The Cars - Panorama - Elektra Records - CD - NEW SEALED

Not The First Two, But....

The Cars had basically run the table on their initial success, parlaying the momentum from 1978's "The Cars" and the '79 sophomore effort "Candy-O" into a successful career. Now what? The pressure was surely on Ric Ocasek to repeat the former efforts, and although it's not a sound-alike, it has enough moments to make it a worthy addition to the collection. Looking for the blockbuster single, ala "Just What I Needed" or "Let's Go"? Forget it. "Touch And Go" was what America (touched and) got, and although just barely reaching the lower Top 40, it was an apt summary of where the band was at by 1980. Listening as I did at the time, I almost detected a "passing in the hallway" by The Cars and Devo, with one heading away from the straight-ahead punk-pop, and the other strolling in that direction. (Imagine if either had invited, say, The Bus Boys along for the ride. Their debut album fits in that hallway as well, and is well-worth the effort to locate in any format.) If you want a handful of songs to add to the MP3 player, I'd choose the aforementioned "Touch And Go", along with "Gimme Some Slack", "Running To You" and "Up And Down", the latter two buried at the end of what was Side 2, and possibly missed by those Cars fans giving up looking for the band they remembered from way back last year. Probably the second-least appreciated (and available, it sometimes seemed) of the Cars albums after their swan song "Door To Door", "Panorama" is still a worthy effort by a band searching to find its' "What next" moment in the rock and roll sun.

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