At the close of the '70s,
Hall & Oates
began inching toward a sleek, modern sound, partially inspired by the thriving
punk
and
new wave
scene and partially inspired by
Daryl Hall
's solo debut,
Sacred Songs
, a surprising and successful collaboration with
art rock
legend
Robert Fripp
. While 1979's
X-Static
found the duo sketching out this
pop
/
soul
fusion, it didn't come into fruition until 1980's
Voices
, which was their creative and commercial breakthrough. Essentially,
unveils the version of
that made them the most successful duo in
history, the version that ruled the charts for the first half of the '80s. During the '70s,
drifted from folky
singer/songwriters
to
blue-eyed soulmen
, with the emphasis shifting on each record. On
, they place their
craftsmanship front and center, and their production (assisted by engineer/mixer
Neil Kernon
) is clean, spacious, sleek, and stylish, clearly inspired by
yet melodic and polished enough for the mainstream. Thanks to the singles
"Kiss on My List"
"You Make My Dreams"
(and, to a lesser extent, their remake of
the Righteous Brothers
'
"You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling"
and the original version of the heartbreaking
ballad
"Everytime You Go Away,"
later popularized by
Paul Young
), the mainstream enthusiastically embraced
, and the ubiquitousness of these hits obscures the odder, edgier elements of
, whether it's the rushed, paranoid
"United State,"
tense
"Gotta Lotta Nerve (Perfect Perfect),"
the superb
Elvis Costello
-styled
"Big Kids,"
the postmodern
doo wop
tribute
"Diddy Doo Wop (I Hear the Voices),"
or even
John Oates
' goofy
"Africa."
Apart from the latter, these are the foundation of the album, the proof that the duo wasn't merely a stellar singles act, but expert craftsmen as writers and record-makers. The next few albums were bigger hits, but they topped the charts on the momentum created by
, and it still stands as one of their great records. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine