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
George Paul
