294 (282a) Hello Daryl Hall and John Oates - She's Gone

Chart  entered : 16  October  1976

Chart  peak : 42

Number  of  hits : 16

Damn ! Thought  I'd  cut  out  the  mistakes  but  here's  one  from  1976  that  I  missed.

These  two  guys  had  been  musically  active  since  the   mid-sixties. John  Oates  was  born  in  New  York  in  1949  but  raised   in  Philadelphia. By  16  he  had  a  group  called  The  Masters  and  wrote  and  did  the  lead  vocal  on  a  single  "I  Need  Your  Love" , a  fine  Northern  Soul  swinger  on  which  John  sounds  a  bit  like  Paul  Jones. Daryl  Hall, three  years  older  was  born  in   Philadelphia   and  started   doing  session  work  for  the  likes  of  Gamble  and  Huff  while  still  at  school. At  Temple  University  he  formed  a  vocal  harmony  group  called  The  Temptones.  They put  out  two   singles  on  Arctic  Records  "Girl  I  Love  You"  and  "Say  Those  Words  of  Love", both  of  them  skilled  impersonations  of  Smokey  Robinson  and  the  Miracles  in  uptempo  and  mellow  moods  respectively but  not  great  songs.

Both  The  Temptones  and  The  Masters  played  a  gig  at  the  Adelphi  ballroom  in  the  city  in  1967  and  the  two  soul  fans  met  in  a  service  elevator  when  both  were  fleeing  a  fight  that  had  broken  out  on  the  floor. They  started  working  together  intermittently  until  John  dropped  out. He  wasn't  involved  with  the  single  "The  Princess  and  the  Soldier"  put  out  by  Daryl  Hall  and  the  Cellar  Door  in  December  1968. I  haven't  heard  it ; I  presume it's  a  Christmas  novelty.

At  the  beginning  of  1970  Daryl  formed  a  new  band  called  Gulliver   for  which  he  began  writing, having  a  hand  in  their  first  single  on  Elektra, "Every  Day's  A  Lovely  Day"  which  isn't  a  bad  effort, a  Credence  Clearwater  Revival  boogie  with  a  gospel  chorus  but  it's  let  down  by  a  rough  production. The  follow  up  "A  Truly  Good  Song"  doesn't  live  up  to  its  title  being  a  drippy  Bread-like  piano  ballad  that  tries  to  turn  into  Hey  Jude  towards  the  end.
With  both  singles  tanking  their  eponymous  LP  didn't  do  the  required  business  and  the  group  broke  up.

John  then  returned  from  a  tour  of  Europe  and  the  duo  began  working  together  in  earnest  under  the  name  "Whole  Oats". In  early  1972  they  were  snapped  up  by  Atlantic. Their  first  single  was "Goodnight  and  Good  Morning"  in  November  1972  a  well  produced  and  pleasant  enough  Glen  Campbell -like  strum   but  lacking  in  bite. The  album  "Whole  Oats"  followed  shortly  afterwards  confusingly  now  credited  to the  duo. That  was  the  least  of  their  worries  as  the  LP  reveals  major  problems  of  quality  control  and  sequencing. The  second  side  concludes  with  four  dreary  ballads  in  a  row  and  could  tranquilise  an  elephant. Some  of  the  lyrics - Daryl's  in  particular - are  dire. "Georgie" a  supposedly  tragic  tale  of  a  teenage  drowning  is  so  clumsily  expressed  it's  laughable  while  "Lazy  Man"  , an  attack  on  a  musical  partner  not  pulling  his  weight  only  shows  that  John  has  either  a  good  sense  of  humour  or  is  completely  dense. With  songs  this  poor,  Arif  Mardin's  crystalline  production  becomes  a  negative  and  Daryl's vocals   ( superlative  throughout )  can't  rescue  the  package. Their  next  single  "I'm  Sorry"  was  the  best  choice  available ,  a  sprightly  piece  of   Neil  Sedaka -ish   piano  pop  with  some   impressive  harmonies. Justin  Hayward  would  later  cover  it  but  it  wasn't  a  hit.

"She's  Gone"  was  the  lead  single  from  their  second  album  "Abandoned  Luncheonette"  ( generally  a  big  improvement  on  its  predecessor )  and  is  a  soft  rock  classic. Developed  from  a  chorus  written  by  John , the  song  is  largely  about  Daryl's  divorce  from  his  first  wife. The  verses  spell  out  the  ennui  and  self-pity  of  the  abandoned  man, hitting  on  friends, drink  and  easy  lays  to  fill  the  hole  before  the  chorus  erupts  in  howls  of  despair. The  music  too  makes  the  jump  from  neurasthenic  soft  rock  with  that  gauzy  electric  piano  sound  ( it's  hard  to  believe  10cc  didn't  hear  this  prior  to  I'm  Not  In  Love )  to  full  Philly  soul  on  the  chorus. First  time  around  it  was  a  modest  hit  reaching  number  60  at  the  back  end  of  1973  and  their  next  few  releases  failed  to register  bringing  their  time  on  Atlantic  to  a  close. In the  meantime "She's  Gone"  earned  them  a  steady  stream  of  royalties  when  covered  by  Lou  Rawls  and  Tavares  who  topped  the  R &  B  charts  with  it. When  their  first  album  for RCA  yielded  a  big  hit  in  "Sara  Smile"  early  in  1976, Atlantic  decided  to  re-release  "She's  Gone"  and  this  time  it  got  to  number  7. The  duo  still  regarded  it  as one  of  their  best  songs  and  risked  RCA's  wrath  by   choosing  to  perform  it  when  they  appeared  on  The  Old  Grey  Whistle  Test  which  gave  them  an  early  ,though  minor,  hit  here.