Daryl Hall & John Oates Video Collection: 7 Big Ones
While Michael Jackson'sThrillerwas making pop-music history, Daryl Hall and John Oates were topping the popandR&B; charts with the best blue-eyed soul since the Righteous Brothers. Culled from the pioneer days of MTV, this seven-hit video collection offers timeless proof that H&O;'s music endures, even if their microbudget videos now seem like flotsam from a bygone era. Poorly remastered, with a 5.1 Dolby remix that muddies up the original recordings (better to choose the PCM stereo option), these simple performance videos reveal all the strengths and weaknesses of '80s pop's most dynamic duo: Hall's vocals are the essence of soulful perfection, while Oates mugs it up with all the charisma of a toy poodle. The musicianship is superb (guitarist G.E. Smith would soon be fronting theSaturday Night Liveband), but the videos are silly and crudely produced. Needless to say, this too-brief collection is for die-hard fans with a desire to stroll down memory lane.--Jeff Shannon