Album Reviews: The Cars' Move Like This

This is the album I mentioned clear back at the beginning of this year - an album I've been very excited to review. I enjoy the Cars, and since this was their latest album in 24 years, I was curious to see how this new effort would turn out.

The Cars have gone through some hard things in the past few decades - they broke up in 1988, and their bassist, Benjamin Orr, passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2000. Lead singer Ric Ocasek was known to tell reporters that the band would never get back together, so the group's announcement in 2010 via their Facebook page that they were reuniting to make a new album was surprising. They didn't recruit anyone new; they merely switched around so that Greg Hawke, who formerly played keyboards, also plays bass on the new album.

Jody Rosen, the Rolling Stone reviewer for this album, says, "This is the sound of a band picking up a conversation in midsentence." (For the full review, click here.) To that I'd have to agree. So many bands sound almost unrecognizable on their new albums after a hiatus. Alice in Chains' 2009 release, Black Gives Way to Blue, was one such. But Move Like This could have been recorded during the Cars' heyday. Ocasek's voice sounds none the worse for wear, and they've kept that delightful, synthesized New Age sound that sets them apart among their eighties counterparts and gave them international hits like "Just What I Needed."

The album begins with the song "Blue Tip," which has all the Nintendo-sounding guitar and poppy rhythms that have characterized the Cars in the past. The next song, "Too Late," is kind of a sappy pop song, forgettable for me. But really, this was the only song on the album I was disappointed by, which is not bad.

"Sad Song," the fifth track, hearkens back to classic Cars hits like "My Best Friend's Girl" with the choppy guitar beginning and clap-like percussion, but it's definitely a new song. Ocasek's lyric whimsicality is present throughout the album, but especially on songs like "Drag on Forever" ( "I heard your glockenspiel poundin soft") and "Hits Me" ("a bad excuse is better than none"). A little gem, perhaps my favorite on this album, is the song "Take Another Look," a mellow, beautiful little ballad that combines soaring guitar with soft lyrics.

In "Hits Me," Ocasek warbles, "I've gotta just get through these changin times." And with this effort, it appears they have, by sticking to the old ways. Nothing wrong with that.

Best tracks: "Blue Tip," "Keep on Knocking," "Drag on Forever," "Take Another Look"

Listen to the full album through Rolling Stone here.