Blue-Eyed Soul, Rock Folk Classic

I'm none too sure when I first heard about Hall and Oates, but it was in the early to mid Seventies, long before they became disco. I think I read about them in one of the more obscure music magazines I bought and devoured. I got my hands on 'Abandoned Luncheonette' when I was in Houston in early 1976, a few months later the single 'She's Gone' was on it's way up the Hot 100 for a second time (it had staggered to No.80 back in 1974). I was in Houston having spent a week in Bogota, Colombia, which was a bit like chalk and cheese. In the ‘drug capital' of South America I was told to be sure not to be in a car with the window turned down as this only invited a robbery. A day before I got there a tourist with his arm out of the window had it chopped off with a machete – all they wanted was his Rolex. Luckily I didn’t have a Rolex, just a Timex. I think buying Hall and Oates was a reward to myself for having survived the place.

What's the album like? It's like nothing you think of when you think of H & O's later work. It's a mix of folk, soul and rock in a special blend that has made it one of my favourite albums of the past thirty or so years. Everyone (are you sure? - Ed) knows ‘She's Gone’; it's classic blue-eyed soul and is just so uplifting despite the fact that it's about a girl walking out! The title track is probably my favourite on the album, and that's saying something. It oozes a sophistication that mesmerised me when I first heard it and it still works its magic. I like every track and if you're of a certain age - Baby Boomer - I think you will too.