Hall was looking for something more substantial to devote his
talents to. The singer - songwriter movement was in vogue by then, and he was beginning to
redefine himself along those lines. It just so happened that Oates had returned from a
European sojourn at that point, armed with a batch of newly written songs. The two got
back in touch and found that their intentions were the same. As Oates remembers: "We
both said, 'All that band stuff is a hassle, so why don't we do something simple?' The
idea was to be two songwriters who work together, as opposed to some two-headed
monster."
Cultivating a
folksy, back-to-basics image, Hall & Oates began to perform at local coffeehouses and
similar spots in the early '70s. Daryl would play mandolin and electric piano, John would
chime in on acoustic guitar, and together they worked on perfecting their vocal blend. The
duo (later augmented by a bassist and drummer) attracted a local following, which
eventually led to a deal with Atlantic Records.
Whole Oats
(1972), Hall and Oates' Atlantic debut, captures the folk-tinged phase of their creative
evolution. |
The songs on this LP
were lent added polish by arranger / producer Arif Mardin, renowned for his work with such
diverse artists as The Buffalo Springfield, The Young Rascals, Aretha Franklin, and
Solomon Burke. Hall remembers the sessions for Whole Oats with fondness: "We were
finally getting the songs we'd written on tape in a big-budget way, and we had a
world-class producer who was sensitive to our ideas and really wanted to work with us. It
was like being a kid in a candy shop where we could do whatever we wanted to, and it was a
lot of fun." "Goodnight And
Goodmorning" conveys this sense of enthusiasm both lyrically and musically,
surrounding Hall & Oates' voices with a soaring country-rock arrangement, capped with
strings. The song reminds John of the duo's earliest days: "We were sharing a tiny
house on Quince Street [in Philadelphia] during that time, with people hanging out in the
neighborhood playing guitars. Being a piano player, Daryl was left out in the cold when it
came to sitting around and picking. So he picked up a mandolin, and he was able to jam
along with people. 'Goodnight And Goodmorning' was one of the first songs he wrote on
mandolin. The song was Daryl's idea, and we collaborated on it to finish it." |
Daryl Hall and John Oates
German Website
