Hall & Oates – Voices (1980) [MFSL 2013]
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 44:02 minutes | Scans included | 1,78 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 880 MB
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab # UDSACD 2114

At the close of the ’70s, Hall & Oates began inching toward a sleek, modern sound, partially inspired by the thriving punk and new wave scene and partially inspired by Daryl Hall’s solo debut, Sacred Songs, a surprising and successful collaboration with art rock legend Robert Fripp. While 1979’s X-Static found the duo sketching out this pop/soul/new wave fusion, it didn’t come into fruition until 1980’s Voices, which was their creative and commercial breakthrough. Essentially, Voices unveils the version of Hall & Oates that made them the most successful duo in pop history, the version that ruled the charts for the first half of the ’80s. During the ’70s, Hall & Oates drifted from folky singer/songwriters to blue-eyed soulmen, with the emphasis shifting on each record. On Voices, they place their pop craftsmanship front and center, and their production (assisted by engineer/mixer Neil Kernon) is clean, spacious, sleek, and stylish, clearly inspired by new wave yet melodic and polished enough for the mainstream. Thanks to the singles “Kiss on My List” and “You Make My Dreams” (and, to a lesser extent, their remake of the Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” and the original version of the heartbreaking ballad “Everytime You Go Away,” later popularized by Paul Young), the mainstream enthusiastically embraced Hall & Oates, and the ubiquitousness of these hits obscures the odder, edgier elements of Voices, whether it’s the rushed, paranoid “United State,” tense “Gotta Lotta Nerve (Perfect Perfect),” the superb Elvis Costello-styled “Big Kids,” the postmodern doo wop tribute “Diddy Doo Wop (I Hear the Voices),” or even John Oates’ goofy “Africa.” Apart from the latter, these are the foundation of the album, the proof that the duo wasn’t merely a stellar singles act, but expert craftsmen as writers and record-makers. The next few albums were bigger hits, but they topped the charts on the momentum created by Voices, and it still stands as one of their great records.

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Hall & Oates – Rock ‘N Soul Part 1 (1983) [MFSL 2015]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 48:18 minutes | Scans included | 1,95 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 982 MB
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab # UDSACD 2157

Released at the peak of Hall & Oates’ popularity in the early ’80s, 1983’s Rock ‘n Soul, Pt. 1: Greatest Hits effectively chronicles the time when the duo could do no wrong – namely, the period between 1980’s Voices and 1982’s H2O, which includes only one other album, 1981’s excellent Private Eyes. While this reaches back to their early-’70s work for Atlantic for “She’s Gone,” the only big hit they had at the label, and also has their two other big hits from that decade, “Sara Smile” and “Rich Girl,” the bulk of Rock ‘n Soul, Pt. 1 derives from those three albums: “Kiss on My List,” “You Make My Dreams,” “Private Eyes,” “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do),” “Maneater,” and “One on One.” That’s a long list of singles, but it still misses some terrific singles from this era, including “How Does It Feel to Be Back,” “Did It in a Minute,” “Family Man,” and “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” (the latter two were included as bonus tracks on RCA/Legacy’s 2006 reissue). As good as those songs may be, Rock ‘n Soul, Pt. 1 doesn’t necessarily miss them: with the exception of a live version of “Wait for Me” (good, but not essential), this is the cream of the crop of Hall & Oates’ best period, and it makes for a tight, excellent listen, and it’s bolstered by the sublime “Say It Isn’t So” and the good rocker “Adult Education.” Latter-day compilations like 2001’s Very Best of Daryl Hall & John Oates and 2004’s Ultimate (which was reissued a year later under the title Essential) may cover their entire career in more detail – and the duo certainly made great music before and after this era – but as a snapshot of Hall & Oates at their finest, Rock ‘n Soul, Pt. 1: Greatest Hits can’t be beat.

