Album of the Week: 'Heartbeat City' by The Cars

32 years ago this week on March 13, 1984, American rock band The Cars released their fifth studio album Heartbeat City. It followed a break lasting over a year after the band's 1982 tour and also solo albums released by Rik Ocasek and Greg Hawkes. The album would peak at #3 on the US Billboard 200 chart and featured five Top 40 singles including two in the Top 10.

This is easily one of my favorite '80s albums for many reasons. The pure playability of the entire album is very high not just because half of the tracks were released to pop radio but that the other unreleased tracks are very good. I also remember watching many of the music videos on MTV, especially "You Might Think" which was one of the first to use computer graphics. And then there is the glorious LP album art which stretched from cover-to-cover in a wonderful panorama.

My 5 favorite tracks from the album are:

1. "Drive" (easily in my personal Top 5 songs of the '80s.)
2. "You Might Think"
3. "Magic"
4. "Heartbeat City"
5. "Looking For Love"

Rediscover "Heartbeat City" this week via the YouTube playlist below or subscribers can listen for free through Amazon Prime music. You can also join me by posting your Top 5 favorites in the comments.