The Cars' Heartbeat City

I see what you're saying and I was not trying to suggest he did exactly for The Cars what he did for Def Leppard. Rather, I was mainly pointing out the similarities in production between the two. I'm also not suggesting Lange co-wrote any Cars songs, I'm loosely speculating he might have bestowed some valuable creative insight into the process. That speculation is based on Lange's pedigree, but also because Heartbeat City was arguably the band's most consistent and hit-intensive album since their debut. In addition, the album kind of marks a departure and revitalization at the same time (two things a producer frequently helps with). You refer to that as "enhancement" and it sounds like you know more about the album's recording than I do, and hence I'm happy to take your word for it. After all, maybe Ocasek and company were looking for that sound in the first place and Lange merely filled a gap. I guess ultimately what I'm trying to say is that the keyboard/synth approach and indulgent production on Heartbeat City is very much part of its enduring, guilty pleasure appeal to me (while others find it bloated and dated). If I mis-credited Lange as being more responsible for that sound and approach than he actually was, it was my mistake.

 

Hasn't aged well? Compared to?

 

The first four, especially the first. I find them fresher than this one, not so stuck in slick glossy 80s production and not overly sanitized

 

You can tell who produced this album within the first 10 seconds of "Hello Again". After a certain point, everyone "Mutt" Lange produced seemed to have that gang-of-Neanderthals backing vocal, for better or worse.

Lange was great for AC/DC on Highway To Hell and Back In Black, but sometime soon after Pyromania, he really lost the plot, IMO. I know he continued to have massive success, but artistically, I'm just not feeling it. He made Def Leppard sound more like Bryan Adams, and made Bryan Adams sound more like Def Leppard, to the point where their stuff sounded interchangeable. The Mutt Lange sound became sterile and cold. Elliot Easton has said that recording Heartbeat City was a long, tedious nightmare, with Lange insisting on recording chords one guitar string at a time, so he could mix everything just right.

I am a HUGE fan of The Cars -- they are truly in my list of all-time favorites -- but I tend to see their career as peaking with that first album, with each album afterward being a case of diminishing returns. I really love the first four albums, and still enjoy Heartbeat City for what it is -- but I feel like despite some big hits here, they were starting to run out of steam (or run out of gas, if you want to be punny). The four or five biggies on here are pretty great overall -- but there's also lot of filler on the album, and the production overall did not date well.

I've never thought the marriage of The Cars and Mutt Lange was a great combination. Roy Thomas Baker seemed to really get them, and as far as I'm concerned, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Unfortunately, working with Lange soured the guys on working with a producer altogether. Ric Ocasek vowed to produce the band himself next time out -- and the end result was Door To Door, which is a huge drop off in quality.

 

No prob with having fav tracks, but as an LP guy, I tend to also lean heavily into how an album...and even a side flows. This album is well crafted and sequenced. It just flows so nicely. Some may miss this fact in this digital/track advance age, As with a lot of albums, there is a purpose as to where each track is placed and on this 'un....it is close to pop rock perfection!

 

Ha! Methinks you are mis-remembering? Your assignment is to go back though the catalog (no track skippin') and say that you still feel that way!
Now...get to it mister!!!!

 

IMO perfection is side two of Cars S/T. Stations up here always started up the side and let 'er rip.

 

Wow! couldn't disagree more....well can't argue whether or not you are a "HUGE" Cars fan..........

 

To each his own. I think they were much better off with RTB, and that their debut album is one of the finest albums ever created by anyone in rock. They're really watered down here. I do love the singles, for the most part, but I am not sure about the slicker-than-ever production.

 

Mutt Lange put David Robinson on hiatus, a huge mistake.
I would have loved to hear the songs without the electronic BS percussion.

 

All cool, first let me say that I consider all of this just parlor chat......I have no desire to come across as argumentative....although I do enjoy a lively debate.
But all of this pales to world hunger and others issues of real import!
All I'll say in this post is that Mutt enhanced the band, I'll even go as far as saying he had a big hand in making them as big as they are....but one listen to D2D lets you know that the band was in charge of the music, and Mutt was in charge of it's presentation. Same mastering engineer, same band members. Some sweet tracks on D2D.....but something makes it pale to the others....what could it be?

 

A "little" diversion....

 

There was no "Drive", "You Might Think" or "Magic" on Door To Door -- no amount of production was going to polish "Double Trouble" or "Strap Me In" into anything more than what they are.

That album was mostly full of duds and reheated leftovers. The lack of a producer -- at all -- doesn't help, but that doesn't mean that Mutt was the answer to their problems. Listen to the debut album and let me know if they really needed him to make things "presentable".

 

Love the album! I still have the original West German target CD and the SH-remastered Audio Fidelity gold CD. When I ripped it for iPod/iPhone, I added the non-album track Breakaway from those sessions, the B-side to the Why Can't I Have You 45rpm single as track 11 to the album.

 

You must be a track guy....
Your assignment: Stranger Eyes!

 

Well now, let's not bring the debut into discussions on D2D....that is totally not fair!!!! Many years span the two, should we compare any bands debut to their (with full band) final album?
You are gettin cray/cray there!

 

I'm just saying, you seem to think that the band needed Mutt Lange to make something presentable to the public. I'm just arguing that they needed "a producer", not necessarily him. They were doing just fine without Lange to begin with -- and they vowed never to work with him again after Heartbeat City!

 

He wanted everything to march in perfect time. That's what Mutt does. No drummer has done well with him since AC/DC. At least he let Rick Allen hit cymbals for the Leppard stuff.

Ed

 

He gets results but based on everything I've eve heard, the process is soul-sucking.

Ed

 

Well then, I came across wrongly. I see Mutt and RTB on equal ground as far as what they did for The Cars catalog. My point is that a producer was needed, a high impact style producer. One can not underestimate the import of this position. With D2D, they chose to self produce. And while Ric did a good job...he did not do a great job. And with what was expected, great is what was needed! One needs that removed/subjective eye. Someone needs to stand up to the artist, even when they love what is, and say "let's try it this way, let's omit that...let's do more of this and less of that". IMO, D2D had the bones....just seems unconjointed (tech term).

 

True....I take it he was a task master....and musicians are by and large a lazy lot (he made us do a lot of takes.....took all day).

 

And??????? Did I miss something here?

 

I just wanted to show how the gentleman played his acoustic guitar to the song Heartbeat City. Gives a different perspective of the tune. IMHO

 

Yes, yes it is!