Tag: Hall & Oates

The album “The Morning After,” by Maureen McGovern, was released in 1973.

One of the enjoyable aspects of starting a vinyl collection well into adulthood is the thrill of the hunt. That is, as long as some jamoke named Conrad doesn’t mess up the experience.

I like to go to the various used records stores in my part of the world – suburban Philadelphia – and spend some time rummaging through the endless discount bins for certain albums. Usually, I’m looking for an album that I’m writing about, either one that appeared in The Vinyl Dialogues or one that’s going to be featured in The Vinyl Dialogues Volume II.

It’s a relaxing way to kill and hour or two on the weekend, if one has the patience – as well as a good back and legs – to stand there and sift through album after album looking for that buried treasure.

On my most recent excursion, I was searching for the 1973 album “The

This album used to belong to somebody named “Conrad,” who felt it necessary more than 40 years ago to sign it.

Morning After” by Maureen McGovern. I had interviewed Ms. McGovern for an upcoming show she was doing in New Hope, PA, and during that interview, I gathered enough of her recollections to make a chapter about the album for The Vinyl Dialogues Volume II.

So off I went to The Rock Shop in Plymouth Meeting, PA, which has a nice selection at reasonable prices. Another thing I like about going to used record stores is that – to nobody’s surprise – there’s usually a turntable playing records, which provides a soundtrack for the search. On this day, the classic album of choice was “Before the Flood,” by Bob Dylan and The Band, a live album recorded during a 1974 American tour.

That’s a really good choice for perusing vinyl.

I went through bins of records for an hour-and-a-half. Among those I pulled out was one that I hadn’t yet found from The Vinyl Dialogues, “Tarkio” by Brewer and Shipley from 1970; two from Hall & Oates, “Along the Red Ledge (1978) and “X-Static” (1979); two from America, “Heart” (1975) and “Hideaway” (1976); “Golden Bisquits” by Three Dog Night (1971); and “Whistling Down the Wire” by David Crosby and Graham Nash (1976).

Even though I found albums from just about every female singer-songwriter of the 1970s – Carole King, Carly Simon, Janis Ian, Phoebe Snow, Linda Ronstadt, to name a few – I didn’t find Maureen McGovern’s “The Morning After.
I was just about ready to call it a day, when in the last row of records I was searching, nearly at the back, there it was! “The Morning After” by Maureen McGovern.

It was indeed like finding a buried treasure, and I immediately broke into my happy dance, which resembles the Snoopy Happy Dance from the “Peanuts” cartoons, but with much less grace and rhythm. I am not opposed to doing that in front of other record store patrons when I find the elusive vinyl. If anyone were to ask what was wrong to me, I was prepared to tell them that I was just rocking out to Dylan and The Band.

Once that moment of finding the proverbial needle in the haystack elation subsides, though, then I usually take a closer look at the record and the album cover. Which is what I did this time as well.

This one looked good . . . but, wait. In the upper righthand corner, just above Ms. McGovern’s name, there was another name, this one written in ballpoint pen. It read “Conrad.”

Now it’s not unusual to find records with people’s names on them. There was a time – and I understand this – as kids where we put on name on our most valuable possessions. This album, likely more than 40 years ago, apparently was a prized possession for someone named Conrad.

There is no way for me to know if that is a first name or a last name, but my immediate reaction to finding Conrad’s name on the very album I had been searching for was to seek out the first person named Conrad I could find and punch him right in the nose.

WFT Conrad? Did you not know 40 years ago that someday I would find this record, with the hopes of having it signed by Maureen McGovern?

Of course, that is an unreasonable reaction. But it did take a bit of the steam out of the Snoopy Happy Dance once I came to my senses.

I bought the record anyway. One never knows how long the search would have continued to find the album again. This is one is in pretty decent shape, and will look cool once it’s signed by Ms. McGovern.

That will be the second autograph on the album. Thanks, Conrad.

