Search - Hall & Oates :: Back in Love Again

Pass on this one...

TomAzon | United States | 05/11/2001

(1 out of 5 stars)

""Back In Love Again" is another collection of Daryl Hall and John Oates demos that are readily available and I would recommend checking them out first.This Park South Records release actually has some good production, but some of the songs like "Months, Weeks and Days" has a high-sounding "whispery" quality to it as if it was over-processed (which is understandable considering the quality of the original source but inexcusable if not done well).This CD was put together very carelessly. First of all, on the front cover they spell Hall & Oates correctly, but on the sides and on the printed label they spell John's last name "Oats". Who doesn't know by now? Secondly, the songs begin late and end late. If you program a song, you will hear the last second of the previous song when you start it.The third bit of carelessness was crediting the song "Angelina" to Richard Marx! What were these people thinking? Richard Marx was born in 1963 and "Angelina" was written in 1969 by Tim Moore. Richard Marx was six years old then... Obviously they mistook it for "Angelia" from 1991, but come on... (Side note: The demo version is sung by Daryl and the studio version appears on the "Gulliver" CD featuring Daryl Hall and sung by Tim Moore).The most offensive feature of this bit of recklessness is in the liner notes where Daryl Hall and John Oates are refered to as R&B singers. To point out the obvious, they are a rock duo. (Look no further than the lackluster success of Daryl's "Soul Alone" album when he tried to take advantage of that years-long mis-labeling...). The liner also refers to them as "blue-eyed soul" singers which is a derogatory term and it's high time people stopped using it. I can only imagine the protest if Lionel Richie is ever refered to as "brown-eyed rock"...The only thing this CD has for it is over-all quality. But the other "Past Times Behind" clones are more worth your while."

Doesn't do Daryl and John justice.

W. Hood | South Carolina USA | 05/30/2001

(1 out of 5 stars)

"The mastering quality is without a doubt the worst I have ever encountered on a $10.00+ CD. It gets worse however; in a most egregious production error, Oates is spelled "Oats" on the cover. That in itself epitomizes the quality of this release. Hopefully someday these songs will be re-released in greater fidelity. Until then I'd recommend "The Atlantic Collection" or "Hall and Oates" if you're looking for some of the duo's older and more obscure work."