Record Store Day 2026 News: The Cars - Heartbeat City Live LP - News View - Desert Local News | Fact-Checked Palm Springs & Coachella Valley News

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George A. Paul
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Record Store Day 2026 News: The Cars - Heartbeat City Live LP

George Paul Apr 11 758 views 0 Comments 1 Like 0 Reviews concert reissue rock music Record Store Day vinyl Eighties The Cars

Last year, this Cars concert - recorded at Houston's The Summit in September 1984 - was part of Rhino Records' superb multi-disc Heartbeat City box set which included rare demos and various mixes.

Now, for Record Store Day on April 18, Heartbeat City Live will get a limited 2LP release of 3500 copies. Originally issued on VHS and Laserdisc (remember those?) formats, it has been expanded with previously unreleased versions of “Candy-O” and “My Best Friend’s Girl.”

Half of the then-latest album was featured amid the 70-minute, 17-song set, alongside older top 40 pop chart hits like "Just What I Needed," "Touch & Go," "My Best Friend's Girl," and "Let's Go," and others.

Although there was a common consensus at the time that The Cars were often boring live (unfortunately, I never got to see the original lineup or the brief reunion minus the late Ben Orr perform to weigh in), this concert sounds terrific. Singer/guitarist Ric Ocasek, lead guitarist/backing vocalist Elliot Easton, singer/bassist Orr, keyboardist/backing vocalist Greg Hawkes and drummer/backing vocalist Greg Robinson are all in fine form here.

Among the standouts: an eerie "Moving in Stereo," "Magic," where Ocasek changes his vocal inflection slightly, and the closing rocking maelstrom of "You're All I've Got Tonight." I can just picture Easton at the front of the stage wailing away.

Info: recordstoreday.com