The Cars - Heartbeat City

The Cars — Heartbeat City

Deluxe edition 4CD + 1LP set

Celebrating the 40th anniversary of The Cars best-selling album

The Cars are releasing a 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of their album Heartbeat City on October 31, 2025, which will include a remastered original album, plus bonus CDs of unreleased studio tracks, demos, and B-sides, and a full live concert from 1984 on CD for the first time.

The 4CD/1LP set includes the original quadruple-platinum album on both CD and LP. The remainder revisits the making of the album with unreleased studio recordings and early mixes, plus a complete 1984 concert from the band's Heartbeat City tour. It's accompanied by a color booklet filled with photos, new track-by-track notes by keyboardist Greg Hawkes, and an essay from drummer David Robinson, who designed all of the band's album covers, including the sleeve for Heartbeat City.

Heartbeat City (Deluxe Edition) highlights the album sessions with a demo for the Top 10 hit "Drive," along with unreleased recordings of tracks such as "Stranger Eyes" and "Jacki" (later renamed "Heartbeat City"). The set also includes multiple versions of "Shooting For You," an outtake from the 1980s Panorama that was revived during the making of Heartbeat City.

The set also features a complete concert recorded at The Summit in Houston on September 11, 1984. Originally released on VHS and Laserdisc as The Cars - Live 1984-1985, the performance appears on CD for the first time here, expanded to include previously unreleased versions of "Candy-O" and "My Best Friend's Girl." The band opened the show with "Hello Again" and packed 17 songs into a 70-minute set that featured half the new album, including "You Might Think" and "Magic," alongside earlier hits like "Good Times Roll" and "Let's Go."

In the liners, Hawkes recalls Ric Ocasek's demo for "Drive" started out like a "spooky bossa nova with him sounding a little like Elvis." By the time the band arrived in London to record, the song had evolved with Benjamin Orr taking over lead vocals. To conjure the track's ethereal sound, Hawkes says the group spent days layering backing vocals while producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange urged, "Breathier, man, breathier!"

 

 

LP Side A

1. Hello Again

2. Looking for Love

3. Magic

4. Drive

5. Stranger Eyes

LP Side B

1. You Might Think

2. It's Not the Night

3. Why Can't I Have You

4. I Refuse

5. Heartbeat City

CD 1

1. Hello Again

2. Looking for Love

3. Magic

4. Drive

5. Stranger Eyes

6. You Might Think

7. It's Not the Night

8. Why Can't I Have You

9. I Refuse

10. Heartbeat City

CD 2

1. Breakaway

2. Hello Again (Remix)

3. Hello Again (Dub Version)

4. Drive (Demo)

5. Stranger Eyes (Early Version)

6. It's Not the Night (Early Version)

7. One More Time (Early Version of "Why Can't I Have You")

8. Baby I Refuse (Early Version of "I Refuse")

9. Jacki (Early Version of "Heartbeat City")

10. Shooting for You (First Version)

11. Shooting for You (Re-Recorded Version)

12. Shooting for You (Re-Recorded Version) [Alternate Mix]

CD 3

1. Hello Again (Early Mix)

2. Looking for Love (Early Mix)

3. Magic (Early Mix)

4. Stranger Eyes (Early Mix)

5. You Might Think (Early Mix)

6. It's Not the Night (Early Mix)

7. I Refuse (Early Version)

8. Heartbeat City (Early Mix)

9. Breakaway (Early Mix)

10. Shooting for You (First Version) [Early Mix]

11. Shooting for You (Re-Recorded Version) [Early Mix]

CD 4 - Live at The Summit, Houston, TX, 9/11/1984

1. Hello Again

2. It's Not the Night

3. Touch and Go

4. Candy-O

5. Good Times Roll

6. Jimmy Jimmy

7. Moving in Stereo

8. Just What I Needed

9. A Dream Away

10. Cruiser

11. Drive

12. You Might Think

13. My Best Friend's Girl

14. Magic

15. Let's Go

16. Heartbeat City

17. You're All I've Got Tonight

Be the first to write a review for this item OR just rate it