The Cars self-titled debut album (1978) sounded entirely fresh upon arrival. It had affinities with both the experimental side of new wave and the hard rock that new wave sought to overthrow and was wrapped in a pop sensibility. The Cars was beginning of a successful career encompassed by the six-disc set The Elektra Years 1978-1987.
The songwriting of frontman Ric Ocasek was exceptional on that first album. The melancholy tone of “Good Times Roll” undercuts the promise of its title; the dejected lyric of “My Best Friend’s Girl” contrasts with the Buddy Holly-like exuberance of the tune. The Cars’ debut was a great collection of short, sharp songs in which synthesizers and guitar rock melded as one. The second album, Candy-O (1979), showed signs of inching toward the mainstream (or was the mainstream moving their way?), yet the freshness was still audible.
By the time of Panorama (1980), The Cars already came to epitomize a kind of highly polished, unthreatening “radio friendly” new wave that occupied the airwaves for a few years in the early ‘80s. Much of Ocasek’s material began to sound like paint-by-numbers love ballads dressed up with chirpy synthesizers. However, Heartbreak City (1984) contains one of the greatest pop hits of the decade, “Drive,” a slow dance on prom night number whose low-key delivery almost veils the emotional disturbance of the lyric.
