Daryl Hall & John Oates - Private Eyes
#427
By Aaron Conte
Daryl Hall & John Oates
Private Eyes
Genre: Blue Eyed Soul; Pop Music
Allen’s Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Aaron’s Rating: 4 out of 5 eyes
Highlights:
Private Eyes
I can’t Go For That (No Can Do)
Did It In a Minute
In 2005 my friend had planned to get married and he invited me and some of our friends to a last minute get together/bachelor party. We all were not (are not) a typical gang of guys who whoop it up and wolf howl at strip bars or throw up in the streets after not being able to gauge our limits, so we decided we would walk the streets and let our instincts guide us. We all were living in Manhattan/Queens/Brooklyn at the time and so the night was ours. We picked up our friend who was closing down his veterinarian business, the last of the crew, and headed down upper west side Broadway. Along came the Beacon Theater, and as the marquee came into focus (we had already started the party with a flask while passing around a joint on our walk) we saw that the names glowing in large red letters were "Hall and Oates Tonight".
Well our decision was made as to how we would spend the first half of this celebration. It was a multiple night run, and we were able to sidle up to the box office and find six seats up in the balcony next to each other. They killed it and this was not even close to their hay-day. I think the best part was watching the groom, who was the first to say he wasn't 100% sold on the venture when we all geeked out at our luck of stumbling upon a H&O show in NYC, begin to sing along to "Maneater" after a few drinks inside.
Private Eyes is their 10th album??? They already had "She's Gone", "Sara Smile", "Rich Girl", "You Make My Dreams", "Kiss On My List", and a year earlier Hall had written "Everytime You Go Away" (made famous by Paul Young in 85). It kicks right off with the title track.
Also one fun fact I learned is that Daryl Hall's long time girlfriend Sara Allen co-wrote many of their biggest hits including the ones here, "Private Eyes", "Did it in a Minute" and "I Can't Go For That". She also co-wrote four of the six songs on side two of this record.
Private Eyes: perfection; real drums (Mickey Curry of Bryan Adams). Classic sing-along.
Looking For A Good SIgn: bongos, motown stuff; harmonies; horns; touch of "Just My Imagination" (which really is The Temptations)
I Can't Go For That (No Can Do): another perfect song; Roland CR-78 drum machine; Christmas 81 smash.
Mano a Mano: heavy guitar intro; sole "Oats" song. Shows. Chant-y chorus that also needs to translate "mano a mano" ("hand to hand") feels cheap.
Did It In a Minute: I mean c'mon...three classic H&O tunes on one side. Possible paramount.
Head Above Water: side two opener. Good ol Mickey. Driving and dynamic. Guessing this was in the set in 81.
Tell Me What You Want: drum machine opening; lo-fi demo sound; breaks into hi-fi Rush-y riff; very cool. Sara & Hall; relationship therapy
Friday Let Me Down: up beat; Oats lead; I would never have identified with this song - Friday night had "Friday's" on TV for me - never a let down.
Unguarded Minute: Great chord opening; has a very characteristic piano rhythm, just not enough melody (unguarded minute/did it in a minute)
Your Imagination: hard to label any H&O song mediocre, but this could have been any band playing The Bottom Line during the week at 7pm.
Some Men: great closer - drive.
I saw Hall and Oates again at the Hollywood Bowl a few years ago and man, what a voice Hall has. It's just as good as it was when I saw them fifteen years ago, and not just that, it's just as good as it was in the 80's. An incredible achievement for a "rock" singer. He's also way better than most strippers.
https://open.spotify.com/album/7rfpaXxmQG7dnFycZjLae0?si=9UxPbYueRt67jTUwUmdEFA
