Hooterization: Retrospective

The Hooters | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 3, 1996)
• Original Release Date: September 3, 1996
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000002AE1
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #79,512 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A really good greatest hits collection, November 4, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Hooterization: Retrospective (Audio CD)

This compilation is a good collection both for people who kind of like the Hooters and for die-hard Melodicans. It contains all the best known songs, plus a couple of rarities ("Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds"from the B-side of the "Johnny B" single, and "Time After Time" from the "Nervous Night Live" video).

Unfortunately, all the songs come from the three Columbia albums ("Nervous Night," "One Way Home" and "Zig Zag"), so if you're looking for your favorite song from "Amore," "Out Of Body" or "The Hooters Live," you're out of luck. I suppose Sony didn't want to bother getting the rights to use songs from another label. Luckily, this won't come as a disappointment to anyone but a die-hard fan, since casual listeners have probably never heard any songs off the non-Columbia albums.

If you are looking for a really good Hooters collection, I'd definitely recommend you get this album.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a seriously underrated band, August 10, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Hooterization: Retrospective (Audio CD)

Like many others who claimed to be true Hooters fans, I owned "Nervous Night" but didn't buy any of the follow-ups. Now I realize the error of my ways. Like "NN," every song on this collection just blows me away. I remember seeing them do "Lucy in the Sky" live in '86, and I love the fact that they put the live performance on the album. I am amazed that "Beat Up Guitar" was never played on the radio. If you've worn out your vinyl "NN" and need more Hooters, be sure to pick up this CD.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better than a Philly Cheesesteak, September 17, 2005

By 

Tim Brough "author and music buff" (Springfield, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Hooterization: Retrospective (Audio CD)

To this day, when I hear the Hooters sing the line "The town that rocked the nation, Philadelphia, PA," I get goose bumps. Through the course of their three Columbia albums in the 80's, this Philadelphia five piece consistently wrote and recorded fine music, yet their debut was the only album that harvested massive sales and airplay.

Starting with the breakthrough singles "Hanging On A Heartbeat" (not included here) and "All You Zombies," The Hooters brought an impressive mix of styles to the table. Acoustic folk instruments were combined with reggae rhythms and new wave energy, and that was what brought them to the attention of Columbia. The result was the energetic and brash "Nervous Night," and the accompanying hits "Day By Day" and "And We Danced." They saw their stars soar so quickly that they were pegged to open the Philly segment of Live Aid.

But it was more than the energy of the band and their albums; Rob Hyman and Eric Brazilian were crack songwriters. It was Hyamn's composition with Cyndi Lauper, "Time After Time," that cemented her stardom after "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" (coincidentally written by another Philadelphian, Robert Hazard). "Time After Time" appears here in a live version, along with a Hooterized version of "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds."

The Hooters' second album was the even more acoustically flavored "One Way Home," which found the band attempting social commentary with the sing-along of "Satellite." But they didn't give up their rocking, as "Fighting On The Same Side" shows. But if "One Way Home" was a progression, then "Zig Zag" was the final maturation of the band. From the melancholy of "Heaven Laughs" to the Hooterization of "500 Miles" (complete with back-up vocals from Peter, Paul and Mary and a lyrical reference to Tienamen Square) to the hometown cheer of "Beat Up Guitar," this was their finest hour.

Sadly, the maturity came at a price. Minus the giddy enthusiasm of the debut, "Zig Zag" failed to connect at the same level as "Nervous Night." As an album though, it maintains the same integrity as albums of the period from John Mellencamp and Don Henley. There was another album released after "Zig Zag," it is not represented here (due to being on a different label, one surmises). The Hooters still gig, and they still put on one heck of a show. Seeing as only "Nervous Night" remains in print from those first three CD's, "Hooterization" is a terrific place to get the best of this band. But if you feel like splurging on the many used Hooters titles available on Amazon, I recommend them all.

After all, if "you can't get to Heaven on the Frankford El," (even if I take to Second Street every day), you can at least get some of Philly's finest band without laying out a bundle of dough.