Beauty On a Back Street

Performer: Hall & Oates
Distributor: Ryko Distribution

Notes: Hall & Oates: Daryl Hall, John Oates. Originally released on AFLI (2300). All tracks have been digitally remastered. A big departure from their trademark blue-eyed Philly Soul sound, BEAUTY finds Hall and Oates edging closer and closer to guitar-driven rock. The one big exception here is the title track, a beautiful soul song in their best "She's Gone" style, with a gorgeous string section coda. "Winged Bull," on the other hand, is a droning, quasi Middle Eastern-sounding folk rocker obviously modeled on Led Zep's "Kashmir." Even further afield, "You Must Be Good For Something" is a dissonant bit of proto-New Wave pop, complete with tick-tock rhythm (a la the Cars), while "Bad Habits and Infections," is a prog-rock mini-suite in a style not too dissimilar from Yes.

The pre-eminent white soul duo of the 1970s and '80s, Daryl Hall and John Oates ruled pop radio for years with their hook-ridden hits. The pair eventually moved beyond their initial inspirations--primarily Motown groups like the Temptations and Philly soul artists like Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes--and incorporated pop, rock and disco into a sound that managed to be both commercial and soulful.

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