abandoned luncheonette

Best Hall & Oates Album

"When the Morning Comes"

Oates was still holding his own at this point... i'm tempted to go with "i'm just a kid (don't make me feel like a man)", but there are objectively better songs on here.

It is pretty much a race for second place after "She's Gone" right?

That end part of that tune is so good. I've loved that tune since I was a little kid. It's just a great song and arrangement, would have worked for many other classic soul singers in that set.

I highly recommend playing "Every Time I Look At You" to your friends who only know H&O from the big hits ("Whoa...I didn't know they had a 'psych-rock' side! Wait, now it's total Bluegrass?"). It's such a wild album closer - after multiple plaintive, melancholy folkish ballady songs, you get this huge, multi-part slow-burn epic with squealy solos.

Also, I started referring to the driving practice of avoiding tough left-hand turns by passing the challenging intersection, making a left turn into a parking lot a little further down the block, then turning right out of said lot as a "Las Vegas Turnaround", and I'm proud to have heard at least one friend not only use the term, but use an abbreviated form in suggesting that I perform it ("Pref, just do a 'Vegas', it'll be much easier")

"she's gone" is the runaway winner, yeah, but "lady rain" is another career highlight

It's a lovely record - always nice to have an excuse to revisit. Prefecture, you're right about the weirdness of "Every Time I Look At You" - definitely foreshadows where they'd head on War Babies, and the recurrent oddball strains that run even through their biggest hit albums. And yeah - "She's Gone" is the obvious towering masterpiece of lush, pained AM Gold folk-soul, but a bunch of other cuts would feel comfortable in the same radio playlists, and it never feels like a bunch of filler surrounding the gem they know they've got. I guess I'd vote "When The Morning Comes" if that weren't here, it's really chockablock with little sweetening details that can all be earworms in their own right.

“Las Vegas Turnaround (the Stewardess Song)”. An absolutely killer mellow groove. This band kicks so much yacht rock ass.

yacht rock more like crusty airstream rock

it was ooooold and crusty

Lol

Thanks, Doc!

it was ooooold and crusty

― Hiphoptimus Rhyme (Doctor Casino), Friday, September 19, 2025 4:34 PM (two hours ago)

I love the storytelling in the lyrics, there's so much empathy for the characters they sketch (in the tabletop dust)

shes gone a bit overrated for me. i think i rate the first three tracks and the final track over it.

going with 'had i known you better'

This was the record that made me go, "Shit, Oates is a songwriter, and a good one."

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

The first side of this album is unfuckwithable. Joining spottie with a “had I known you better then” vote

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

"I'm Just a Kid" is one of John's finer moments, and not a single vote? What gives, ILM? Damn you, talk to me!