"Shake It Up" - The Cars

There's a perception on the Steve Hoffman board that the Cars catalog on CD`doesn't sounds so good. I think I'm starting to agree.

I don't have the Shake It Up CD, but I wasn't impressed with The Cars, Candy-O, or Heartbeat City discs on Elektra.

For "Shake It Up", the version on Greatest Hits (1985), drops about 2 dB in volume over the course of the song. It runs 147.6 BPM throughout. The same analog transfers are used for:

• Time-Life's Sounds Of The Eighties Vol. 5 1982 (1994; differently EQ'd digital clone)
• Time-Life's 2-CD Modern Rock Vol. 1 1982-1983 (1999; differently EQ'd digital clone)
• swaitek's promo 50-CD The A List Disc 13 (1994; has noise reduction, too)

Slightly better is the version on Warner Special Products' 3-CD After Hours (1990), which has nice levels throughout, and runs 147.9 BPM throughout. The same analog transfer is used on Razor & Tie's 2-CD Awesome '80s (1994).

There's another analog transfer on Time-Life's Guitar Rock Vol. 4 1980-1981 (1994), but the left/right channels are reversed. It runs 147.4 BPM throughout. The same analog transfer is used for JCI's Only Rock 'N Roll 1980-1984 (1994), also with the L/R reversal.

Rhino's 2-CD Anthology seems to use lower generation source tapes, but it's a little too loud. The version on Rhino's 7-CD Like Omigod (2002) is digitally identical.

Which to choose for best sound quality? I begrudingly choose After Hours. Awesome '80s sounds pretty much just like After Hours, and should be far more common.