Our Kind Of Soul
Our Kind of Soul, the follow-up to 2003's VH1-propelledDo It for Love, is mostly a can't-miss proposition: Daryl Hall's smooth, expressive voice, synonymous with the Philly soul sound, is so well suited to this material that it feels shrink-wrapped overtop. "Can't Get Enough of Your Love," theBarry Whiteclassic, is given a breezy makeover (and, maybe more impressively considering that most artists wouldn't touch it, not mangled);Teddy Pendergrass' "Love TKO" is dusted off and tinkered with till it takes on a signature H&O; sound; and "After the Dance," one ofMarvin Gaye's most cryptic compositions, comes across like a solved mystery--there's a gentleness and a reverie in the reading will prompt thoughtful listeners to return to it more than a few times. That said, a couple of these covers--theO'Jays"Used to Be My Girl" andAretha Franklin's "Rock Steady"--seem cursory, and the duo can count on a cranky contingent decrying their lack of fresh material. But the strength of three songs introduced here should keep them at bay. First track "Let Love Take Control" gutsily and convincingly glides intoFour Tops' "Standing in the Shadows of Love," "Soul Violins" strikes notes at once heartfelt and spontaneous, and "Don't Turn Your Back" has the classic Hall & Oates marks of their-kind-of-soul songs like "Out of Touch." --Tammy La Gorce