Its Alive

Product Description Let the good times roll - again. This ain't your father's automobile, or your older brother's for that matter, but the emergence of The New Cars, comprised of original members of The Cars. Joining Elliot Easton on guitar and Greg Hawkes on keyboards is an all-star group of rockers: Todd Rundgren, fellow Utopia bassist Kasim Sulton, and Prairie Prince, former drummer for The Tubes. Each shares a passion for recreating the groundbreaking music of The Cars, one of the most successful (and influential) bands of the new wave era. "It's Alive!" includes classic Cars songs live, plus never before released studio tracks: "Just What I Needed", "Let's Go", "Candy-O", "You Might Think", "Best Friend's Girl", "I Saw The Light", "You're All I've Got Tonight", "Not Tonight", "Drive", "Moving In Stereo", "Shake It Up", "Dangerous Type", "Bye Bye Love", "Open My Eyes", "Good Times Roll", "Not Tonight" (studio version), "Warm" (studio version), and "More" (studio version). Amazon.com What stands out more when listening to this revival of the Cars and their cherished, iconic repertoire? The absence of the band's founding mastermind, chief vocalist/songwriter Ric Ocasek? Or the presence of Todd Rundgren, a semi-deified pop legend, as his replacement? It's Todd, by a landslide. Staunch Ocasek loyalists may argue that It's Alive--consisting of 15 live tracks (12 of them vintage Cars tunes) and three new studio cuts--is a disservice to the Boston band's legacy, but that looms as a minority viewpoint. Culled from three performances on a Southern California soundstage, the album unites two original band members (Elliot Easton on guitar and Greg Hawkes on keys--who, unlike Ocasek and original drummer David Robinson, still yearn to perform the group's music live) with Rundgren, bassist Kasim Sulton (who worked harmonic magic with Rundgren in Utopia) and drummer Prairie Prince (the Tubes). The result is an energetic paean to the Cars' power-pop heritage, capturing the band's classic feel-good vibe with all cynical subtexts intact. Rundgren, no stranger to creating mirror-like tributes to other artists' works (see 1976's Faithful), oversees almost note-for-note replications of Cars standards while slipping a little manic bite into selected lyrics ("You're All I've Got Tonight," "Bye Bye Love"). Two older Todd compositions--"Open My Eyes" (from his Nazz days) and "I Saw the Light"--make the cut, and amusingly it's the latter song, not a Cars track, on which h