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Hall & Oates – Private Eyes (1981) [MFSL 2014]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 43:29 minutes | Scans included | 1,76 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 925 MB
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab # UDSACD 2115

Hall & Oates were in the middle of recording Private Eyes when Voices suddenly, unexpectedly broke big, with “Kiss on My List” reaching number one not just on the Billboard charts, but in Cashbox and Record World. As the album’s producer, Neil Kernon, admits in Ken Sharp’s liner notes to the 2004 reissue of the album, everybody knew that the new record would have to do better than Voices, but even if Hall & Oates were under a lot of pressure, they were in the fortunate position of not just having reintroduced their modernized, new wave-influenced blue-eyed soul on their previous record, but they already had much of the material nailed down. In other words, the sound and songs on Private Eyes were essentially conceived when the group was confident of the artistic breakthrough of Voices but not swaggering with the overconfidence of being the biggest pop act in America, and the result is one of their best albums and one of the great mainstream pop albums of the early ’80s. Hall & Oates don’t repeat the formula of Voices; they expand it, staying grounded in pop-soul but opening up the stylized production, so it sounds both cinematic and sharp. Lots of subtle effects are layered on the voices, guitars, and pianos as they mingle with synthesized instruments, from the keyboard loops that give “Head Above Water” a restless momentum to the drum machine that lends “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)” a sexy, seductive groove.

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Hall & Oates – H2O (1982) [MFSL 2014]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 46:33 minutes | Scans included | 1,88 GB
or DSD64 2.0 (from SACD-ISO to Tracks.dsf) > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | Full Scans included | 1,85 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 954 MB
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab # UDSACD 2116

Private Eyes solidified Hall & Oates’ status as one of the most popular acts in America in the early ’80s, and with 1982’s H2O, they capitalized on its success, delivering an album that turned out to be bigger than its predecessor, as it climbed higher on the charts and launched three Top Ten singles with “Maneater,” “One on One,” and “Family Man.” Bigger isn’t necessarily better, though, and in comparison to the glistening pop of Private Eyes, H2O pales somewhat, coming across as a little too serious, with its ambitions just being a little too evident. Take the claustrophobic, paranoid “Family Man” — covering an art rocker like Mike Oldfield suggests a far different agenda than crafting a tribute to the Temptations, and while “Family Man” isn’t as key to the album as “Looking for a Good Sign” was to Private Eyes, it does indicate the relatively somber tone of H2O. Not that the album is a tortured dark night of the soul — how could it be, when John Oates kicks off the second side with the proudly silly “Italian Girls”? — but the production and performances are precise and deliberate, effectively muting the pop thrills that spilled over on its predecessor. Even if the album was recorded with Hall & Oates’ touring band — something that the duo and their co-producer Neil Kernon confirm in the excellent liner notes by Ken Sharp in the 2004 reissue — H2O feels as if most songs were cut to a click track, and are just slightly too polished for their own good; when the productions open up a bit, the band still sounds terrific, but they never are given the opportunity to sound as big and bold as they do on Private Eyes. This, coupled with a few drawn-out duds (such as the vaguely atmospheric “At Tension”) means H2O isn’t quite as sharp and bracing as anything the duo had released since X-Static, and the fact that two of the best moments are huge hits — the prowling “Maneater” and “One on One,” perhaps the most seductive song Daryl Hall ever wrote — may suggest that this is closer to singles-plus-filler than it really is. The best of the rest of H2O reveals that Hall & Oates are at a near-peak in their creativity, writing tuneful, soulful fusions of pop, soul, and new wave. “Crime Pays” has an appealing robotic synth pop groove, “Art of Heartbreak” rides a tense guitar line to a great horn line on the chorus, the jealous anthem “Open All Night” slinks by on a stylized late-night groove, “Go Solo” hails back to Hall’s arty Sacred Songs, and “Delayed Reaction” is a sterling piece of propulsive near-power pop. Even if they don’t gel into an album as strong as Voices or Private Eyes, they’re pretty terrific pop in their own right. They’re not just evidence that Hall & Oates’ popularity in the early ’80s was earned and well deserved, they hold up very well decades after H2O ruled the charts.

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