rating: 9 of 10

Teased bangs, headbands, parachute pants and The Cars.

All of these are remnants of the '80s, with the first items' only value being the embarassing fact that we actually thought they were cool.

As for The Cars, they too are remnants of the '80s, but they never go out of style. The Cars are the epitome of cool.

Rhino Records, the radical rereleaser that it is, has put together an ultra-wicked compilation of The Cars greatest hits combined with eight unreleased tracks.
And it's tubular, dude.

If you were off-planet during the '80s and are unfamiliar with The Cars, they are one of the supreme pop groups of the decade right along with Huey Lewis and The News and Hall and Oates.

Their music is pure pop, mostly about love, and rarely delves into serious themes or topics, which is perfectly fine.

The video culture spawned by MTV set off The Cars, as they produced many cool and imaginative videos that were always among the most popular of their time.

Video clips aren't needed to appreciate these songs, though.
They just provide the idea of the world of The Cars.

This slipcased, double CD starts things off appropriately with "Just What I Needed," which sets the stage for Ric
Ocasek and his crew to blow the roof off with pop classics like "My Best Friend's Girl" and "Good Times Roll."

The compilation of songs does nothing to diminish the reputation of these defunct combustibles.

The drums are still tight, the guitars still scream, the droning synthesizer still buzzes around on "You Might Think" and Ric Ocasek's voice still borders on whiny, but remains appreciable.

The unreleased bonus tracks are pleasant surprises and don't sound as gimmicky and bad as many of these so-called "gems" usually are. Among these, "Cool Fool" and "Nightspots" stand out from the crowd.

The classic retro tracks evoke memories of a distant past, a past filled with men in torn leather pants and pancake makeup to Prince in his pre-symbol days.

The unreleased material makes the listener wish The Cars got together to see if these songs had gotten cleaned up.

The Cars are so timeless because they shrug off all the trappings of '80s culture and shoot for pop music's essence - a form of primal pop.

Whether it's "Shake It Up" or "Tonight She Comes," the music of The Cars smacks you in the face with a heavy dose of cool and sets you down the path of righteous sound.

It would have been great to get the band back together for a couple of new tunes for this project, but unfortunately this isn't the case.

Be glad, though, that this double CD has arrived.

For even though they aren't around anymore, though we aren't wearing parachute pants and listening to Twisted Sister anymore, we now have The Cars' greatest hits.

And it's good enough, for now and forever.

Thursday, November 9, 1995