The Cars

Greatest Hits

Could It Be...A Collection That Lives Up To Its Title?

Review Score:

(10/10)
There were two hits collections on the Cars before this came out. GREATEST HITS, which came in 1985, was a 13-track sampler that focused on the band's hits. JUST WHAT I NEEDED: THE CARS ANTHOLOGY was a 1995 issuing that summed the band's material in 40 tracks and two discs, giving essential focus to album tracks. Both collections are actually very good, but the 1985 GREATEST HITS should have given consideration to album tracks, for they were a sizable portion of the Cars' best material and were played constantly on album rock stations. But yet, the anthology was too much, as it simply had too many album tracks.

Fortunately, COMPLETE GREATEST HITS fixes this problem once and for all. Not only does it actually put the songs in chronological order (unlike GREATEST HITS), but it gives a good portion of its focus to the band's best two albums- their classic eponymous debut and HEARTBEAT CITY- while including the perennial favorites: "Good Times Roll"; "You're All I've Got Tonight"; "Let's Go"; "Shake It Up"; "Drive"; and "You Might Think." In addition, "Hello Again" and "Bye Bye Love" happily find their way here; they were sorely missed from GREATEST HITS. It is also nice to see that the band decided to de-emphasize its two weakest albums: PANORAMA and DOOR TO DOOR, only taking one song from each collection.

Simply put, this is the essential Cars collection, as it takes all of the band's hits and many of their album tracks. Die hard fans may have a fan favorite or two missing- particularly "Candy-O," the only annoying omission- but since the collection is already busting the disc at over 79 minutes of playing time, it probably could not have been made any better than this. Forget GREATEST HITS and the anthology- this COMPLETE GREATEST HITS issue is now the ultimate place to go for the band's best moments.

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