[.ca] Panorama

genius:
This album showed the Cars exploring their experimental side and releasing an album that was less radio friendly and darker in nature. My favorite song is "Touch and Go", it is the greatest Cars' song in my opinion. Panorama is one of the best albums to come out in the 1980s, it's too bad it doesn't get the credit it deserves except by real music fans.

Panorama worth many listens:
Panorama is indeed an under rated album. Some 20+ years after its release, it still sounds as forward and inventive as the day it was released. Having been in my early teens when this album was released, my first exposure to The Cars was with a series of Candy-O songs I'd heard on the radio. I was instantly hooked on the Candy-O title track. Then came Panorama and CITI FM played Gimme Some Slack, Touch and Go and Up and Down. All 3 of these songs really resonated with me then as they do today. Songs like You Wear Those Eyes, Panorama, Getting Through, etc. seem similar in that they all fall within the supposed "Dark" mood of the album, and yet they cover the spectrum of emotions, including quite humourous lyrics. It seems that some like to criticize Ric Ocasek for much of his mainstream work although he can hardly be blamed for wanting to actually make a living selling music; one would really need to listen to the man's full body of work, including his solo work and rethink the mainstream label. Still, few musical composers could claim to have a musical style so unique that it is almost instantly recognizable, within a few notes, as sounding like nobody else. The fact that most songs on their other releases are catchy and likeable should be no source of shame...it's not like it sounds great because it's a repackage of someone else's material as is a common practice in the current mainstream scene. Ric Ocasek has performed in many musical genres, including his first major label release with an early 70's folk bank called Milkwood. A complete listen to the Cars library should greatly impress new listeners with the large collection of great songs, and Panorama proves the Cars to be a band that was willing to break out of the mainstream at the risk of losing the mainstream ear. For one album they almost joined the likes of Wall of Voodoo's Dark Continent album which is as clever as it is "unaccessable". Let's not forget the music scene that bands like the Cars rescued us from in the late 70's. Thank you Cars for 23 years of great listening with Panorama.

Once again, excellence rears it's head:
Although it wasn't the commercial or critical success that the debut or Candy O were, Panorama has weathered the years slightly better than the other two of the Cars first three albums. Twenty years later it doesn't have the "same ol', same ol'" feel that the other, more radio friendly albums, now seem to be stuck with. I suppose this is only because Panorama has been wrongly, but happily, ignored by the powers that be of classic radio. Panorama is a great album, richly deserving of the plaudits that critics and fans alike seem more than willing to hand down to the first two albums. One critical point that always seems to be forgotten about the time that this album arrived was the musical climate. Trust me, this was a shining light in an otherwise bleak musical landscape.

DARK:
The first two Cars cds, were well produced, tight on the playing, and the songs were well written. This cd is just the opposite. The songs, are not great, most are average, and their are no stand outs. The production is muddled, and the playing this time out is not as tight as before. The songs aren't all bad. "Panorama", Touch and Go", both rock, and have a great bass line running thru them. "Down Boys", and Don't tell Me No", have potenial, and "you Wear Thoses Eyes", could really have been a hit, but the production almost kills them. Rest of the songs are not much, just filling space. The singing this time out is more raw, like the playing, it's not the polished sound, that they had before. Buy one the greatest hits, and skip this one.

Colossal Disappointment:
Let's be honest -- the songs on this album are just simply not in the same league as the debut LP or the brilliant follow-up Candy-O. Whether or not this album was better than other stuff on the radio at the time is barely the point. The album was a colossal letdown from the first two albums. PERIOD!! It's good to be a fan of the Cars and another thing to steer listeners to their best albums -- this ain't one of them.

• Panorama
• Touch and Go
• Gimme Some Slack
• Don't Tell Me No
• Getting Through
• Misfit Kid
• Down Boys
• You Wear Those Eyes
• Running to You
• Up and Down