Sad reflections on the Eighties

Mountain Stage tonight has an interesting line-up: Martin Sexton, Ryan Adams, Cowboy Junkies, and... The Hooters. I can take or leave Sexton and Adams--both are competent and have done a few good things. The Junkies, I love.

And then there's The Hooters. I had a fair dose of nostalgia for them from the era when I actually owned their tape--the only one that mattered. Their first few songs on the show were good, and then they closed with "And We Danced." It was their hit. It was good, right? But there are certain songs that should never be played acoustically with a mandolin, piano, and the vocorder-thing that was the "hooter." Never. Never play songs like this in that way. "And We Danced" only belongs in the rock-concert-fun nostalgia of the Eighties--through amplifiers, with people cheering, and very little spotlight on the actual song. Stripped down, it loses even the nostalgic fun.