They have been named Billboard’s most successful duo of the rock era. But — watch out, watch out, watch out — it looks like Hall and Oates won’t be recording new material again, according to John Oates.
During a period concentrated between the mid-1970s and to the mid-1980s, Hall and Oates charted 34 hit singles, scoring seven platinum albums. That sterling run included six No. 1 Billboard smashes, from “Rich Girl” and “Kiss on My List,” to “I Can’t Go For That” and “Private Eyes, to “Maneater” and “Out of Touch.”
Oates, though he ceded the microphone to Daryl Hall, co-wrote charting favorites like “Sara Smile,” “You Make My Dreams,” “She’s Gone” and “Adult Education” — as well as “I Can’t Go For That,” “Maneater” and “Out of Touch.”
But the pair’s last Top 40 hit was 1990’s “So Close,” which went to No. 11; and they haven’t produced an album of all new material since 2003’s Do It For Love. They still appear on stage together regularly as Hall and Oates, but both Oates (with Mississippi Mile in 2011) and Hall (with Laughing Down Crying, also in ’11) have stuck to solo studio projects more recently.
Now Oates, in an interview with Mike Morsch of the Montgomery News, confirms what may now seem like the inevitable: Hall and Oates are unlikely to return to the studio.
“I’d never say never … but unlikely,” Oates says. “I think we’ve done it. We still tour as Hall and Oates and we both love that. We both love the band. We love the older material and we love the fact that people are still interested in the older material, but I feel like the future of Hall and Oates is in its past. What we do now is that we honor what we created together. We’re very proud of it and we don’t try to run from it. At the same time, I think our creative juices are going different directions.”
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That’s a shame, “do it for love” was a great album, and “Man On A Mission” was just as good as any of their 80’s hits. Would like to see Oates get out of his blues phase and back to pop/rock again.