Best Hall & Oates Album

H2-whoa!

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

YES YES YES thanks for validating my love for private eyes, ilm.

yr wlcm

4th place showing for Ooh Yeah! is surprising, as I was sure I'd be its only supporter.

THREE votes for ooh yeah!!??

(xpost)

why'd you vote for it, Johnny? (I love "Everything Your Heart Desires," btw).

Why? For my money, it's the tightest collection of original H&O songs in one place barring hits compilations, etc. Some albums may have higher highs, but this one's delightfully steady.

I've gotta get my hands on Abandoned Luncehonette. But yeah, this was basically how I predicted this was going turn out.

i can't believe i overlooked this poll! ;__;

over the weekend, i picked up whole oats -- it's quite good, if a little folkier than classic h&o.

Will the one voter for Change of Season please stand up?

I've been slowly on a mission to hear every single Hall & Oates studio album at least once. So far I have collected a lot of cherry-picked songs I like from several albums, but until I heard Abandoned Luncheonette & Private Eyes I had not heard any albums where I liked all the songs. Both seemed to me to be transcendent, monumental acheivements for them. The production on Private Eyes is just heavenly. The silver album from '75 bored me completely, except for maybe the first track. With Voices it seemed they had finally settled into the right style, but lacked inspiration. X-Static was nothing but embarassingly tacky cheeseville aside from Wait For Me.

I've still got a few real hardcore fave tracks from War Babies, Beauty On A Back Street and Along The Red Ledge. I fear Bigger Than The Both of Us, but I'm very much looking forward to Ooh Yeah! It will be interesting to see what else turns up. Even when they bore me or outright suck, I always seem to root for them until I find the next good song.

I would have voted for one of these, damn!

1983 Rock 'n Soul Part 1 0
1978 Along the Red Ledge 0

And I've always been curious about this one -- how new wave is it??

1979 X-Static 33 0

(And I probably don't really believe Along the Red Ledge is their best album -- no real hits, ha! -- but it's always been the one that seemed worth owning if you already have Rock 'n Soul Part 1, thanks to "It's a Laugh," "Alley Katz," and "Pleasure Beach." So it's the only actual LP-as-such by them still on my LP shelf.) (Though Sacred Songs is there too; should thatt count?)

(Oh wait, I still have H20 too I guess -- "Italian Girls"! -- but who cares about that one.)

"It's a Laugh" should be on every comp assembled by every artist.

Only 2 votes for War Babies? Please.

Rundgren on a roll...

eh, who's going to the Hall & Oates Home For Christmas tour?

Now wouldn't you know it was Bigger Than The Both Of Us which killed me to the core and Ooh Yeah! which made me wanna die it was so bad?

Everything I craved out of the '77-'78 albums, I get from '76's Bigger Than The Both Of Us. That song at the end, especially, what is that crazy synthesizer shit they do at the end? "Falling" oh god yeah that kills me. That whole song kills me. But all the same I applaud their efforts on the last song on Abandoned Luncheonette when they just went all out FUNK...

It's called "Everytime I Look At You" but it still isn't as good as half of Bigger Than The Both Of Us, though it tries.

;_;

1975 Daryl Hall & John Oates 1

I really need to hear oooh yeah!

I tried a little of their first album Whole Oats last night. It sounded pretty cool. Today I bought a CD compilation of their stuff from 68-71 called The Philadelphia Years. Haven't played it yet.

Still have yet to give Big Bam Boom a spin.

My disgust for Ooh Yeah! (aside from "Everything Your Heart Desires" which is one of my fave songs of them ever) has not dimmed my curiosity for Marigold Sky which I believe will be better.

Would you ever want to spend time with someone who has sat down and sympathetically listened to all these albums at least twice?

I wouldn't.

^^ this fucking guy

I like Hall and Oates, but come on.

Would you listen to a guy who posted stupid rhetorical questions on a Hall & Oates thread?

Yeah the thing I think most ridiculous about flute cake's post was that it appeared on a Best Hall & Oates Album thread! I mean ideally you would think a person who would vote in such a poll would have heard all the albums, right? *baffled*

Anyway I didn't like Big Bam Boom much either aside from Method Of Modern Love (of course) and "Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid". In general, I just don't care for most of their 80's stuff compared to some of what they did in the 70's.

I gotta tell you though I'm convinced the absolute CROWN JEWEL of their career is these early demos that appear on "The Philadelphia Years" CD. We're talking '68-'71. They are just devastatingly beautiful. Innocent and childlike sometimes. VERY folky. Not so much soul as folk, although at times they flirt with soul, even country. I like this CD so much I've even neglected their first album Whole Oats in favor of this, which I feel guilty about cause I need to go back to that.

I did buy their 2002 album "Do It For Love" the other day, though. Not sure what I think yet but I remember one Oates song that was quite good.

