Live from Daryl's House

August 23, 2008 6:05 AM

Live from Daryl's House A monthly webcast wherein Daryl Hall invites musical friends and colleagues to play with him at his home and on the road. The current episode features Montreal-based electrofunk band Chromeo. Free signup required to view previous episodes: (1) Daryl Hall (2) Daryl Hall and John Oates (3) Daryl on a Wurlitzer (4) Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes (5) KT Tunstall (6) Daryl and T Bone Burnett in Austin (7) Chuck Prophet and Mutlu (8) Daryl, T Bone and Nick Lowe in London (9) Monte Montgomery
posted by Turtles all the way down (40 comments total)

Buy why do I gotta register? Why? Why? Why?
posted by Faze at 6:44 AM on August 23, 2008

Because he can't handle that. Oh, no. No can do.
posted by cavalier at 6:48 AM on August 23, 2008 [3 favorites]

He's gone too far, cos he knows it don't matter anyway.
posted by uncleozzy at 7:03 AM on August 23, 2008

Why the fear of registration? Is it because of the Private Eyes, they're watching you, they see your every move . . .

I really dig this site. I always thought he was talented. His music, re-tuned for acoustic, holds up really well. I particularly liked the songs with KT Tunstall, both hers and his.

I like it when good artists that we like to goof on today reemerge from the depths of obscurity to remind us that they are actually friggin' good songwriters and musicians. Keeps us from getting all slobbery about My Morning Jacket.
posted by legweak at 7:22 AM on August 23, 2008

Yeah, right on! Totally digging the site and doubt I would have found this on my own. Thanks Turtles!
posted by cavalier at 7:23 AM on August 23, 2008

Daryl Hall has one of those lives that easily could have turned out completely different -- if he had been able to work more with Fripp (and associates) and perhaps less with Oates, etc. -- but I did like some of H&O's so-called blue-eyed soul and I don't suppose he's complaining about the success. They don't call them "royalties" for nothing:

"Live from Daryl’s House has taken place at Hall’s residences in New York and London, as well as at the SXSW confab in Austin, TX, with plans to record at his other homes in New England and the Bahamas."

And his neighbors in each of those locations? The McCains.
posted by pracowity at 7:25 AM on August 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

(I should note that this is really neat. I'm almost completely deaf in one ear at the moment, so it's a bit weird listening to music, but still pretty dang cool.)
posted by uncleozzy at 7:33 AM on August 23, 2008

damn, that's a great version of 'no can do' with chromeo.
posted by lester at 7:41 AM on August 23, 2008

I like it when good artists that we like to goof on today reemerge from the depths of obscurity...

It's not like Hall & Oates have reemerged. They have been performing/touring consistently since the 70's. As the best-selling pop/rock duo of all time they just received BMI's Icon Award. This year they have been focusing more on solo projects: Hall on Daryl's House, Oates on a second solo album coming out next month: A Thousand Miles of Life.
posted by ericb at 7:53 AM on August 23, 2008

Maybe obscurity is too harsh, but if I've not heard anything from him or about him in a long time, it's obscurity to me. I commute 2 hours every day, listening to various rock/pop music stations on Sirius, and have not come across anything new from either H or O.

Sounds like I've got to broaden my sources of music "wisdom".
posted by legweak at 8:07 AM on August 23, 2008

Flannel. Or a sweater. Sometimes a crappy jacket. I like it.
posted by Mblue at 8:16 AM on August 23, 2008

Why did the farmer start the punk rock band?

He was tired of Haulin' Oates.
posted by porn in the woods at 8:33 AM on August 23, 2008

I was hoping this was going to be Live from Daryl Philbin's house.
posted by Flashman at 8:39 AM on August 23, 2008

Wow, this is great! Thanks, turtles!
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 8:54 AM on August 23, 2008

the finely honed perception: if i haven't heard about it, it's obscure.
posted by quonsar at 8:55 AM on August 23, 2008

Cooler than expected. Thanks!

I wish Oates was there too though. Not the real Oates, though... the Yacht Rock version (:57 or so). I've just never been able to think of Oates as the real guy ever since seeing that. His real-life hair and moustache disappoint me now.
posted by miss lynnster at 9:07 AM on August 23, 2008

Might I add... it's not that the songs are obscure, my friend. Let's just put it this way.
posted by miss lynnster at 9:12 AM on August 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

Everything is relative to your own perception. Everything.

