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The Cars — All Mixed Up
Album: The Cars
Avg rating:
7.5

Your rating:
Total ratings: 1847









Released: 1978
Length: 4:04
Plays (last 30 days): 2
She shadows me in the mirror
She never leaves on the light
And some things that I say to her
They just don't seem to bite
It's all mixed up
It's all mixed up
It's all mixed up

She tricks me into thinkin'
I can't believe my eyes
I wait for her forever
But she never does arrive
It's all mixed up
It's all mixed up
It's all mixed up

She says to leave it to me
(Leave it to me)
Everything'll be alright
(Be alright)
She says to leave it to me
(Leave it to me)
Everything'll be alright

She's always out makin' pictures
She's always out makin' scenes
She's always out the window
When it comes to makin' dreams
It's all mixed up
It's all mixed up
It's all mixed up

She says to leave it to me
(Leave it to me)
Everything'll be alright
(Be alright)
She says to leave it to me
(Leave it to me)
Everything'll be alright
(Be alright)
She says to leave it to me
(Leave it to me)
Everything'll be alright
(Be alright)
She says to leave it to me, yeah
(Leave it to me)
Everything'll be alright
(Be alright)
If you leave it to me
(Leave it to me)
Everything'll be alright
(Be alright)
Yeah, if you leave it to me
(Leave it to me)
(Be alright)
(Be alright)
(Be alright)
(Be alright)
Comments (367)add comment
The Cars have quite a few definitive songs, but this one, hell yeah, stands out.
it's literally in my top 100.
70’s naysayers, I give you 1978. The Cars The Pretenders Dire Straits Damn.
Cars followed by Cars.  Lovely stuff.  RIP Ric.  
Pop perfection indeed. 
For me and many friends of mine back in the day, it just couldn't get any better than this... Did we realize how spoiled we were, to have THIS to escape into, after school, Family Hell, etc.?!  It was such an exuberant, rocking time, and the world was as if New... Life and High School pretty much sucked, but we had jobs, cars, beer, weed, Frisbee, friends, music... 
-- And so again we see...MUSIC...causing BIG TROUBLE...
 jimlandwehr2582 wrote:

This band was an all time favorite. Some say their stage presence was stiff, but I didn't care. Great power pop.



Saw them play at the Music Hall , Boston, October 1979. Loved their music and still do. But boy , stiff stage presence was an understatement.  Great Band 
Was in 8th grade WPLJ when the cars came out with this
Find memories of one of the first records my girl and I listened to together. 43 years later we are still living, loving and listening to music together!
Right on. Just like FM radio used to be. 
Hmmmmm  HS sophomore summer 79,,,,  new girlfriend,  Boston ahhhh the memories,,,, 
This band was an all time favorite. Some say their stage presence was stiff, but I didn't care. Great power pop.
 Imkirok wrote:
To add to the list of memories:  I was 13 when this came out.  I hung out with two neighbor kids who were a few years older.  They had their drivers licenses and their own cars, and they took me all over town.  The Cars, Meatloaf, Kansas, REO Speedwagon, all in the rotation of the cassette player.  Great times indeed. 

I was there too.  The Cars were the best of that bunch.
Stopped everything and bathed in a wash of memories. 2nd year at McMaster University seems like yesterday thanks Bill.
The Cars 1978 debut changed everything for the better.  Spun rock radio on it's complacent head. 

Props to my hometown heros and fellow Berklee mate Elliot Easton. 
 Queue wrote:
Thank you Bill for playing this after Moving in Stereo (as it should be done.)

Saw the Cars at the Spectrum in Philly, the summer of 1979, just after the release of Candy-O.  They were probably at their peak.  It was a fantastic show.
 
Hard to imagine something like the first Cars album today. It was one of the few albums I would play all the way through, every time, without interruption (once I taped it on cassette..). Aja was another album like that, along with the first Stranglers LP. But The Cars was just monster to my ears. Melodic and meaty, and just hitting everything just right. A rare thing that holds up all this time.
 Queue wrote:
Thank you Bill for playing this after Moving in Stereo (as it should be done.)

