"Moving in Stereo" was just floating in from the coffee shop next door. I know it's eternally connected to Phoebe Cates' body and rightly so but it's only the middle section of three perfect songs to me.I played the hell out of The Cars when it came out. From the first day my dad brought it home from the record shop he owned, it was mine. I played it inside and out. I got the cassette. Played it on my boom box at school. I did the same thing with Candy-O. I took both the tapes and played them nonstop on a school bus trip. Everyone needed to be a Cars fan, I thought.
The trifecta that is "Bye, Bye Love," "Moving in Stereo," and "All Mixed Up" is a beautiful thing. I love the entire album but side 2 is where it's always at. "You're All I've Got Tonight," leading off the side, is one of Ocasek's best songs and the never skip a beat moment that pops right into "Bye, Bye Love" always gets me where it hurts. It sets off over ten minutes of one of the best song sequences in rock. I don't want to blather on about how much I love of which particular song but Orr's vocals are sublime, perfect, wonderful. Eliot Easton's playing is over the top, and Greg Hawke's keys, synths, and especially his sax solo closing out the album on "All Mixed Up" is simply put, a reason to start the album over again.
Here it is, in parts, but worth the time to watch.
