The Cars' Heartbeat City

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by sean monaghan, Feb 5, 2017.

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  1. Purple

    Purple Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Great album - I enjoy Heartbeat City top to bottom, getting stronger as it progresses. The album has memorable riffs and melodies all over it. Like Afterburner, this captured the sounds and time of 1985 perfectly.
     
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  2. eelkiller

    eelkiller One of the great unwashed

    Location:
    Northern Ontario
    I thinks so too although he did work with The Motors & Graham Parker and did a fantastic job. He did not use "Mutt" at the time, he went by his real name Robert John Lange.
     
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  3. Nostaljack

    Nostaljack Resident R&B enthusiast

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    He used drum machines for Graham Parker's "Parkerilla". "Don't Ask Me Questions" has one.

    Ed
     
  4. eelkiller

    eelkiller One of the great unwashed

    Location:
    Northern Ontario
    Good point, I forgot about that one.
     
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  5. Nostaljack

    Nostaljack Resident R&B enthusiast

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    Everyone tries to...LOL!

    Ed
     
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  6. Cool little feature..
     
    Bananas&blow likes this.
  7. Vincent3

    Vincent3 Forum Resident

    I voted for all the songs. I like some more than others, but there isn't anything I don't like.

    I have the original Elektra and am happy with its sound quality, but all the accolades for the MFSL are tempting me. I thought my Hotel California remaster was fine, until I compared it to the original CD.
     
    Purple likes this.
  8. Cooks420

    Cooks420 Forum Resident

    Location:
    NY
    "Magic" is just a perfect pop rock song - the pre-chorus and chorus are stellar, and the vocals are magnificent.
     
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  9. TheSeldomSeenKid

    TheSeldomSeenKid Forum Resident

    Nice, I just spilled more seed than Michael J. Fox at a Birdfeeder.
     
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  10. Thievius

    Thievius Blue Oyster Cult-ist

    Location:
    Syracuse, NY
    Just listened to HC to get reacquainted with it, and while I don't dislike it I'll take their debut or Candy-O over this one any day of the week. They started as a rock band and turned into pure pop. Again - not bad, just a different style and sound I never really felt a connection to.
     
    vconsumer likes this.
  11. Definitely my least favorite album by them. I am buying the album, mainly to finish my promo collection of Cars lp's, but I am a fan of the title track and my collection doesn't seem complete as far as the 80's albums that made the biggest impact go, without that one in with the others. "Door To Door" will eventually get added to finish it off proper. I have no use for the reunion lp.
     
  12. Stephen J

    Stephen J Forum Resident

    Location:
    Austin, TX
    I guess we just hear different things. To me, one of Mutt's magical hallmarks is that, despite the fact that every artist he has worked with has talked about his perfectionism and his active role as a studio diplomat, there is no identifiable "Mutt" sound, per se. E.g., I'd never guess that Heartbeat City, Highway to Hell, 4, and Come on Over were produced by the same guy. Mutt manages to apply his perfectionism in the service of pulling out the essence of the act he works with, not imposing his style on them, and IMO Heartbeat City is a perfect example - the Cars were slick and technical and glossy long before Mutt got to them.

    Whether you like it or not, HBC is IMO a 100% Cars record.
     
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  13. John Adam

    John Adam An Introvert In Paradise

    Location:
    Hawaii
    The Cars first album was like a greatest hits collection, this one comes close to that feat. These two albums I enjoy from start to finish. Heartbeat City is much slicker in it's production, but no less enjoyable, IMO. :)
     
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  14. DrJ

    DrJ Senior Member

    Location:
    Davis, CA, USA
    Yep - we will agree to disagree!
     
  15. Keith V

    Keith V Forum Resident

    Location:
    Secaucus, NJ
    Good album but it's the most dated of the first 5.
    Plus, those Mutty backing vocals are horrible.
    R.T.B. is really the 6th Car as far as studio work goes.
     
  16. 905

    905 Senior Member

    Location:
    Midwest USA
    Even though Panorama is in my personal top 20 favorite albums of all time, i probably play Heartbeat City even more. It's a late spring/summer album for me, have it on now.
     
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  17. Sean

    Sean Senior Member

    Location:
    Ottawa
    After reading this thread, I dug out my own copy. Now on the turntable:

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
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  18. Nostaljack

    Nostaljack Resident R&B enthusiast

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    Mutt imposed his will here and, while not as obvious as in a Bryan Adams or Def Leppard record, it's pretty obvious. I can hear it in the way the synths are handled and in the background vocals. Listen to "Drive" and tell me you don't hear him all over it. I'll give you that he is less obvious here but I can still hear that it's his production and would mistake it for no one else's.
     