Daryl Hall bursts into new year with online concert, deep album cuts

By Mike Morsch

On January 1, 2015

In The Vinyl Dialogues Book

This is a file shot of Daryl Hall during a 2014 Hall & Oates performance at the Borgata Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City.
Photo by Mike Morsch

We know what we’re going to get at a Hall & Oates concert. All those classic and timeless hits, the ones that sound as good today as they did in the 1970s and 1980s.

There are no complaints with that. What we don’t usually hear from Hall & Oates, though, are lesser hits or deep album cuts from the vast catalog of their careers.

For that, one has to attend a solo show by either of the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers.

John Oates will tell his audiences up front that if you want to hear the greatest hits of Hall & Oates, then you should go to a Hall & Oates show.

The thing is, if you go to a solo Oates show, you appreciate the stuff that’s strictly Oates because you don’t get to hear it as much in concert. The real treats are the deep album cuts, or in Oates’ case, the new solo stuff. Inevitably though, you can’t help but miss Hall’s presence on a song or two.

It was the same thing on the final day of 2014 when “Live From Daryl’s House” presented “Daryl’s Rock ’n’ Soul New Year’s Eve,” live-streamed exclusively online at Stageit.

For $5 – and when was the last time a concert ticket was that price – one could buy an online ticket, log into Stageit, and see Daryl Hall and his band perform at the new and recently opened “Daryl’s House” in Pawling, New York.

That’s the next best thing to actually being at the concert. One can grab a cocktail in the comfort of one’s own family room, slap on the headphones, turn it up, and rock some Hall & Oates.

Mostly Hall, this time. And why not? It’s his house.

Hall didn’t disappoint, but he rarely does. It wasn’t a stretch to want to hear Oates on a couple of the numbers, but the real treat was the handful of deep cuts Hall performed.

“Dreamtime,” from Hall’s 1986 second solo album “Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine,” was outstanding. Hall also pulled out two cuts from his first solo album in 1980, “Sacred Songs” – “Don’t Leave Me Alone With Her” and “Babs and Babs” – the latter of which was a unique but refreshing choice for his first encore.

Hall & Oates fans will recall that the “Sacred Songs” album was deemed not commercial enough by RCA Records in 1977 because it was so different than what Hall & Oates had produced to that point. That and the fact that record officials didn’t believe the album contained a hit single and feared that the record might alienate mainstream fans kept the album on the shelf for three years. It was eventually released in 1980.

Hall said goodbye to 2014 with “I Can’t Go For That” and opened 2015 with “Auld Lang Syne.” His final two encores were “Kiss on My List” and “Private Eyes.”

For the first time that I can recall, Hall didn’t perform “She’s Gone” at a live show. Off the 1973 “Abandoned Luncheonette” album, it’s been a staple at every Hall & Oates show, every solo Oates show and every solo Hall show that I’ve seen.

But Hall said before the livestreamed show that he was going to do something different for this New Year’s Eve bash, and he did. No complaints from where I sit. I have the “Abandoned Luncheonette” album and I can play it at any time. It’s one of my favorite records and interviews with Daryl and John about the making of that album are included in “The Vinyl Dialogues.”

As if opening the curtain on a new year with Daryl Hall from the comfort of one’s own home wasn’t enough, the online show delivered even more than that.

Philly native Mutlu, a frequent opener for Hall & Oates for several years now and the current generation of Philly soul, did a killer 12-song set to kick things off. He’s got a sweet voice and stage presence. While his original songs are outstanding, he’s just as good on covers, especially Van Morrison’s “Crazy Love.” If you’re a Hall & Oates fan, you can’t help but like him. Check his stuff out at www.mutlusounds.com.

In addition, after Daryl had packed it in for the evening, his band hung around and played well into the night, offering great versions of some Philly soul classics, among them “TSOP” (The Sound of Philadelphia), which you know as the theme song of the television show “Soul Train”; and “Backstabbers” by The O’Jay’s, another of the early hitmaking groups for Philadelphia International Records in the 1970s. Nice finishing touches on a great show, especially for those of us who live in Philly and have a special place in our hearts for the Sound of Philadelphia.

