The Cars - Panorama

DISCLAIMER: Today is a little more meanderambling than normal. 

Oddly this wasn't the record I had intended to write about ... I was pulling out Heatbeat City and Panorama came out at the same time. So being me, I played both. It was strange and my reaction was backward to what I remembered. Back in the day it was Heartbeat City that I played to death ... I mean I had their other albums and they were good, but man oh man to 21 year old me Heartbeat City was far and away their best album.

I hadn't actually played Heartbeat City end to end for a long time, and while I still thought it was great, it was Panorama that felt fresh. It was the drums. David Robinson had a way with his fills and the way his tom toms jumped out of the speakers was just so good. They were fat and demanded attention. He didn't overdo it and not every song needed extra fills. Heartbeat City was mainly Fairlight programming and it was cool at the time. 

Panorama was the band's third album and the critics were savage. Without a Toto album to crucify they went after The Cars. and boy howdy they were merciless. Now to be fair, there were a couple who seemed to get it, but mostly it was blood in the water.

I had Panorama, and I always liked it, and there were some songs I really liked. Elliot Easton's little songs within a song are often wee nuggets of awesomeness that push things over the top. Now I'll be the first to admit this is not the band's best album, but it's way better than I remembered.

Like the band's first two records, this one was produced by Roy Thomas Baker. Who to me always seemed to be the perfect fit for excess and technology. I suspect he came on board after finishing up Alice Cooper's 1980 release Flush the Fashion. The Cars went full on new wave, and the songs were more experimental while still retaining Ric Ocasek's penchant for catchy pop while still trying to balance whether they were an alternative or commercial band.

Panorama is full of really good songs, particularly the first side where you get the album's singles:

• "Touch and Go"
• Gimme Some Slack"
• "Don't Tell Me No"

The deeper album cuts are so good too:

• "Panorama"
• "Misfit Kid" 
• "Down Boys" 

While I've always liked The Cars, they were always a band I liked in small doses. You know, the catchy songs and singles were great but there was something tiring about listening to an entire album. I really did enjoy most of the songs here but after playing it through a few times that was enough. Which seems to contradict the enjoyment I got when hearing so many of the songs. Mathematically it doesn't make sense, I get it. I'm as befuddled as you are by this this weird flip flop. The sum of the parts is less than the whole.

However, that hasn't stopped me from collecting most of The Cars discography. When I talk about the band I'll always say they're awesome.

Go figure.