Saw the Cars at the Spectrum in Philly, the summer of 1979, just after the release of Candy-O.  They were probably at their peak.  It was a fantastic show.
 
Dude, I was at that show. Whatta great band live!
Ahh, the second half of Moving in Stereo is played, muchos gracias senor Bill!
 rmsilva wrote:
Back-to-back Cars?! Awww yeah.
 

many feel this is a twofer that must be played. Sorta like We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions from Queen
 scrubbrush wrote:
RIP RIC
 
Rick Ocarsick. And I say that with the fondest regard. RIP.
Back-to-back Cars?! Awww yeah.
RIP Ric. I never knew you were nearly as old as my Dad.  Rock on in eternity.  
RIP RIC
Thank you Bill for playing this after Moving in Stereo (as it should be done.)

Saw the Cars at the Spectrum in Philly, the summer of 1979, just after the release of Candy-O.  They were probably at their peak.  It was a fantastic show.
 expatlar wrote:
This stirs up a lot of good memories of some good college kids and it holds up nicely forty years later.
 
The late Benjamin Orr, one of the most underrated vocalists ever.
I was given this album for my 20th birthday. Of all the stuff I got that day The Cars is the only thing I've still got?
Moving in Stereo followed by All Mixed Up. Just the way it should be

Thank you Bill....
7 - Quite Likeable to me , but just barely 
This stirs up a lot of good memories of some good college kids and it holds up nicely forty years later.
 joempie wrote:
Funny how everything Rundgren touches always sounds like Rundgren.

 
That's often been true, but this album was produced by Roy Thomas Baker, which may also explain why someone posted below how the vocals reminded them of Queen.
 me too !Gubs wrote:
Nice two-fer
I bought this album the week it was released back in the day. 
 

Thanks so much for playing Moving in Stereo followed by All Mixed Up!  Brings back memories of listening to the album.
ah.......love these 2 together (moving in Stereo)
Nice two-fer
I bought this album the week it was released back in the day. 
 joempie wrote:
Funny how everything Rundgren touches always sounds like Rundgren.

 
And that's a good thing
nostalgic
Rock and Roll HOF 2018!!  Well deserved in my book!!
The backing vocals are very Queen-like. Or is it the other way around?
Will enter the R & R Hall of Fame in April.
Love it when a song I loved and lost pops up out of the ether. these guys were ahead of their time. This album and the first b-52s album made me sit up and say what the hell is this?  The future arriving, as it turned out. They were doing that 80s sax thing in the 70s. 
Funny how everything Rundgren touches always sounds like Rundgren.
This makes me feel 19 again!
 treatment_bound wrote:

I was at one of their shows in St. Paul in '79, and the girls down front were really swooning for that guy.

 

Well, YEAH!!...
Elektra, Warner, Atlantic    WEA in the 70's!
 skindy wrote:
Whoa... never would have thought that The Doors' Strange Days would segue so brilliantly into this song! Thanks, Bill!

 
Totally noticed that!
 1wolfy wrote:
The sax at the outro sounds like Supertramp.

 

According to Wiki, the sax solo was played by keyboardist Greg Hawkes.  I think you owe him an apology.
 oldviolin wrote:
RIP Ben...

 
I was at one of their shows in St. Paul in '79, and the girls down front were really swooning for that guy.
 Piranga wrote:
A seriously under-rated band. Great writing and performance.

 

From what I can remember, they didn't exactly go out on top in terms of popularity. People were tired of their sound which seemed stuck in the early 80s. I don't remember much nostalgia for them in the 90s.

The first two albums were brilliant. I never got into "Panorama" and "Heartbeat City" seemed a bit pandering...
Whoa... never would have thought that The Doors' Strange Days would segue so brilliantly into this song! Thanks, Bill!
This album is just about as good as it gets.  I think the Cars jokingly called it their greatest hits album.  No joke, though.
 1wolfy wrote:
The sax at the outro sounds like Supertramp.

 
Ouch!
 