The online format had a few glitches throughout the evening. At one point, some users – me included – lost the feed and were given the message “This stream is currently unavailable at the broadcaster’s request.” It may as well have said, “Commence screaming curse words at your computer now.”

All one had to do though was hit refresh or log out and log back in and the problem seemed to correct itself. It was annoying, and it happened to me three or four times, but I was only offline for a few moments and missed only a portion of a few songs.

The event had the added appeal of being for a good cause. Fifty percent of the proceeds from the online ticket sales were donated to City of Hope, a leading research and treatment center for cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening diseases.

All of that for only $5. On the final day of 2014, Daryl Hall won the Internet.

Hall & Oates frighteningly good at opening of new ‘Daryl’s House’

By Mike Morsch

On November 1, 2014

In The Vinyl Dialogues Book

Daryl Hall opened his new “Daryl’s House” – a music venue and restaurant in Pawling, N.Y. – on Halloween night. He was joined by longtime bandmate John Oates for a concert that was streamed online.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

It was billed as “Hall-oween and Oates,” but thankfully, there was no soul version of “Monster Mash.”

That was never going to happen anyway. Daryl Hall and John Oates would never have a conversation about covering that song in one of their shows, even on Halloween. To do so would severely compromise the integrity of their H&OHQ – Hall & Oates Hipness Quotient.

No, this fright night performance on Oct. 31, 2014, was about something completely different. It christened the new “Daryl’s House” – a renovated music venue and restaurant – that used to be known as the Town Crier in Pawling, N.Y.

It’s the next step in the evolution of “Live From Daryl’s House,” an internet and cable show that Hall has hosted since 2007. Episodes for the show, which airs on the cable channel Palladia, will be filmed there without an audience, but at all other times, the venue’s bar, restaurant and stage will be open for business.

And true to innovative form, this show had something for everyone, even for those of us who couldn’t be there. Because actually, we could be there, right from the comfort of our own family rooms. Yahoo streamed the concert live – and free – online. It was a “Daryl’s House” show that came right to one’s house.

It was the first and only time that I’ve listened and watched an entire live concert from my recliner. Of course, I had the headphones on, and of course, I had the volume cranked.

Hall & Oates shows are tight and relatively predictable. There’s not as much between-song banter or storytelling like we get at a John Oates solo show. At a Hall & Oates show, we know we’re going to get the hits: “She’s Gone,” “Sara Smile,” “Rich Girl, “Maneater,” “Private Eyes,” “Kiss on My List.” We all love those songs. We all listen to those songs every time they’re on the radio. We all have those songs in our collections.

But we did get a few deeper album cuts in this 16-song set, most notably “Adult Education,” from the 1983 album “Rock ’n Soul Part I”; and “Back Together Again,” an Oates song, and “Do What You Want, Be What You Are,” both from the 1977 album “Bigger Than Both of Us.”

And even though we usually hear “She’s Gone” and “Las Vegas Turnaround” in an H&O show, I always want more from the 1973 album “Abandoned Luncheonette,” particularly Hall’s “When The Morning Comes” and Oates’ “Had I Known You Better Then.” I’m partial to that album because the making of it and the songs on it were discussed in length by both Daryl and John for “The Vinyl Dialogues.”

Everybody seemed happy – I know I was – with the show, but nobody more than Daryl.

“This is the way I hoped it would be,” he said toward the end of the performance. “This is a fantastic beginning to a real cool club. We got ourselves a clubhouse. That wouldn’t have happened without fan support, and that’s no joke.
If you haven’t watched it, check Yahoo for the replay. Put the headphones on, turn it up and enjoy the unique Halloween night gig at Daryl’s new house.

There’s no “Monster Mash,” which is a good thing, but this Hall & Oates show is guaranteed to be a “thriller” for you. (Insert appropriate groans here.)

You can go home again: John Oates shines solo at ST94

By Mike Morsch

On September 26, 2014

In The Vinyl Dialogues Book

John Oates, shown here at a 2104 summer Hall & Oates concert in Atlantic City, performed a solo gig at the Sellersville Theater Thursday, Sept. 25.
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

John Oates is comfortable coming home to Pennsylvania, especially when he performs solo gigs at the Sellersville Theater 1894.

