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Pop Rock Nation

Tag: Hall & Oates

  • Shoulda Been a Hit: Daryl Hall’s “Someone Like You”

    daryk

    After an amazing run of success in the early Eighties, Daryl Hall & John Oates took a well-deserved break. While Oates tried his hand at producing (particularly Icehouse’s Top 10 hit “Electric Blue”), Daryl worked on and released his second solo album, 1986‘s “Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine”. The album paired Daryl with Eurythmic Dave Stewart and found him joined by guests like Joni Mitchell. “Three Hearts” was a mildly successful album, spawning the Top 10 hit “Dreamtime” (YouTube the trippy video if you feel so inclined), but it was something of a letdown sales-wise after H2O’s track record of the previous six years.

    That’s not to say that “Three Hearts” was a bad album. Qualitatively, it was as good as anything Hall & Oates released during their “hit” period, and Stewart gave Hall a more punchy, slightly avant-garde dance rock sound. However, given Hall’s penchant for soulful vocals, it makes perfect sense that “Three Hearts”’  best song is a ballad. “Someone Like You” may have only peaked at #57 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart, but it stands as one of the best vocal performances of Hall’s entire career.

    The song itself is a rock steady swaying groover with hints of Motown in both the rhythm and the background vocals, embellished with the airy synthesizers that were a hallmark of the era. However, you’re not exactly paying attention to the background arrangement during this song. Hall’s vocals are alternately forceful and pleading as he laments the loss of a love and hopes that he finds someone exactly like her the next time around. A guitar solo in the song’s bridge matches the intensity of Hall’s vocal, and the song ends with Hall begging “please send me down somebody to love” with an urgency that will bring tears to your eyes.

    Not quite sure why this song wasn’t bigger than it was…perhaps because it was the third single from the underperforming “Three Hearts”, it wasn’t given the proper promotional push. If you manage to get your paws on a copy of “Three Hearts”, however (it’s been out of print for some time), it’s worth it for this show-stopping performance alone. (Note: “Someone Like You” is also available on Hall & Oates “Ballads Collection”).

  • Friday Throwback – She’s Gone

    Since Money Mike’s earlier post about the mustachioed one, John Oates, made me laugh, I decided to continue with the theme.

    I was listening to sports radio one evening and the host was playing Hall & Oates. Soon enough, I noticed it was their heartbreak classic, She’s Gone. The host was talking about how this song was the greatest song in its class and how it hit him in the pit of his stomach every time he heard it. And then he started singing. And he ruined it.

    I decided to see if there was a video for the song and as it turns out, there is. But it’s the kind of video that makes the song feel a bit creepy. You see both guys staring in a stalker like gaze and I can’t seem to think that they are thinking uncomfortable thoughts. Well, see for yourself.

    – I can’t decide who is more pimp between Hall or Oates. One is naked under a bathrobe and the other is wearing a tuxedo shirt with the sleeves cut off showing off his arms. I’ll call that even.

    – Not only is Oates the stache man, but he has a gnarly beard too.

    – Ha! The devil just walked by.

    – What is Hall wearing on his feet? Striped socks? Sandals with socks on? High heels?

    – They couldn’t even use real money. The must’ve landed on Park Place with hotels.

    – I’m not even sure what playing guitar without linking the cuffs means.

    Ok, so this might be one of the worst videos ever, but hey, it was probably recorded sometime in the mid 70s. Maybe, since the song gets you right in the pit of your stomach, the video had to be the pits?

  • The Legend of Oates’ Mustache

    John Oates' MoustacheThis was too good to pass up…

    I recently came across an article on billboard.com that says that there is a cartoon in the works called “J-Stache”. This animated series will focus on the adventures of one of the great mustachioed men of our time, John Oates. Oates will be a mild-mannered (wait for it) FAMILY MAN (that’s a Hall & Oates song, people) who turns into a crime-fighting superhero when his mustache attracts him back to being a rock star.

    Said mustache will be voiced by Dave Atell, meaning that this will automatically be the funniest thing Atell has ever been in.

    The coolest thing about this is that Oates is totally co-signing it! He’s got a fantastic sense of humor about it, although I guess I would too if a cartoon about my facial hair was going to potentially make me a shitload of money.

    According to the article, the pilot episode will focus on Oates trying to open a wing of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (an institution that H2O are curiously not members of) dedicated to mustachioed musicians and joining forces with David Crosby and Tom Selleck.

    One word=awesome. I’m so there, it’s not even funny.

    Daryl Hall’s perfectly coiffed tresses had no comment.