One of the best sides of an album. Great flow from one song to the next{#Dance}
A seriously under-rated band. Great writing and performance.
Love this song. So haunting.
Thank you, Bill, for maintaining the order and followed up Moving in Stereo with All Mixed Up to end an already-fantastic set, as always
Love forever!!!
 BuffaloGrunt wrote:
These two songs should be played together, as "Moving in Stereo" progresses quit nicely into "All Mixed Up"

Very nice ...

 
I have a bootleg somewhere of a demo tape with Rick singing both songs as one. Then another with Ben doing them
Excellent. I can't tune out

I was 20 when this came out. I was living in an unsanitary student house with a group of really good mates. I had a Yamaha RD250 I was going out with an amazing girl, my rugby team were winning and punk rock was energising music and the streets. It seems unwise to use the phrase “Best days of my life” until they are putting you into a pine box but this album was the soundtrack to some really good times. Thank for playing it Bill, that’s a visit to the “Support RP” I owe you!


Wow!  I've never liked the radio exposure given to The Cars and therefore have not delved into their music that's not commercially played.  Maybe I should do so - this song is really good.
RIP Ben...
The sax at the outro sounds like Supertramp.  Great job by Greg Hawks.
ya baby! delicious
Nobody ever plays this.  Awesome!  Thanks, Bill.
This is a sensational song.
 gavinam wrote:
Brilliant album - listened to this endlessly on a Sony walkman on a cassette - seems like a million years ago. Fast forward and rewind!

 
As did I except mine was vinyl.
I used to listen to them as a teen. Their first album is the best one, in my opinion.
They were so far ahead of their time that they sound just as fantastic to me now as they did to me so long ago! Forever Jam The Cars!
Brilliant album - listened to this endlessly on a Sony walkman on a cassette - seems like a million years ago. Fast forward and rewind!
A very good album then and still is now.
There is truly something special and memorable about The Cars and driving! This song and everything by them has always sounded so incredibly good turned all the way up in every car I've ever had! It was on 8-track in my 1st, a '70 Cutlass 'S' Coupe with G-60 racing slicks, and in my 2nd, a '68 Cutlass with Hurst on the floor; it played on cassette in my 3rd, a '73 Cutlass Supreme with rally wheels, and my 4th, a '61 Impala that belonged to my grandmother for 20 years before I got it, and my Honda in Yoshida, Shizuoka, and it sure sounded great on CD in my Subaru 4WD and Toyota in Noto, Ishikawa. I am sure that it will soundly digitally JAM in my next car, too!
YES. Thanks for keeping this Cars groove going.
 
Classic.
These 2 songs MUST be played back to back. Thanks Bill. 
A black '70 Chrysler Newport 440/4 bbl in great shape, with power windows, etc. and factory 8-track/4 speakers that I replaced with a bigger stereo. I could get 5 or 6 of my buds and girlfriends in that yacht easily, not the puny back seats like Camaros, Mustangs, or 'Cudas which were more for practising yoga than teen-aged sex.  {#Doh} Plus we didn't get noticed much by the cops. The thing was a rolling whorehouse/party pad. We thought we were cool as shit.


  {#Motor}






Unfortunate that the rest of this band's oeuvre never measured up--and I'm a Bostonian.  

'64 Chevy short bed, 350 with glass packs, same Jensen 6x9's and Clarion tape deck.  Hey, there is a Cars theme after all.

 

crogers wrote:

Yup - '73 Nova for me with those same Jensen 6x9's and a Pioneer SuperTuner in the dash.  I remember rockin' it with long hair and shirtless on sweltering summer Sunday afternoons with a horny girlfriend and a pack of Marlboro Lights, doing burnouts, acting teen-stupid and just lovin' life. Holy crap, was that 1000 years ago?  Some music has a scary power to haul you back...


Propayne wrote:

Ha - same for me except it was a '70 XR-7 Cougar.

Something about Jensens speakers and the trunks on those Pony/Muscle cars.

Loved that sound. 

 



 


 Imkirok wrote:

Glad Bill played them both.  Definitely the way it should be.



 

Agreed.
 BuffaloGrunt wrote:
These two songs should be played together, as "Moving in Stereo" progresses quit nicely into "All Mixed Up"

Very nice ...

 
Glad Bill played them both.  Definitely the way it should be.


