 3 or 4, there are no pictures underneath the CD trays (they are black, not clear), and the booklet is thin, so instead of a thick double clamshell case, it should be a THIN double case, which is prominent today, but not in existence back in 1995 when this sucker was released. And, that cool, sparkly purple slipcase??? It is cool, so I cut it up. I made it so, it's in a thin double case, the front of the sparkly slipcase is a page in the front, over the booklet, and the back (where the songlist is), I placed underneath the CDs, the clear tray holding both discs. This is so, when you look at the case now, the purple sparkly color shows underneath the spine. You have to see it to know what I'm talking about. Also, the inner back, with the shot of Elliot Easton's lefthanded Telecaster guitar should NOT be hidden, so I made it the regular back cover of this reconfigured package...also cuz the barcode and catalogue number shows here too. As for the side spine, it originally was divided up into two, with the thick case. Well, after some cutting and snipping and taping, it now looks like (on ONE single sidespine): R2 73506/(in green) THE CARS ANTHOLOGY/ (in blue) Just What I Needed/ Elektra/Rhino. It looks better this way, anyway...who knows if this package will ever be redone??? Is it out-of-print??

Oh and one last thing, there is a glaring picture caption error in the booklet!!! On page 4 is a picture of the band, and on page 5 is the caption, listing the band members. Um, they left out leader Ric Ocasek's name!!! Kind of unacceptable really.

Otherwise, perfect killer 2CD anthology. Now, we need the rest of the catalogue to get the proper treatment similar to the debut, or at least have "Shake It Up", "Heartbeat City" and "Door To Door" get remastered, and there be a proper Ric solo anthology and include those rare soundtrack cuts.

Average customer rating:

It IS just what I needed!
4.5 stars - their finest retrospective to date

Just What I Needed: The Cars Anthology
The Cars
Manufacturer: Dm
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

New Wave | New Wave & Post-Punk | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

General | Pop | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Album-Oriented Rock (AOR) | Classic Rock | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000007XV7
Release Date: 1995-11-07

Tracks:

Just What I Needed
My Best Friend's Girl
Good Times Roll
You're All I've Got Tonight
Don't Cha Stop
Moving in Stereo
Take Me Now [#]
Cool Fool [#]
Let's Go
Candy-O
Dangerous Type
Double Life
Got a Lot on My Head
It's All I Can Do
Night Spots [Early Version][#]
Slipaway [#]
That's It
Panorama
Gimme Some Slack
Don't Go to Pieces

Tracks:

Touch and Go
Don't Tell Me No
Shake It Up
Since You're Gone
I'm Not the One
Cruiser
Little Black Egg [#]
Funtime [#]
You Might Think
Drive
Magic
Hello Again
Why Can't I Have You
Breakaway
Tonight She Comes
You Are the Girl
Strap Me In
Door to Door
Leave or Stay [1977 Demo Version][#]
Ta Ta Wayo Wayo [1977 Demo Version][#]

Customer Reviews:

It IS just what I needed!.......2007-04-06

4.5 stars - their finest retrospective to date.......2004-06-19

The Cars were one of the greatest classic rock/new wave bands of the late seventies and early eighties. Ric Ocasek, Ben Orr, and all the other guys knew how to rock and roll, so it's no surprise that the band has released more than one hits compilation over the years. This one, appropriately entitled Just What I Needed - The Cars Anthology, came second. Read on for my review of it.

PROS:
-If you're a casual fan of the band who thinks a one-disc compilation just wouldn't be enough of the band, or you're just seeking the best possible introduction to their music, this is a good place to start. Big hits like Just What I Needed, Good Times Roll, My Best Friend's Girl, Let's Go, and Shake It Up are all here for your listening pleasure.
-In addition to the hits, there are many underrated tunes present on this compilation. Like with any band, there is way more to the Cars than just their hits.
-The compilation contains some rare tracks that are unavailable outside this set, making it all the more appealing.

CONS:
-The price. Two disc compilations always cost more than their single-disc cousins, and this is no exception. I actually took off half a star for price alone - this is VERY pricey, even for a two-disc set.
-If you're just a casual fan, the single-disc Complete Greatest Hits compilation should be enough for you.

OVERALL:
Overall, I feel the Cars are a great band, and this is the greatest retrospective of their material out there today. Hits compilations often fail to capture the essence of the band they represent, but this is a huge exception. If you're a step up from a casual fan, but not quite a die-hard, this is the compilation you should buy.

Music:

Music