Track Listing

1. Just What I Needed
2. Since You're Gone
3. You Might Think
4. Good Times Roll
5. Touch and Go
6. Drive
7. Tonight She Comes
8. My Best Friend's Girl
9. Heartbeat City
10. Let's Go
11. I'm Not the One
12. Magic
13. Shake It Up

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11183 in Music
• Released on: 1990-10-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Amazon.com
The Cars' blend of New Wave experimentation and trad-rock values made for nearly ubiquitous radio presence in the late '70s and early '80s. Often jumpily ambivalent and marvelously pop-wise in the same moment, Ric Ocasek captured the zeitgeist for people to whom even Talking Heads didn't matter much. Kicking off with one of the all-time great singles, "Just What I Needed," then winding its way through seven more years of singles including the then-brand new "Tonight She Comes," Greatest Hits is one, um, well-oiled pleasure machine. --Rickey Wright

Customer Reviews

Obsolote because of newer, better comp
The Cars had kind of two personalities over their career: the pop hits like "Drive" and "Shake it Up" and the album tracks that classic rock radio still plays like "Moving in Stereo" and "You're All I've Got Tonight". This album is great if you ONLY want the pop material...all the Top 40 hits are here...but if you like any of their best album material at all, you'll be much better off with the CD "Complete Greatest Hits" (ASIN B00005Y1XY) which sacrifices only lesser track "Heartbeat City" from this one and then adds on several great tracks you don't get here:
"Bye Bye Love", "You're all I've Got Tonight" and "Moving in Stereo" from the debut, CANDY-O's "Dangerous Type" and "It's All I Can Do",HEARTBEAT CITY's "Hello Again" (and "Why Can't I Have You?" if you happen to like that one..I consider it a lesser effort), and even a track from the farewell album DOOR TO DOOR ("You are the Girl").

If such things matter to you, they also come in chronological order (though those prone to whining about it could always program their CD player or burn a copy for the car in the "correct" order).

BOTTOM LINE:
If you like the Cars, this one doesn't serve them as well for a single disc compilation as "Complete Greatest Hits" does. Get that one instead.

Classic Cars - Excellent Greatest Hits Collection
As a band, The Cars released one outstanding album (their AMAZING self-titled debut) and a number of other excellent and catchy singles. If this album has a weakness, its that it draws only two songs ("Just What I Needed" and "My Best Friend's Girl") from the debut record. Nevertheless, there are plenty of Cars classics on this album, including four from "Heartbeat City," ("Magic," "Drive," "You Might Think" and the title track) their most popular album. The Cars are one of those rare bands able to put out a greatest hits collection in which nearly every song WAS in fact a hit. This collection is a solid representation of their career.

Take'er For A Spin
"The Cars-Greatest Hits" is the perfect example of catchy hooks and pop rock prowess. The songs herein are simply pop rock hit after pop rock hit. "Just What I Needed," "You Might Think," "Magic," "Let's Go," and "Shake It Up" can all be found here. The rest of the playlist is fun to listen to and even more fun to recall good times with old friends.

This is the type of album that can be played at a party and no one will complain. The Cars knew how to make pop hits, that's all I can really say. There songs are fun, catchy and you'll find it hard to say anything bad about them.

My favorite song on this album, however, is probably the most serious one out of the bunch: "Drive." But that's what is so amazing about these guys. They cranked out a ton of hits and still managed to throw in a successful ballad. Fortunately for them, they haven't been thrown into that bottomless pit with bands like REO Speedwagon, Styx, and Boston as commercial sellouts. For some reason, the yahoos at the music magazines get off on trashing these bands, but the Cars have remained out of their crosshairs so far(maybe because Ric Ocasek's wife is so hot).

Throw this one on for a good time. It's highly recommended.