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Title: Hall & Oates – Voices (1980) [MFSL 2013]
Genre: Rock
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

At the close of the ’70s, Hall & Oates began inching toward a sleek, modern sound, partially inspired by the thriving punk and new wave scene and partially inspired by Daryl Hall’s solo debut, Sacred Songs, a surprising and successful collaboration with art rock legend Robert Fripp. While 1979’s X-Static found the duo sketching out this pop/soul/new wave fusion, it didn’t come into fruition until 1980’s Voices, which was their creative and commercial breakthrough. Essentially, Voices unveils the version of Hall & Oates that made them the most successful duo in pop history, the version that ruled the charts for the first half of the ’80s. During the ’70s, Hall & Oates drifted from folky singer/songwriters to blue-eyed soulmen, with the emphasis shifting on each record. On Voices, they place their pop craftsmanship front and center, and their production (assisted by engineer/mixer Neil Kernon) is clean, spacious, sleek, and stylish, clearly inspired by new wave yet melodic and polished enough for the mainstream. Thanks to the singles “Kiss on My List” and “You Make My Dreams” (and, to a lesser extent, their remake of the Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” and the original version of the heartbreaking ballad “Everytime You Go Away,” later popularized by Paul Young), the mainstream enthusiastically embraced Hall & Oates, and the ubiquitousness of these hits obscures the odder, edgier elements of Voices, whether it’s the rushed, paranoid “United State,” tense “Gotta Lotta Nerve (Perfect Perfect),” the superb Elvis Costello-styled “Big Kids,” the postmodern doo wop tribute “Diddy Doo Wop (I Hear the Voices),” or even John Oates’ goofy “Africa.” Apart from the latter, these are the foundation of the album, the proof that the duo wasn’t merely a stellar singles act, but expert craftsmen as writers and record-makers. The next few albums were bigger hits, but they topped the charts on the momentum created by Voices, and it still stands as one of their great records.

hraudio | allmusic | discogs

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Title: Hall & Oates – Rock ‘N Soul Part 1 (1983) [MFSL 2015]
Genre: Rock
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Released at the peak of Hall & Oates’ popularity in the early ’80s, 1983’s Rock ‘n Soul, Pt. 1: Greatest Hits effectively chronicles the time when the duo could do no wrong – namely, the period between 1980’s Voices and 1982’s H2O, which includes only one other album, 1981’s excellent Private Eyes. While this reaches back to their early-’70s work for Atlantic for “She’s Gone,” the only big hit they had at the label, and also has their two other big hits from that decade, “Sara Smile” and “Rich Girl,” the bulk of Rock ‘n Soul, Pt. 1 derives from those three albums: “Kiss on My List,” “You Make My Dreams,” “Private Eyes,” “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do),” “Maneater,” and “One on One.” That’s a long list of singles, but it still misses some terrific singles from this era, including “How Does It Feel to Be Back,” “Did It in a Minute,” “Family Man,” and “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” (the latter two were included as bonus tracks on RCA/Legacy’s 2006 reissue). As good as those songs may be, Rock ‘n Soul, Pt. 1 doesn’t necessarily miss them: with the exception of a live version of “Wait for Me” (good, but not essential), this is the cream of the crop of Hall & Oates’ best period, and it makes for a tight, excellent listen, and it’s bolstered by the sublime “Say It Isn’t So” and the good rocker “Adult Education.” Latter-day compilations like 2001’s Very Best of Daryl Hall & John Oates and 2004’s Ultimate (which was reissued a year later under the title Essential) may cover their entire career in more detail – and the duo certainly made great music before and after this era – but as a snapshot of Hall & Oates at their finest, Rock ‘n Soul, Pt. 1: Greatest Hits can’t be beat.

hraudio | allmusic | discogs

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Title: Hall & Oates – Private Eyes (1981) [MFSL 2014]
Genre: Rock
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Hall & Oates were in the middle of recording Private Eyes when Voices suddenly, unexpectedly broke big, with “Kiss on My List” reaching number one not just on the Billboard charts, but in Cashbox and Record World. As the album’s producer, Neil Kernon, admits in Ken Sharp’s liner notes to the 2004 reissue of the album, everybody knew that the new record would have to do better than Voices, but even if Hall & Oates were under a lot of pressure, they were in the fortunate position of not just having reintroduced their modernized, new wave-influenced blue-eyed soul on their previous record, but they already had much of the material nailed down. In other words, the sound and songs on Private Eyes were essentially conceived when the group was confident of the artistic breakthrough of Voices but not swaggering with the overconfidence of being the biggest pop act in America, and the result is one of their best albums and one of the great mainstream pop albums of the early ’80s. Hall & Oates don’t repeat the formula of Voices; they expand it, staying grounded in pop-soul but opening up the stylized production, so it sounds both cinematic and sharp. Lots of subtle effects are layered on the voices, guitars, and pianos as they mingle with synthesized instruments, from the keyboard loops that give “Head Above Water” a restless momentum to the drum machine that lends “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)” a sexy, seductive groove.

hraudio | allmusic | discogs

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