Their albums were always really padded with crappy songs. The occassional hit single doesn't mean squat. They really did mostly suck.

2freaky4church1 said:

i remember really liking the big bam boom album, or whatever it was called. and that live album with the two guys from the temptations was good. daryl hall had/has a great voice, and oates, well...he looked good in distressed leather.

2freaky4church1 said:

You know, it's true. I bought a cheap 3 disc import of their greatest hits a few years ago, and you can barely fill a disc with the good tunes.
A single-disc greatest hits is all one ever really needs from them.

This can probably be said for about 95% of the artists currently out.

It's really a singles market again.

3 or 4 catchy songs (if you're lucky), then 7 or 8 songs that are pure filler.

I only own a few Hall & Oates CD's. The greatest hits that is very good, and their soul covers collection.

Not to me. they're from my hometown and we were proud of them.

A lot of their material before the breakout hit sara smile were
mediocre but they took off from there. Hell i actually dig quite
a few of their albums starting with bigger than us on up to
ooh yeah.

First of all, their early albums like "Abandoned Luncheonette" are fucking great, this was long before the 80's hits, and then again, their 80's work is light years better than todays "so called" singles artists, at least Hall and Oates could mix up there albums, with songs, tour, play, write, produce, not have to wait for some wack ass rapper of the moment to spit a rhyme on their track so they could get some play....Please put down the crack pipe before posting.

Even their singles sucked. So much so, I never ventured further into their other material. Perhaps that's unfair, but still.

2freaky4church1 said:

I'd have to disagree.

Don't have many of their albums but I found quite a few tunes that weren't their "Super Hits" to be very well crafted Pop songs.



...Las Vegas Turnaround




...Everything Your Heart Desires




...Romeo Is Bleeding




...Promise Ain't Enough




...Do What You Want, Be What You Are




...It's A Laugh




...Wait For Me



A few that were available on YouTube.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

theAudience said:

I was afraid you'd show up.

heartbeatocean said:

Why afraid?

How've you been?


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

theAudience said:

To spotlight my ignorance.

I've been pretty good actually. It's an interesting time...

And you?

Anxiety said:

I had the Out of Touch 12"
But, yeah, mostly they sucked beyond the singles.
[Edited 2/24/09 21:23pm]

heartbeatocean said:

I've been well.
And for the record, you're not ignorant. You just don't like their material.
Nothing wrong with that.


tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431

2freaky4church1 said:

I'm a huge fan of Hall and Oates....love most of their singles,but I'm not a huge fan of their albums.They're more of a "singles band" (which isn't necessarily a bad thing).Everytime I listen to one of their albums,I always have to skip past the filler tracks,just to get to the good stuff.

'H2O' is their strongest,most consistent album.I can pretty much listen to that one all the way through.The other albums are spotty at best.

I must admit I only have their Greatest Hits. Sometimes singles are enough. Despite that, you must see them live. You would have a great time and you definitely get your money's worth.

Considering they've had 22 top-20 singles (including 16 top-10), I'm not sure I get your point.

AlexdeParis said:

Good lord, I was waiting for an orger to mention this.

Hall and Oates may not be someone's cup of tea, but "sucked"? "Beyond their hit singles"? That's like saying, "Despite Prince's skills as a guitarist, pianist, bassist, drummer, singer, dancer, producer, and composer, he really sucks."

Hall & Oates were and are consummate musicians. They ruled the 80's with hit after hit after hit after hit. They write and perform a lot of their own material. They've been around for over 30 years. Oates is a very good musican, and Darryl Hall can sing better than almost anyone in the top forty even today.

Let's give them a little respect...

Nick715 said:

True...in both cases....

I never said all of their singles were good..lol

Audience, you cheated. Some of those songs you posted were Semi-hit singles. The newer songs don't count, since their big stardom was in the late seventies--eighties.

Some of the songs you posted were ok, but not great. My original point. How many actual masterpieces did they do? Many of their hit singles were merely ok. I was mostly talking about their big albums--the songs beyond the singles being really awful, not just ok. They could have at least tried writing better songs.

I think their singles are excellent.As someone pointed out,it's easy to compile a single disc 'Greatest Hits' compilation.But when I listen to their albums,I have to skip past embarassing stuff like "Gino The Manager","Italian Girls" and pretty much the entire second half of the 'Bigger Than The Both Of Us' album.With the exception of 'H20' (one of the best 80s pop albums,imo),I don't think their albums hold together very well.

I'm not a huge H&O fan, but I do have one of their greatest hits albums and I love it.

It's really all about Daryll's (Hall) voice!!

I was never a big fan when all these tunes were hits, but when I hear their tunes nowadays I think H&O are pretty damn good.

I (still) love 'em . Singles or not.

I was a big fan of Hall & Oates. Some songs are bad. The hits are the ones that were the best.

since we're being honest, no i dont agree.

Disagree.

the underrated Daryl Hall's 1986 solo album which was very good imo:

3 Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine

Foolish Pride.
*
[Edited 2/25/09 10:44am]