Dec. 5, 1977 review: Daryl Hall & John Oates
I’m still a Daryl Hall & John Oates fan. They’re one of the few reasons to tune into the otherwise cringeable Yacht Rock channel on SiriusXM.
Dec.
5, 1977 review
Identity
Problem Hurts Hall & Oates
Daryl Hall and John Oates’ musical
identity problem was illustrated by the turnout in the Century Theater Sunday
night – a couples crowd of about 2,000 lured by the handsome songwriting duo’s
dressy harmonies in their Top 40 hits.
While the radio tends to pick up the
tickling intoxication of tunes like “She’s Gone,” “Sara Smile” and “Rich Girl,”
their live appearances are made of sterner stuff – the astringent rock tunes
that take up the rest of their albums.
But they held back at first, taking a
midtempo opener, “Don’t Change.” Hall, his blue-striped shirt open to his
waist, stirred the first sensation three numbers later – his slippery vocal in
“Do What You Want, Be Who You Are,” which reviewed all the tricks in the
Philadelphia soul stylebook.
Dark, curly-haired Oates attempted to
follow suit in his “Emptiness Inside Me,” but interplay with Hall unnerved him
twice. A glance set the two laughing at the start and a prank with a stool backfired
when Oates smashed it to the stage and a leg flew into the audience, striking a
young woman.
Oates was aghast, but he finished.
“You OK?” he asked. She was. Later he dedicated his “I’m Ashamed” to her. (Actually, that's just one of the lines in "
They saved their biggest hits for
last. Their double encore included two nasties off their “Beauty on a Back
Street” album – “You Must Be Good for Something” and “Bad Habits and
Infections” (in lab coats), where Oates chased Hall with an oversized
hypodermic needle.
Staging featured pedestals on either
side of the drummer, a fancy lighting grid and a huge copy of their
eight-pointed-star logo, which flashed to the music in white, colored and
strobe lights.
The backup quintet was potent and
highly flexible. Multiple harmonies could be summoned. So could multiple
instruments. The saxman doubled on percussion and tripled on keyboards. Second
guitarist was goateed notable Caleb Quaye, who spirited about nearly as much as
Hall.
Certain tunes betrayed a touch of
weariness, though. “She’s Gone” was reduced to the harmonic hook of the chorus.
Furthermore, the staginess made the show more splendid than spontaneous.
The opener was an excellent
last-minute substitution – Juice Newton & Silver Spur. A name like that
might imply a cowboy band, but these were West Coast folk-rockers. Besides
that, Juice Newton was a woman, a long-haired blonde with flowing sleeves and a
wonderfully powerful voice. She’s overdue for discovery.
* *
* * *
IN
THE PHOTO: 1977 Daryl Hall and John Oates tour poster for sale on eBay.
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FOOTNOTE:
Even though “Rich Girl” gave them a No. 1 hit earlier in 1977, big-time success
continued to elude Hall & Oates, who at this point were up against the
disco craze. As for fatigue, they did almost 100 dates that year, so no wonder!
Here’s their
Don’t Change
Rich Girl
(unknown)
Do What You Want, Be What You Are
The Emptyness
Winged Bull
Is It a Star?
I’m Just a Kid (Don’t Make Me Feel
Like a Man)
Sara Smile
She’s Gone
Abandoned Luncheonette
(unknown)
Room to Breathe
(encore 1)
You Must Be Good for Something
Johnny Gore and the “C” Eaters
(encore 2)
Bad Habits and Infections
On other dates surrounding this show, which had identical setlists, the song occupying the first unknown position was “Can’t Stop the Music (He Played It Much Too Long)” and there was no song between “Abandoned Luncheonette” and “Room to Breathe.”
As for Juice Newton, she went solo shortly after this and finally scored some country hits in the early 1980s. The video for one of them, her cover version of “Angel of the Morning,” was the first country music video to air on MTV. Though her website is defunct and she and her band haven't performed since 2016, she's presumably still alive and well at her home base in San Diego, where she also is a horse trader.
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