| The decision to do
another Hall and Oates LP felt as obvious and right as the need to separate for "new
sources of information." "We just started writing," Daryl says, "the
same way as we always did. When we work together, we just deal with reality as it exists
to us, our point of view at that moment of time. We have this strange ability that, even
after we've been apart and get back together, we seem to be thinking about the same
things. The songs developed very effortlessly, just kind of flowed together. I think we
did the right thing at the right time by splitting. The result, this new album, is the
most focused thing we've ever done, a richer kind of record and a more fulfilling
feeling." Unlike other Hall and Oates albums,
says Daryl, "Most of the tracks were recorded in our home studios. We brought them
into The Hit Factory afterwards. The way John and I work, we do a lot of back and forth
advocating, talk it all out. Pretty much everything that happened is a group decision,
with T-Bone Wolk, our bass player, who produced it with us; not so much in the writing but
in the making of the record. lt doesn't really matter whose fingers make the
notes..." |
"We gave
ourselves more chances," John relates. "Every time there was a decision we tried
a lot of different ideas and versions; that's why it took so long to finish. lt's
musically complex - the process we used to record runs the gamut from basic playing to the
most sophisticated synthesis and sequencing - but in the end, the essence of the songs
come through, they're not overwhelmed by the production or the approach to making the
record." All Hall and Oates records are a rich
repository of musical influences, and this one is no different. "We used a lot of
African feelings," Daryl says, "a lot of kalimba sounds, and l'd been listening
to a lot of Middle Eastern music, too. Barry White, Marvin Gaye, and a lot of New York
City, like Channel J in Manhattan late at night. They show the same commercials over and
over again - one's that advertise sex - heavy on the Barry White sound, and I think that
invaded my brain and body! He's in there, somewhere, going, "Yeah, baby, ooh
baby..."' |
Daryl Hall and John Oates
German Website
