Daryl Hall Soul Alone CD

Released ten years after Hall & Oates' heyday and seven after Daryl Hall's last solo venture, 3 Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine, Soul Alone finds Hall on unsure ground. It had been only three years since he had seen the upper reaches of the charts, yet it felt like much more time had passed since he had truly reigned over mainstream pop/rock. From the sounds of Soul Alone, he longed for those days, but not as much as longed for his youth in Philadelphia, and with it, the Philly soul and folk-rock that was so close to his heart. As a result, the album is lost in limbo between affectionate homages to years past and a need to regain his status as a hitmaker. Not surprisingly, it's the homages that hold up, largely because they give Hall a chance to shine as a songsmith and a vocalist. The other material largely sounds forced, although there are glimmers of brilliance every now and then. Mostly, Soul Alone -- like his two previous solo ventures, which arrived at similar lulls in Hall & Oates' career -- is interesting as a chapter in Hall's life, in the way it reflects where he was psychologically and musically at that point in time. Which means, of course, that it's primarily of interest to any listener who has followed him long enough to recognize that. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Recorded at Lillie Yard Studios, Battery Studios and The Hit Factory Studios, London, England; A-Pawling Studio, Pawling, New York.

Producers: Daryl Hall, V. Jeffrey Smith, Peter Lord Moreland, Michael Peden.

Personnel includes: Daryl Hall (vocals, keyboards); V. Jeffrey Smith (guitar, keyboards, synth-bass, programming, background vocals, saxophone); Tag (guitar); The London Session Orchestra (strings); Phil Todd (saxophone, flute, EWI); Peter Lord Moreland (keyboards, background vocals); Frank Riccotti (vibraphone); Alan Gorrie (bass, background vocals); Bob Bitsand (bass); T-Bone Wolk (bass, acoustic guitar); Bernard Davis, Trevor Murrell (drums); Miles Bould (percussion); Mel Wesson (programming, background vocals).

Background vocalists: Sandra St. Victor, Tee Green, Lorna Bannon, Lorraine McIntosh.

Musician (10/93, p.90) - "...[Daryl Hall's] mastery of R&B mannerisms is unaffected and unassailable....Hall remains in touch with his instincts, too, and SOUL ALONE leaves plenty of room for effervescent melodies..."