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Retro Memories with Hall and Oates: Live at the Troubadour
by Larson Hill
 When thinking back to the ‘80s music scene twenty years after the birth of the MTV generation, with a modern sense of the word "retro" in mind, more often than not the decade conjures up a poppy haze of pastel memories filled with images of Michael Jackson, The Eurythmics, The Cars, Huey Lewis and the News, Dire Straits, Men at Work, Culture Club, The Police, Madonna and a handful of other elite chart-toppers. But if you notice, I’ve only listed off nine top acts of the ‘80s, which leaves one more for Hall and Oates, who were one of the top musical acts of the ‘80s along with the others. In fact, and this may sound funny to some, but you could easily make the case that Daryl Hall and John Oates deserve to be ranked among the top three best acts of the ‘80s. And that's not including the fact that Daryl Hall wrote the huge '80s Paul Young hit, "Everytime You Go Away".
So, given how the music landscape has evolved into a world of Billboard charts now dominated by Britney, Beyonce (aka Sasha Fierce), and Chris Brown (even Usher’s an elder R&B statesman now), obviously Hall and Oates: Live at the Troubadour organically skews more toward those who used to dress up like Don Johnson from the original Miami Vice, Madonna from her Desperately Seeking Susan days, and any guy who used to wear a "Beat It" jacket and thought it was cool. Come to think of it, Daryl Hall looked a lot like Don Johnson in the Hall and Oates video "Out of Touch". Oh, those retro memories.
 Although those who grew up post-1995 probably know Hall and Oates best as the guys who now dominate radio’s soft-pop Retro Top 40, the duo actually broke out in the early-to-mid ‘70s with the hits "She’s Gone", Sara Smile", and "Rich Girl", which paved the way for their huge wave of success in the ‘80s. Prior to their success, after leaving their hometown of Philadelphia for L.A. in search of stardom, Hall and Oates slugged it out in the small club circuit in an effort to get the attention of fans and record execs. Where it all began for the duo was a gig at the renowned West Hollywood club The Troubadour, which played host to almost every major musical act of the past 50 years, including Bob Dylan, The Eagles, Elton John, The Byrds, Bruce Springsteen, Sheryl Crow, Guns N Roses, Motley Crue, Coldplay, Billy Talent, Radiohead, and the list goes on. And in May of 2008, Hall and Oates returned to The Troubadour after 35 years to record a show for their newly released Double CD/DVD set Hall and Oates: Live at the Troubadour, which is also available Blu-Ray.
The coolest thing about the ‘80s today is that a lot of the bands that you once had to compete feverishly with fans to get a ticket to see, not to mention camping out in the freezing cold at 3am as if you were sentenced to six hours of community service of waiting for a Wal-Mart to open on Black Friday as punishment for scalping tickets for a Duran Duran show just to get a place in line, are still touring as much as they ever were. And the funny thing people don’t realize about a lot of the once-massively huge ‘80s bands still around today is that they’re playing much smaller venues and many of them sound just as good, if not better than they did in their heyday.
And while the heyday of Hall and Oates has long since passed, after checking out their return to The Troubadour I was surprised by the fact that they don’t sound much different than the ‘80s and the songs you still hear on the retro airwaves. But the big difference is that the greatest hits pack on both the CD and DVD is live and arranged as an unplugged set, which feels fresh and nostalgically new... and much better than their earlier live releases.
 When this hit my desk, I popped the DVD in first and shuffled through my own song selection of "Maneater", "Out of Touch", "One on One", "Private Eyes", "Kiss is on My List", "You Make My Dreams", "I Can’t Go for That", "Say it Isn’t So", "Everything Your Heart Desires", before making my way back through the earlier years of "Rich Girl", "She’s Gone", and "Sara Smile". And those are largely the twelve Hall and Oates songs that defined the ‘80s as much as any other act of the decade. So when it came to the remaining seven tracks, including a few rare early tunes - "When the Morning Comes", "Family man", It’s Uncanny", Had I known You Better Then", "Getaway Car", Cab Driver", and "Abandoned Luncheonette" - it was almost like listening to new songs with a different sound. And while some of the hits are of the same quality as ‘80s, others like "I Can’t Go For That" sound the same only with jazzier undertones.
For those who were hardcore fans of Hall and Oates back in the day, and still are but haven’t seen them in years, you’ll love Live at the Troubadour, especially the DVD, which also includes two brief but new interviews with Daryl Hall and John Oates as they reflect on their career and what they’re up to today.
True story: I went to a Hall and Oates show a few years ago and my friend puked on the guy sitting in front of me. So, needless to say, Live at the Troubadour makes up for an altogether different yet interesting retro memory.
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