The Toy Box: John Oates

It's a very rare moment here at The Toy Box for a Retro Spin. One, that has never has never happened before. I'm immediately diving into another Hall and Oates album, the artist I just posted about yesterday. I don't typically listen to the same artist right away. In fact, it's typically a new calendar year before a Retro Spin artist will repeat. However, my listening session of H20 was so enjoyable, that I decided I needed to immediately gravitate into the band's 1984 follow up, Big Bang Boom.

While H20 was touted as the band's best work from the 80's, Big Bang Boom is particularly of interest to me because it features my all time favorite song from the due, Out Of Touch. This track gets an added boost of goodness from the lead in intro, Dance On Your Knees, and sets the whole album up as something to expect perfection from. But does that actually happen?

After the two aforementioned tracks, we jump into the all too familiar Method Of Modern Love. However, it's following this song that we enter all unknown territory. Fortunately, this starts out strong with Bank On Your Love, and it didn't stop there.

Tunes kept getting added to my shuffle list, such as, Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid, and Going Thru The Motion. Then, much like H20, the Oates penned and sung song hits, and it quickly becomes one of my favorites. I don't know why he was so reserved on signing and writing solely for the albums. Cold And It's Dark is a solid entry, and showcases Oates talent to the max. I guess what I'm saying is that I have become a Hall and Oates fan. I really like their music, and not just the songs that the radio told me I should.

Big Bang Boom rounds out with All American Girl, and Possession Obsession, both of which got added to my shuffle. For those of you keeping track, that's a solid 100% of tunes from the album that got added to my rotation. Front to back, this is a great album, something I never expected would happen.

What I need to do now, is resist the urge to jump into a third Hall and Oates album. While I'm on a high with them, I want to make sure that doesn't come crashing down from fatigue. I think I'll leave it there for now, and come back to them later. For now, definitely a fan of the duo.

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Disclaimer: They Toy Box does not endorse or contribute to piracy. Retro Spins posts are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. None of the music discussed here is available for sale, downloading or distribution.

THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
April 18, 1981

THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
April 18, 1987

I think I'm more shocked than anything that to date I have never done a Retro Spin on a Hall & Oates album. This is all the more peculiar because I own every release they put out during the 80's. It's definitely long past overdue to play some catch up here. With so many to choose from, I opted to select H20 for the sole reason that it's ranked their most popular from the decade.

Because of the sheer depths of the duo's history, which far exceeds the 80's, both prior and beyond, it would be a massive undertaking to dive into their formation and legacy. I'd probably also offend many of their fans (if they read this), because my knowledge is only base level. Skin deep, if you will. I am by no means an expert on this one, being only familiar with what the radio told me I was supposed to like. As such, today, we'll focus strictly on the album in question, H20.

The album was released on October 4, 1982. Its overall success was pushed by singles, Maneater, One On One, and Family Man. The latter, was actually written, and originally recorded by Mike Oldfield for his Five Miles Out album, released earlier that same year. This one may be one of the few times that a remake was better than the original.

H20 slaps you hard in the face with opening track, Maneater, but then oddly shifts tone to a very synthpop sound, which doesn't necessarily fit with the aforementioned song. It's kind of weird to the ears, and made it feel like Hall and Oates may have built the remainder of the album around what they knew were hits. Basically, fill it in with throw away songs. This is something I've seen from a lot of artists who release more albums than they should. People who immediately come to mind are Prince, and Elton John, where you have to wade through the mediocrity to get to the good stuff.

My thoughts on this subsided a bit when Art Of Heartbreak kicked in, and was followed by One On One. This momentum continued into Open All Night, and Family Man, which subdued my concerns, and settled me in for a good listening session.

Oddly enough, my favorite song from the whole album may be the John Oates penned and sung, Italian Girls. Also at this point, I was finding myself adding track after track to my shuffle list. All of the above noted were followed by Guessing Game, and Delayed Reaction.

Overall, this was a great album to sit down and hear. It was also one of those special moments, which led me to want to jump into more of their music. That will be easy, as because I said, I already own all their 80's albums.

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THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
April 17, 1982

Retro Spins: Hall & Oates - Big Bang Boom

Retro Spins: Hall & Oates - H2O