The Cars, led by Ric Ocasek (above), still get pretty good mileage out of their familiar sound. (
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Album of the week
THE CARS
“Move Like This”
3 STARS
The Cars are taking themselves out for a spin for the first time in 24 years, with Ric Ocasek in the driver’s seat again. And if you don’t listen too closely to the words on the new album, “Move Like This,” it’s easy to imagine the Cars have just been tuned up enough to recall their heyday.
But “Move Like This” departs from the band’s old formula of lite-party themes by adding Ocasek’s ruminations on life, with deceptively simple lyrics.
On “Too Late,” a jittery romantic rocker, Ocasek affirms his devotion to a lover, singing, “I’m in the lost and found, I might sway and tip, but I’ll never jump the ship.” For “Drag on Forever,” he abhors rat-race stress and longs for simplicity, rattling off lines such as, “I felt the pressure and passed it off.” Front to back, this album reads smart with some of Ocasek’s most personal lyrics: The reclusive rocker opens up about joy and sadness.
The singer/musician, now 62, still has his creative juices flowing on this reunion record (the New Cars toured and recorded a few years back with Todd Rundgren fronting the band). Here Ocasek’s emotionless staccato phrasing is back with the band’s familiar new wave sound, which blends synth pings into garage rock.
You hear it in the first bars of the opening track, “Blue Tip,” and the sound runs clear through the final breaths of the 10th and last song, “Hits Me.”
“Move Like This” will please old fans and introduce the band to a new wave of young followers.
Download of the week
WARREN HAYNES
“Man in Motion”
4 STARS
Warren Haynes, a member of the Dead, the Allman Brothers Band and Gov’t Mule, shakes his jam- band shackles with the title-track of today’s release, “Man in Motion.” It’s a tightly played tune featuring elements of funk, gospel and soaring Stax-style horns. Haynes wisely avoids indulging in mind-numbing, self-indulgent extended guitar interludes. Instead he shows off as a surprisingly powerful soul singer. He satisfies fans of a strong heady guitar, but his bright instrumental finds beauty in brevity as he bends notes as if they were pretzels. A free download of this song is available at warrenhaynes.net.