At one point in the mid 1970s, Hall and Oates were on a seemingly unstoppable roll — spinning off a trio of big hits including “Sara Smile,” “She’s Gone” and the charttopping “Rich Girl” — before disappearing for a while. The latter part of the decade found them off the pop charts, but still doing important work.
In fact, John Oates says that period — after 1976’s Bigger Than Both of Us, home to “Rich Girl,” and before 1980’s blockbuster Voices — was the catalyst for the huge successes that followed in the ’80s for Hall and Oates.
“So, we had those three in a row in the mid ‘70s, then we had a little drop off,” Oates tells Radio.com. “But what’s really interesting is, during that dropoff of commercial success in the late ‘70s, we revamped our entire approach to playing. We developed a new band, which eventually evolved into our ‘80s band, we decided to stop using outside producers and produce ourselves — which led to the Voices album, which led to our incredible run in the ‘80s.”
Five of Hall and Oates’ six No. 1 singles would follow, as well as five of their six platinum albums.
“So, that little ‘down period’ led to a rebuilding, in a sense,” Oates adds. “Maybe we were off the radar, but for us, it might have been the most important thing we’ve ever done, because it led to the ‘80s, when we took responsibility for our own records. The results spoke for themselves.”
“Sara Smile” was originally found on 1975’s Daryl Hall and John Oates. “She’s Gone,” though it became a hit for Hall and Oates after “Sara Smile,” was actually released earlier as part of 1973’s Abandoned Luncheonette — which became their initial platinum release.
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There was no “down period”, there were radio stations jumping on the disco bandwagon and ignoring a lot of great music from Daryl Hall & John Oates. They were victims of little airplay of songs from great albums like “Beauty on A Back Street” and “Along The Red Ledge” while radio was playing Bee Gees, KC & The Sunshine Band and the “Saturday Night Live” and “Grease” soundtracks to death. Songs like “Why Do Lovers Break Each Others Heart”, “It’s Uncanny”, “Don’t Change”, “It’s A Laugh” and “I Don’t Wanna Lose You” were all but ignored, but they were no less great songs as their 80’s hits that would follow. One thing is for certain, Hall & Oates never had nearly as much airplay as they deserved.
I agree with you totally Pet Orange…Its Uncanny is probably in my top 3 of H&O songs and what’s more, an album like Marigold Sky, which got virtually no AirPlay could be their strongest effort all-around. I was only able to purchase it years after its release as an import and I am so glad I did.