Ticket 2 Ride

After an acrimonious split, Daryl Hall and John Oates have apparently settled their business lawsuits against each other, but don’t look for any creative projects together.

Hall and Oates are one of the top recording duos of all time. At the height of their success in the mid 1980s, they stepped away and reassessed their musical direction. After working the better part of the 1970s to have high charting records and reach bigger audiences, they enjoyed five or six years of massive success before they pulled the plug. They didn’t retire, but they downshifted and refocused their careers. While they released a few albums together, and remained steady touring artist, each pursued solo music and other projects away from each other. Then came the lawsuit by Hall against Oates related to selling musical rights in their joint businesses.

I became a fan in the mid 1970s, after “Sara Smile” and “Rich Girl”, but before they became known for the success of their albums. Hall and Oates were still rather unknown to most, their style called “blue eyed soul”, whatever that was.

Five songs from their catalogue. These don’t represent just hits, a couple are, others are album tracks or songs that received airplay but weren’t gigantic hits. I wasn’t out to just list hits. Some of their best work were stepping stones in their rise to major artists. Enjoy.

“Las Vegas Turnaround (The Stewardess Song)” Written by Oates, the album, Abandoned Luncheonette (1973) was produced by Arif Mardin. A nice acoustic guitar riff by Oates defines this upbeat, fun little song.

“Do What You Want, Be What You Are” From Bigger Than Both of Us (1976), this song was released as a single and just cracked the top 40. Produced by Christopher Bond, this might be my all-time favorite H&O sing. Very soulful and a killer guitar solo.

“Don’t Blame It on Love” From Along the Red Ledge (1978), produced by David Foster, written by Hall & Oates. Harder, more polished rock sound than the last album. Foster brought in a group of famous guitar players for appearances (Fripp, Harrison, Rundgren, Lukather). This song is muscular and represents how H&O could rock, while still channeling their pop sensitivities.

“Wait for Me” (1979) From X-Static, a change of direction for the duo. The song was written by Hall, produced by David Foster, this song is soulful, upbeat and if H&O had a trademark sound, this is it. Their next album, Voices, would kicked off a big run of albums.

“I Can’t Go For That” This song was pure 1980s, and is instantly memorable by the powerful opening groove. Written by Daryl Hall, John Oates and Sara Allen, the song was released as the second single from their tenth studio album, Private Eyes (1981). The song became the fourth number one hit single of their career on the Billboard Hot 100. The duo were hugely successful, about to be darlings of MTV, and finally achieved what had been a decade in the making.

There are many other songs that I could have picked, as hits or just interesting album tracks. The five above are songs I dig, but also represent phases of H&O’s career. Thanks for the read.