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Trollheart · 07-17-2011, 10:56 AM

One way home --- The Hooters --- 1987 (Columbia)

Inspired by their hit single “Satellite”, I bought this album and thought the chances were that it would be a mixture of mostly mediocre songs, with perhaps one or two the calibre of “Satelite” mixed in. How wrong I was! This is a powerhouse of an album, and some of the tracks on it are so good that they leave the single, good though it is, in the dust. It's the Hooters' third album, and gets going with the aforementioned single, a great slice of commercial rock, with mandolin, harmonica, accordion and melodica giving it a very celtic feel. It's a stomping rocker, themed on the idea of Evangelist preachers who care for nothing but money, kind of the same idea explored by Genesis in “Jesus he knows me” on “We can't dance”, a decade later. ”Jump in the river and learn to swim/ God's gonna wash away all your sins/ And if you still can't see the light/ God's gonna buy you a sateliite.”

Lead vocalist Eric Bazilian has a raw, rough, raspy voice that reminds you of perhaps a younger Rod Stewart with hints of John Cougar Mellencamp, a voice that instantly grabs you from the moment he starts singing. “Karla with a K” deepens and expands the celtic influence, with a song the band wrote about an Irish street singer they met on their travels. It's not bad, but “Johnny B”, which follows it, is far better, with its powerful keyboard hooks and jangly guitar, not to mention its extremely catchy chorus. It is however “Graveyard waltz” which stands out as the best track on the album, its eerie story of dancing skeletons and witches underpinned by a swirling, bayou rhythm, and carried on the powerful keyboard work of Rob Hyman as he paints a lurid picture of straying into places where the living should not walk. ”We danced so close/ We were teenage ghosts/ Doing that graveyard waltz.” Spooky stuff!

After the splendour of “Graveyard waltz”, it's a bit of a comedown to hear “Fightin' on the same side”, which is rather ordinary, but then comes the title track, and we're back on, excuse the pun, track. A monster of a song, it's again carried by the punchy keyboards of Hyman, but joined more forcefully this time by Bazilian's guitar as a reggae beat carries it along. The only real ballad follows, and it's a corker. “Washington's Day” is a mandolin-introduced, piano-led song of wishing to be home with your loved one, and it goes along on a waltzy rhythm, just making you sway from side to side --- try it, you can't resist! ”When the wars that men wage are all through/ And their monuments all put on display/ Tell the hungry and stranded, the poor empty-handed/ We'll meet them on Washington's Day.”

The album winds up on a great little rocker, “Engine 999”, some glorious guitar and a fitting end to what has been a fairly consistently great album, something of a surprise considering I wasn't expecting that much, and had never heard of the Hooters up till then. If you like your rock tinged with a southern flavour and some interesting instrumentation, then you could do a lot worse than take a listen to “One way home”. Just don't go wandering off down any dark paths....

TRACKLISTING

1. Satellite
2. Karla with a K
3. Johnny B
4. Graveyard waltz
5. Fightin' on the same side
6. One way home
7. Washington's Day
8. Hard rockin' summer
9. Engine 999

07-17-2011, 10:56 AM	#81 (permalink)
Trollheart Born to be mild Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: 404 Not Found Posts: 26,970	One way home --- The Hooters --- 1987 (Columbia) Inspired by their hit single “Satellite”, I bought this album and thought the chances were that it would be a mixture of mostly mediocre songs, with perhaps one or two the calibre of “Satelite” mixed in. How wrong I was! This is a powerhouse of an album, and some of the tracks on it are so good that they leave the single, good though it is, in the dust. It's the Hooters' third album, and gets going with the aforementioned single, a great slice of commercial rock, with mandolin, harmonica, accordion and melodica giving it a very celtic feel. It's a stomping rocker, themed on the idea of Evangelist preachers who care for nothing but money, kind of the same idea explored by Genesis in “Jesus he knows me” on “We can't dance”, a decade later. ”Jump in the river and learn to swim/ God's gonna wash away all your sins/ And if you still can't see the light/ God's gonna buy you a sateliite.” Lead vocalist Eric Bazilian has a raw, rough, raspy voice that reminds you of perhaps a younger Rod Stewart with hints of John Cougar Mellencamp, a voice that instantly grabs you from the moment he starts singing. “Karla with a K” deepens and expands the celtic influence, with a song the band wrote about an Irish street singer they met on their travels. It's not bad, but “Johnny B”, which follows it, is far better, with its powerful keyboard hooks and jangly guitar, not to mention its extremely catchy chorus. It is however “Graveyard waltz” which stands out as the best track on the album, its eerie story of dancing skeletons and witches underpinned by a swirling, bayou rhythm, and carried on the powerful keyboard work of Rob Hyman as he paints a lurid picture of straying into places where the living should not walk. ”We danced so close/ We were teenage ghosts/ Doing that graveyard waltz.” Spooky stuff! After the splendour of “Graveyard waltz”, it's a bit of a comedown to hear “Fightin' on the same side”, which is rather ordinary, but then comes the title track, and we're back on, excuse the pun, track. A monster of a song, it's again carried by the punchy keyboards of Hyman, but joined more forcefully this time by Bazilian's guitar as a reggae beat carries it along. The only real ballad follows, and it's a corker. “Washington's Day” is a mandolin-introduced, piano-led song of wishing to be home with your loved one, and it goes along on a waltzy rhythm, just making you sway from side to side --- try it, you can't resist! ”When the wars that men wage are all through/ And their monuments all put on display/ Tell the hungry and stranded, the poor empty-handed/ We'll meet them on Washington's Day.” The album winds up on a great little rocker, “Engine 999”, some glorious guitar and a fitting end to what has been a fairly consistently great album, something of a surprise considering I wasn't expecting that much, and had never heard of the Hooters up till then. If you like your rock tinged with a southern flavour and some interesting instrumentation, then you could do a lot worse than take a listen to “One way home”. Just don't go wandering off down any dark paths.... TRACKLISTING 1. Satellite 2. Karla with a K 3. Johnny B 4. Graveyard waltz 5. Fightin' on the same side 6. One way home 7. Washington's Day 8. Hard rockin' summer 9. Engine 999 __________________ Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018 Last edited by Trollheart; 04-07-2015 at 04:48 PM.