The last few tracks on the "Philadelphia Years" CD get a bit corny though...just a few tracks they did with some orchestra and there's horns and stuff. Yuck. But the rest is just bliss to my ears.

Also here's two versions of She's Gone that need to be seen/heard to believed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tj9JUKqVG_k
(Old Grey Whistle Test 1976)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZZngTkp54I
(no, I don't understand why Hall looked so girly in those days, either)

"Livetime" from 1978 is such a treat!

DO WHAT YOU WANT BE WHAT YOU ARE!

It has "The Emptyness" too which is already one of my faves. I've also had "I'm Just a Kid (Don't Make Me Feel Like A Man)" running through my head for days now.

'had i known you better then' is such a nice little ditty

It is -- nice use of space.

big bam boom isn't their best, but it has one of their best songs -- some things (are better left unsaid).

Great chords on that one.

Remove "Bank On Your Love" and "Going Thru the Motions" and it's as good as H2O and Private Eyes.

Goddamn I need some quality time with this band.

i've only heard abandoned lunchonette once now, but it's an interesting early view of the act in a much more raw form than i'm used to.

Their videos did them lasting damage. 'stache notwithstanding, Oates was an equal partner -- his songwriting and playing chops are all over their records -- not the goofball who looked jealous that the mulleted Aryan got all the attention.

oates is funny in family man. lots of mugging for the camera.

The 12" inch versions of the singles included on the BBB reissue are amazing. Like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z4zWSNsSkA

holy shit dudes did you hear their christmas album from 2006? very hall and oates-y

and by that i mean smooth

Not enough love for Voices, their first successful stab at New Wave guitar crunch ("Big Kids," "United States"). Unfortunately it also boasts the Righteous Bros cover.

the sincere hall and oates appreciation is the most charming and righteous thing about ILM, for me.

Saw them at the Hollywood Bowl a few weeks ago and it was seriously amazing. All the hits, full orchestra for half the set, sax/flute player str8 funkin out... Their band didn't sound too slick or "modern", just really tight and laid back.

Along The Red Ledge wuz robbed!!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccenFp_3kq8&ob=av3e

Has anyone read this interview from 2009? It's fantastic! Thorough!

certainly thorough! and...laborious

Kevin: I guess this question kind of ties in with that, the way that you've been in the industry through so many different changes, just from a production standpoint, from like a studio environment standpoint. When you first started, everything was analog and most of the songs were cut live, and you basically got one or two takes. You were actually there for the advent of things like sequencers and samplers and drum machines and, later on, MIDI and autotuners and Pro Tools and all that stuff. I know that you definitely seem to embrace all the new changes in technology and production methods. I was just wondering if you feel that, in any way, the musical arts have suffered or have benefited from these changes.

Daryl: Well, I've got a lot of feelings about that—mixed feelings. I always used new technology as it came along as a tool. I mean, when the first polyphonic synthesizer came in about 1976, that was an amazing thing because, before that, all you had was a Hammond Organ and a Wurlitzer, a Fender Rhodes or something like that. You were really limited as a keyboard player in what kind of sounds that you could make. So something like that was a great tool to bring in. But you still used it in the old-fashioned way, you know? Even though it was a new tool, it was still used in the same way as a Fender Rhodes would be used.

God, Abandoned Luncheonette is so good. You can just see rain inching along a windowpane in kind of grainy 1970s TV color.

Abandoned Luncheonette is my favorite of their albums.

Ha, apparently this is the time of year that I dig back into early, laid-back H&O records. Normally Abandoned Luncheonette does it for me on the autumnal evening wistful front, but I'm totally feeling Whole Oates tonight. "Goodnight and Good Morning" is so lush, and there are some just straight up acoustic cuts from Oates that put them smack in the Byrds/CSNY/John Denver countryfolkpop universe.

Has anyone read this interview from 2009? It's fantastic! Thorough!

"Bank on Your Love" though

I wish I could vote for Daryl Hall's Sacred Songs.

― filthy dylan, Sunday, June 10, 2007

I listened to H2O again and it's definitely great. The production is fantastic. The outros/fades on One on One and Open All Night are just gorgeous. On my stereo the "leave me alone" backing vocals on Family Man just jump out at you.

I still prefer Voices, which probably means I lean power pop over R&B. Delayed Reaction was my favorite H2O discovery, which seems the song most similar to Voices.

Ok, I kind of love Italian Girls now, but they missed an opportunity to have the chorus backing vocals sing the names of pastas instead of the female Italian names.

Fusilli . . . Bucatini . . . capellini . . . fettuccini . . .

