Finding Their Voices4 Out Of 5 Stars
After a series of well received critically but commercially successful albums, Daryl Hall and John Oates took matters into their own hands. "Voices" was to be the duo's first effort at self production, figuring if anyone knew what their sound should be like, it was them. It was a gamble that paid off in a big, big way.
Hall and Oates stripped the sound down to an almost new-wave bare-bones structure. Gone where the super-lush soul or the odd Zepplin-esque rock (from "Beauty on a Backstreet") to a sound that could easily be reproduced live. It refocused attention on the always sharp harmonies and Hall's soaring vocals. More than before, Hall was taking center stage, which made an amazing take on Paul Young's "Every Time You Go Away" just before Young had his own hit version.
Showcasing the duo came via touching on the Righteous Brothers "You've Lost That Loving Feeling," one of the four hits "Voices" spun off after a long dry spell. In fact, Hall and Oates struck a writing groove here that continued for almost a decade, as "Voices" knocked off the smashes "Kiss On My List," "How Does It Feel To Be Back" and "You Make My Dreams." Even with a few filler tunes in the middle ("Big Kids," "Africa"), the cream covered any weaknesses.
Hall and Oates effectively reclaimed their career with the album, with followups soon to arrive in the form of "H2O" and "Private Eyes." But it was "Voices" that brought them back to the center stage, and holds up nicely 30 years on.
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