OK, You ILXor Hall & Oates Lovin' Motherfuckers, Tell Me All About Their Relatively Obscure 1977-1979 Releases

i have XStatic and Beauty on a Back Street, but don't remember them at all. i'll have to have a listen soon.

i would like to know about the darryl hall/ruth copeland 45 from 1976.

just listened to the first side of X-Static. i still dont remember a thing about it. :(

just listened to the first side of X-Static. i still dont remember a thing about it. :(

that's too bad :-(

I think ceddy will rep for Along the Red Ledge. It's got one of my favorite H&O songs, the truly strange "It's A Laugh." Don't own it.

I've considered buying X-Static, which is supposed to be their "disco" album, no?

AMG says it's their disco album, but doesn't really feel like it. there were a few moments, maybe an intro, or a bridge with some disco strings or a bit more upbeat, but i'd never call it disco. i'll listen to side 2 tonight

"The Last Time" off of Along The Red Ledge just popped out of my itunes shuffle. great song. more throwback/pastiche, but with a few really neat things going on.

also, the hit off of ATRL, "I Don't Want To Lose You" is great too.

"the Last Time" also goes on the list of 'Be My Baby' intro rips.

Are there any good Darryl Hall solo albums? I figure there must be! Right?

there's at least one thread out there on "Sacred Songs," the one he did with Robert Fripp, that everyone seems to love. It's got some pretty amazing things on it.

I finally found the '77 & '78 albums! Took me awhile! Those go for so much money, too. So then I figured out I could burn them both onto the same CD and I'm such a happy camper right now it's not funny.

Listening to Along the Red Ledge for the first time right now and it's pretty good! The "smooth"est thing I've heard from them, in the "Baby Come Back" sense. "Have I Been Away Too Long" has some great weirdo harmony things swooping in.

"It's A Laugh" = genius

"It's a Laugh" is a standout on the greatest hits collection I have.

I was listening to (and reading about) Fripp's Exposure this weekend, and evidently Hall had a lot to do with this album, and an affiliated solo record of his own, called Sacred Songs, from 1977. Evidently the label wanted Hall to delay releasing this album in favor of other, more popular work...which I gather are the obscure releases this thread is about. Any thoughts on Sacred Songs?

daryl hall - sacred songs

lol thanks, I'll check it out!

alley katz bichez

Have I Been Away Too Long" has some great weirdo harmony things swooping in.

yes yes yes

oh wow i love the samples from that album! not sure about the songwriting, but it sounds great.

Not as good, but pretty and "atmospheric":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXvw536UaLw

Coincidentally just pulled out and played Along The Red Ledge for the first time in a while yesterday, and was surprised to be reminded that most of the second side -- not just the great Aerosmith rip "Alley Katz" it starts with -- is basically a hard rock EP, though the side admittedly gets incrementally less hard rock with each subsequent song. Some other song (one of the at least partially Oates-written ones apparently) struck Christgau as a Talking Heads tribute; used to think that would have been "Pleasure Beach," but listening to that one now, I'd say it sounds more a tribute to "Palisades Park" by Freddy Cannon. (Similar ferris-wheel/merry-go-round music mixed in.) The entire album is pleasant or better, but I'd say I only really love half of it -- only "It's A Laugh" on Side One (didn't actually notice "Have I Been Away Too Long"'s weirdo harmonies -- maybe I will next time), and everything but the closing fairly boring ballad "August Day" on Side Two.

How do you feel about "I Don't Wanna Lose You"?

did you ever buy X-Static?

1. It's fine, I guess. Has never done much for me, or leaped out of the record at me, to be honest. Maybe next time I'll listen closer to that one, too.
2. Nope; hope to someday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5bf6696NJ0

1980 cover of "Portable Radio" by a band called Clout. An interesting kind of new-wave rock version (plus some little Frankie Valli ooh-WEE-ooh flourishes) - reminds me of something from the movie Starstruck or maybe even a direction ABBA could have gone in... it's a cool sound!

giving these albums another go as i make some tough decisions related to collection-downsizing. i only got halfway through Along the Red Ledge last night before going "everything has been downhill since 'It's a Laugh.'" which is funny because upthread, on possibly my last listen 11 years ago, i was praising it! albeit for the sound more than the songwriting. xhuxk's posts make me think i need to give the second half a go though.

X-Static is way more consistent, but still has this awkward feeling where a lot of the songs seem more confident they have great hooks/concepts than they actually do, to my ears anyway. like the eightieth time they sing about "running from paradise" i'm just like, guys, this is not the compelling metaphor you're looking for, i'm sorry. but i've always loved "Portable Radio," "Wait For Me" is fantastic, "Who Said the World Was Fair" has a nice aerobic workout bop to it, and "Bebop Drop" is kind of nuts, maybe Oates's most interesting late-album oddity? there and in a couple other places i get the strong impression they were early and enthusiastic fans of Devo...

stuck on 'melody for a memory' at the moment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gSu0wAfneA
it really builds into something special.

The two albums of theirs I had back in the 70s were Abandoned Luncheonette (still my favorite) and Bigger than Both of Us, which was released in 1976, just before the period under discussion. I remember liking the latter, even beyond the obvious "Rich Girl," but critical reception at the time was not great. I probably haven't listened to it since 1978, maybe it's time to dust it off.

yeah i think abandoned luncheonette is my fav too, maybe? but it kinda doesnt feel like hall & oates or something

The closer on X-Static, "No Brain No Pain", is a curious angular new wave rocker I'd recommend to fans of "You Burn Me Up I'm a Cigarette" off Exposure and "NYCNY" off Sacred Songs. Not sure what Daryl was going for with it - maybe emulating Richard Hell, but sounding a bit more like Rush or XTC, with a tinge of that white ska revival to the guitar in places.

yeah not a fan of that sound at all. love the song before it tho 'times up'

Did we ever poll rockers with the best ‘stache cos Oates would have to be odds on fave

Xpost I’ve never heard “Melody for a Memory” … very nice tune

My jam:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDsrl5_dbns

hi Brad

trying to figure out what that hook is reminding me of but its very familiar. great song

When it started, I thought it was 'You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)'.