[CD] THE CARS • GREATEST HITS • U.K. IMPORT

From their star-making self-titled debut (1978) through the 1985 #7 hit Tonight She Comes that came out on this anthology, here are 13 new-wave masterpieces by The Cars. Also here: Just What I Needed; My Best Friend's Girl; Good Times Roll; Let's Go; Shake It Up; Since You're Gone; Drive; Magic; I'm Not the One and more.

The Cars' blend of New Wave experimentation and trad-rock values made for nearly ubiquitous radio presence in the late 1970s and early 80s. Often jumpily ambivalent and marvellously pop-wise in the same moment, Ric Ocasek captured the zeitgeist for people to whom even The Talking Heads didn't matter much. Kicking off with one of the all-time great singles, Just What I Needed, then winding its way through seven more years of singles including the then-brand new Tonight She Comes, Greatest Hits is one, um, well-oiled pleasure machine.