The Benefits of a Subtle Name Change: the New Cars

Recently in this space I questioned the decisions by some '80s bands to regroup, make new records and tour, often without key members from their heyday. The situation with the New Cars is a bit different, as the joining of a legend in his own right, Todd Rundgren, with key original Cars guitarist Elliot Easton and keyboardist Greg Hawkes, constitutes a supergroup rather than a reunion.

And this leads us to the name change. Subtle as it is, it announces that this indeed is not an attempt to capitalize upon the legend of the Cars but rather an entirely new enterprise. Of course, the fact that the new group's first single, "Not Tonight," sounds a hell of a lot like the original group could be used to counter my original point. But I say, why wouldn't the New Cars sound like the old when Easton and Hawkes made up so much of the sound of the original band?

In essence, the formation of the New Cars shows a whole lot more respect to Cars original members not available to record today, including deceased bassist and singer Ben Orr and even chief songwriter and frontman Ric Ocasek (who declined the invitation to reform), than Journey's decision to press on with a Steve Perry clone shows to that band's original singer.

Look for the new band's May 9 release of It's Alive, an album filled with live versions of the original band's biggest hits recorded earlier this year, along with a couple of new songs. The New Cars will tour this summer with Blondie.