Great Rock Albums of 1981: The Cars- Shake It Up

Often I have heard people declare that The Cars were ahead of their time and I say that it is decidedly so. The 1981 album "Shake It Up" proves it in a good sense. True, the album is a little more pop oriented than its predecessors but I can't help thinking that they influenced a generation of synth pop bands that would come about in the middle of the decade. I'm not saying they sold out here, no way. It's just those pop bands tried to imitate The Cars and not very well either.

If the tracks "Since Your Gone" and  "This Could be Love" were played at trendy 80s clubs in London, they would have gone down very well there and probably anywhere else in the world. These two songs could be fore runners to all of that and the best thing here is that they are far superior to any of that stuff. Greg Hawkes is a total keyboard wizard here. There are still much of the things they did well on those other album that are present on this one. "Victim of Love" is one of those songs and I have always liked the title track as well. "Cruiser" is a very good song as well. I guess that what I am trying to say here is that The Cars ushered in a new style of music without even realising it and did it by doing what they had always done very well.

Track Listing:

1. Since You're Gone

2. Shake It Up

3. I'm Not the One

4. Victim of Love

5. Cruiser

6. A Dream Away

7. This Could be Love

8. Think It Over

9. Maybe Baby

[caption id="attachment_834" align="aligncenter" width="275"] The Cars[/caption]

Ric Ocasek- rhythm guitar, lead vocals

Elliot Easton- lead guitar, backing vocals

Greg Hawkes- keyboards, backing vocals

Benjamin Orr- bass, lead vocals

David Robinson- drums, percussion

The obvious conclusion I can draw here is that The Cars pioneered music into a new direction in the late 1970s and early 80s. They were doing lots of great new things before the pop bands took over only The Cars did it much better. Proof in the pudding is the "Shake It Up" album.

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