Search - Hall & Oates :: X-Static (24bt) (Mlps)

What A Wonderful Rediscovery

Andre S. Grindle | Brewer Maine | 03/05/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have had this vinyl album in my collection for years and hardly gave it an ounce of attention until I purchased the CD today. I am still trying to figure out why but that isn't important really:what is it that I realize now what an important artistic milestone this is for Hall & Oates. This album extends on the approch Hall & Oates began on their previous recording Along the Red Ledge but this had a significant advantage over that one. This album was produced by David Foster (who also produced Earth Wind & Fire's I Am the very same year) and the result is yet another gloss coat on Hall & Oates' already glossy production style. Odd thing is the style H&O were going for here. Having worked with Robert Fripp on a solo album Darryl Hall apparently had got the idea to apply that avante-garde sensability to a fusion of disco and punk rock. So....is this album in fact David Foster producing an avante-garde disco-rock?Well in a word it is and Hall & Oates are more then up to the challange. Even though it doesn't sound like them I can here people like Huey Lewis may have listen carefully to "Woman Comes And Goes",with it's gritty combo of soul/rock in about equal measures. Up next is the hit from this album "Wait For Me" which,yes as one reviewer said pretty much standard H&O fare but it's one of my favorite late 70's hits from them.Even on my old vinyl one of my favorite songs from them here is "Portable Radio"-VERY much of it's time,VERY poppy and VERY David Foster but such a compulsive dance tune I can't help but love it."All You Want Is Heaven" is another one of those coulda-been-a-hit but it never was in fact;it's much closer something present on the Private Eyes album a couple years later.The disco/bass-funk influenced tunes "Who Said The World Is Fair" and "Running From Paradise" are actually very clever both musically and lyrically for what Darryl Hall called "a period of mindless dance music",even if the duo admitted they never truely understood the disco/rock prejiduce (always emphasizing the racism and homophobia that was truly behind much of the anti disco sentiment). They also must have had The Police in mind when the influence of "reggeta de blanc" hit them pretty hard on "Number One" wheras "BeBop/Drop" shows the most obvious punk influence. The ear catching and quircky instrumental "Hallafon" and "Intravino" have a strong experimental rock elan' and sound more like the intro to a follow up then a real album closer. The two bonus cuts are very very strong and why they were'nt included on the original album is beyond me."Times Up (Alone Tonight)"....well if it had been on the album let's just say this hummable,soulful tune would've easily been the recordings second hit single. The B-Side "No Brain,No Pain" actually calls to mind the punk influence on this album. So in the end 'X-Static' is an album that pretty much got burried when it first came out-as the notes pointed out the anti disco era in which it was released probably had a lot to do with it. But in recent years,especially as the punk/70's disco-punk rock fusion has become a staple for bands such as the Scissor Sisters and Franz Ferdinand (who I imagined have both heard about this album at one time or another)this either had (or should) undergo a musical re-evaluation and seen as what it is;part of a series of sleeper influencial pop albums by many different artists in history."

Classic transitional album

J. Hayko | NY, United States | 10/19/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's always blown my mind that H&O reached their creative peak with middle-of-the-road-Muzak-Meister David Foster at the controls. Along the Red Ledge and this album, along with DH's Sacred Songs, form a trilogy of experimental, yet really accessible works that successfully bridge the blue-eyed soul years with the piano-triplet-crazy monster hit-making machine years.



Daryl's always been a really insightful guy: his best songs tend to reflect, but never blindly follow, current and emerging trends. As a result, the finished product is always a little ahead of the curve; the pristine wall of synth sheen that graces "Wait For Me", the new-wavey "Hallofon/Intravino", and how 'bout the rock-disco leviathan that almost single-handedly presaged the DOR (dance-oriented rock) radio format, "Portable Radio"? Every single one of these songs (and extra track b-side) "Time's Up" could have been a huge hit, but for the fact that the boys were just slightly out of fashion at the end of the decade and they were working with that weird Fripp feller (who probably recharged DH's creative batteries more than any other human being he's ever worked with - buy "Exposure", pleeaaase). Fine. All the better for us edgy pop freaks who need something a little obscure to get our swerve on.



This is, hands-down, a desert island disk for the ages. Buy it."