As a curious crusader of reflecting on my youth in the 80’s, I started recollecting some of the concerts I saw with my buddies from 1984 to 1989 and tried to remember which shows were good or not so good. We must have seen anywhere between 30 to 40 shows, during that time. Out of nowhere The Hooters came to my mind. I remember seeing them twice as an opening act; once for Bryan Adams and the other time for Loverboy.
As I recall, I thought The Hooters were good and nothing spectacular. As a band I liked quite a few of their songs from their first two studio albums Nervous Night and One Way Home, both of which I owned. After 1987/1988 The Hooters just kind of disappeared from the mainstream Rock scene. To be honest, I really didn’t seek out any new material this band may have recorded.
Now that The Hooters were on my mind, I needed to know what I’ve missed from them over the past 25 years. As I did my research, I discovered this band released 4 more studio albums and 2 live albums. My curiosity persuaded me to purchase a four CD mini box import set titled: The 30th Anniversary Fan Collection. This box set was issued in 2010 and includes 2 studio albums, Time Stands Still and 5 X 5, along with 2 live albums Both Sides Live Disc 1 Live At The Electric Factory and Both Sides Live Disc 2 Secret Sessions Live Acoustic. For the purpose of this post I’m only going to focus on the Both Sides Live/The Electric Factory CD 2.
Above: back cover & complete track list
After listening to this disc for the first time, I was blown away! I never expected to hear such a tremendous Rock N’ Roll album. The Both Sides Live/The Electric Factory Disc 2 includes 13 tracks from their 6 studio albums. The concert begins with I’m Alive, a song from their Time Stands Still album. This would be the first time I heard this song! It’s an excellent tune that sets the mood for the entire CD. Over the course of the next 12 songs, more than half consist of their big 1980’s hits: Day By Day, Satellite, Johnny B and my favorite All You Zombies. I’ve always loved the beginning of that song and recorded live it’s even better!
In my humble opinion every song on this CD sounds better when performed live, compared to the studio versions. They even ”Hooterized” a cover of the Don Henley song classic Boys of Summer which is quite good. The concert comes to a Rockin’ conclusion with the song Free Again, also from the Time Stands Still album.
If you’re looking for something a little different from the latest Rock Music norm and want to enjoy some phenomenal Rock ‘N’ Roll performed by a bunch of fantastic musicians, I would recommend purchasing this CD from The Hooters. Hopefully, you’ll be singing along to most of the songs just as I did. I’m thrilled that I took a chance on purchasing this Hooters Box set, for after all these years I find the music of the Hooters spectacular. – Scott Coverdale
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LONG LIVE THE HOOTERS.
LONG LIVE PHILADELPHIA, PA.
SCOTT COVERDALE.
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