As he is fond of saying when performing there, the theater holds a special place in his heart. It was where Oates, as a newly licensed driver in the mid-1960s, took a young lady from nearby Silverdale borough on his first car date to the venue to see a movie.

The locals will tell you that the intimate movie-theater-turned-concert venue has been the site of a lot of memorable moments ever since that Oates date.

And on Thursday night, Sept. 25, John Oates created another of those memories for himself. Six songs into his set, his drummer and bass player exited, leaving just Oates and his guitar on stage.

“I want to dedicate a song to my mom,” he said.

The Oates family is from North Wales, PA, in Montgomery County, the northwest suburbs of Philadelphia. A little further west in the county is where Daryl Hall grew up, just outside Pottstown, PA.

For years, at least at all the East Coast Hall & Oates shows that I’ve attended in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, John’s parents have been in the audience. They were there again in Sellersville Thursday evening.

Oates proceeded to relate a story about how when he was 5 or 6 years old, his mother had him perform at a local park, dressed to the nines in a red blazer. But the young Oates was more interested in getting some ice cream than he was in performing. In an effort to persuade her son to focus more on his song and less on the ice cream, Mrs. Oates insisted that the star of the show – a young Irish tenor by the name of Dennis Erickson – certainly was more interested in his music than he was ice cream and that John should be, too.

It was enough to do the trick, and John sang his song. It was the last time he sang that song until Thursday night.

The tune John dedicated to his mom was “Me and My Gal,” written in 1917 by George W. Meyer, Edgar Leslie and E. Ray Goetz. But it was Judy Garland and Gene Kelly who made it into a hit in the 1942 film of the same name.

And this is how music connects us. Not only did Oates create a special memory for himself and his mother, he created one for me as well.

Of the songs my mother used to sing to me as a toddler, the ones I remember are “Paper Doll” by the Mills Brothers. And “Me and My Gal” by Judy Garland and Gene Kelly.

But getting something special out of a John Oates solo concert isn’t at all unusual. As much as we all like the Hall & Oates concerts, they’re different than what Oates gives fans at a solo show. And different in this context is really good.

I love the Hall & Oates album “Abandoned Luncheonette” from 1973. In fact, interviews with Daryl and John about the making of that album were the inspiration for “The Vinyl Dialogues: Memorable albums of the 1970s as told by the artists.”

If you go to a Hall & Oates show, you’ll get “She’s Gone” and “Las Vegas Turnaround” off “Abandoned Luncheonette.” But if you go to a solo Oates show, you’ll get the Oates-penned “Had I Known You Better Then,” an absolutely great song and a personal favorite off that album.

Oates solo shows do feature H&O classics, like “Maneater,” “Out of Touch” and “You Make My Dreams Come True,” but they’re Oates versions of those songs, with Oates vocals, Oates interpretations, Oates arrangements and Oates tempos.

In addition to great storytelling to set up each song, the set list Thursday night featured “Camellia” (another personal H&O favorite), more recent solo efforts from Oates’ albums “Mississippi Mile” and “Good Road to Follow,” as well as performances of “It’s All Right” by Curtis Mayfield, “Come Back Baby” by Lightnin’ Hopkins, “Little Queenie” by Chuck Berry and “Deep River Blues” by Doc Watson.

Fortunately, there was a whole lot of good at this show that overshadowed a bit of the not-so-good.

We’ve all been to concerts and sat next to people who don’t know how to keep quiet during the performance. And Thursday night it was my turn to sit next to not one, but three of them.

Since it was on Oates’ home turf, in addition to his parents, he had a lot of friends and acquaintances in the audience, including a crowd from Temple University where he went to college. Part of this trip home for Oates includes his being presented – along with Brian Williams of NBC News and others – the Lew Klein Excellence in Media Award from the university. Klein is a Philadelphia-area philanthropist and former television executive who hired Dick Clark to host American Bandstand. The ceremony was scheduled for the night after this particular show.

