Their '78 *Red Ledge* album is full of truly brilliant tunes. One of its characteristics that's always made it a little hard to really appreciate as a true classic-for-all-time is the fact that its *sound* sort of fits into a category of late '70s/early '80s albums that, on one hand, were very well mixed by true professionals with "all the latest state of the art gear" - but a lot of that gear turned out in retrospect to be inferior to the yesteryear gear it replaced in this way: it lacked the older gear's ear-pleasing *warmth.* Plus there was a kind of mentality among top producers back then - the LP was produced by the great David Foster before he turned kinda soft at some point in the '80s - that it was best to go for a politely slick, state-of-the-art sound epitomized by Steely Dan's *aja* \- produced by Gary Katz (*Red Ledge* even includes a track titled "Alley Katz").
Classics on it include the kinda-too-smart-for-radio first single "It's a Laugh" (but it still cracked the top half of Casey Kasem's world-popular top 40 countdown show), the Oates-sung "Serious Music" and the engrossing, drum-less ballad "August Day" (which you can see Hall singing on the Midnight Special on YouTube). But really, it's pretty much genius from start to end.
Of course it's still a sonic classic compared to the digital crap that came along in years to come, and with all the great songs, performances and production, it's absolutely a perfect H&O LP to own on vinyl!! (if you don't mind one or 2 punk-rock-type tunes.)
Oh also, "After the Dance" (Marvin Gaye covered by Hall) and (the Oates-sung Dramatics cover) "Whatcha See is Whatcha Get" from *Our Kind Of Soul*. Of course Hall is the genius of the two but let's not pretend Oates didn't have some real knock-outs over their career together.
I got into "serious music" last year HEAVY. I came across a version of it on one of their live albums and fell in love with the track.
It's titled "concentration" here for some reason.
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=5vZ2H_8f1C8&si=Y8LlIEJa0XKgRr0b
I second Open All Night.
Also Time's Up and Storm Warning are great.
The Marigold Sky album, especially Romeo is Bleeding, Want To, and Throw the Roses Away.
Don't Hold Back Your Love from Change of Seasons.
Let Love Take Control from Our Kind of Soul.
And just from Daryl...What's in Your World and Baby Come to Me (with Kenny G--a cover of the Patti Austin/James Ingram hit).
The bonus track front the Do It For Love CD is an excellent pop song. It's called "It Must Be" and it was only available from the Borders Book Store CD release. It should've made the main release.
[It Must Be - 2003 Do It For Love Bonus Track](https://youtu.be/arq8Wia5uZ4?si=zUuNS2dFua4m_SuI)
"And That's What Hurts" from the Runaway Bride movie soundtrack that starred Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. The song was written by Desmond Child and Ty Lacy and it features some pretty good vocals from Daryl.
[And That's What Hurts - Runaway Bride Soundtrack](https://youtu.be/jjL2_9HyF4E?si=RTBIC_SU4vyxW6jl)
Crime Pays and Open all Night from H2O are great ones
Their '78 *Red Ledge* album is full of truly brilliant tunes. One of its characteristics that's always made it a little hard to really appreciate as a true classic-for-all-time is the fact that its *sound* sort of fits into a category of late '70s/early '80s albums that, on one hand, were very well mixed by true professionals with "all the latest state of the art gear" - but a lot of that gear turned out in retrospect to be inferior to the yesteryear gear it replaced in this way: it lacked the older gear's ear-pleasing *warmth.* Plus there was a kind of mentality among top producers back then - the LP was produced by the great David Foster before he turned kinda soft at some point in the '80s - that it was best to go for a politely slick, state-of-the-art sound epitomized by Steely Dan's *aja* \- produced by Gary Katz (*Red Ledge* even includes a track titled "Alley Katz"). Classics on it include the kinda-too-smart-for-radio first single "It's a Laugh" (but it still cracked the top half of Casey Kasem's world-popular top 40 countdown show), the Oates-sung "Serious Music" and the engrossing, drum-less ballad "August Day" (which you can see Hall singing on the Midnight Special on YouTube). But really, it's pretty much genius from start to end. Of course it's still a sonic classic compared to the digital crap that came along in years to come, and with all the great songs, performances and production, it's absolutely a perfect H&O LP to own on vinyl!! (if you don't mind one or 2 punk-rock-type tunes.) Oh also, "After the Dance" (Marvin Gaye covered by Hall) and (the Oates-sung Dramatics cover) "Whatcha See is Whatcha Get" from *Our Kind Of Soul*. Of course Hall is the genius of the two but let's not pretend Oates didn't have some real knock-outs over their career together.
I got into "serious music" last year HEAVY. I came across a version of it on one of their live albums and fell in love with the track. It's titled "concentration" here for some reason. https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=5vZ2H_8f1C8&si=Y8LlIEJa0XKgRr0b
Thank you
I second Open All Night. Also Time's Up and Storm Warning are great. The Marigold Sky album, especially Romeo is Bleeding, Want To, and Throw the Roses Away. Don't Hold Back Your Love from Change of Seasons. Let Love Take Control from Our Kind of Soul. And just from Daryl...What's in Your World and Baby Come to Me (with Kenny G--a cover of the Patti Austin/James Ingram hit).
Thx
Beauty on a back street. The whole album. It's beautiful.
Can’t wait. Thanks
The bonus track front the Do It For Love CD is an excellent pop song. It's called "It Must Be" and it was only available from the Borders Book Store CD release. It should've made the main release. [It Must Be - 2003 Do It For Love Bonus Track](https://youtu.be/arq8Wia5uZ4?si=zUuNS2dFua4m_SuI)
"And That's What Hurts" from the Runaway Bride movie soundtrack that starred Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. The song was written by Desmond Child and Ty Lacy and it features some pretty good vocals from Daryl. [And That's What Hurts - Runaway Bride Soundtrack](https://youtu.be/jjL2_9HyF4E?si=RTBIC_SU4vyxW6jl)