692 Goodbye Daryl Hall and John Oates - Everywhere I Look

Chart  entered :  26  January  1991

Chart  peak  : 74

The  American  superstar  duo  were  never  as  big  here, taking  four  years  to  chalk  up  another  UK  hit  after  "She's  Gone". Their  peak  year  in  the  UK  was  1982  when  " I  Can't  Go  For  That"  and  "Maneater"  ( both  US  number  ones  )  were  Top  10  hits.  Most  of  their  subsequent  UK  hits,  including  their  last  US  number  one, "Out  of  Touch",  were  fairly  minor  and  1980's  "Private  Eyes"  was  their  only  album  to  crack  the  Top  10. In  1985  their  LP  "Live  At  The  Apollo"  fulfilled  their  contract  with  RCA  and  they  decided  to  have  a  break  from  each  other. Daryl  made  a  second  solo  LP  "Three  Hearts  In  The  Happy  Machine"  which  yielded  the  hit  "Dreamtime"   ( number  28  in  1986 )  although  it  was only  a  moderate  hit  compared  to  the  duo's  albums, in  the  US. John  scored  a  success  as  co-writer  of  Icehouse's  big  US hit  "Electric  Blue"  in  1988. Later  that  year  they  reconvened  on  Arista  and  released  the  album  "Ooh  Yeah"   which  marked  a  huge  decline  in  their  popularity  by  peaking  below  the  Top  20. None  of  its  singles  charted  in  the  UK. This  continued  with  1990's  "Change  of  Season"  ( which  doesn't  include  a  single  co-write  between  the  duo ),   which  only  reached  number  60  in  the  US,  though  it  yielded  two  very  minor  UK  hits.

"Everywhere  I  Look"  , penned  by  Daryl, was  the  second  of  those.  Ironically  for  a  song  that  proclaims  "Everywhere  I  look I  see  people  shaking  off  the  old  ways  so  why  can't  we ?"  it  sounds  like  classic  Hall  and  Oates  to  me, frequently  threatening  to  turn  into  "Everytime  You  Go  Away"  or  a  slowed-down  "Kiss  On  My  List". Only  the  ugly  drum  sound  suggests  1991  rather  than  1981. Perhaps  that's  the  point  Daryl  was  making  but  I  doubt  it.

The  album  caused  a  real  rupture  between  Daryl  and  Arista  supremo  Clive  Davis  who  forced  him  to  re-record  the  song  "So  Close"  with  Jon  Bon  Jovi  in  order  to  ensure  a  hit  single. Daryl  hated  the  new  version  and  insisted  the  original  version  closed  the  album   but  Davis's  calculation  proved  sound  when  the  single  became  their  last  Top  20  hit  in  the  US. The  row  ended  their  tenure with  Arista. The   break-up  of  the  duo  was  much  more  amicable, two  adults  deciding  that  after  working  closely  together  for  two  decades  they'd  reached  a  creative  dead  end .

While  John  decided  on  a  break  from  the  music  business, Daryl  signed  with  Epic  and  resumed  his  solo  career. In   direct   contrast  to  the  duo's  records, his  1993  album  "Soul  Alone"  was  much  better  received  in  the  UK  than  the  US. It  marked  a  shift  from  pop  and  rock  to  contemporary  jazz  and  soul  and  spawned  three  UK  hits  , the  biggest  of  them  being  "Stop  Loving  Me  Stop  Loving  You"  which  reached  number  30  in  1994. In  the  US  "I'm  In  A  Philly  Mood"  limped  to  82, his  last  hit  single  there.  He  had  two  more  UK  hits  in  the  nineties  in  collaborations  with  Sounds  of  Blackness  ( "Gloryland" .number  36 and  the  official  theme  for  the   1994  World  Cup )  and  Dusty  Springfield  ( "Wherever  Would  I  Be", number  44 ).  

Neither  of  Daryl's  next   singles  in  1996 "Cab  Driver"  and  "What's  In  Your  World", both  mellow  soul  grooves   with  Daryl  in  superlative  vocal  form  , made  the  chart  on  either  side  of  the  Atlantic  and  consequently  the  parent  album  "Can't  Stop  Dreaming"  was  only  released  in  Japan  until  2003.

That  might  be  what  prompted  a  reunion  with  John  for  1997's  "Marigold  Sky"  album, released  on  their  own  Push  label. Although  we're  now  well  into  the  CD  era  it  seems  to  have  been  conceived  as  a  vinyl  LP  with  a  pop/rock  Side  One  and   a  more  soulful  Side  Two. It's  a  solid  set  that  pleased  their  existing  fanbase  but  didn't  contain  anything  that  was  going  to  reignite  their  career  and  peaked  at  a  disappointing  95  in  the  US.

In  2002  John  released  his  first  solo  album  "Phunk  Shui",  the  first  of  four  soft  rock  efforts  featuring  his  less  distinctive  voice  that  have  sold  diddly  squat.

He  reconvened  with  Daryl  for  the  following  year's  "Do  It  For Love". For  this  one  they  called  in  more  outside  songwriters   including  Gregg  Alexander  and  eighties  refugees  from  the  UK, Paul  Barry  and  Steve  Torch  and  eschewed  the flash  production  of  yore  for  more  acoustic-based  arrangements. The  opening  track  "Man  On  A  Mission"  is  particularly  good  and  it's  a  much  stronger  set    of  songs  than  its  predecessor. Alas  that  wasn't  really  reflected  in  its  chart  performance  as  it  only  got  to  77  in  the  US  although  it  reached  number  37  here.

It  was  their  last  album  of  primarily  new  songs. 2004's  "Our  Kind  Of  Soul"   ( number  69 in  the  US, number  86  here  )was  mainly  made  up  of  lo-fi  covers  of  their  favourite  soul  songs  and   2006's  "Home  For  Christmas"   ( recorded  after  Daryl  recovered  from  a  bout  of  Lyme's  Disease )  contained  mainly  seasonal  favourites  and  didn't  chart.

Daryl  and  John  then  announced  that  they  would  continue  as  a  live  act  but  wouldn't  be  releasing  any  more  new  material. Since  then  John  has  plugged  away  at  his  underwhelming  solo  career  while  Daryl  has  diversified  into  historic  house  restoration  with  projects  in  both  the  UK  and  the  US . In  2007  he  started  his  own online  show  Live  from  Daryl's  House  , using  it  to  promote  his  most  recent  solo  album  2011's  "Laughing  Down  Crying"  which  from  what  I've  heard, is  very  much  in  the  classic  Hall  and  Oates  pop/soul  vein.