Thursday, February 13th, 2003

What with 80s new wave and 70s Detroit garage rock being firmly entrenched as the two leading wings of contemporary underground music these days, it should come as no surprise that perhaps the greatest pop hit machine of that era, Hall & Oates, have just released a brand new album of their gorgeous love junk. Entitled Do It for Love, and unleashed like a maneater unto the world yesterday, February 11th, the record marks the group's first new studio output since 1997's utterly forgettable Marigold Sky. Possibly hoping to cash in on this relatively profitable underground music niche, and Pitchfork all too willing to do our part to help to instigate an H2O revival, the duo may be hoping to lay claim as the true parents of the bastard love-child blending of "electroclash" and "Detroit trash." (Allow us to completely speculate as to the pair's intentions.)

Do It for Love was produced by Daryl Hall and Tom "T. Bone" Wolk, who has previously worked with the duo and Elvis Costello among others. The title track that helped to inspire the revitalization of these hitmakers was originally commissioned for the soundtrack to VH1's Behind the Music special on the group. The rest is, as they say, history. The highlight of the new album is the stirring rendition of The New Radicals' alternative rock masterpiece, "Someday We'll Know", which finds Hall & Oates collaborating with War Babies contributor Todd Rundgren. The chart-topping, award-winning, shit-eating-grinning duo, who can be credited as contributing to the rise of the "Adult Contempoary" genre, will remain true to their DIY roots by releasing Do It for Love independently on their own U-Watch label. Check this killer tracklist:

01 Man on a Mission
02 Do It for Love
03 Someday We'll Know
04 Forever for You
05 Life's Too Short
06 Getaway Car
07 Make You Stay
08 Miss DJ
09 (She) Got Me Bad
10 Breath of Your Life
11 Intuition
12 Heartbreak Time
13 Something about You
14 Love in a Dangerous Time

What's that you say? Come again? (Thank you, we think we will.) Hall & Oates in Pitchfork? Two times in one week, no less? Oh, c'mon now, don't you know that it was the dynamic and photogenic duo of Daryl Hall & John Oates who first made the successful fusion of Motown soul-flavored pop music that was set to new wave-inspired beats? Okay, so they were from Philadelphia and not from Detroit, but this much is true: While the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Liars and White Stripes put on a public face about the steady influence of the MC5, Wire, Motown, Can, and Neu! on their road to musical self-discovery, we all know that these artists' first exposure to 80s new wave and Detroit soul was through the commercial hits of the 80s. And surely we don't need to remind you how huge Hall & Oates were around that time-- Ben Gibbard already did that for you yesterday.

But if you insist on blowing our bliss, take a careful listen to Hall & Oates' chart topping "Maneater." In this carefully crafted tune, you can find the seeds of all that is Pitchfork-worthy today: Karen O's man-eating persona, the derivative white-boy soul of the 'Stripes, and the pioneering work of incorporating discreet synth beats, thus successfully bridging the gap between the underground and the mainstream. Genre-bending, money-making, pleasing to both eye and ear; what's not to love?

Hall & Oates will be very busy in the following weeks peddling their new product the old-fashioned way: On the road, baby. Well, okay, so they're gonna do some television spots before actually hitting the road, but old-fashioned-meets-new-media is the H&O trademark. Expect a Wednesday appearance on the Regis & Kelly, a spot on the weekend edition of the Today show this Saturday, and a busy day on Tuesday with appearances on both The Wayne Brady Show and The Other Half. After taking a week off to rest their aching bones, the illustrious duo will be embarking on their version of a world tour, which will touch on some remote stops throughout North America and some dates in Japan (where they're bigger than Hasselhoff is in Germany). Tour dates:

02-21 Robinsonville, MS - Horseshoe Casino
02-24 Elmira, NY - TBA
02-25 Washington, D.C. - Warner Theater
02-26 Reading, PA - Sovereign Center for the Performing Arts
02-28 Torrington, CT - Warner Theater
03-01 New York, NY - Beacon Theater
03-03 Boston, MA - Orpheum Theater
03-04 Albany, NY - Palace Theater
03-07 Red Bank, NJ - Count Basie Theater
03-08 Upper Darby, PA - Tower Theater
05-21 Sendai, Japan - Sun Plaza Hall
05-22 Iwate, Japan - Kenmin Kaikan
05-24 Tokyo, Japan - Kokusai Forum
05-25 Tokyo, Japan - Kokusai Forum
05-26 Tokyo, Japan - Kokusai Forum
05-31 Fukuoka, Japan - Shimin Kaikan
06-01 Osaka, Japan - Koseinenkin Hall
06-02 Osaka, Japan - Koseinenkin Hall
06-04 Nagoya, Japan - Shimin Kaikan
06-05 Yokohama, Japan - Pacifico