War Babies is kind of fantastic, imho - the guys getting totally lost in some really interesting alternate directions for them. most of side A is charming, in the way of something that could be read as a parade of failures but i have a smile on my face through it anyway. a series of reaches for things they can't quite nail, like long proggy instrumental passages or full-on Stevie Wonder attempts. and then you get to "War Baby Son of Zorro" and it's like oh MAN do i wish they had an whole ALBUM of spaced out, Rundgren-flavored art-rock-pop! "Better Watch Your Back" is really great too, fun wacky groove (with vague Robert Palmer qualities?) and a super cool chorus that feels like it's just missing something to make it take off into the stratosphere and it could have been a hit. surprised that Google doesn't turn up any famous songs that sampled it.

omg how did i never notice the wild epic of "Screaming Through December" with its "'QUASAR, QUASAR,' WERE THE FIRST WORDS I HEARD FROM FAUSTUS" spoken-word section and "record slowing down" conclusion?! i mean it's not really a good version of this kind of thing, i think (?) but it's so fun to hear them trying their hardest and swinging for the fences.

i don't know anything too much about Utopia or Rundgren beyond a couple of singles i really like (like "Love of the Common Man"). do his fans think of this album as part of his story/oeuvre? like is it thought of as a curio for deep-cut fans, or is it thought of as a core Rundgren album, albeit one with two different vocalists/songwriters? or what?

It’s a great album but it suffers from Rundgren’s (and I fucking love Rundgren) ultra compressed everything turned up to 11 production…I wish he’d spend a bit more time on the sonics on his records…(Prince syndrome too)

i can hear that, totally. i feel like its biggest shortcoming for me is that either the band hasn't quite gotten "there" yet, or they just didn't completely mesh with H&O, or needed more time to play around with the songs, or something. like maybe the drummer in particular isn't lifting things up or taking them to that next step...?

but i'm no musician and definitely no drummer, so i always feel like i might be TOTALLY mishearing what's happening when i say things like that.

anyway though is "WBSoZ" gonna become one of my favorite Hall & Oates songs? i've already moved the needle back to play it twice.

He's a
Scared baby
He's afraid of a plane!
Hid under his desk in a hundred air raids
SCARED BABY!
Dug in the dirt, watched Wyatt Earp,
In the Atom Age, Atom Age, Atom AGE SCARED BABY!

"Better Watch Your Back" definitely could have been a hit for some funk act that was on fire in 1974.

thank you all for joining me in my liveblog of the evening i discovered i really dig Side B of the Hall & Oates album War Babies (1974)

Yeah, War Babies is the best!!! <3

nooo the production is awesome

The album was voted #4 in our Rundgren production poll, over Bat Out of Hell, so I guess it is generally esteemed. I feel that parts of it almost attempt a cloning of his own records, and if this has roused your interest, you should definitely check out A Wizard, A True Star and Todd.

oh for sure, it’s of a piece with Wizard and Todd

He produced this Felix Cavaliers in 1974 and it sounds less fugged up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3zJAcYuqic

"Hall & Oates" is a fiction. None of these albums say "Hall & Oates" on them, it's Daryl Hall & John Oates, or simply Daryl Hall John Oates. That said, I have no opinion on which is best, you guys are probably correct about that.

thanks for the Rundgren album recs, will check out!

You may find "Number One Lowest Common Denominator" a better version of what they tried in "Screaming Through December".

Interested to hear your thoughts on A Wizard…, dc

According to Daryl, War Babies got them dropped from their label because it was too indulgent.

plausible! they'd also released three albums to very limited success... five singles, with only one even charting, at #60 on the Hot 100 (the original issue of "She's Gone"). they probably seemed like a bad investment that it was time to bail on!

have spent some time with A Wizard..., enough to put it on my vinyl wantlist! Thanks for the rec. It definitely clarifies what the Rundgren/Utopia side of things is contributing to War Babies. I think for my tastes, the parts of WB that work are slightly more my jam... I like the idea of H&O's interests providing a consistent set of ingredients for the wacky art-rock stuff to play off of. Makes me wish they'd done an album with mid-70s Eno. But it's clearer now that the stuff that doesn't work is more due to either weaknesses in the material or a failure to mesh with the TR crew, than any inherent weaknesses on the latter's part. Also I have "just another onion heeeaad" stuck in my head all the time now.

not sure i ever actually scrolled up and looked at the poll results on this thread. some really unusual votes there! didn't even know they *had* those 90s and 00s albums.

Glad you like Wizard! So are you saying you'd rather have heard how Rundgren would've produced a "She's Gone"-type song, instead of Daryl trying to out-weird Todd with bizarre material?

Hmmm. I mean, I love the title track so much, and that's definitely in the "out-weird" zone (or was it more Rundgren encouraging them to embrace their weirder ideas?). But in terms of missed potential I look more to like, "Better Watch Your Back" which is a more conventional kind of H&O song that has this more post-psych art-rock sound to it. Idk. I think I'm really just hearing a lot of the songs as almost-great but a little clunky, and imagining they just needed a few more weeks rehearsing together with the band and getting a feel for the songs all together, finding what they wanted to be.