Pitchfork: Ric Ocasek Unlocks Cars DVD

Ric Ocasek Unlocks Cars DVD
OMG! Never-before-seen soundcheck rehearsals!

New cars are manufactured every day, but it's the old ones we remember--the old cars that, however rusted out or broken down, hold the real history. (We learned that lesson from this movie.) Ric Ocasek wants to ensure that we remember the old Cars, so he has teamed with Docudrama to produce The Cars Unlocked, a live DVD featuring over twenty never-before-seen performances spanning the band's career, plus interviews, candid backstage rehearsals, soundchecks, and more.

The DVD, which rolls out on October 17, also comes with the band's first-ever live album: a bonus CD with 14 "direct-from-the-soundboard" songs. In the same way that a vintage car collector might attentively polish his Maserati 3500, Ocasek has packaged The Cars Unlocked in a foil-embossed case containing a 28-page, hardbound booklet he designed, full of newly uncovered photos.

Songs featured on Unlocked include "My Best Friend's Girl", "Let's Go", "Gimme Some Slack", "Up and Down", "Just What I Needed", "Don't Cha Stop", "Moving in Stereo", "Candy O", "You Might Think", "Drive", "Tonight She Comes", "Magic", "Shake It Up", "Good Times Roll", and that perennial favorite "MORE!"

"This is the most comprehensive look at the Cars ever released on any format," said the former frontman in a press release. "I've been sifting through out video and audio archives for a long time, and think I've put together a really personal, inside look at the group."

When Ocasek isn't putting together retrospective films, he has stayed busy as a solo artist, label owner (Inverse Records), and producer, helming projects for bands such as No Doubt, Guided By Voices, Weezer, Hole, Le Tigre, Bad Religion, The Pink Spiders, and others.

The New Cars, meanwhile, continue to suck.