The Cars Shake It Up

Numbered, Limited Edition! Half-Speed Mastered From Original Master Tapes!
MoFi's sonically spectacular LP half-speed mastered from the original tapes! The 1981 debut album is a return to pop and a new-wave landmark.
The Cars' fourth album in 1981 followed a weak predecessor. In order not to be compared with this work, the band chose almost exclusively songs by bandleader Ric Ocasek with his flair for fast rhythms and ironic lyrics. The sound corresponded exactly to the electro-pop zeitgeist of the early 80s and was supported by powerful rock riffs.
The MFSL Re-Issue comes with a complete lyric book and Rob LoVerde has brought a very happy sound to the vinyl disc during the re-mastering from the analogue tapes, which perfectly follows the intention of the title track with "Shake it up". The MFSL LP version comes with a sequential serial number in the gatefold cover and sounds a bit more authentic on vinyl than in the Gold CD version.
A return to form after the departure that was 1980's muddled Panorama, the Cars' Shake It Up bursts forth with a rich assembly of synthesizers, drum machines, electronic blips, and catchy melodies that make it an early '80s pop staple. Known the world over, the famous title track proves the band's arrangement skills were in perfect shape and set the stage for a record overflowing with memorable hooks and complementary rock riffs.
Shake It Up also plays witness to primary songwriter/vocalist Ric Ocasek’s increased cynicism and biting wit. While the Cars never took a rosy-eyed view of romance, the songs here impart a newfound sense of sympathy, regret, limbo, and reservation. The beauty of the Cars "and all ten tunes here" is that the music suggests something else entirely. Such subliminal emotions and dynamic contrasts act as a magnet, and the band plays as if it's in on the secret.
Apart from the party vibe of the title cut, the Cars aim for deeper targets and smarter undertones. Shake It Up is defined by an urban edginess and modern feel that comes alive on tunes such as "Cruiser" and circular "I'm Not the One", a pop gem laden with stacked vocals and keyboard lines that double as a horn section. The band's arrangements have never been better or more involved. Absent the cheesiness that would mar the group's late-period work, the songs ride on the strength of keyboard-heavy lines and layered harmonies.
Half-speed mastered from the original analog tapes, Mobile Fidelity's numbered limited-edition LP focuses on the myriad pitch changes that control the musical directions. Recorded at the band's Synchro Sound studios by famed Queen producer Roy Thomas Baker, the album takes advantage of electronic textures and varying timbres in immersing the listener in accessible albeit abstract washes of sound. MoFi's engineers made sure to capture every note and nuance; this marks the first time that Shake It Up has been remastered in any way, let alone from the original tapes.
"They've always cultivated a dark side-girls make boys want to end it all even after the boys have grown up. They've always basked in the shadow of Roxy Music, too. But they've never been so stylishly nightmarish--except for the title cut, even the fast ones don't aim for fun." - Robert Christgau, The Consumer Guide

Features:

• Numbered, Limited Edition
• Half-Speed Production and Mastering by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab from the Original Master Tapes
• Specially Plated and Pressed on 180 grams of High Definition Vinyl
• Special Static Free - Dust Free Inner Sleeve
• Heavy Duty Protective Packaging
• Gatefold jacket

Selections:

Side A
1. Since You're Gone
2. Shake It Up
3. I'm Not the One
4. Victim of Love
5. Cruiser
Side B
1. A Dream Away
2. This Could Be Love
3. Think It Over
4. Maybe Baby