Daryl Hall & John Oates: Whole Oats CD Track Listing

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Daryl Hall & John Oates Whole Oats (1972)
Originally Released 1972\nCD Edition Released \n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: Prior to releasing their debut album Whole Oats, Daryl Hall and John Oates had sketched out some demos, originally released as the Past Times Behind collection (since reissued under a variety of titles). Those recordings found them earnest and tentative, in the throes of their folk-rock phase, and they led to Atlantic signing the duo, putting them under the tutelage of producer Arif Mardin, who had previously helmed records by the Rascals and Dusty Springfield's landmark Dusty in Memphis. Mardin helped open up the duo's sound, retaining the preciousness that marked their ballads but subtly layering sounds on the livelier numbers and encouraging these two veterans of Philly soul groups to play up their R&B influence. At its core, Whole Oats is still quite precious, often a little too delicate for its own good, but about half of the album works and works rather brilliantly. Two carryovers from Past Times Behind, "Fall in Philadelphia" and "Goodnight and Goodmorning," illustrate the skill of Mardin's production and how it highlights the duo's strengths. "Fall in Philadelphia" is given a soul makeover, with some funky guitar and horns plus a stylish vibraphone line, yet it retains the folky, melancholic undertow of the original, while "Goodnight and Goodmorning" is given an epic production, sailing along on its strings and achieving an understated beauty. In Mardin's hands, both turn into minor classics, and there are a few other songs that are equally as successful, most notably the opener "I'm Sorry" and the melancholy closer "Lilly (Are You Happy)," two terrific fusions of Hall & Oates' R&B roots, singer/songwriter aspirations, and Mardin's ear for modern pop/rock and soul. If the rest of the album was as strong as these four songs, Whole Oats would have been a crackerjack debut, but they're the highlights on what is essentially a promising debut. The first side has some nice moments -- the lightly skipping "All Our Love," Hall's quiet, introspective "Waterfall" -- but the second side gets stuck in a series of sleepy ballads that derails whatever momentum the album gained. Nevertheless, a little over of half of the record works, and four cuts are early classics, which is more than enough to make Whole Oats a strong debut. -- Stephen Thomas Erlewine\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nDefinitely not the Whole of Hall and Oates!, August 2, 2005\nReviewer: Frederick Baptist (Singapore)\nI am a big H&O fan and have been for over 25 years and counting; not so much their "newer" stuff i.e. anything after "Big Bam Boom" (except maybe the glorious "Marigold Sky")but it was really the stuff they did before "Voices" that intrigued me and got me reeled in after "Voices" and "Private Eyes" first got me hooked. \n\nI was deeply affected by what I had heard on "Beauty On a Back Street" as well as "Bigger Than Both of Us" and I went on to try and find as many of their albums that I could get my hands on. \n\nA couple of them, however, I wished I hadn't had done. One of them is this album which you could if you want to be kind call an "experimental" effort but definitely no brilliant debut release by any stretch of the imagination. Another way of putting it would be to say that after this, they could only get better and believe me they really did until things started going downhill with "Ooh Yeah." \n\nWith this album, though, only "Lily, Are You Happy" really gives us some indication of what we can expect from the dynamic duo in upcoming albums. No point getting a whole album just for one song unless you are a die-hard collector and need this just to make your collection complete. \n\nI would recommend if you can find it in some used cd store "No Goodbyes" which is a brilliant compilation of their best stuff from their first 3 albums before they changed labels for RCA from Atlantic. It's been out of print for many years and the duo themselves could probably care less about it given their acrimonious split from Atlantic but that is one compilation that would be good to get a remastered version of. \n\nI'm still holding on to my Japanese press that I got years ago. Very precious to me indeed....