Oh, Oh, Here He Comes! Daryl Hall Is Back With a Great New Solo Anthology

Album Review #11 of 100 in 2022: ‘Before After’ by Daryl Hall

As half of Daryl Hall and John Oates, Daryl Hall has been known and loved by millions (I counted and it took me a really long time) of music listeners for close to 50 years. He sang lead on the majority of the duo’s hit singles, including classic songs like “Sara Smile,” “Rich Girl,” “Kiss On My List,” “Private Eyes,” “I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do),” “Maneater,” “Say It Isn’t So,” and “Out Of Touch.”

Even though he’s also had a few solo hits, the majority of the music from Daryl Hall’s solo works is generally not as well known as his music with John Oates. I think most of his solo material is exceptional and I think it deserves to be much more popular than it is.

Since 1980, Daryl has recorded five studio albums as a solo artist:

Soul Alone (1980) Three Hearts in The Happy Ending Machine (1986) Soul Alone (1993) Can’t Stop Dreaming (1996 in Japan, 2003 in the U.S. and Europe) Laughing Down Crying (2011)

He’s also kept very busy hosting the popular webcast/online show Live From Daryl’s House since 2007.

Daryl Hall recently released an anthology of his solo music called Before After. It contains 30 songs. Most of them are from his solo albums, but the collection also contains several songs that were performed during episodes of Live From Daryl’s House. None of those songs from the show were previously included on any of Daryl’s albums.

I’ve followed most of Daryl’s solo career pretty closely, so I was already familiar with most of the songs on Before After, except for the ones from the Laughing Down Crying album and the ones from Live At Daryl’s House. It was fun for me to discover those “newer” songs on Before After. I think they go along very nicely with the older songs on the album that I’ve known and enjoyed for several years.

Below are some of my favorites from Before After. To make sure I’m giving you good examples of the different kinds of solo music Daryl has released over the years, I’m highlighting songs from each of his studio albums, plus a couple of very cool and unique cover songs from Live At Daryl’s House.

Scared Songs

This is the title track of Sacred Songs, which was Daryl’s first solo album. Although the album didn’t generate any hit singles, it sold fairly well and was well-received by many critics and music listeners. It’s definitely not as “pop-sounding” as most of Daryl’s Top 40 hits with Hall & Oates, but I think it’s an exceptional album. The title track is probably my favorite song from it.

Dreamtime

This song from the Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine was Daryl’s biggest solo hit. To say I love it would be a massive understatement. I’d rank it as one of the best songs Daryl Hall has ever done — either solo or with John Oates.

Side note to runners and cyclists: “Dreamtime” is fantastic to listen to while running and riding!

Foolish Pride

This was the second single from Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine. For reasons I can no longer recall, I wasn’t crazy about this song when it first came out. I love it now, though.

I also love this extended remix of the song. Unfortunately, I can’t find it on Spotify or Apple Music. I hope it will be available in one of those places someday, because it’s pretty awesome.

Here Comes The Rain Again

This song was originally a huge worldwide hit for Eurythmics in 1983. The song’s co-writer, David A. Stewart of Eurythmics, accompanies Daryl Hall here in a fantastic performance of the song on Live From Daryl’s House.

Daryl Hall and David Stewart go way back together. Stewart co-produced the Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine album with Daryl and Tom “T-Bone” Wolk.

Stop Loving Me, Stop Loving You

“Stop Loving Me, Stop Loving You” is from the Soul Alone album. It was co-written with the legendary Marvin Gaye, and I’ve always thought that it’s outstanding. It was released as a single but didn’t become anywhere near as popular as I think it should have been.

Justify

This is from the Can’t Stop Dreaming album, which is my favorite solo album from Daryl Hall. The album has sort of an unusual release history, as it was first released as a Limited Collector’s Edition in 1996 — but only in Japan.

It wasn’t released elsewhere until 2003, which is when I bought it. I love every song on the album, but “Justify” has always been my favorite. I wish it had been released as a single because I think it could have been a huge hit for Daryl.

Talking With You Is Like Talking To Myself

This one is from the Laughing Down Crying album. I liked it from the very first time I heard it — which was just a week or so ago. Whenever I play it, the song gets stuck playing in my head for several hours afterward — and I’m completely okay with that.

Can We Still Be Friends

On the far left of the above screencap is legendary singer, songwriter, and producer Todd Rundgren. One of the things that made him legendary is his hit song “Can We Still Be Friends” from 1978.

This version of him and Daryl Hall doing the song together is fantastic. I’ve always liked the original a lot, but I now prefer this version. Daryl’s and Todd’s voices sound great together on it.

Overall, I think that Before After is a wonderful collection. If you’re not familiar with Daryl Hall’s solo music, this is a perfect introduction to it.

Out of 5 possible stars, I give the album…drumroll, please…4 stars!

Here’s the album on Spotify. Enjoy!

Note: This review is part of a series I’m doing in 2022 in which I review 100 albums (both new and old) that are new to my ears. If you’d like to see what other albums I’ve discovered this year, my reviews can be found here:

Other Daryl Hall-related articles I’ve written:

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