Yup - '73 Nova for me with those same Jensen 6x9's and a Pioneer SuperTuner in the dash.  I remember rockin' it with long hair and shirtless on sweltering summer Sunday afternoons with a horny girlfriend and a pack of Marlboro Lights, doing burnouts, acting teen-stupid and just lovin' life. Holy crap, was that 1000 years ago?  Some music has a scary power to haul you back...


Propayne wrote:

Ha - same for me except it was a '70 XR-7 Cougar.

Something about Jensens speakers and the trunks on those Pony/Muscle cars.

Loved that sound. 

 


These two songs should be played together, as "Moving in Stereo" progresses quit nicely into "All Mixed Up"

Very nice ...
The double whammy from The Cars!  Could this be a new trend Bill?
To add to the list of memories:  I was 13 when this came out.  I hung out with two neighbor kids who were a few years older.  They had their drivers licenses and their own cars, and they took me all over town.  The Cars, Meatloaf, Kansas, REO Speedwagon, all in the rotation of the cassette player.  Great times indeed. 

This was as good as it got for me from this band although I always appreciated their collective innovation.


love the cars first album ... haven't heard this since the early 80s.  Thanks RP.
ahh, brilliant!
Hard to believe this thing is still capable of rooting me to the spot, sending me back in Time to instinctively reach for the Volume knob to crank it...and wow, the blistering guitars and that amazing On-The-Beat-ness The Cars did better than almost anybody else still sends me!
 Kaisersosay wrote:
Long hot summer of 78, no reponsibilities, true fun.  
 

I know what you mean. Beer, girls, rugby a new motorcycle and The Cars as a soundtrack. What a year.


Top album art! Right energy. This is the science, pure science!
Long hot summer of 78, no reponsibilities, true fun.  
Radio Paradise->aac>SqueezeBox->Arcam->NAD->Paradigm Studios

Oh so good !  Yes, better than vinyl in any millennium if Bill has the source and usually he does !



 

jhorton wrote:
Back in the day, we had to listen to this on 8-track through a pair of 6x9 Jensens in the Z28. It sounded great even then, but now Radio Paradise>mp3>Arcam class A Pre-Amp>Arcam class A Amp to my vintage 1983 Klipsch KG4's, it's pure bliss! 

 


 jhorton wrote:
Back in the day, we had to listen to this on 8-track through a pair of 6x9 Jensens in the Z28. It sounded great even then, but now Radio Paradise>mp3>Arcam class A Pre-Amp>Arcam class A Amp to my vintage 1983 Klipsch KG4's, it's pure bliss! 

 
Ha - same for me except it was a '70 XR-7 Cougar.

Something about Jensens speakers and the trunks on those Pony/Muscle cars.

Loved that sound. 
The ultimate segue !!!     

 
Back in the day, we had to listen to this on 8-track through a pair of 6x9 Jensens in the Z28. It sounded great even then, but now Radio Paradise>mp3>Arcam class A Pre-Amp>Arcam class A Amp to my vintage 1983 Klipsch KG4's, it's pure bliss! 
I was spinning records for the college radio station when this came out. This LP was requested to death. Great memories!
 Ropes wrote:
Nice segue, Bill.

 
I agree.
 justin4kick wrote:
Oh to be 19 again.

 
AMEN!
Nice segue, Bill.
Oh to be 19 again.
 h8rhater wrote:

Agreed... this disc was a soundtrack for me in the Summer of '78. 

Candy-O was released in the Summer of '79 making it a 70's disc as well.  The Cars were well on their way, perhaps having released their best material, when the 80's began.  It is easy to see, however, how they are associated with the New Wave of the early '80's.

 
I was 18 when this came out and it was between my Freshman and Sophomore year in collage.  Kind of a magical time when you had independence from the parents but not the responsibilities of classes.  Consequently, I'd like to say I am was full of memories of that summer with this album, but more accurately it is full of obscure, foggy images, impromptu parties and people's crash pads with these songs in the background.
While technically a 70s album, it definitely was a break from the rock we were all listening to at the time.  The disconnected, almost robotic vocals, electronic tonality, lack of extended instrument solos, it was clearly ushering in a new sound for the upcoming decade.  I don't think the term "new wave" existed yet.  If so, it hadn't reached us in Houston yet.   So we didn't know what to call it.   But we liked it.


 philbertr wrote:
Something about this cut reminds me of Electric Light Orchestra.  Anybody else hear that?