\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nObviously Not Their Best {But Still Good}, November 23, 2005\nReviewer: Shayne M. Whitehead "Shayne Michael" (Long Beach)\nWhole Oats will be much more appreciated by those who really like Hall & Oate's music. The best tracks are I'm Sorry, All Our Love, and Fall in Philadelphia. All of which were released prior to Whole Oats as demos. The first two demos are somewhat hard to find. The demo version of Fall in Philadelphia can be found on a lot of the versions of Past Times Behind. \n\nAlso decent are Goodnight and Goodmorning, South East City Window Side, Lilly {which features a false ending} and Thank You. All these listens later, "I'm Sorry" is hands down the best track. I'm amazed it was left off Atlantic's "No Goodbyes" album {which was the best of the early Hall & Oates albums by Atlantic records}. \n\nI'd like this album a lot more if it weren't for the songs Georgie and They Needed Eachother. Both are depressing and way too metaphoric. Rereleased without them, this album would have faired better.\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nDaryl's and John's not-too-popular debut album, April 24, 2005\nReviewer: andy8047 (Nokomis,Florida)\nDaryl Hall's and John Oates' debut album gained very little attention when it was released in 1972. Not one song from this album appears on the 2004 compilation ULTIMATE DARYL HALL & JOHN OATES. The following year,H&O scored their first #1 hit, SHE'S GONE, from their second album ABANDONED LUNCHEONETTE. That song would later be covered by the R&B group Tavares who had another hit, a cover of the Bee Gees' MORE THAN A WOMAN. Both words in this album's title are homonyms of the duo's last names. "Whole" is the homonym of Daryl's real last name Hohl. And of course,"oats" is the homonym of John's last name.\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nWhole Oats - Good first LP from the Rock Era's best., February 28, 2001\nReviewer: Tom_SF (San Francisco, CA United States)\n"Whole Oats" is actually a play on words. Daryl Hall's original last name was "Hohl" and he and John were originally called "Whole Oats" as their first single "I'm Sorry" will attest. Lots of good light, tasteful mostly mid-tempo rock on this album. A fine precursor to "Abandoned Luncheonette" and like "Luncheonette", produced by Arif Mardin. \nBest tracks are "I'm Sorry", "Goodnight & Goodmorning", "Southeast City Window", "All Our Love", "Lilly (Are You Happy)" and "Fall In Philadelphia".\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nGood...but the best is yet to come, September 11, 2000\nReviewer: David Hugaert (Honolulu, HI United States)\n"Whole Oats" is Daryl Hall & John Oates' first album. With this album, Hall & Oates were experimenting with various musical styles-from folk music standards on songs like "All Our Love", "They Needed Each Other", "Southeast City Window" and "Thank You For...", to rhythm & blues standards on "Fall In Philadelphia". It is this kind of experimentation that makes this CD wonderful to listen to. "Lazyman" features the theme line "is your a** getting sore?" and "Goodnight And Goodmorning" was later covered by Cecilio And Kapono. The CD's cover featuring an opened oatmeal box isn't bad, either. Better buy this CD before Atlantic decides to shelve it.\n\nHalf.com Details \nProducer: Arif Mardin \n\nAlbum Notes\nPersonnel: Daryl Hall (vocals, mandolin, keyboards); John Oates (vocals, guitar); Jerry Ricks (guitar); Bill Keith (pedal steel); Mike McCarthy (bass); Jim Helmer (drums, percussion).\n\nRecorded at Atlantic Recording Studio, New York, New York.\n\nThe only sensible way to approach Hall and Oates 1972 debut album is to think of it as their baby picture. Which is another way of saying that little on it sounds much like the music they're famous for, let alone the Philly soul and doo-wop that inspired them. Instead, WHOLE OATS sounds exactly like the music that dominated the charts at the time it was recorded, e.g. sensitive singer/songwriter stuff (think James Taylor meets Laura Nyro) and city-boy-country rock, sort of Poco-lite. It's all very pleasant and well crafted, but obviously the best was yet to come.
This rock cd contains 11 tracks and runs 38min 42sec.
Freedb: 9c09100b
Buy: from Amazon.com

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