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  19. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    Man, I hear Mutt's signature in everything he touches, even on stuff he didn't produce, but in songs he wrote. That's not a bad thing if you want that sound.

    I disagree with you on Def Leppard, though. I'd say that the three albums he did with them is Mutt himself...literally! He played and sang on those records. I'd say the least Mutt-like sounding album is Foreigner 4. Co-producer Mick Jones has a signature sound all his own!

    Oh, I just thought of something sick! Could you imagine how a Cars album with both Roy Thomas Baker and Mutt Lange producing would have sounded?
     
  20. Nostaljack

    Nostaljack Resident R&B enthusiast

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    The Leppard records he produced sound like Mutt. You're adding that they're heavily augmented by his playing and singing. There doing all the playing except for the drums and that's a machine as far as I know. Rick is playing the cymbals at least. I haven't heard of him playing anything on them but his voice is very prominent in the backgrounds for sure. The Def boys do have a sound and it's on the other stuff he didn't produce later. Course, Mutt's sound wins big time on "Hysteria".

    As for Foreigner, "Waiting..." has Mutt running through its blood. "I'm Gonna Win" does too. That sounds like "Back in Black" AC/DC. The backgrounds there are him too.

    Ed
     
  21. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    The band may be doing most of the playing, but not only did Mutt add instrumental parts, he ran everything through harmonizers and sequencers to make them sound technically perfect.

    Mutt's sound is even on Billy Ocean's Jive recordings. Amazing! Listen to "Loverboy"!.

    It's even in the songwriting and vocal phrasing. Just check out "Night Life". That could have been a Def Leppard track.
     
  22. Nostaljack

    Nostaljack Resident R&B enthusiast

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    I hadn't heard that either, honestly. I know he stacked until the cows came home and basically drove Rick Allen nuts in search of perfect time. He also had both guitarists playing single notes in a chord so he could have ultimate control of the mix. Talk about obsessive. Still, can't knock it if it worked.

    He's also ALL OVER the songwriting on "Hysteria". "Love Bites" - the most successful tune - is almost completely his song.

    "When the Going Gets Tough" too. Billy did those "up a third" backgrounds but the gang stuff is all Mutt. He feared no genre. He also did a few things with the Backstreet Boys, one with Britney Spears, and even one with Lady GaGa. All of them feel like him.

    True. Didn't think of that one. Dead ringer. You really want freaky, try this:



    This is a Def Leppard song with Mickey Thomas singing lead.

    Ed
     
    Grant likes this.
  23. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    Try Bryan Adam's "Thought I'd Died And Gone To Heaven". When I used to hear it over the Muzak system, I thought it was a Def Leppard song. Nope. I finally had to ask here on the forum and eventually found out it was Adams with Mutt producing. "Waking Up The Neighbors" is a fine album, BTW.

     
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  24. Nostaljack

    Nostaljack Resident R&B enthusiast

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    After much thought, I went for "You Might Think" and "Drive". "You Might Think" is just fun. I absolutely loved the video as a kid. It was so cool to see mini Ocasek wreaking havoc with that poor girl. LOL!!! I also love "Drive". The lyric is utterly tragic and Orr's delivery of it is just perfection. Mutt's synth layering is right on the money and tells the same story the lyric is telling. It's such a great production and you'd never know it was a Cars tune if the credits didn't tell you. A great song is a great song. Drive is a great song.

    Ed
     
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  25. Stephen J

    Stephen J Forum Resident

    Location:
    Austin, TX
    Yeah, I'll concede on "Drive", the atmospheric synths and "harmony aaaaahs" are pure Mutt. But ... IMO that's the only obvious example. I mean sure, you can hear some Muttisms on all the songs, he produced the record after all. But to me, HBC doesn't sound like a Mutt record anywhere near as much as the Def Leppard LPs or the Shania Twain LPs do. Nothing on there that sounds like Loverboy's "Lovin' Every Minute Of it", Lep's "Rock of Ages" or "Love Bites", or Bryan Adams's "Thought I'd Died and Gone to Heaven".

    I couldn't identify HBC as Mutt's if I didn't know better. Maybe I just don't know better, LOL, despite being a big fan of his work since 1980.
     
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