Pitchfork

The year was 1978, and shaggy- haired geeks reigned supreme in three catagories: Advanced Dungeons and Dragons mastery, reciting the entirety of "Star Wars" from memory, and listening to new wave music. And listened they did-- bands like the Talking Heads, Blondie and Devo started springing up out of the woodwork and the losers ate it up like Toffee bars. Now, maybe they weren't exactly new wave, but the Cars fit the new wave stereotype close enough, and the geeks enjoyed the simple but catchy pop arrangements, the spastic moog effects, and the head- bobbing fun of the band's music.

As we all know, the world's population of geeks had their two hours of glory last night when theaters everywhere opened their doors at midnight, letting millions of rabid fans in for the first full showings of "Star Wars, Episode One: The Phantom Menace." But clearly, all the hype of the new "Star Wars" film eclipsed the release of Rhino's The Cars: Deluxe Edition. Were it 1978, those kids'd be all over this shit. Eh, it's just as well.

See, the Cars were great in their time. The scene needed them. They bridged the gap between the Ramones and Elvis Costello. They were important. But these days, they're remembered more as predecessors to Weezer's brand of pop music. And listening to The Cars: Deluxe Edition, you can see why interest feigned. The Cars is nice enough to listen to-- you can get into the harmonies and sweet, adorable songs, but it seems a bit thin in retrospect.

Songs like "I'm in Touch With Your World" and "Don't Cha Stop" are, to the say the least, not some of the best songs rock music has produced. Other tracks show the band getting overly playful-- when the drumbeat changes toward the end of the classic single "Just What I Needed," it throws the song off course and steals some of the glory from its anthemic feel. And "Good Times Roll," while an undeniably great song, occasionally experiences side effects like sloppiness and general amateurish- ness.

The other problem I've got with this record is that it's a two disc set. Why? Disc one is the original album (all 35 minutes of it), Rhinophonically remastered. Disc two hangs around like an unwanted afterthought-- it's all the original demo versions of all the songs that made it onto The Cars (except for "Good Times Roll," which is a live recording, since they couldn't find a demo version), along with five previously unreleased songs from the same period, also in their demo formats. Now, as much as I hate to break it to you, I feel you should probably know the truth: these five tracks are just plain bad. Talk about "should have been left in the vaults!" These were the songs that didn't get released because the label was afraid they might drive the kids to suicide. Okay, they aren't that bad, but trust me-- you don't wanna hear 'em. (But "Hotel Queenie" is especially notable for its sheer badness.)

Let's face it-- the Cars had their moment in the sun. Sure, there a couple of die- hard fans still roaming the planet, making their own rock music and camping out for movie tickets, but it's a rare person that's willing to drop a Jefferson on a nicely remastered, beautifully repackaged, two- disc reissue of The Cars.