By GRAHAM REID
(Herald rating: * * * * )
More fortuitous coincidences of the 80s. This thorough, 20-track collection arrives as former Car-driver Ric Ocasek has his name and aural fingerprint on a couple of tracks on the new No Doubt album (which makes them sound like No Doubt-meets-the Cars).
Like the
ill-fated, over-inflated Knack in many ways, the Cars were basically a 60s pop band buffed into the 80s by smart production, weasely keyboards and the occasional jerky rhythm which stopped just a sensible distance short of Talking Heads.
Ocasek's cool delivery — very Bowie, Roxy and Heads, too — was the icing on a synthetic cake, but their canny way with a hook meant they could take on the charts in the manner of Blondie. Too many references to their contemporaries here? Have a listen and you'll be surprised how much they sound like others, yet are also entirely distinctive. Good trick that.
Label: Elektra
