Yes, I’m actually calling them by their preferred name, even though everyone else calls them Hall & Oates. For the title of this post, anyway.
And yes, they have released 18 albums since 1972 (gadzooks, that’s 51 years ago as I write this), so ranking four is only covering a tiny portion of their discography.
BUT.
These are the four albums that established them as the most successful pop duo ever. They’re also the only four I ever bought as a teen/pseudo adult in my early 20s1Technically I bought five, because I also got their hits collection, Rock ‘n Soul, Part 1. There was never a Part 2..
Ranked:
- Private Eyes (1981). This is a near-perfect album that plays like a greatest hits collection because it’s full of irresistible pop gems. The band is in great form and the hooks are huge. Favourites include “Some Men” and “Did it in a Minute” but really, all the songs are terrific. Even Oates’s goofy “Mano a Mano” is fine.
- Voices (1980). This is the blueprint for Private Eyes and while not as fully realized, it still has great tunes crossing a lot of styles. Highlights include the excellent single “Kiss on My List”, “United State” and more. Oates sings lead on more tracks here, so there’s some good vocal variety, too.
- Big Bam Boom (1984). They get a little experimental and it sometimes works (“Bank on Your Love”) and sometimes falls a bit flat. “Some Things are Better Left Unsaid” is a great ballad, though, and the good outweighs the bad across the album.
- H20 (1982). This is not a bad album, it’s just very slick. None of the songs are terrible or anything, but there’s little on the album that really stands out for me, though I dig the cover of “Family Man”. The lyrics of “Open All Night” are real, “Did they really write that?” stuff.