So it was no surprise that the three women who sat next to me claimed to have some kind of connection to the star. As they took their seats 15 minutes before the show, one of the women announced, “Where are you John? Your high school sweetheart is here.”

Apparently, in his early years, Oates dated mostly jibber-jabberers who thought that rock shows were supposed to start 15 minutes earlier than the 8 p.m. time printed on the ticket. And this woman wouldn’t quit talking through the entire show. That not only shows a lack or respect for the artist, it’s rude to the people in the immediately vicinity who paid to hear John Oates perform.

I’m guessing one of the reasons that she’s not Mrs. John Oates today because she wouldn’t shut up long enough for him to propose to her back in the 1960s.

Nevertheless, it was the only glitch in an otherwise stellar performance by the bona fide Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and all-around nice guy.

I even called my mom on the way home after the show and we sang a line or two of “Me and My Gal” together over the phone.

Thanks to John Oates and his music, I was reminded of a cherished childhood memory of my own. And no amount of jibber-jabber can overshadow that.

If you’re going to cover Hall & Oates on their home turf, know all the words to ‘Sara Smile’

By Mike Morsch

On August 31, 2014

In The Vinyl Dialogues Book

Daryl Hall, along with John Oates, wrote the classic H&O song “Sara Smile.”

If you’re going to be a cover band that plays in Montgomery County, PA, and you’re going to include a Hall & Oates song in your set list, then at the very least you ought to know all the words to the song.

See, Montgomery County – north and west of Philadelphia – is the sweet spot for Hall & Oates. John was raised in North Wales, PA, and Daryl grew up near Pottstown, PA, just 15 or so miles further west. Both are in Montgomery County.

It’s the home turf if ever there was a home turf for the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers.

When I moved to Pennsylvania in 2000, I lived in Royersford, PA, a little closer to the Hall family homestead than the Oates territory. In fact, my house was only a few miles from the final resting place of the “abandoned luncheonette,” the one that graces the cover of the 1973 Hall & Oates album of the same name. The structure itself was long gone by the time I got here, having been destroyed in a controlled burn by the township in the early 1980s. (Daryl and John talked extensively in separate interviews about the making of “Abandoned Luncheonette” in “The Vinyl Dialogues.”)

Several years later, I moved to Montgomeryville, PA, but my mailing address is North Wales, PA, the same place where Oates’ parents still reside to this day.

Outside of this area, the rest of the world knows Hall & Oates as Philly guys. But for those of us who call Montgomery County home, they’re our guys.

So as it often does, Saturday Night Date Night this week included dinner and a local show. My wife and I are supporters of local musicians and we enjoy the artists that grace the Philly music scene.

I’m not going to name the venue – although it was smack dab in the middle between Oates’ North Wales and Hall’s Pottstown. We’ve enjoyed several good bands there over the years. And although I should, I’m not going to name the band, because I respect the effort that it takes to put oneself out there in front of people and create music that is going to entertain them. It’s not as easy task for any number of reasons.

But if you’re going to cover a Hall & Oates song in Montgomery County, PA, the lead singer should at the very least know all the words to the song the band is covering. Did I mention it’s the very heart of H&O territory?

So when the four-piece group broke into the opening of “Sara Smile,” my wife and I looked at each other and smiled. We love Hall & Oates and we love that song. It’s arguably one of the most – if not the most – recognizable songs in the vast H&O library of great songs.

(In fact, I wanted to name by first daughter Sara Smile, but it was a different decade, a different wife and a different set of circumstances. She’s 26 years old now, and her name isn’t Sara Smile, but she knows that story. And just last year she and I went to a Hall & Oates concert in Atlantic City, N.J. When they played “Sara Smile,” she laid her head on my shoulder for the entire song. It’s a quaint little family story and it provided us with a special father-daughter moment.)

But this local cover band absolutely butchered the song. They butchered the music, they butchered the lyrics and they butchered the moment, for at least two of us in the audience. Hey, we know all the words to the song, we could have sat in with the band on vocals for this one. And neither my wife nor I can carry a tune in a dump truck, a backhoe, a wheel barrow, on a stretcher or in a bucket.

