The Cars: Heartbeat City Deluxe Edition (Elektra/Rhino, LP + 4 CDs). Recorded at Battery Studios in London with producer Robert John “Mutt” Lange, making it the band's first album not produced by Roy Thomas Baker, The Cars’ “Heartbeat City” (38:41) was released on March 13, 1984. The album, the band’s fifth studio album, was a major commercial success, certifying quadruple platinum in the U.S., with the singles “Drive” (No. 3) and “You Might Think” (No. 7) reaching the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 and the album peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard 200. “Heartbeat City” spawned six singles and a number of its songs gained significant radio and television exposure, notably "Drive," "You Might Think" and “Magic,” all of which received heavy rotation on MTV. The title track served as the album's sixth and final single outside North America.

The critically acclaimed album was recorded with the band – Ric Ocasek, vocals and guitars; Ben Orr, vocals and bass guitar; Elliot Easton, guitars and vocals; Greg Hawkes, keyboards, vocals and Fairlight CMI programming; and David Robinson, drums and Fairlight programming – recording the album’s keyboards, guitars and vocals first to a LinnDrum click track, then the bass and drums were added. According to drummer Robinson, all the drums and keyboards were sampled into and played or programmed via the Fairlight CMI.

The vinyl record and the first CD contain the original 10-track album. It opens with the bright “Hello Again,” one of the four strongest tracks. The others are the reflective “Drive,” the only one sung and written solo by Orr; “Magic,” with its strong beat and playful keyboard before the chorus; and “You Might Think.” All the album’s songs but “Drive” were written by Ocasek, with Orr co-writing the more dramatic “It’s Not the Night.”

Other strong songs are the bit slower “Looking for Love,” “Stranger Eyes” with its interesting keyboards, the smooth “Why Can’t I Have You,” “I Refuse,” and the title track, a story song that opens with storm sounds and a repeating keyboard. The latter is dreamy at times.

The second CD’s 12 tracks include the B-side “Breakaway” and two remixes of “Hello Again,” with lots of drums on one version. The dub version of “Hello Again” is new to CD. There also are five early song versions, with the snappy-paced “Stranger Eyes” and “It’s Not the Night” being new releases. There also are three alternate versions of “Shooting for You” (first recording was 1980), two of which are previously unreleased, and a demo of “Drive.” Most of these extras were first released on the 2018 expanded edition.

Disc three has 12 previously unreleased early mixes, with the standouts being “I Refuse” and the first version of “Shooting for You,” while disc four has an excellent 17-track concert from Sept. 11, 1984 at The Summit in Houston. It is the first time the concert has been released on CD and two of the tracks, “Candy-O” and “My Best Friend’s Girl,” are released for the first time anywhere. The Cars perform six of the new album’s songs during the show, with “It’s Not the Night” powerful. Older hits included are “Good Times Roll,” “Moving in Stereo,” “Let’s Go,” “Just What I Needed” and “You’re All I’ve Got Tonight.” There is a rocking “Cruiser” as well.

The set comes with a 16-page, 12-inch-square booklet, with track annotations by Hawkes, lyrics (including Ocasek’s handwritten ones for “I Refuse”), great vintage photos, Robinson writing about the cover (it includes an image of a 1971 Plymouth Duster 340 and an Alberto Vargas pin-up model, and is from a 1972 piece by Peter Phillips called “Art-O-Matic Loop di Loop”), Ocasek writing about the album, a discography and the box set credits. Grade: original album A+; live disc A; overall set A

Elton John: Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy 50th Anniversary Edition (Rocket/EMI, 2 CDs). The 1975 album (46:32) is an autobiographical account of the early musical careers of Elton John (Captain Fantastic) and his long-term lyricist Bernie Taupin (the Brown Dirt Cowboy). An instant commercial success, the album was certified gold before its release and reached No. 1 in its first week of release on the Billboard 200 album chart, becoming the first album to achieve both honors. It sold 1.4 million copies within four days of release, and stayed in the top chart position for seven weeks. It has a striking Bosch-inspired sleeve art by Alan Aldrige,

Although they would all appear on John’s later albums, this was the last album of the 1970s with the original lineup of the Elton John Band, with guitarist Davy Johnstone, bassist Dee Murray and drummer Nigel Olsson. The classic band did not record together again until 1983's “Too Low for Zero.”

According to Taupin, the album was written in chronological order. The concept album gives an autobiographical glimpse at the struggles John and Taupin had in the early years (1967 to 1969) of their musical careers in London, leading up to John's eventual breakthrough in 1970. The lyrics and accompanying 24-page photo booklet are infused with a specific sense of place and time that was otherwise rare in John's music. John composed the music on a ship voyage from the U.K. to New York.

