Customer Reviews

Rock N Soul Part 1 (Slip)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It is interesting how the reviewers of this album seem to choose distinctly different favorites from this classic '80s album, at least as far down as I read. I have a total soft spot for Hall and Oates when they are singing their live version of "Wait for Me" on this album. That song is my absolute favorite. I prefer all their more romantic ballads in fact. However, because this song is live, it has an urgency and rhythmic energy which I think is part of what made them so popular. It is brought to the fore in this song. The response of the crowd and the guitar solo add to emotion of the song in a remarkable way. That is why I keep buying this album, in its various forms, from record to tape to CD. It strikes a really fine chord with me.

On the other hand, I do have some songs I am not crazy about. I skip right over "Maneater", for example, but I understand why people like it. It has a certain tempo and quality which actually pretty much sum up a lot of eighties songs. I mean I get it...It has a bop to it which is an eighties bop. I know--I was there. I just don't place it in my list of favorites from this excellent album. I don't like thinking of women as maneaters, either. Things have changed!
So ultimately, I would rather sway... give me the slow sweet songs that Hall and Oates deliver so well. Then give me my car, some privacy so that no one laughs at me as I sing along really loud, and let me listen to "Sara Smile", "One on One", and some of the other more sensuous songs the famous purveyors of blue-eyed soul served up back in the day. As Chef, in the cartoon South Park, once said, "Girls love Hall and Oates!"

And he's right. We do!

"Rock N' Soul: Volume 1" was the first major Hall And Oates collection on the market upon it's release in Christmas 1983. They were at the pinnacle of fame at the time and were releasing hit after hit, and they were treated with two more big hits with "Say It Isn't So" and "Adult Education", which were recorded for this album.

While this set has been supplanted several times since by Essential/Ultimate/Very Best Of, to me, this set is the alpha and omega for H&O Greatest Hits. Which makes the remaster/reissue all the sweeter. With the exceptions of Did It In A Minute and Your Imagination, all of the essential hits from 1975-1983 are here. While "Out Of Touch" is missing and would've been a nice bonus track, this contains the truly classic period of H&O and contains the hits and only the hits. "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" and "Family Man" have been added as bonus tracks to sweeten the deal.

If you're a big fan of H&O, this is beneath you, you can find all these tracks elsewhere. However, if you're only a casual fan and want a collection with the classic hits from their classic period, without an abundance of latter tracks and lesser known songs, this is the package for you. This is a CD that you can put in from start to finish and love every song. With the exception of "Out Of Touch", Hall And Oates were never the same after this collection, so it was released at precisely the right time in my opinion.

I've had the original CD version of this title for over five years and it's good to see this album remastered and repackaged with bonus tracks as well as a different (but not new) cover. The sound quality is definitely better this time. This compilation covers 1976 through 1983 basically their most successful period. "Method Of Modern Love" & "Out Of Touch" were hits in late '84-early '85, after this album.

If you really want the ultimate collection then "The Essential Daryl Hall & John Oates" may be the way to go. But that doesn't render this album obsolete at all. Here you get the original version of "Adult Education" ,a live version of "Wait For Me" as well as edited versions of "She's Gone" and "I Can't Go For That". There are also liner notes from one of the band members.

If you're new to Hall & Oates then you found the perfect place to start. Even if you already have the original CD version of this album you should consider having this title with its new look and better sound. It puts that previous version to shame.

There are way too many Hall & Oates comps out there. Very Best of had a number of career spanning tracks (and while that appears to be preferred over this) it was also criticized by reviewers for omitting She's Gone (which this does have).

No it doesn't have later 80's tracks such as Out of Touch but they originally came out after this was originally released. It would be equivalent to criticizing the Best of the Doobies CD for not having What a Fool Believes as a bonus track. The 2-CD Essential merely duplicates Ultimate.

This remaster adds two bonus tracks (it should have also added Did It In a Minute which is a sin of omission (hence the dock of one star): Family Man and You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling. Thus rectifying two out of three essential missing tracks

Th inlay card duplicates the four different cover variations. It has good liner notes and is remastered by Joseph M Palmaccio.

If you want all the hits and essential tracks than Ultimate and Essential will fill the bill nicely. For a single disc overview (if you don't mind She's Gone being MIA) get Very Best of. But if you want a nice snapshot up to 1983, this will do!

I wore this album out when I had it on cassette in the 80's and in my experience, a lot of times the mastering from analogue recorded albums of the 80's don't transfer well across to a digital CD format, but they got it right with Big Bam Boom. Clean 80's sound with oomph! For those that don't know, always look for "remastered" old albums released on CD.

Hall and Oates really are great song writers and I think the songs on this album stand up today.

Rock 'n Soul, Part 1 is the first "greatest hits" album of Daryl Hall and John Oates. Released around the holidays of 1983 (Thanksgiving or Christmas??), this album packs a variety of their songs that they recorded with RCA from 1975-1983 (except for one song that came out in 1973, She's Gone, when H&O were at Atlantic). Also, when this album first came out in '83, there were two new songs that H&O had recorded in September of that year for this album's release, Adult Education and Say It Isn't So. Originally, this album had twelve songs, but now it has 14 (with the inclusion of two bonus tracks). Why this album title has "Part 1" in it is anyone's guess; it's quite odd, and there probably won't be an album titled "Rock 'n Soul, Part 2" released at all. The sound quality of this reissue is better and sharper than the previous CD issue. The front cover art of this reissue is excellent (red, yellow, and black, with a drawing of the two men in yellow having a raised handshake). The previous CD issue of this album had a different front cover image; a color picture of the two guys singing at the microphone (it wasn't bad, but I like the red, yellow, and black cover art better). I first heard this album years ago as a kid when my mother bought the vinyl (it had this red, yellow, and black cover art), and it was wonderful; Hall & Oates have great voices and their chemistry is splendid. This is my most favorite album of theirs. I also have the previous CD issue of it, and 2 copies of the album on LP (one with this black, yellow, and red cover art and one with the color picture of H&O at the mic). All of the songs on this album I like a lot (but I'm not too crazy about the two bonus tracks; no offense to anyone in general). I thought Adult Education was brilliant as well, with the female "oh yeah, oh yeah's" in there as well, to "cheerlead" the song. The bonus tracks are alright, but I would not spend too much time listening to them. I'm pleased that this album was reissued so that I and other fans of Hall & Oates can enjoy this batch of music in remastered form. For those of you that might still have the previous issue of the album on CD, you can either keep it or give it to someone else. Here is my own grading report of this album reissue:

Cover art: A+

Remastered sound: A+

Bonus tracks: C

Hall & Oates' singing on this album: A+

Kudos to the manufacturers for bringing this wonderful album back to stores. Everyone who had this album years ago will be very impressed with its remastered sound!! Get it while you can!!

Always enjoyed Hall and Oates and finally got around to purchase a CD with some of their greatest hits. This is a good mix of some of their works and was well worth the purchase. Plan on enjoying it for years..

If you think you like rock and soul harmonizing, this is the perfect sound for you. It was for me. I did not realize they had so many great songs - all on this albumn.

This is a nice collection of the contributions of Daryl Hall & John Oats. Good sounds. Thank you, Mr. Hall and Mr. Oats. Nice sets representative of their unique style fusing rock & roll with rhythm & blues.

I originaly had this on record, when I was a kid. I played it over and over. There music is timeless! I loved there music when I was young, and I loved it even more now.