Even though Daryl Hall and John Oates were the most commercially successful duo of the 80s, it always seemed as though Hall got most of the credit and recognition. He even became a solo artist at one point, leaving poor Oates in a temporary state of limbo and obscurity. It wouldn\u2019t be until 2002 when John put out a solo album of his own, the dismal Phunk Shui<\/i>, but by then it was too late. Both Daryl Hall and John Oates had already been put out to pasture. <\/p>\n
Sadly,\u00a0Oates has been overlooked even in his own duo. On Private Eyes<\/i>, he has two shining solo moments. First off, there\u2019s \u201cMano A Mano,\u201d an obvious nod to his Latin roots. He may have not had the singing chops that Hall had, but his songs had just as much character and charm. Material like \u201cFriday Let Me Down\u201d may have been designed as filler, though I have always maintained that Oates\u2019 songs deserved a better fate. I think it would be nice to see a compilation of all of his vocal contributions, but that\u2019s probably asking too much. <\/p>\n
The title track is a slice of pure pop heaven and is precisely what 1981 was intended to sound like. \u201cPrivate Eyes <\/i>(one clap), They\u2019re watching you <\/i>(two claps)\u2026\u201d You couldn\u2019t ask for a bigger hook than that. Other memorable Top Ten tunes include the funkiest single ever produced by a pair of white dudes, \u201cI Can\u2019t Go For That (No Can Do),\u201d and \u201cDid It In A Minute,\u201d a synth-pop trifle that is in the same league as \u201cYou Make My Dreams\u201d and \u201cFamily Man.\u201d And, though it didn\u2019t quite get as high up the charts as the others, \u201cYour Imagination\u201d is just as solid. Another great tune is the B-side \u201cTell Me What You Want.\u201d\u00a0 The song\u2019s slightly off-kilter feel makes it one of the more adventurous Hall & Oates numbers. <\/p>\n
There are a couple of clunkers on Private Eyes<\/i>, however, and we all know even the best albums tend to have at least one. With its annoying plunking sound of an electric piano, \u201cHead Above Water\u201d sounds like a rejected track by Survivor. As for \u201cUnguarded Minute,\u201d we\u2019ve heard far too many songs like it from Hall & Oates before. <\/p>\n
After coming back strong with 1984\u2019s Big Bam Boom<\/i>, Hall & Oates unwisely switched labels while still at the top of their game. The move would prove disastrous, as all of their subsequent albums flopped with a resounding thud. But when they were hot, they were really hot. They fit the times perfectly and theirs is the kind of success that could never be matched or repeated\u2026not even by them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":28808,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7473],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-40306","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-daryl-hall-john-oates","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40306"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}