Customer Reviews

Rca: The Ballads Collection

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This is an excellant compilation which includes hits such as "Sara Smile" and "One On One", but also soulful ballads that reveal a more intimate, a more intense facet of their talent.

Like the other reviewers, I also object to the 'blue-eyed soul' label, but I do hear a whole lot more soul influence in this collection than others seem to. The duo themselves use the term, "integrated music".

The big thing here is the fact that you will feel emotion as you listen. "Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid", "Every Time You Go Away", the cover of "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" (a personal favorite of mine), and in fact the entire set reaches deep.

Hall & Oates have proclaimed that there's sensitivity, honesty, and rawness in their music, and this is a good assessment. However, you'll hear more of their rawness when you listen to more of their album work, such as you have hear, rather than listening only to the slicker, more commercial hits.

OK, there's two bonuses. Along with album tracks you won't usually find in an anthology (there are plenty of them anyway...), this Jeremy Holiday compilation includes the remixed version of "Every Time You Go Away" and the 12" extended version of "One On One".

It has five pages of liner notes which unfortunately describes Daryl and John as a 'blue-eyed-soul' duo. I was hoping RCA would be a leader in getting that derogatory term out of our lexicon. (Would anyone call Duke Ellington a "brown-eyed jazzman"? No...). Besides that, they're a rock duo unless you count Daryl's "Soul Alone" album - see my review for that one.

That one criticism aside, the liner notes by Michael Hill are well-written and accurate. I would like to have seen a listing of the albums from which these songs were culled as well as chart history of the RCA Hall & Oates albums and singles featured here.

This 14-song collection has many tracks that will leave you wondering why radio stations ignored (and continue to ignore) so much of their music. "Do What You Want, Be What You Are" and "Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid" are classics. "Melody For A Memory" and "Bigger Than Both of Us" are signature Hall and Oates songs. "Someone Like You" (w/guitar solo) shows off Daryl Hall's unreproachable vocals.

As a third bonus, they should have put "Someone Like You" with the sax solo on this album since it's only available as a 12" single. It would behoove RCA to put out a collection of all of Hall & Oates' remixes.

John Oates fans won't be disappointed with "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling", "Melody For A Memory" or "Possession Obsession".

Get this piece of history and enjoy.

I love Hall and Oates so bought this just for fun. I LOVE this album. It is my favorite of all of their compilations. It has some songs I never heard before; one of the songs has become my all-time favorite. This is Hall & Oates at their best -- ballads.

"The Ballads Collection" is part of a series of CDs celebrating the 100th anniversary of RCA records. It's not an ordinary "hits" package either. Plenty of exemplary songs and two bonuses grace this Jeremy Holiday compilation with definitive Hall & Oates music from their RCA albums (see my reviews). The remixed version of "Every Time You Go Away" and the 12" extended remixed version of "One On One" are the bonus tracks. I think an extra bonus would have been the sax-solo version of "Someone Like You". RCA would do well to release ALL of Daryl Hall & John Oates' remixes as a separate package so people wouldn't have to pore through all the bins at the used record stores or search the internet (try Gemm.Com) for their wide selection of 12" remixes on vinyl....

There are well-written liner notes but unfortunately there's a sticker on the cover that uses the derogatory term "blue-eyed-soul" to describe Hall & Oates' music. Not only is it an improper and insensitive term but it's also inaccurate since Daryl & John are a rock duo. It not only implies imitation but it suggests that a certain type of music is only in the domain of a certain group of people. The only example of soul music from either of these guys is Daryl Hall's "Soul Alone" album (see my review) from which the lack of sales said plenty even though it proved that he can do R&B better than anyone. Now is the time to get this term out of our lexicon.

The otherwise well-written and accurate liner notes by Michael Hill also use this term. I'm sure it's unintended as derogatory but it no less is. Would you call Kool & The Gang 'brown-eyed-rock'?

Overall, this album is a fine collection that shows off Daryl & John's talents that are aside from their big hits.

OK, I know what you're thinking. Why would a 28 yr old, single successful guy like Hall & Oates. I don't know what to tell you, it moves me. From the moment that the 1st track started playing in my car, I was in heaven. If only I could grow a mustache like John Oates. My friends tell me that I bear an uncanny resemblence to John Oates, my only problem is the "stache". I'm facial hair challenged when it comes to growing any. I'm afraid it would take me 10 years to get a mustache that thick. I got the hair, just not the "stache". If anyone is ever in the Ft. Lauderdale area, check out my tribute band...The John Oates Experience. PEACE-----E-rock