Customer Reviews

Daryl Hall & John Oates

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you want to hear good songs from Hall & Oates that aren't on the radio that often, this album is a good choice. If you want to hear their classic radio hits, this album only has one, Sara Smile. Most of the other songs on this album were not radio hits. "Alone Too Long," and "Camelia" were released as singles but never really reached the popularity level of that "Sara Smile," although they probably should have. My main gripe with the album is "Nothing At All," sounds a lot like the second part of "Out of Me, Out of You." Other than that most of the songs are well written ballads with a touch of early R&B. "Camelia" is classic Hall & Oates style & sounds a lot like the classic Atlantic material from Abandoned Luncheonette and Whole Oates. The rest of the album shows very clearly an evolution away from the accoustic style they began with in their first three albums as they moved closer to the three albums (Voices, Private Eyes, & H20) which gave them their largest group of #1 hits.

Hall & Oates are the most successful duo of all time on the charts. This is in large part due to their 80's output which has some good songs like "I Can't Go For That" & "One On One", but has alot of cheesy stuff like "Maneater", "Method Of Modern Love" and others. Their 70's music is a different story. They released some of the best blue-eyed soul music ever recorded and this self-titled album is a great example. Most people are familiar with the big hit "Sara Smile", which is a great song, but the album has alot to offer in addition to that. "Out Of Me, Out Of You", "Gino (The Manager)", "Camellia" and "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" all have a definite Philly Soul sound and they easily could have been recorded by any of the Philadelphia International artists. The duo started to get a more poppier sound after this release, but this one is a real burner and worth a listen.

Before they had real commercial success in the 80's with a popped up version of their blue-eyed soul, Hall & Oates hit peak form with Adandoned Luncheonette and this offering, sandwiching the disappointing War Babies.

These two albums really showcase their vocal and songwriting talents - in particular on Sara Smile, one of THE great love songs, Camelia, Alone Too Long, Out of Me and It Doesn't Matter Anymore.

Daryl Hall has to be one of the greatest vocalists of all time, and the harmonic blend with John Oates was made in heaven.

An excellent, underrated album.

This is a great album. This is the album where they found there sound. It hints at what's to come. I would recommend this album to anyone.

Simply a classic album that is after all these years only just starting to date..

I feel that this Hall and Oates album is the most experimental in terms of keyboards and songwriting. It is almost a concept album with songs like "Grounds For Separation" which gives one the feeling of a story that's unfolding within the album. It's as though Hall and Oates knew of some great stories and want to tell them here. That's what is so interesting and the album flows so well.

I saw Hall and Oates recently in concert and remembered how much I've loved their music over years so I ordered this along with the DVD of their 2006(I think?) concert (which comes with a CD) and The Abandoned Luncheonette (which I bought based on the reviews). I haven't listened to anything else since I got them. I alternate between them and listen to them over and over and never get tired of the music. So nice to actually be able to make out the words of the songs - not like today's junk!

This is Hall & Oates at their creative best, for those who are true fans this is probably the album that is seen as the bedrock of all that was to follow. This is a bold and sometimes sublime set of songs, ranging from the philly roots to edgy rock with a stirring of soul.
This is a treasure of an album, buy it!

Featuring the Top 5 hit "Sara Smile", this highly enjoyable rock album has plenty of sonic ammo to satisfy every kind of listener. "Sara Smile" Song-of-The Year" honors from NATRA.

Make sure you pick-up the Buddah Records-label version of this album. It contains two previously unreleased tracks in "Ice" and "What's Important To Me".

Fine mid-70's rock.

I feel that this was their first real soul album. Their first three albums were kind of all over the map: "Whole Oates" had lots of folk, "Abandoned Luncheonette" folky and soul,and "War Babies" has a real art-rock feel. With all three albums, there was an element of true soul in their writing. On this album, the "Silver Album" as it is sometimes called, soul is the predominate sound. Songs like "Sara Smile", "Nothing at All", "Out of Me, Out of You" are three examples of the wonderful soul sound on this album. There are some rock songs as well: "Camellia" and "Gino". Of their first four albums, this is my favorite.