Daryl Hall Albums (4)
'Can't Stop Dreaming'
Release Date 12/28/1999
Tracks 12
Label BMG International
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Can't Stop Dreaming has a rather tangled release history. It was originally issued in Japan in 1999 on the BMG International label, and in 2003 it appeared in America but missing two tracks. Anyway, as those who witnessed the resurgence of Hall & Oates will attest, Hall has never sounded better. His vocal range is all that it once was and more. He is still, along with his main collaborator, Alan Gorrie from the Average White Band, a talented pop songwriter -- though admittedly pop music itself has changed by its very nature in the early 21st century. Pop itself no longer has a space for what is timeless and dateless. Hall's smooth hooks, tight love songs, and crisp arrangements are timeless but not timely and that's far from his fault. Tracks such as "Cab Driver," with its sheeny Steely Dan feel, and the Marvin Gaye/Leon Ware-inspired "Let Me Be the One" are classic in virtually every way, especially vocally. Hall doesn't reach for notes at all anymore, they just come, flowing up from the pit of his belly like a river expressing itself as a waterfall of intonation and melodic invention most jazz singers would give their eye teeth for. Only Al Green is Hall's equal in the contemporary soul genre. His disciplined singing graces the deep, mysterious funk of "Never Let Me Go," with its roiling basslines, and the spare acoustic ballad "Holding Out for Love." The big surprise is in the remake of the Hall & Oates classic "She's Gone" near the end of the album with a thoroughly (post)modern arrangement with a subtle drum loop. If ever a song didn't need to be recut, this is it. It was perfect the first time around. That said, Hall's new read of the tune as an older man singing his grief -- in higher pitch -- is as authentic and spine-tingling as the original. While the backing vocals lack a little of the deep soul the duo's version had, the smooth gospel flavor inherent in them and restrained exuberance of Hall's delivery make the song a much more reflective and sorrowful expression, and it's dynamite. The slick, mat black and chrome disco surfaces of "All by Myself" and "Fools Rush In" have Hall revealing that there is still plenty of life in that form of songwriting and recording. With all the guitars careening over a babbling-brook bassline and Hall punctuating each bar with his vocal acrobatics, these songs become dancefloor necessities. In sum, Can't Stop Dreaming works as an album for listening or dancing too. It also works on another, much more intimate level. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Released ten years after Hall & Oates' heyday and seven after Daryl Hall's last solo venture, 3 Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine, Soul Alone finds Hall on unsure ground. It had been only three years since he had seen the upper reaches of the charts, yet it felt like much more time had passed since he had truly reigned over mainstream pop/rock. From the sounds of Soul Alone, he longed for those days, but not as much as longed for his youth in Philadelphia, and with it, the Philly soul and folk-rock that was so close to his heart. As a result, the album is lost in limbo between affectionate homages to years past and a need to regain his status as a hitmaker. Not surprisingly, it's the homages that hold up, largely because they give Hall a chance to shine as a songsmith and a vocalist. The other material largely sounds forced, although there are glimmers of brilliance every now and then. Mostly, Soul Alone -- like his two previous solo ventures, which arrived at similar lulls in Hall & Oates' career -- is interesting as a chapter in Hall's life, in the way it reflects where he was psychologically and musically at that point in time. Which means, of course, that it's primarily of interest to any listener who has followed him long enough to recognize that. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
'3 Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine'
Release Date 1/1/1986
Tracks 10
Label RCA
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Arriving just at the end of Hall & Oates' phenomenal streak of success in the early '80s, 3 Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine, Daryl Hall's second solo album, was viewed as the first overture in a solo career but, in retrospect, its kinship with his first solo effort, 1980's Sacred Songs, is apparent. There is some indication that Hall had to make, or wanted to make, some concessions to bring it onto the charts -- how could he not, he was one of the most popular musicians of his era -- but that's not particularly evident on the tremendous lead single, "Dreamtime," a swirling slice of arty new wave psychedelia that stands in direct contrast to anything Hall & Oates sent into the Top Ten -- it might have belonged on Sacred Songs or X-Static, but it could only have been cut in the mid-'80s when Hall had the freedom to make a record like this. And this is a result of an artist who is given the freedom to make close to the record that he wants, with a few commercial concessions, plus a desire to make a modern record. That does mean 3 Hearts is a bit tied to the time, particularly in its production with its clean synths and cavernous drum machines, but that's not necessarily a bad thing since it's primarily of interest as a portrait of where Hall was in 1986. He's not as insistently melodic as he is with Oates, nor is he as experimental as he was on Sacred Songs, and that does mean that 3 Hearts falls in a middle ground that's a bit neither here nor there. And that means it's not particularly cohesive, but it does have its moments, the brightest of which is "Dreamtime," one of his greatest achievements. There are other songs here that aren't quite as good, but it does take a bit of searching to find them, particularly because some of the cuts are either failed experiments or just fall flat. But those moments that do work illustrate that Hall had ambitions that couldn't fit Hall & Oates, and needed an outlet like this, even if he couldn't quite pull it all together all the time. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
In what must be the most bizarre coupling ever, Hall is accompanied by none other than King Crimson figurehead Robert Fripp on production and, of course, on guitar. This record suffered at the hands of record company mismanagement. Originally recorded in 1977, Sacred Songs wasn't granted a release until 1980. RCA worried about Hall's lack of commercial vision. However Hall and Fripp's creativity strangely works. Sure, there are pieces that wouldn't do as singles, but for an album regarded as being so uncommercial, there are plenty that could have been: the wacky title song, "Something in 4/4 Time," "Farther Away," and "Why Was It So Easy" (the latter being one of Hall's best ballads). Most bonkers of all is "Babs and Babs," a straight-ahead Daryl Hall track until a Fripp soundscape kicks in from nowhere! Fripp's own "Urban Landscape" shows him having withdrawal symptoms from Bowie's infamous Heroes sessions. The onward march of studio technology means that the sound here is slightly dated. Still, it's a must-have purchase, ending with another killer ballad "Without Tears" -- Earth magic indeed. ~ Kelvin Hayes, All Music Guide
