CMJ (1/5/04, p.10): Ranked #10 in CMJ's "Top 20 Most-Played Albums of 1982".
Notes
The Cars: Ric Ocasek (vocals, guitar); Ben Orr (vocals, bass); Elliot Easton (guitar, background vocals); Greg Hawkes (keyboards, background vocals); David Robinson (drums, background vocals).
Recorded at Synchro Sound Studios, Boston.
SHAKE IT UP, the Cars' fourth album, catches the group at a pivotal point in their career. They teetered on the precipice of overproduction and vapidity just long enough to produce this classic recording before losing their already-contested credibility. The group's trademark detachment and irony seem more like devices than a way of life here, and SHAKE IT UP is certainly the sprightliest, most listener-friendly of all the Cars' albums. The moody electronic textures that enliven "Cruiser" and "Victim of Love" are simply a means to a very effective end. And on "Since You're Gone" and the title cut, the group achieves the pop nirvana with which they'd always flirted.
Label: Mobile Fidelity Sound
Distributor: E1 Entertainment
Original release: 1981
Weight factor:
1 item(s)
, 1 disc(s)
Area
Sound
Record
, Import
Studio
Catalog #: 4017971
UPC: 821797078863
SPARS Code:
DDD (Digital tape recorder used during initial recording, mixing/editing and for mastering.)