Do What You Want, Be What You Are: The Music of Daryl Hall and John Oates

Do What You Want, Be What You Are: The Music of Daryl Hall and John Oates (Sony Legacy/RCA). About
6.3 million viewers tuned in for CBS-TV’s Dec. 2 telecast of the Grammy
Award nominations, and about that many jaws dropped when Hall and
Oates’ names rang out, copping a surprise nod in the Best Pop
Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals category for their “Sara
Smile” track from the 2008 Live at the Troubadour CD. The
timing couldn’t be better, however, to push this extensive four-disc,
74-track box set. It’s a loving retrospective that touches most of the
duo’s musical bases, and yet it probably leaves die-hard fans wanting
still more. 

The first disc has plenty of obscurities
such as teenager Hall’s 1966 “Girl I Love You” with the Philadelphia
soul homage group The Temptones and Oates’ 1966 “I Need Your Love” with
The Masters. Even in these tunes before the guys joined forces, you can
sense the Hall-marks, so to speak, of their pairing: heavenly
harmonies, solid production values and singles-oriented material
touching on everything from blue-eyed Philly soul to pop and urban
funk. The five-minute version of “She’s Gone” is also here, as well as
five tracks culled from a 1975 London concert. 

The second disc demonstrates more
artistic maturity with each successive LP during the 1970s, such as the
adventuresome, sadly underrated 1978’s Along the Red Ledge
(1978), featuring the Top 20 entry “It’s a Laugh,” the
should-have-been-a-hit “I Don’t Wanna Lose You” and the beautifully
mysterious “August Day,” with Les Thompson on harmonica performing his
best Toots Thielemans impersonation. Hall and Oates really broke
through with 1980’s Voices, latching onto a modern-pop formula
of radio-ready tracks that included “Kiss on My List,” “How Does It
Feel to Be Back” and their respectful remake of the Righteous Brothers’
“You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling.” G.E. Smith’s lead guitar also
provided lots of tasty licks during a six-year run with the troupe,
from 1979 to 1985.

The third disc depicts the band morphing into hit-maker
mode in the Reagan era, with most of the chart toppers on this side:
“Private Eyes,” “Maneater,” “Family Man,” “Adult Education” and more,
all ear candy of the highest order. Getting past these infectious
grooves isn’t easy, with the last disc forming as a kind of throwback
to their original sound, notably their 2002 salute “All the Way from
Philadelphia.” 

The extensive liner notes yield some
surprises along the way, like Hall’s declaration that the 1972 song
“Fall in Philadelphia” was inspired by his own mugging when the
clogs-wearing singer was unable to escape his pursuers. Alas, there’s
no mention of Oates meeting Syracuse New Times publisher Art Zimmer during a summer 1986 skiing expedition at an Argentine resort.