Customer Reviews

H2o

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of the classic 80's albums. With the opening of "maneater" to the closing notes of "go solo", you can tell that this album is a labor of love and of talent. Highly recommended for any 80' afficianado!

You know there is always something I liked about Hall & Oates. I could "I Can't Go For That" on the radio and NEVER EVER get tired of hearing their hits again and again. I think this all really started to happen a little under a decade ago when I started purchasing their original albums and admiring not only their songwriting but their BAND!! It was not a large group but like many of the great bands they had a tremendous sound and impact. One really ultimately likable quality about this particular album not only continues a winning streak that started as the decade begun but actually does a lot to glossy up the sound in a very classy way as not to intrude on the general musical framework they were working with.The hits "Maneater" and "One On One" are actually prime examples. Neither are close to huge productions,in fact both are very stripped down. And the gloss hits the songs in just the right places. The same thing happens on "Crime Pays",a slinky naked funk sort of jam and the upbeat "Guessing Games";the sound isn't huge but the way everything is put together give it a certain push of fullness. John Oates gets two numbers and both are a couple of the rockier numbers with some fairly loud guitars on the cheeky "Italian Girls" and the lumbering,arty "At Tension". It seems he was kind of taking a similar possition in his arena as Andy Summers did in The Police;he was a strong contributing sidekick but when put out front his musical ideas were generally somewhat too eccentric and experimental for the average pop album. A lot of these songs rock out in a much heavier and more surious way than most Hall & Oates music from this era such as what happens on "Art Of Heartbreak","Delayed Reaction","Open All Night" and "Go Solo" which,for Daryl Hall proved fairly prophetic. "Family Man",one of the few cover songs they ever did actually got them a hit and actually combines a rock/soul jam with this new wavey feeling;imagine The Cars covering an The Young Rascals song I suppose lol. Probably a terrible analogy but as of this writing I could'nt think of another. Whatever way you cut it you realize upon hearing this that,while they certainly had no problems landing hits on the charts Hall & Oates maintained the mentality of their musical generation into the 1980's by using the AOR format as a format with which to expand their pallet of sounds,textures and styles. It worked in the 60's with The Beatles,in the 80's with this duo and you really have to wonder sometimes why it doesn't occur more now than it does.

"H20" is basically divided into a soul and a rock side.Side
A contains all the hits plus the lean,stripped-down "Crime Pays"
and the rolicking doo-wop of "Open All Night".Side Two contains the rockier "Family Man","Italian Girls" and the catchy "Guessing Games" making this a worthy addition to the
H&O's early 80's showcase.

H2O is awesome. All songs take on a life of their own. You can't go wrong with maneater and One On One. No Hall and Oates album is complete without a John Oates lead. Italian Girls gives us just that, with its upbeat tempo it makes you want to listen over and over. H2o is definately one to listen to.

"H20" is perfect, definitive Daryl Hall & John Oates rock. Featuring "Maneater" which hit #1 plus "Family Man" and "One On One" (12" remixes available for these two), Daryl Hall & John Oates show why they're the best rock duo in the business with what is their smoothest-sounding album. That's not to say it's 'laid-back' - it's more like effortless in it's production.

Daryl's voice is superb throughout and each one of the songs on this album save "At Tension" could easily have been hits.

This was the second biggest-selling album of the first half of 1983, spending weeks at #2 behind "Thriller". All this excellence even with only token promotion by RCA and not nearly enough air time.

If you haven't bought this fine album yet, what are you waiting for??

Judging from the sounds featured on "H2O", it becomes very clear why the 1980's was the decade of Daryl Hall & John Oates. For one reason, the radio airwaves were saturated with this duo's many chart hits in the early part of the decade. Released in the latter half of '82, "H2O" features the smash singles "Maneater" - with its semi-graphic video, "Family Man" and the mellow and melancholy "One On One". But, what really makes this album (CD) worth getting are the non-singles "At Tension" - complete with a military theme, as well as "Go Solo", an interpersonal, head-gamey, rocking love ballad. "Italian Girls" is wonderful, too. Here, John Oates puts his foreign language skills to fairly good use, as he speaks the line "faccia bella cara mia" with an interesting Italian flair that would even make Mama Celeste proud. All in all, "H2O" is a good album, and is one of Hall & Oates' better early '80's efforts. Their follow-up album "Rock & Soul Part I" would prove to be equally successful, earning rock music's most successful duo yet another huge selling record. After the heavy synth influenced "Big Bam Boom" LP (which also was a big seller), released in 1984, H & O's following two releases, 1988's "Ooh Yeah!" and 1990's "Change of Season", didn't quite hit the mark musically, and the duo split up in the early '90's, only to reunite a few years later for 1997's "Marigold Sky". Although Hall & Oates may not be quite the musical entity they were many years ago, they left their mark on the rock era in a big way, to which many acts in rock music, including today's or yesteryear's acts, have a long way to go to match H & O's influence on the rock music scene, which is phenomenal. What this means is that Hall & Oates' record as the most successful duo in rock music history isn't likely to be broken anytime soon.

