Hmmm, Heartbeat City's cover is missing its maroon border?

I have all the SHM-CDs which sound quite good, though a little on the loud side.

At the right price, I'd probably get this if the mastering was better and sell those at a nice price.

I noticed that too.

On the plus side, embiggening the image shows that the other CDs have spines, a step up from many other WEA box sets of this type. It'd be nice if they have the proper inner sleeves, too.

I have that Hoffman remaster from a few years ago (Heartbeat City) and I remember there was a bit of controversy over how the songs were edited together (gaps).

I'd like a re-master of "Panorama". I am covered with all the others.

Rick A.

I have the Cars "Original Album Series", which includes the first five albums. I'll purchase this one to replace it, since it also includes "Door to Door". I like the packaging and I hope for nice remastering.

The OOP version of "Panorama" was HDCD encoded and is held in high regard amongst the collector community. Several titles from the catalog are due for release as SACD's on MoFi in the near future. I had hoped that the cancelled euro releases with bonus tracks and DVD's would eventually see the light of day. This is a disappointment.

All the bonus cuts on those proposed UK remasters were taken from the Just What I Needed anthology in 1995 (maybe one or two weren't. but I think they all were and those were going to be crappy 2-fers anyway).

I have all the SHM-CDs and like I said earlier, they sound great but just a little loud (not bad, or distracting though and the packaging is gorgeous).

I'm curious if these are going to be more subtle in that regard.

I'm in.

Not going to buy them all again...not going to buy them all again...not going to buy them all again...not going to buy them all again...not going to buy them all again...

nope, me neither.

Would have been nice if "Tonight She Comes" was included somehow.

The American pre-order price has dropped $8 from when it was first listed, and is now $31.99:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01B2IOKQS/?tag=imwan-20

Got mine yesterday and I'm very happy with it. The packaging is pretty minimal, but the sound is great (at least to my ears). I started with Panorama, which I really hadn't given much of a chance in the past. The opening track is so bad, I really didn't bother with the rest of the album (other than Touch & Go). But it's a terrific record.

I urge you to give Panorama another shot. It's darker than the previous two albums and not as consistent as either of them, but in addition to "Touch & Go" there are other songs I consider essential, like "Down Boys," "Misfit Kid," "Gimme Some Slack" and "Running To You." I actually like the title track too but it was a bad choice for album opener.

I'm having a hard time thinking these sound better (they won't look better) than my SHM-CDs, so I'm still debating.

I loved it after listening yesterday. I still don't like the title track, but I think the rest of the record is wonderful. Interestingly, Heartbeat City is the one album that hasn't held up well for me. It was huge, and I loved it at the time. But that's the last one I pull out these days.

I'm happy to hear that you loved Panorama after giving it another shot. I still love Heartbeat City but it's the most dated sounding record in their catalog because of the production. Song-wise it's still pretty great.

Does Heartbeat City's jacket look like it does in the photo in the initial post, or does it look like the original release with the dark border?