In late 1985, The Cars took their best songs and placed them on a collection called (what else?) "The Cars' Greatest Hits." There was at least one classic from every album including "I'm Not the One" which was released as a single in early 1986, and "Heartbeat City" that was only available on cassette and compact disc.
This collection included one new song, "Tonight She Comes", that had the same sound and style as the songs from Heartbeat City. This would be the last Cars' single before their next album in 1987, and it was enough to keep the Cars on the charts a little longer after the success of the previous album.
The Cars' Anthology
The most complete Cars collection is the 1995 release "The Cars' Anthology: Just What I Needed." It contains hit singles, non-album B-sides, demo versions, unreleased tracks, and album songs and is available on cassettes or compact discs. I highly recommend the CD set over the cassettes since the tapes are missing several otherwise unavailable songs. The CDs are also the better choice since they come with a companion booklet that tells about each song and more. This collection was the final chapter of Cars history as Ric Ocasek has put that part of his career behind him. He recently said that the Anthology 'is sort of the coffin' for the band's final repose."
The Cars' Deluxe Edition
But in 1999, yet another Cars album was released. Actually, it is a special version of the Cars' debut album with extra unreleased tracks and demos called "The Cars Deluxe Edition." It is a two-disc set; the first disc is just a re-release of the Cars' debut album. But the second disc is that same album, only every song is the original
demo versions, except for "Good Times Roll" which is a live version from a 1978 concert (probably "The Cars: Live At El Macambo"). The most noticeable difference is in the demo's of "Moving In Stereo" and "All Mixed Up" which were originally sung by Ric Ocasek. As for the unissued tracks, songs like "Take What You Want", "They Won't See You", and "Hotel Queenie" (known by fans as "When Did You Change") are well known by fans from their appearances on bootlegs and having been played often at early concerts. There's also two unreleased songs that are new to most people; "Wake Me Up" and "You Just Can't Push Me" are two great lost songs by Ben Orr which stand out since the other lost demos are all sung by Ric Ocasek. The Deluxe Edition comes with a lyric book that also includes a short history of the Cars and pictures from their early years. It was said for a long time that this collection would never be released since some say that this is what the long lost "Prototypes" album eventually became. The reason being that current 1980's revival has brought return of new wave acts, and of course, fans are hoping the Cars will do the same.
![[Beating Heart Animated Graphic]](graphics/beat_heart.gif){kind=small}
The Cars' Compilation Albums
