Flashback CD Review #96 - The New Cars - It's Alive!

This review was written for the Rock Is Life.com website in 2006.

The New Cars
It's Alive!
10th Street Entertainment - 2006
http://www.thenewcars.com

What's The 4-1-1?

Two former members of the original group lineup get together with Todd Rundgren, his former bassist in Utopia Kasim Sulton and the ex-drummer for The Tubes, Prairie Prince, to rejuvenate the long defunct classic pop rockers for the modern age.

Genre

Rock / Pop-Rock

The Good

Way back in the 1980's before I became a heavy metal maniac, I was the king of top 40 music. I loved listening to the countdown of the Top 40 songs on the radio every Sunday morning. This was my introduction to The Cars before I discovered their wilder than wild videos on MTV. They were offbeat and a little wacky but they always seemed to have a real knack for crafting instantly memorable pop rock songs that stuck with you long after the song was over.

So when I heard the band was reuniting with just two members and singer Ric Ocasek wasn't involved, you can imagine what I thought. Yes, "Oh No! This is going to suck!"

I'm happy to report that this live introduction to the The New Cars does a good job of paying the proper respect to the history of the band, while forging ahead.

I never saw The Cars in concert during their most popular era, but I do think there is a bit more of a rocking edge to the music that didn't come across in the studio versions of their classic hits. I wouldn't say they shred, but the band sounds very tight.

Todd Rundgren ends up being pretty good taking over vocals from Ocasek (see The Bad for my initial impressions of his vocal work). The album features 15 live songs and 3 studio tracks. The song "Not Tonight" (which turned out to be one of the most appealing songs) appears in both live and studio form. The other two studio cuts are "Warm" and "More". The ballad "Warm" comes out excellent, just the right touch of sentiment without going overboard into schmaltz.

Two of the live songs are from the Todd Rundgren catalog; "Open My Eyes" and "I Saw The Light".

The Bad

The advance copy that went out for reviewers did a piss poor job of laying out what is on the album. According to the track listing on the back of the CD case, there are only 14 tracks. This is obviously not the case or I wouldn't be talking about it. The CD has 18 songs and until I looked up the information on other sites, I had no idea what they might be.

While I am not in the "only Ric Ocasek can sing The Cars material" camp, I did find the early part of the album very tough to take with Rundgren's vocals. I think it was just a matter of settling into a CD before I got comfortable with the very notable change in vocals. There were moments where I did think he got a little high pitched though.

The keyboard sound in "Drive" comes off way cheesier than the original recording.

The Verdict

I know that Elliott Easton and Greg Hawkes will probably continue to take grief from diehard fans of The Cars for carrying on without Ocasek and drummer David Robinson, but I have to say that if anyone dismisses the album simply based on the fact that its not the "real" Cars, they are doing a rather silly disservice to themselves.

It is not the be all end all live recording of all time, but it is a pretty decent accounting of the band and its history. The group sounds so good that I'd love to see what they could do in collecting a new batch of material for a new studio album. They serve the hit songs well on It's Alive! and that is what any group should strive for. Ladies and gentleman, I give you The NEW Cars!

Did You Know?

The former bassist for The Cars, Benjamin Orr (who sang lead on their big hit ballad "Drive"), died in 2000 from pancreatic cancer.

Bassist Kasim Sulton has played with Meat Loaf, Celine Dion, Hall & Oates and the Indigo Girls in his career.

Rating: 3 1/2 out of 5