Daryl Hall and John Oates, known as "the best selling pop duo of all time", met back in 1967 while attending Temple University. They already had their own groups, but decided to join forces and see what fate had in the making for them. After a few not so impressive tracks, and plenty of experimentation with the type of sound they wanted to promote, Daryl Hall and John Oates left Atlantic Records.

By the mid-70s the duo had their first commercial success - The Silver Album. Their new "home", RCA, was very encouraged and went on to popularize their music around the country. By the early 80s, however, Daryl Hall and John Oates were actively seeking to promote their own sound, and with the release of Voices things started happening for them. In April of 1984, the Recording Industry Association of America announced Hall & Oates as the "most successful duo in the history of recorded music".


Back at Troubadour, LA


"Live at the Troubadour" is somewhat of a symbolic return to the place where the duo started their pursuit of glory. In 1973, in front of an audience of 400, Daryl Hall and John Oates performed their first LA gig. 35 years later, they've decided to come back to LA and celebrate with their fans a very impressive record of hits that sold millions of albums.

The actual show you will see on this Blu-ray disc was recorded in May of 2008. It contains a total of 19 songs including some of the duo's greatest hits. It is a generally very laidback affair which, in my opinion, kind of fits the image Daryl and John built during the years.

Live at the Troubadour is also a very intimate show. You could clearly see how incredibly close the audience is to the musicians, how unpretentious and simple the stage is, and how genuinely excited the fans are to have their idols perform again. In fact, the concert truly feels like a high-school reunion of sorts where there is mutual respect and desire to experience forgotten songs, rekindle forgotten feelings. Not surprisingly, as Live at the Troubadour progresses the performance become more and more passionate.

I suppose the greatest compliment one could spare about Daryl Hall and John Oates is that their music is still exciting. The roster of songs they have gathered for this show is as cutting-edge and diverse I hoped it would be (how ironic is that, more than 30-years later their songs sound just as well as they did in the mid 70s). In fact, I was listening very closely to hear how the sax would blend with the guitars and, suffice to say, there are plenty of downtempo and fusion artists out there that could learn a thing or two from the duo.

From a purely technical point of view, Live at the Troubadour looks spectacular. Multiple cameras provide terrific shots, all from a variety of different angles, allowing one not only to follow Daryl and John's performances, but the rest of the musicians contributing to the show as well. Occasionally, the cameras also zoom over the excited, but not too huge, crowd in order to capture the terrific atmosphere on and off Troubadour's stage.

Tracklisting:

1. Everything Your Heart Desires
2. When the Morning Comes
3. Family Man – (Hall & Oates, Cross, Tim)
4. Say It Isn't So
5. It's Uncanny
6. Had I Known You Better Then – (Hall & Oates, Oates, John)
7. She's Gone
8. Getaway Car – (Hall & Oates, Haase, Gary)
9. Cab Driver – (Hall & Oates, Brown, Louis)
10. One on One
11. Sara Smile
12. Maneater – (Hall & Oates, Allen, Sara)
13. Out of Touch
14. I Can't Go for That (No Can Do) – (Hall & Oates, Allen, Sara)
15. Rich Girl
16. Kiss on My List – (Hall & Oates, Allen, Janna)
17. You Make My Dreams – (Hall & Oates, Allen, Sara)
18. Abandoned Luncheonette
19. Private Eyes – (Hall & Oates, Allen, Sara)