 
Now that you mention it, yes!

But this is better.
 scrubbrush wrote:
two cars songs in a row...? did we lose someone in this band today?

 
Hunt around and you may find a few Demo versions put together from the forming days. They are these two tunes sort of done as one, and many times back in the day they were played as a set by stations, much like Queen's Rock You and Champions. I still have the one Ric sings, but he thought Ben was better and I seem to have lost the version with Ben singing these. Also, I think on the Vinyl they don't have any separation and run into each other.
oh, and P.S. we lost Ben and his great voice a while back. The new Cars is pretty good, but I miss hearing Ben's voice.
This album came out 20 days after my last day of high school. It's hard to explain how big it was at the time, it really became a bridge between  the blues based rock of the seventies and what was to become in the eighties. The production was simply stunning, very clean compared to earlier rock, ( Remember we are talking eight track tape deck in the Camaro days.) Ric produced this album himself and everyone wanted to work with him after that. He was kind of the T-Bone Burnett of the eighties, really a brilliant producer.
two cars songs in a row...? did we lose someone in this band today?
 Kaisersosay wrote:
Its October 1979, I'm at the Music Hall in Boston,,,,,,and The Cars are playing....... 

 

.............yup.  we're gettin' old dude!!
Brilliant song.
 blotto wrote:
Damn, this album was awesome back then and is still great. sure nudges a few memories out of long lost places.

 
True! A great album.
 AvoidingWork wrote:
This is why I tell my son he needs to learn to play guitar: https://www.google.com/search?btnG=1&pws=0&q=ric+ocasek+wife

 

Damn, this album was awesome back then and is still great. sure nudges a few memories out of long lost places.
Nice... a Cars two-fer!
 
I love this song. Half for the nostalgia and half for the song itself.
This is why I tell my son he needs to learn to play guitar: https://www.google.com/search?btnG=1&pws=0&q=ric+ocasek+wife
10
SOOOOoooo key that Bill always follows moving in stereo into this one - it really is a continuation of one song in my book.... Way to do it right Bill!

 
Something about this cut reminds me of Electric Light Orchestra.  Anybody else hear that?
My favourite band as a teen - grade 8 when I first recall them
 treatment_bound wrote:
 
joelbb wrote:
Maybe the early 80s very best album.

reprinted from Wiki:
   


>>The Cars is the eponymous debut studio album by American  rock band The Cars. It was released on June 6, 1978 on Eleftra Records.

Early 80s/Late 70s, who cares? 

Me. I guess.

I actually remember listening to this album a whole bunch in the summer of '78 (between my freshman & sophomore college years), which will always be the 70's for me...         

 
 
Agreed... this disc was a soundtrack for me in the Summer of '78. 

Candy-O was released in the Summer of '79 making it a 70's disc as well.  The Cars were well on their way, perhaps having released their best material, when the 80's began.  It is easy to see, however, how they are associated with the New Wave of the early '80's.
Hawkes' sax solo propelled New Wave sax in ways that just wasn't being done. The whole album is great, but this Two-Fer was fantastic.

This is why I listen to RadioParadise (and support them).

Thanks, Bill.

Anton on Hilton Head Island

 
 
joelbb wrote:
Maybe the early 80s very best album.

reprinted from Wiki:
   


>>The Cars is the eponymous debut studio album by American  rock band The Cars. It was released on June 6, 1978 on Eleftra Records.

Early 80s/Late 70s, who cares? 

Me. I guess.

I actually remember listening to this album a whole bunch in the summer of '78 (between my freshman & sophomore college years), which will always be the 70's for me...         

 
Thank you for following Moving in Stereo with All Mixed Up in this mix - the way they were meant to be heard!  Actually the whole album should be heard in its entirely, but I won't get greedy.
Benjamin Orr, you are missed