defend the indefensible: Hall and Oates

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

The prophet 5 rules

it's probably redundant to the contents of this primary thread, but here's a somewhat neglected thread specifically on their wilderness period: OK, You ILXor Hall & Oates Lovin' Motherfuckers, Tell Me All About Their Relatively Obscure 1977-1979 Releases

also, forgot to note this when i watched it, but recent indie/stoner Groundhog Day-inspired comedy Palm Springs makes excellent use of "When the Morning Comes," off Abandoned Luncheonette.

I would put up Side 1 of Voices against any side of any new wave/power pop record anywhere.

And most of H&O.

My X-Static jam is a disco adult contemporary number called "Who Said the World Was Fair."

Are they still the biggest-selling duo of all-time? I guess the '80s were a gold rush in selling records, but it's still surprising to me that they'd sell more records than, say, Simon & Garfunkel.

― birdistheword

I would have thought Daft Punk or Outkast would have outsold them but no.

“Out of Touch” is surely one of my top 20 songs of the 80’s, if I ever made such a list.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Thursday, August 12, 2021 2:55 PM

you're cool. can we be friends?

(i have an unofficial playlist in my head titled "put on any of these songs at any time and austin will dance like a foole" and 'out of touch' is on it. other selections include 'close to me' by the cure, 'spottieottiedopaliscious' by outkast, 'say it loud i'm black and i'm proud' by james brown, 'take five' by dave brubeck, and so and so forth. classic material and whatnot.)

I love all of those songs. We shall dance together as fools!

"M.E.T.H.O.D.O.F.L.O.V.E. ..." I've had this stuck in my head for decades.

both of those songs totally rule

The senior with the junior miss
I wonder what the junior wishes
That she could graduate to adult
Kisses

some outlets get hall, others get oates: https://www.gq.com/story/john-oates-hall-and-oates-interview

Norris and Dell’Abate

https://i.imgur.com/3xlXvds.png

With Joey ramone, 1983

Here's how I'd do it.

came in to wonder if along the red ledge didn't get its permission from nite flights -- tho if so the timing is very tite tight (walker bros release is july 78, H&O is aug)

xxpost lol

So, "Maneater" was 1982, "Tell Her About It" was 1983, "Part Time Lover" was ... 1985? Three very similar but very different takes on the same sort of Motown groove. Looks like Phil's "fuck it, let's just record the song again" "Can't Hurry Love" was released as a single less than a month after "Maneater." (FWIW, "Big Chill" soundtrack was released almost exactly a year after "Maneater.") Early '80s was Motown crazy.

Boomers getting moist-eyed for the LBJ years.

I suppose "Modern Love" can get slotted in there somewhere too.

"Modern Love" doesn't sound Motown-indebted to my ears. Adjacent maybe? And it's far from nostalgic.

Yeah, it's too ... modern.

"Town Called Malice" by the Jam was earlier than all of these other pastiches.

Yeah, earlier the same year, right? 1982? But of course the Jam like a lot of UK acts were directly keyed in to the Northern Soul/mod stuff, so it's very on-brand. And of course "Get Happy!" was riffing on that world a few years before *that*. Either way, to my ears both less overtly nostalgic than the Motown worship stuff to come.

I thought British or blue-eyed soul was an ongoing tradition, like further back than even Dusty in Memphis and passing through popular albums like Bowie's Young Americans?

Although neither Dusty in Memphis and Young Americans were exactly retro, they were playing in/with contemporary Black styles.

...and Daryl doesn't like you using the term "blue-eyed soul", better watch out.

I know _Sacred Songs_, that is a nice one. I always wished Fripp released an all-Hall _Exposure_ as he originally planned, but he did do a great job of turning a drawback into an advantage with the new vocalists he recruited.

When and why did they add the "Daryl" and "John" to their bandname? Egotism? A silly decision if you ask me: "Hall And Oates" rolls off the tongue so much more easily. (But at least "Daryl Hall And John Oates" is still much better in every way than "England Dan and John Ford Coley"!)

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, July 26, 2004 2:15 AM

https://i.ibb.co/hM66tcd/Screenshot-20220218-110244-120.png

.@realdarylhall and @JohnOates would like this legend to know that he has been seen. 🕵🏼🕵🏻‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/1x9pf0Czcr

— Daryl Hall & John Oates (@halloates) July 18, 2022

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaJT1_-Fyac

That excellent video reminds me that when I interviewed Daryl 20 years ago and asked him if H&O had any wild times with drugs BITD, he replied "Man, have you seen my haircuts and the clothes I wore in the 80s??"

LOL. Yeah, he almost has a "Coked Up Werewolf" look going there.

another deep cut ive been playing a ton lately
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MWrvIzlEy0

^Ooh yeah!

seven forty five.. quarter to eight, time to get up!

Good song. A Hall-Oates co-write too.

seven forty five.. quarter to eight, time to get up!

― brimstead, Thursday, September 15, 2022 11:02 AM (twenty-three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeah love how they carried the theme all the way through to wake-up lol

I can easily pick 20 artists I like more, but none of them are as decade-defining as H&O. They pretty much define the sound of the 80’s for me.

I immediately dismiss any best singles of the 80’s list that doesn’t feature at least one track of them.

Joining their list of great album tracks that could have been singles is "Bank On Your Love" from '84's Big Bam Boom. Between the plate-tectonic drums and Hutchence-style yelps that end phrases, it sounds like what would have happened if a record label begged a Shabooh Shoobah-era INXS to write their own version of "Out Of Touch" (hell, I can totally picture Garry Gary Beers leaping from offscreen right as the bass comes in at the 0:24 mark).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y29o-iSjKu0

I'm also fond of this late-imperial-phase track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxKSJJkble8

I just posted that one a couple weeks ago

I really dig that entire album, tbh

Same. Timing mattered: if they'd released it a year later, it would've been an artifact. As it stands BBB still sounds like a fresh synthesis of electro, early hip-hop, and H&0's soul stylings.

I referred to BBB obv.

Restraining order!

"Daryl Hall Gets Restraining Order Against John Oates in Hall & Oates Legal Battle"

https://variety.com/2023/music/news/hall-and-oates-lawsuit-restraining-order-1235805425/

That is . . . very odd.

mods rename thread to
Hall and Oates

awww shucks

Say it isn't so!