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The Cars Set ‘Heartbeat City’ 40th Anniversary Deluxe Edition

by Best Classic Bands Staff

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The Cars’ best-selling album, Heartbeat City, is getting a 40th anniversary Deluxe Edition. The set, on 4-CDs/1-LP, arrives October 31, 2025, via Rhino. It’s available for pre-order in the U.S. here, Canada (coming soon) and in the U.K. here.

The collection includes the original quadruple-platinum album on both CD and LP. The remainder revisits the making of the album with previously unreleased studio recordings and early mixes, plus a complete 1984 concert from the band’s “Heartbeat City” tour. It’s accompanied by a color booklet filled with photos, new track-by-track notes by keyboardist Greg Hawkes, and an essay from drummer David Robinson, who designed all of the band’s album covers.

The Deluxe Edition highlights the album sessions with a demo for the Top 10 hit “Drive,” along with unreleased recordings of tracks like “Stranger Eyes” and “Jacki” (later renamed “Heartbeat City”). The set also includes multiple versions of “Shooting For You,” an outtake from the 1980 LP, Panorama, that was revived during the making of Heartbeat City.

The set also features a complete concert recorded at The Summit in Houston on September 11, 1984. Originally released on VHS and Laserdisc as The Cars – Live 1984-1985, the performance appears on CD for the first time here, expanded to include previously unreleased versions of “Candy-O” and “My Best Friend’s Girl.” The Cars opened the show with “Hello Again” and packed 17 songs into a 70-minute set that featured half the new album, including “You Might Think” and “Magic,” alongside earlier hits like “Good Times Roll” and “Let’s Go.”

In the liner notes, Hawkes recalls Ric Ocasek’s demo for “Drive” started out like a “spooky bossa nova with him sounding a little like Elvis.” By the time the band arrived in London to record, the song had evolved with Benjamin Orr taking over lead vocals. To conjure the track’s ethereal sound, Hawkes says the group spent days layering backing vocals while producer Robert John “Mutt” Lange urged, “Breathier, man, breathier!”

Robinson contributes his own essay, recalling a London gallery visit during the sessions where he discovered Art-O-Matic Loop di Loop, a painting by artist Peter Phillips that became the album’s cover. “I felt that the painting was a bold, bright, pop art counterpart to the sound of our new album. It even had a Vargas pin-up and a muscle car. Art-O-Matic Loop di Loop was just like something Ric would have made up.”

Released on March 12, 1984, Heartbeat City was an immediate hit, charting worldwide and peaking at #3 in the U.S., where it’s certified 4x platinum. The Cars’ biggest success, the album generated six singles over nearly two years, including “Magic,” “Hello Again,” and “Why Can’t I Have You.” The group secured its place in the MTV era when “You Might Think” won the network’s first Video of the Year award.

Also coming this fall, a new biography, The Cars: Let the Stories Be Told, from musician and best-selling author, Bill Janovitz. The book, via Da Capo Press, arrives September 30. The 512-page title, with the enthusiastic participation of the surviving members of the band, as well as nearly everyone who surrounded them over the years, is available in the U.S. here, in Canada here and in the U.K. here (where it arrives Oct. 23).

THE CARS HEARTBEAT CITY (DELUXE EDITION) Track Listing

Disc One: Original Album
“Hello Again”
“Looking For Love”
“Magic”
“Drive”
“Stranger Eyes”
“You Might Think”
“It’s Not The Night”
“Why Can’t I Have You”
“I Refuse”
“Heartbeat City”

Disc Two
B-Sides & Remixes
“Breakaway”
“Hello Again” (Remix Version)
“Hello Again”
Early Versions & Demo Recordings
“Drive” (Demo)
Stranger Eyes (Early Version) *
“It’s Not The Night” (Early Version) *
“One More Time” (Early Version Of “Why Can’t I Have You”)
“Baby I Refuse” (Early Version Of “I Refuse”)
“Jacki” (Early Version Of “Heartbeat City”)
Alternate Versions
“Shooting For You” (First Version) *
“Shooting For You” (Re-Recorded Version) *
“Shooting For You” (Re-Recorded Version – Alternate Mix)

Disc Three: Bonus Tracks – Early Mixes
“Hello Again” (Early Mix) *
“Looking For Love” (Early Mix) *
“Magic” (Early Mix) *
“Drive” (Early Mix) *
“Stranger Eyes” (Early Mix) *
“You Might Think” (Early Mix) *
“It’s Not The Night” (Early Mix) *
“I Refuse” (Early Mix) *
“Heartbeat City” (Early Mix) *
“Breakaway” (Early Mix) *
“Shooting For You” (First Version – Early Mix) *
“Shooting For You” (Re-Recorded Version – Early Mix) *

Disc Four: Heartbeat City – Live (The Summit, Houston, TX – September 11, 1984)
“Hello Again”+
“It’s Not The Night”+
“Touch And Go”+
“Candy-O” *
“Good Times Roll”+
“Jimmy Jimmy”+
“Moving In Stereo”+
“Just What I Need”+
“A Dream Away”+
“Cruiser”+
“Drive”+
“You Might Think”+
“My Best Friend’s Girl” *
“Magic”+
“Let’s Go”+
“Heartbeat City”+
“You’re All I’ve Got Tonight”+