As it became painfully apparent that this version of “Sara Smile” was going to fall far short of our expectations, I leaned over and whispered in my wife’s ear.

“These guys really shit the bed on this song,” I said, trying to prevent my beer from shooting out of my nose and into her ear, further ruining the moment even more.

“Ya, they’re not very good,” she whispered back.

So we left. It was just too much for our Hall & Oates sensibilities. It was so bad that we yukked it up all the way home.

While writing this, I mentioned to my wife that I couldn’t think of an appropriate ending for this story.

How about “They sucked,” she said.

You know, if you want to be free, all you got to do is say so.

Daryl Hall, Amos Lee and Mutlu: ‘I’m in a Philly Mood’

By Mike Morsch

On June 26, 2014

In The Vinyl Dialogues Book

Philadelphia singer-songwriter Mutlu brought some Philly soul to the Pastorius Park Free Summer Concert Series June 25, 2014, in Chestnut Hill, PA.

There are a lot of cool things about living in Philly, especially for a guy who spent the first 40 years of his life in and around the cornfields of Illinois and Iowa.

Cheesesteaks (yes, they’re that good), Phillies baseball, cheesesteaks, the Liberty Bell, cheesesteaks, Independence Hall, cheesesteaks, the Jersey Shore right next door and . . . cheesesteaks (Wiz, witout: Philly people will know what that means.)

But the coolest of the cool for me is the music scene here, specifically the Philly sound, also known as Philly soul. And for me that means Hall & Oates, The O’Jays, The Stylistics, Lou Rawls and the next generation that includes Amos Lee and Mutlu.

If you’re a Hall & Oates or Amos Lee fan, you likely know Mutlu. He’s the next generation of Philly singer-songwriters and he’s collaborated with both Hall & Oates and toured extensively with Lee providing backup vocals. Dude can sing, man.

The first time we saw Mutlu was several years ago when he was the opener for a Daryl Hall solo show at the Keswick Theatre in Glenside, PA. After his set, my wife and I looked at each other and said, “Hey, that guy is really good.”

And we’ve followed his career ever since. We’ve seen him headline the World Cafe Live in Philadelphia a couple of times (and here’s a behind-the-scenes tip for you Philly folks: at Mutlu solo gigs, it’s not unusual for Amos Lee to pop up out of the crowd and get on stage to sing a few songs with Mutlu.)

So when we heard that Mutlu was one of the featured artists at the Pastorius Park Free Summer Concert Series presented by the Chestnut Hill Community Association, we were thrilled. Chestnut Hill is a wonderfully hip and artsy community north and west of Philadelphia and one of many communities in our area that offer summer concert series. Forget that they’re free, which is nice. The musical talent at these presentations, which normally are outdoors, is off the charts.

But Mother Nature wasn’t cooperating the night of the concert (June 25, 2014) – she’s obviously never heard Mutlu sing, and besides, she can be a ratfink when it comes to many of my outdoors entertainment choices – so the concert was moved to one of the local elementary schools in Chestnut Hill.

And that didn’t deter Mutlu. Did I mention that the dude can sing? He did a lot of his original stuff, but also covered songs like “Crazy Love” by Van Morrison; “Stand By Me” by Ben E. King; “I Wanna Love You” by Bob Marley; and “My Cherie Amour” by Stevie Wonder.

The highlight for me, though, was the Mutlu song “Caramel.” It’s got a Marvin Gaye “Let’s Get It On” vibe. Check out the video that accompanies this story. And check out Mutlu’s solo stuff as well at www.mutlusounds.com. Dude can sing, man.

Then go to this link, https://www.livefromdarylshouse.com/currentep.html?ep_id=81, and see the “Live From Daryl’s House” episode No. 66 featuring Amos Lee and Mutlu. Watch as the three artists pour the Philly soul all over “Caramel.”

This week, I’m in a Philly mood, baby. And you will be, too.

