When I was in high school, a popular album circulating around the non heavy metal alternatives was a band called ‘The Cars’
At the time, I didn’t get that first album, everyone else had it and I wanted to be different.
The second album was Candy-O. I bought this album and it was so cool. Not sure why, but it got plenty of plays.
The third album was Panorama. This was another great album but out had one problem (to me), there was no echo, as of it was recorded in a small room. Ok another problem (to me) all the songs sounded alike, maybe part of that acoustic issue Still a great album. But maybe they lost that raw edge, and started producing refined music.
Then came ‘Shake It Up’ another great album, but it also had a couple of problems. At least one of those songs, maybe more made it to the radios where it was played over and over. Also, many of the songs had that same top 40 sound.
They came out with more albums, they also had that top 40 sound. I kept buying the albums (and cds) because of past albums. I eventually bought the first album and it was just as great a Candy-O.
I think they started of with a cool raw sound, and later learned their trade. I preferred the raw sound.
One thing that also happened, is the lead singer Rick O’casek got popular and stated doing his own albums - which were also great.
Finally cars came out with ‘More Like This’. It was a great album but Rick O’Casek was replaced with another singer. The singer was good, but wasn’t Rick. I think after that they stopped producing albums.
Then in 2019, Rick Ocesek died.