Panorama (The Cars album)
third studio album by American new wave band The Cars
Panorama is the third studio album by American new wave band the Cars, released on August 15, 1980, by Elektra Records. Like its predecessors, it was produced by Roy Thomas Baker and released on Elektra Records.
Background
The record marked a change from the upbeat pop rock and hard rock of the band's previous studio albums, representing a more aggressive and experimental sound. Billboard said that while Panorama retained the Cars' minimalist approach from their eponymous debut studio album, it sounded sufficiently different to avoid having the band sound like a caricature of itself.
Panorama peaked at No. 5 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album's lead single, "Touch and Go", reached No. 37 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Critical reception
Rolling Stone critic Ken Tucker said that "Panorama isn't merely a joyless joyride, it's an out-and-out drag." Robert Christgau claimed that the album's problem is "boredom with formula" and said that "This is longer, slower and denser [than previous Cars' studio albums], with lyrics that skirt social commentary and music that essays textural pretension. Spin Alternative Record Guide deemed the album "a dry, monotonous Wire imitation." Critic Keith Roysdon said that "The entire album is a plea from a man's point of view for love and/or sex from a woman.
“Panorama (The Cars album)” enters the record as third studio album by American new wave band The Cars. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Panorama, Cars and album can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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“Panorama (The Cars album)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Panorama, Cars and album provides the most credible route into that argument.
Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1763900. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1980.
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This entry incorporates text from “Panorama (The Cars album)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.