“Someone Saved My Life Tonight,” was the only single released from the album (it reached No. 4 hit on the Billboard Hot 100). It is a semi-autobiographical story about John's disastrous engagement to Linda Woodrow, and his related 1968 suicide attempt. "Someone" refers to Long John Baldry, who convinced John to break off the engagement rather than ruin his music career for an unhappy marriage.

John has been quoted as saying, “Captain Fantastic was written from start to finish in running order, as a kind of story about coming to terms with failure -- or trying desperately not to be one. We lived that story.”

In addition to “Someone Saved My Life Tonight,” album highlights are the upbeat “Bitter Fingers, the piano-led rocker “(Gotta Get a) Meal Ticket,” the brief “Better off Dead” (here the percussion shines and it ends with staccato vocals), and the slow dancer “Writing,” which asks where they will be in 10 years.

Added to the first disc are two terrific singles of the period, a cover of The Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” and the dance hit “Philadelphia Freedom,” with its strings. Also added are two B-sides, “One Day at a Time” and “House of Cards.”

The second disc of unreleased recordings includes six demo sessions – the first take of the title track is mostly piano with the vocals barely heard – and live performances of seven of the songs on Oct. 1, 2005 at Philips Arena in Atlanta, featuring the Voice of Atlanta Choir. A driving “(Gotta Get a) Meal Ticket” is a concert highlight.

An accompanying 24-page booklet has a history of the album, with Johnstone contributing to the notes, plus vintage photos and memorabilia.

The original album contained an "Easter egg" in the form of lyrics to an unperformed song, "Dogs in the Kitchen," which was included in the lyrics booklet. According to John's official website, in addition to the album tracks and singles, and the lyric for "Dogs in the Kitchen," the following numbers were written but not recorded during the sessions: "You Know Me -- Jealousy" (for which John and Taupin wrote both music and lyrics) and the instrumentals "Golden Boy" and "Passing Phase." John’s 2006 album, “The Captain & the Kid,” was the sequel, continuing the autobiography where “Captain Fantastic” leaves off.

There also was a deluxe 30th anniversary edition CD released September 2005, which contained the complete album and added the B-side "House of Cards.” Recorded during the sessions for “Caribou,” "House of Cards" previously only appeared on CD on the 1992 “Rare Masters” collection. Also included was a second disc of the complete album performed live at Wembley Stadium on June 21, 1975. Grade: 50th Anniversary edition A

Tears For Fears: Songs From The Big Chair (Mercury/UME, 3 CDs). Tears For Fears' multi-platinum-selling second album has been reissued in multiple formats, marking its 40th anniversary. Originally released on Feb. 25, 1985, “Songs From The Big Chair” became a global sensation, topping the U.S. charts and spawning five hit singles in “Mothers Talk,” “Shout,” “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” “Head Over Heels” and “I Believe.” The album captured a perfect intersection of pop accessibility, sharp lyricism, guitar power and new-wave innovation.

The special editions include a limited-edition 2LP transparent red vinyl featuring the original unused artwork and tracks previously unavailable on vinyl, a 3CD deluxe set, a limited-edition 1LP Coke bottle clear vinyl, and a limited-edition 1LP picture disc.

The 3CD version, reviewed here, actually is a cut down from the 5 CDs and DVD release in 2014. It contains the first three CDs of that set, leaving out disc four that has three songs recorded at the BBC for the Richard Skinner show, six lives songs recorded at Toronto's Massey Hall, four early song mixes and an alternate single version of "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" with brass. Also missing is the fifth disc with a 5.1 mix and a 2014 stereo mix of the original album, as well as the DVD with a 74-minute documentary about the album from 2012, a 35-minute interview with producer Chris Hughes, nine promotional videos and eight BBC TV appearances.

What you do get this time is disc one with the album, plus nine bonus tracks that were single B-sides. Disc two contains single and alternate versions, while disc three is heavy on extended versions, including three versions of "Everyone Wants to Rule the World" (one of which is an instrumental take), four versions of "Shout" (one is a dub version, another is acapella) and three versions of "Mothers Talk." A 7:36 interview with the band’s Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith is included on disc two.

After the success of "The Hurting" and its hit, "Mad World," Orzabal and Smith issued "The Way You Are" single in late 1983. The experimental song (never released in the United States until 2014 and included here) had a disappointing reception, which led the duo to a change of direction that resulted in "Songs From The Big Chair," with its classic hits, "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," "Shout," "I Believe" and "Mothers Talk." The band had decided to open up its sound with bigger guitars and wider soundscapes. Much of the album was recorded in the home studio of keyboard player Ian Stanley.

Formed in Bath in 1981, Tears For Fears -- Orzabal on vocals, guitar and keyboards, and Smith on vocals, bass and keyboards -- have sold more than 30 million albums worldwide. In 2021, they were honored with the Outstanding Song Collection Award at the Ivor Novello Awards. Today, the band continues to perform to sold-out audiences around the globe, including its Las Vegas residency. Grade: set A-