Halls and Oates have been steadily releasing albums of blue eyed Philly soul
since their 80's commercial peak. The problem is, hits like Maneater and I
Can't Go For That (No Can Do) are so burnt into the public conciseness that it
impossible from them to escape. They are doomed to be forever trapped inside the
confines of early MTV.
Those songs seem to conjure images of terrible 80's brat
pack films. Think the OC with worse hair, lairy clothes and terrible syrupy plot
twists. I can picture Rob Lowe cruising down some nameless freeway with the wind
blowing through his hair.
On this cover version the duo have stripped away some of those dated
production touches. The cheesy synths and airbrushed FM radio gloss has been
replaced with strummed acoustic guitars and terrible AOR strings. An
unsuccessfully attempt to add a little grativtis. I can picture Robert Downey
Junior in the video, wandering aimless through a large country mansion backed by
this middle-aged piffle. Oh no, I forgot Elton John's already stolen
that idea. Back to the drawing board then for Hall and Oates.
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