The Cars' Heartbeat City

The Cars a band who while already very popular thanks to there classic S/T album as well as Candy-O and Shake It Up saw themselves jettisoned into superstardom by the end of 1984 thanks in no part to this classic album. With singles like the hauntingly beautiful Drive, the poppy and upbeat You Might Think, the lightest hard rock song ever with Magic, the bizarre sounding Hello Again, the slow synth ballad Why Can't I Have You and the slick sounding title track. With MTV now in full swing the group took full advantage of it with the videos for You Might Think, Magic and Drive getting a ton of airplay. Indeed at the first ever MTV music awards You Might Think took home the award for video of the even managing to beat out MJ's Thriller. The following year meanwhile saw the group put back into limelight when Drive was used as backing music to scenes of the Ethiopian famine at Live Aid.
So what where your thoughts on the album when it was realeased and what where your favorite songs of it ?

 

Killer album! These are my favorites. Drive is also one of my favorite videos of all time.

Hello Again
Magic
Drive
You Might Think
It's Not the Night
Why Can't I Have You

 

Big Cars fan here. And this one is just pop rock perfection! They pulled out all the stops on this one. I won't say that it's their best, but I don't miss the others while this is spinning!
Cover shot:

 

I bought the MFSL SACD of this last year. Great sounding album.

I was tempted to pick the lot, but ended up 'just' going for 1,2,3,4,9 and 10. I love this album, but the truth is their debut is even better.

 

I was a huge fan of the album at the time it was out but the Mutt Lange production took them down such a path that it doesn't hold for me as well as the first 4 albums. IIRC, it's all drum machine and David Robinson didn't play on the album at all. And they notoriously couldn't follow it up. The videos were and are iconic. Paulina FTW.

"Drive" is a classic though. Miss Ben Orr.

I liked the 12" remix of "Hello Again" too. has that been a bonus track on any of the CD versions of this? If not, it should be.

 

Oh, this a poll-
Complete burnout of the radio tunes...
Vote goes to
I Refuse
Heartbeat City

 

This is a great album. Sequenced beautifully, it just flows. I have recently rediscovered this through the fantastic MFSL SACD and have always listened to it all the way through each time.

 

Heartbeat City, lots of fun...

 

It's hard to imagine a better 80s pop album...zero duds. My favorites are the slightly moodier tunes, "Heartbeat City" being number one if I had to choose.

 

I've heard the the cars were recording Heartbeat with a computer. After the completed album they had a listen and it was to computer sounding and had to record the album over again.

Bought this album in spring 1984 from the now defunct Crazy Eddie in Brooklyn N.Y. Love all of this vinyl, especially title track Hearbeat City. Played it countless times BIG 1984 and 1985.

Managed to snag a NM quiex HC translucent vinyl a year ago.
Love this record even got the Cars remastered box set of albums.

Great record a lot of great memories.
Love all the videos.

Heartbeat City was always a party album and still is today 2017.

A true mid 1980's album that captures the times brilliantly.

 

I concur, no weak tunes...but HC has always been my fav off of this one!

 

The US Sterling cut is quite something

 

Despite being extremely popular out of the gate, The Cars seemed to maintain an edge, and went full New Wave mode on Panorama. Then they started to slide toward pop mainstream with Shake It Up, and kind of alienated me as a fan. Unfortunately, never paid much attention to Heartbeat City when it was new. Was obviously very familiar with the hits from MTV and FM radio. Agreed, "Drive" was used very effectively at Live Aid.

Over the years, tried to re-approach The Cars (used to have the first 4 on vinyl). Retrospectives weren't the best way, as they should be enjoyed by their albums. So, it happened with issues of audiophile versions. Grabbed DCC gold of debut, MFSL gold of Candy-O and Shake It Up, HDCD of Panorama. Then finally got Heartbeat City on AF gold. Sounds really nice, and within the context of the time and where they were in the career, they deserved the commercial success. The collection might've turned out a bit differently, in hindsight now, if there'd have been a way of expecting that MFSL would do 4 of the 5 in SACD, but replacing other audiophile versions generally hasn't been my M.O.

 

Yes most definitely.

 

It does play very well as an entire album. Up there with the first two albums in that regard.

The AF remaster was flawed in that it had extra seconds between each track. Some albums need to be preserved the way they were sequenced, for sure. I'll have to try and and pick up the MFSL.

 

US ad for the album back in 1984. No mention of the CD at this stage.

 

One of the albums of the summer of '84 for me. It was a perfect soundtrack for the season. Now days it's nice to hear the tracks that weren't played to death on the radio and MTV at the time - "Looking For Love," "Stranger Eyes," "It's Not The Night," the title song and even "Why Can't I Have You" (though a single, it didn't get overplayed like the others).

That said, I still love the rest of the album, especially "Magic" and "Drive."

 

Classic album. It may be one of the few albums where the music videos actually enhance it.

 

Didn't come out on CD for another couple of years, IIRC.

BTW, my copy of the LP that I bought in '84 refers to the track "Heartbeat City" as "Jacki" on the lyric sheet, but "Heartbeat City" on the record itself. Were all pressings like this?

 

Mutt Lange produced HC and the famed Def Leppards Pyromania two years before.






Heartbeat City



Two 1980's MONSTER albums.

 

I never had the LP. I bought the CD in November 1985. Mainly because there were so few titles on the format here, I decided to take a chance on it.

I sold that disc many years ago in one of my 'clear outs'. As always with those, I now regret it.

 

I have the LP and the Audio Fidelity cd. Wonderful, wonderful album.

 

Mine shows Heartbeat City on the label and inner lyric sheet. Don't recall when I acquired mine, but it was likely 1985 or 86.

 

I've been meaning to find an lp pressing. My last one disappeared. I was six years old when it came out, but it stands out for me because I would see the videos being played a lot on MTV. You Might Think reminds me of watching its video, while eating canned Pac Man pasta.