Released at the height of H&O's chart-topping era, "H20" is definitely a hit and miss affair. It continues in the synthesized vein of "Private Eyes," with keyboard squiggles and studio wizardry embellishing the songs. Though some of the production sounds a bit dated (and bass-lite) today, the album has held up fairly well. But just like other Pop/Rock artists who churn out a new album as soon as the singles from the previous album have run their course, H&O put together a spotty collection.

"Crime Pays," "Art of Hearbreak," "Delayed Reaction," "At Tension" and "Go Solo" are all throwaways, and the synth gimmickry can't hide such poorly conceived material. On the other hand, "Maneater," "One On One" and "Family Man" are all terrific singles, alternately dancey, soulful and Rock-solid. Album tracks like "Guessing Games," "Italian Girls" and "Open All Night" provide even more listening enjoyment, with great vocals, dynamic arrangements and memorable instrumentation.

Some critics have slapped a "sexist" label on this recording, and given the lyrical point of view in several cuts ("Maneater," "Open All Night" and "Family Man") I can understand the accusation. However, I don't agree with it. "Maneaters," Ho's and prostitutes exist in real life, and not all of them are good intentioned. If H&O chose to examine such characters with a measure of disdain, they're hardly in a league with your average "gangsta" rapper when it comes to sexism.

I enjoy this album quite a bit, and I'm sure all the H&O diehards out there do too. If you're a casual fan or newbie, you might want to start your H&O collection with a sure bet, like one of their hit compilations. If you want more than that, check out "Private Eyes" and "Along The Red Ledge" before picking up "H2O".

-Stoned Soul

It's pretty obvious that Daryl Hall and John Oates were in their heyday in the early 80's. Five number ones spanning 1980 to 1985 and nine ADDITIONAL top ten hits spanning the entirety of the 80's. Not bad. And as much as I of course love every hit, the album music from the early 80's (especially from PRIVATE EYES and H2O) is sometimes even more interesting and just as good (if not better!). For anybody who's annoyed to death by MANEATER (I'm raising my hand as well), taking in GO SOLO, ART OF HEARTBREAK, GUESSING GAMES, DELAYED REACTION and OPEN ALL NIGHT is a welcome rush of powerful music that still resonates (or I'm just old).

One of the key things that works in most of these songs as well as the PRIVATE EYES deep cuts is the great use of piano. It added a much fuller sound to the songs than when it got officially replaced by keyboard or Daryl deciding to play guitar as his main instrument. As mentioned in other reviews, H2O has some heavier tracks and more electronic stuff than previous endeavors - a natural progression from the punk-pop of VOICES that will lead to the heavily synthesized and more electronic BIG BAM BOOM. (Incidentally, I highly recommend watching the even MORE rocked-up ART OF HEARTBREAK that Daryl does with FINGER ELEVEN on LIVE FROM DARYL'S HOUSE: [...] )

The album title, incidentally, was originally intended to be used on the previous album: HEAD ABOVE H2O, with the lead single being HEAD ABOVE WATER. But then they wrote PRIVATE EYES and it was obvious which was the smash hit, so H2O was saved for the next album (which has a similar album cover.... hmmm....). The re-release has the 12" re-mixes of MANEATER (which actually redeems the song for me, as it's a change from the original), ONE ON ONE and FAMILY MAN, which are fine, but it would have been great to get a DVD bonus of THE MAKING OF H2O, the MTV special that chronicled the writing and recording of GO SOLO. Regardless, H2O is a great beginners guide to Hall and Oates due to the hit factor, and a great album for fans of well-crafted songwriting for the deep cuts. Pick it up.

1982 saw the release of Daryl Hall & John Oates' third album,this one. Hits include FAMILY MAN,ONE ON ONE(dedicated to basketball players and fans) and MANEATER. Logically,Hall's and Oates's faces are covered with sweat beads on the front cover. The success of 1981's PRIVATE EYES bought H&O lots of studio time to record this album. Hey,they had a contract to fulfill which expired at the end of 1984. In addition to H2O and PE,other RCA albums include VOICES,ROCK 'N SOUL PART 1 and BIG BAM BOOM.

Though not at the level of Private Eyes or Big Bam Boom musically, H20 shows the duo at their peak era (1980-85) in good style. Given that the only true "filler material" on the album would be the (slightly) new wave-influenced "Delayed Reaction" and Spectoramic novelty "Italian Girls" (both still melodically vital compared to many artists' PEAK efforts), H20 scores for its price! Good for headphone listening, too.