Hall & Oates leave them wanting more at the Borgata

By Mike Morsch

On June 22, 2014

In The Vinyl Dialogues Book

You know that old adage, “Always leave them wanting more?” I’m pretty sure that just about everyone in the sold-out Borgata ballroom in Atlantic City Friday night, June 20, 2014, would have been happy to sit there for a few more hours and listen to Hall & Oates.

The recently inducted Rock and Roll Hall of Famers performed a tight, 90-minute set, that included two encores, and certainly left me wanting more.

The thing that strikes me about Daryl and John at this stage of their careers is that they genuinely seem to still be enjoying what they do. And, no breaking news here: they’re very good at it.

Of course, all the hits were there:

“Maneater” – No. 1 from the “H2O” album (1982).
“Out of Touch” – No. 1 from “Big Bam Boom” (1984).
“Do It For Love” – No. 114 (and should have been higher) from “Do It For Love” (2002).
“She’s Gone” – No. 7 (Editorial comment: How can this not be a No. 1 song?) from “Abandoned Luncheonette (1973).
“Sara Smile” – No. 4 (Editorial comment: How can this not be a No. 1 song?) from “Daryl Hall and John Oates” (1976).
“Do What You Want, Be What You Are” – No. 39 from “Bigger Than Both of Us” (1976).
“I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)” – No. 1 from “Private Eyes” (1981).
“Rich Girl” – No. 1 from “Bigger Than Both of Us” (1976).
“You Make My Dreams” – No. 5 (Editorial comment: How can this not be a No. 1 song?) from “Voices” (1980).
“Kiss on My List” – No. 1 from “Voices” (1980).
“Private Eyes” – No. 1 from “Private Eyes” (1981).

But the highlight of any Hall & Oates concert for me is anything they do from the “Abandoned Luncheonette” album. Friday night’s performance of “She’s Gone,” a song they admit they’ve played at every show for the past 40 years or so, was outstanding. As good as that song is on the record, it was simply chill-inducing to hear live at the Borgata.

The other song from “Abandoned Luncheonette” in the set list was the Oates-penned “Las Vegas Turnaround.” It’s become a favorite of mine because of the backstory that John tells about the genesis of the song, a story that’s retold in the “Abandoned Luncheonette” chapter of “The Vinyl Dialogues.”

The song is kind of a prequel to another famous Hall & Oates song that would be written by the duo and released in 1976, three years after “Las Vegas Turnaround.” If you’ve read the book or know the story, don’t give out any spoilers. If you don’t know the story, pick up a copy of “The Vinyl Dialogues.” I’m biased, but it’s the coolest story in a book full of cool stories about memorable albums of the 1970s.

So here’s my idea to enhance the Hall & Oates experience, and it’s completely selfish from a fan’s viewpoint: Make the first hour of a Hall & Oates show the “All The Hits Hour.” Add another hour to the show, and call it the “Deep Album Cuts” hour (I’ll take “When The Morning Comes” and “Had I Known You Better Then” from “Abandoned Luncheonette” as well as “Camellia” from the 1975 “Daryl Hall & John Oates” album.)

Then after a couple of encores, bring three chairs on stage – one for Daryl, one for John and one for me – and I’ll interview them. Then we’ll all go for beer afterwards. All 5,000 of us. We’ll let Todd Rundgren pick up the tab as payback for overproducing “War Babies” and making it sound like a Todd Rundgren album.

Just a thought. But that sure would eliminate the whole “leave them wanting more” thing, huh?

Stories behind memorable albums of the 1970s as told by the artists

Tag: Hall & Oates

Search for elusive vinyl ends with a deflating ‘Conrad’ moment

Daryl Hall bursts into new year with online concert, deep album cuts

Hall & Oates frighteningly good at opening of new ‘Daryl’s House’

You can go home again: John Oates shines solo at ST94

If you’re going to cover Hall & Oates on their home turf, know all the words to ‘Sara Smile’

Daryl Hall, Amos Lee and Mutlu: ‘I’m in a Philly Mood’

Hall & Oates leave them wanting more at the Borgata