Crossfade CD

With their sublime new album, Do It For Love - their first new set of studio material since 1997's Marigold Sky -- Daryl Hall and John Oates have made some of the best, most deeply felt music of their lives. Do It For Love is an album in the same winning rock 'n soul tradition as Hall & Oates' finest, most enduring work, like 1973's classic Abandoned Luncheonette, 1978's ambitious Along The Red Ledge, 1980's compelling Voices, 1982's beloved H20 and 1990's intimate Change of Seasons. This is heartfelt, vital music that beautifully reflects the shared musical passion that first brought Daryl Hall and John Oates together back in Philadelphia more than thirty years ago. And it's that same passion that keeps them going to this day."We're absolutely doing it for love," says Daryl Hall. "Yes, we're in business and like to make a living, but I don't think it's possible to do it as long as we've been doing it without loving it. You have to love it. And it shows onstage. Every night we get up there and we're smiling away, and the audience is smiling away. We mean it. What we do, it's all real.""I believe the feeling that underpins this recording has a lot to do with two men who are feeling good about what they're doing and why they're doing it," explains John Oates, who recently released his own fine debut solo album Phunk Shui. "It's a testament to the fact that passion for one's work doesn't have to diminish with experience." Do It For Love - released on February 11 - kicks off fittingly with "Man On A Mission," an infectious and soulful statement of purpose. The album that follows this strong opening suggests that Hall & Oates -- the most successful duo in all of rock history -- are indeed men on a mission."I think our mission now is to get it out there and to be honest," Hall says. "The mission is to get outside the box. It's a very homemade kind of record. I think we followed our own instinct rather than listen to other people's suggestions." I think it's really a culmination of all the different stylistic directions we've gone in, and pulling it all together and focusing it in one place. It's a very organic record, it's emotional, it's got soul, it's got great songs and melodies - all the things that people think of when they think of Hall & Oates are very much in evidence here."Do It For Love is a vivid reminder of everything the duo does best, and proof that they remain at the peak of their powers. In a way, these two have found a way to take the important lessons they learned from their soulful heroes - like The Temptations and Curtis Mayfield - and ...