Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of The Cars Available Now
UPDATE 2026
This commentary was first posted on the blog all the way back in 2018.
As I wrote, we love doing shootouts for their albums, especially the first two. Unfortunately, finding pressings with the right stampers in clean condition does not happen very often these days. Their first two albums can rarely be found on the site, and it’s not for a lack of trying.
The first two Cars albums were both in The Better Records Rock and Pop Top 100 at one time, with good reason: they’re superb recordings. The Cars have been in “heavy rotation” on my system since their albums came out in the late ’70s. We started doing shootouts for both of them right around 2006 or 2007, and they continue to be a regular feature of our Rock Hot Stamper section, not to mention some of the most fun shootouts we do in any given week.
Before then had you ever read a word in any audiophile or record collecting publication about how amazing the originals can sound? Of course not. Most of the audiophile types writing for the stereo rags wouldn’t know a good record from a hole in the ground.
If anything, the typical audiophile probably has one or both of the disastrous Nautilus half-speed mastered versions, and, having played them, would not be inclined to think highly of the sound. We knew better than to waste our time with that muck.
Recently Mobile Fidelity has taken upon itself to remaster a selection of the band’s titles with the same flawed Half-Speed mastering approach. We haven’t played any of them and don’t intend to. We know that sound and we don’t like it.
Our point, other than to bash a record we have never played, is simply this: if you have any of those MoFi versions, we would love to send you a copy of the album so that you can hear for yourself what it’s really supposed to sound like.