First Five Cassettes: Heartbeat City

The year was 1984...

For Christmas 1984, I received my best present ever up to that point - a Sony Walkman and my first five cassettes. It was the culmination of a year in which my relationship with music completely changed…

When you’re a young kid, you’re forced to listen to what your parents do. For me, most of that forced listening was in the car. My dad usually drove and had control of the radio and it would be a mix of “oldies” and classical and country, the latter of which was the only contemporary music I heard for many years. I liked the oldies music pretty well, especially The Beatles, but I never ventured further than what was on the radio. As an aside, the first concert I went to was an oldies show at the Holiday Star in Merrillville, Indiana, a venue that hasn’t existed for quite a while at this point. I started buying records when I was around 10, which would have been 1981. My favorite artists were The Oak Ridge Boys and Kenny Rogers. By this time, we had moved and I was able to go into the living room and play my records. I bought a handful, but I also had to save money in my limited budget for comics. The way I listened to music had a significant change starting in August of ‘81 when I started riding a bus to school for the first time…

Hello Again - The vocal effect on the opening “hello” on this song blew my mind when I first heard it. It’s still pretty cool, to be honest. Sure, that sound places this album squarely in the 80s and several from the sounds of The Cars’ opening double punch of their self-titled and Candy-O in the late 70, but I didn’t know those yet…and it was 1984 after all. Also, I love the “wanna” section; eclectic is a great word. “Hello Again” is a perfect opening track for what’s to come.

Looking for Love - This bounces along pleasantly with programmed drums and synths in the mix, but if you listen closely in the chorus you can hear a quickly strummed acoustic guitar. This is the best song on the album by any stretch, but it’s a well-crafted pop tune and will get stuck in your head with enough repeated listens to the album. Update: I went to bed between writing this post and editing and woke up with this song fully lodged in my head.

Magic - Of course, “Looking for Love” won’t get stuck in your head as much as the one will. It was the second single released and all over the radio and MTV (I assume; we didn’t have cable so I had to view videos another way). The chorus is an all-time earworm; you can probably hear it in your head as you’re reading this.

Drive - I probably wanted to get this album after “Magic” hit the airwaves, but after this song followed as the third single in July, I was all in. It’s the ballad, of course, but I was always partial to the ballads. Ben Orr sings the heck out of it in his croon and I love singing along to it (I was doing that the other morning at school and a colleague (who is close to 15 years younger than I am) stopped by to say she loved hearing the song blasting out of my classroom and my croon. “Who’s gonna hold you down when you…shake/Who’s gonna come around when you break? You can’t go on thinking nothing’s wrong/But now, who’s gonna drive you home tonight?” Flick your metaphorical lighter and sing along.

Stranger Eyes - Man, the bass is great on this song, with that flute-like keyboard accent, which eventually gives way to some nice chiming guitar. Lots of synth touches throughout, especially on the atmospheric bridge. Orr does some great “go for it” singing as the song works its way toward the fadeout.

You Might Think - The first single, the first song after your flip over the tape, and the first song I ever heard by The Cars. I loved the video too, on the rare occasions I was able to see it. It marries some of the rock guitar sounds from their earlier albums with the synths and a rubbery bass and doesn’t forget to throw some harmonies in either. Just a massive track.

It’s Not the Night - The band shifts into more atmospherics here, but there’s also a great guitar solo in the middle and the keyboard riff that runs through the verses is pretty darn appealing. The song is the definition of an album track, but it’s not a throwaway.

Why Can’t I Have You - The vocal effects are back and I was into it…still am. It’s another ballad, but this one feels like it’s going to float off into space. Perfect for headphone listening.

I Refuse - This is a deep cut, for sure. The sonic construction here is amazing, with all sorts of little bits that weave in and out - synthy sounds, guitar sounds, vocals. It bears repeated listens to try and pick out those parts.

Heartbeat City - The last track gives the album its title and also works as a summation of all the sounds that have come before. It rides a bass-driven beat while adding lush keyboards and piling on harmonies at times. Ric Ocasek’s vocals are on point here, clipped and cool but not without feeling. As it fades out, you may be tempted to flip the tape over and go back to the beginning. I did it a time or thirty, for sure.