The Cars: Shake It Up

THE CARS have achieved success the-way Henry Ford build autos – by creating interchangeable, streamlined riffs that are assemble to mass-produce pop hits. In 1982, through four albums, these New Englander's formula is holding up pretty well (better than Mr. Ford's, for instance), Ric Ocasek's Laingian Knot lyrics, elliptical little phrases that roll off the tongue as easily as they resist the intellect, provide an eerie irony to the snap-crackle-pop rhythm machinations.