The Cars-S/T Song by Song Thread

What's your review of I'm In Touch With Your Own World

 

Don't cha Stop:

And now we conclude Side One with a little rocker called Don't cha Stop.
It starts off with a rock n Roll riff complimented by new wave synths before the song starts proper at :13, and David Robinson gives this song such punch, such oomph, the guy gets overshadowed by everyone else, but the guy is a great drummer, total groove machine. I will admit I'm not the hugest fan of the repeating chorus, I do find that part kind of weak, but it's sold by the attitude and the little drum rolls Dave does underneath, and we can't forget Eliot's solo at 2:14, total excellence as expected from him, this song kicks ass and it's a great close to an already great Side One.

 

Live in 1978:

 

It’s a lot of fun. It’s more like a novelty record than a song. I think the album would be stronger without it. However it’s a good way to reel you in after you just heard perfection.

 

Just a really cool, off kilter tune after the big singles. I especially love Robinson's percussion touches, and as you said locking in the rhythm along with Orr.

I feel very safe in saying this is the only time in pop music history that the phrase "wisenheimer brainstorm" was ever used.

 

Perfect ending to a great album side. Cool guitar riff to open it, and yet another killer Easton solo. Robinson shows again what an underrated drummer he is. Easton's closing solo just kicks a$$.

 

Playing catchup here:
Just What I Needed:
A timeless song. Amazing how fresh it still sounds.: First off, Ben. What a great vocal performance. I love the way he enunciates certain words, it adds a layer of coolness to any song he sings. For example, listen to how he sings "perfume that you wear". He manages to sound detached yet passionate fully emotionally invested at the same time. His "...yeah", "time-time"
One of the little touches of this song I love is the intro and how it switches to two strums of the chord and then Ben and the band effortlessly glide to the verses.
You guys have already touched on most of the good points. Killer song with the band firing on all cylinders. Perfection.

 

Since I am late for this.........
Side One is awesome! The first three singles are classics. "Just What I Needed" is perfection and the production on this is so much more "Cars" than the songs I remembered in the mid 80's.
Discovered this album after having "Greatest Hits." To me, "The Cars" album has always been a greatest hits collection in it's own right. Side two is all heavily played album tracks, equally awesome!

A rock/pop album from the 70's everyone should own!

 

You damn right!

 

Side Two is one of the best album sides... ever! Can't wait for this discussion.

 

I hated it when I was young!
It was like, "what the hell is this?!?"
Now there's been times when I did like it.
I just tried listening to it now.
Unfortunately this wasn't one of them!
but it's okay for its own weirdness, or quirkiness.
I agree with Keith V that it would be stronger without it, personally - but I forget offhand what other songs they had at the time that didn't make the cut.
BTW there's a review of this in Trouser Press I was reading recently I should post here, I have to try and find it....(it was in my bathroom, not sure where I moved it to)

 

Cool can't wait

 

oh it's smaller than I remembered, but am typing it up now. It's just a couple of paragraphs. thanks though!

 

To my ears this sounded so fresh and different back in 1978, it still does today the album is a classic.

 

Trouser Press review of this album, from August 1978 issue (Cheap Trick cover)

THE CARS
Elektra 6E-135

It's hard to believe that this is the Cars' first LP. Even the the bugs that plague a five-album band have been eliminated.

Ric Ocasek's tunes display lyrics of exhilarating depression: "let the good times roll/let them make you a clown," or "it doesn't matter where you've been/as long as it was deep,"
or "I don't care if you hurt me some more/I don't care if you even know the score." Even the one song that seems to have a clear and non-ironic field ("Don't Cha Stop"), gives off
scary overtones: "your rhapsody is blowing my cool/your fantasies are written for fools."

Not that you should think the Cars are a band of English majors who don't know how to rock. They take the stiff abstractions of Talking Heads and limber them up. The Cars may not
place much stock in extended instrumental work (thank god!), but they clearly know how to dress their songs up to bring out the humanity in the static/spastic approach.
No one should call this group effete. Any band that can make a synthesizer (possibly the deadliest of instruments) sound exciting has learned how to psych-out technology in a way
even Eno would admire.

The ultimate proof of the Cars' worth is that even producer Roy Thomas Baker (Queen), who likes to embalm bands rather than bring them to life, can't kill them off.
If they sound this good with a master of pretense at the helm, imagine how great they could be with a tolerant producer.
And they must be wonderful live.

- Jon Young

 

(sorry, I should probably have skipped that; just still waking up...)
and the reviewer hears one line wrong, of course: it's "I don't care if you even the score."
I don't know anything about Roy Thomas Baker myself nor want to turn this into an argument about him.
Feel free please to have this and that post deleted of course, if this is a problem. Sorry if it was or is.

 

I'd like to add I love this album just the way it is! The sound, the production, is perfect, to me.

 

I agree, the overall sound of this album is amazing.

 

I second this, it's a stellar production job.

 

I love Just What I Needed. Great song and great guitar solo.

 

I'm In Touch With Your World:
This is the first of what I used to think of as the "other two" songs on the album. I've come around to them both, this one a bit less so. I do still like it though. It's got the quirk ratcheted up to 11. I do dig all the sound effects and the part that tries to rock a bit: "It's such a lovely way...". I'm on the fence on whether it should be on the album. It might be thought more highly of if it were a weird but cool non-lp b-side, like "That's It". Maybe it is necessary after the opening three-single barrage. I'm so used to it being there now.

 

Don't Cha Stop:
This song definitely began to grow on me as started appreciating bands like Wire. It's the most new wave song on the album, very angular and terse. As @Musicman1998 pointed out, you really notice David's drumming on this one. That beat underpinning the chorus is really propulsive. The way he plays with the opening riff is great too. Elliot is Elliot again, as we can expect after hearing the first four songs, simply tearing it up any chance he can without ever verging into excess.
Does this one seem not have as much Baker sheen to it? I wonder if this one had been played on the radio back in the day (or I heard it at least) that I might have had it placed right along with the other seven (!) AOR tunes. It's a cool song, and it gets the energy revving up again, and that leads nicely into the unimpeachable greatness of side two.

 

I'm In Touch With Your World:

I like this song but it is my least favourite song on the album.

 

I'm In Touch With Your World-Every Good Album needs a few Songs that provide a little variety to the 'Hit' Songs' and this one fits in well to my ears. Now did they leave potential better songs off of the album, I have no idea, but I do not skip this song like I do for 'My Best Friend's Girlfriend'. This song kinds of reminds me how Peter Gabriel created the songs, 'That Voice Again' & 'We Do What We're Told' to add variety to the 'Hit' Songs on his 'SO' album(if this makes any sense or is just an idea in my own strange take on it).

Don't Cha Stop-Almost sounds like a Panic Attack inducing song to me and feel like I need to run faster to escape something coming after me as the music picks up in speed. The Music is ok and the band must have felt it was placed in a position to set the mood for the next 3 songs, but have no idea, how they determined where to slot this song on the album.

 

Yes, I agree. I've always liked "I'm In Touch With Your World", mostly for that reason. It adds spice to the album, and just because a song is quirky doesn't mean it's not a good song. I think "I'm In Touch" serves the same function that "Shoo Be Doo" does on Candy-O (wrong album, I know, sorry) - an adventurous little aural detour. Helps keep things interesting IMO.