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Hooters - Nervous Night

I suppose now is as good a time as any to say thank you to Cyndi Lauper, as without her number one "Time After Time" featuring Rob Hyman on the counter vocal, I wonder if Hooters would have been signed to Columbia Records.

Fast forward a couple of years and a familiar voice is singing "All You Zombies," and it's a jaw-dropping moment. It was a perplexing song to a lot of people - especially kids who weren't used to hearing a song about the Book of Exodus, or more likely, the guys in the band were simply fans of Cecil B. DeMille and figured pairing Moses in a song with zombies would sound cool - it did. I remember a lot of people wondering if the guys were a Christian band or something.

Didn't matter.

The song rocked, and if it didn't make any sense, so what?

I bought the album, then lost the album - bought the CD, kept the CD, and then when my wife wasn't looking bought the album again because I wanted to. I will also admit that on occasion I can get a little obsessive, as I really didn't need to get the record. But it was there, and it was cheap, so it only made sense to get it.

Don't do drugs, kids. Buy records. Or comics. Or both.

Anyway, the album is an awesome blend of rock with a bit of quirkiness thrown in for fun. It didn't hurt that the guitar playing throughout was crisp, clean, and at times blistering. It was everything I loved, and still love, about pop music. Heck, even the quirky melodica is cool, and at times distracting, like on "Don't Take My Car Out Tonight" - but it was their hooter, and where would Hooters be without a hooter?

The album charged out of the gate with "And We Danced," which was a great tune, then came "Day By Day" with a mandolin and a wicked chicken-pickin' solo. I mean, this was so good. Song after song the guys set them up and knocked 'em down. It was a cavalcade of pop excellence.

"Hanging on a Heartbeat," for whatever reason, was always my favourite song on the album. It was greater than the sum of all the parts.

Patty Smyth from Scandal, who was still a hot property thanks to the success of "Warrior," got to duet on "Where Do the Children Go?" which is a good song, but if there was a song to return the favour to Cyndi this would have been the one. Still, it's easy to sit on the couch and make odd judgments about what could or should have been. Besides, Patty killed it, so really what do I have to complain about?

The album closes out with "Blood from a Stone," a song that structurally feels like an inverted and rearranged version of "Day By Day," which to me was a great bookend, and a solid way to close out a fine album.

Not sure what the guys were nervous about.

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