US gasoline costs a lot to us, but is relatively inexpensive to Europeans.
Republicans thinks democrats are idiots, and vice versa.
$100 is a lot to a person on welfare; not so much to Mr. Trump.

If you don't know about something because it's not in your sphere of attention, relative to your experience, it can be obscure -- to the individual.
posted by legweak at 9:14 AM on August 23, 2008

I just noticed that Daryl Hall seems to be a nicer, friendlier, less show-offy version of that asshole that used to be in the SNL band (maybe still is?).
posted by Turtles all the way down at 10:34 AM on August 23, 2008

Everything is relative to your own perception.

Relative to their own sales, they are now in obscurity. Look at their chart success in the Hot 100. They had thirteen Top 10 hits in the 1980s. In the last 15 years, nothing. It wouldn't be surprising if you haven't heard a peep out of Hall & Oates since the 1980s, not unless you listen to an Adult Contemporary station, especially the type that plays nothing but Christmas music for two months a year. Their number of new listeners (not Adult Contemporary holdovers from their younger days) has to be pretty small.
posted by pracowity at 10:46 AM on August 23, 2008

This is great, thanks! Steve Jones (yes, of Sex Pistols' fame) has had them on as a guest on his radio show at least a couple of times; when I heard it a couple of years ago, he (Jonesy) talked about how all he listened to in the early '80s when he was kicking heroin in New York was Hall & Oates. Then they all laughed and played an acoustic version of, I think, "Rich Girl." In a word: awesome.
posted by scody at 10:58 AM on August 23, 2008

1. Live at the Apollo with David Ruffin and Eddie Kendrick

2. Travis McCoy's hand tattoos (Important note: McCoy's a total cheesedick).

3. That Nina Simone version of 'Rich Girl.' Man, I love that. Come to think of it, I love any song that gets played on soft-rock radio a lot despite having more bitches in it than Straight Outta Compton.
posted by box at 10:59 AM on August 23, 2008

I read an interview with Daryl on Pitchfork recently. He's really funny! I too am disappointed that he didn't continue his career in a more experimental vein, but that's the adult me. The 11-year-old me loved every note he sang on the pop stuff in the 80s, and swooned at his good looks. Little did I know he was old enough to be my father. Or that earlier in his career he was so androgynous.

I'm wondering who his plastic surgeon might be, because for 61 (!!!), he's still looking really good.
posted by droplet at 11:16 AM on August 23, 2008

I can't be the only one who assumed this would be Darryl McDaniels' house.
posted by dhammond at 11:40 AM on August 23, 2008

Sacred Songs, his collaboration with Robert Fripp as the third part of Fripp's trilogy (Peter Gabriel II and Fripp's Exposure preceding) is very satisfying. This was the first time I went beyond the Hall and Oates top 40 idea and realized what a great musician Hall is.
posted by Turtles all the way down at 11:42 AM on August 23, 2008

If someone would be kind enough to tell me how to get Sacred Songs in .mp3 format (it seems to be unavailable on iTunes), I'd be indebted.
posted by Turtles all the way down at 11:44 AM on August 23, 2008

I just noticed that Daryl Hall seems to be a nicer, friendlier, less show-offy version of that asshole that used to be in the SNL band (maybe still is?).

Daryl Hall was never in the SNL band.

Might you be mistaking him for G.E. Smith -- who was lead guitarist with Hall & Oates -- and later musical director of Saturday Night Live? BTW -- he was Gilda Radner's first husband.
posted by ericb at 12:52 PM on August 23, 2008

Uhhh, I don't think he was sying Darryl has WAS the guy in the SNL band. He just couldn't think of GE Smith's name and thought Darryl has a similar vibe. Minus the assholeyness.

And man, I always though that guy was a show offy asshole too. He may actually be a great person, but what I perceived as his visible ego on SNL never ceased to annoy the HELL out of me whenever he was on screen. I just felt like I could hear his inner monologue when he watched himself playing the guitar and it was an endless loop of: "Man, I'm SO awesome. Nobody else is this awesome." (Then again, he did tour with Dylan for four years, so who's to say he isn't.)
posted by miss lynnster at 1:34 PM on August 23, 2008

"Sara Smile? GET YOUR DICK OUTTA YOUR HEART! You even know what the kids on the street are listenin' to? DISCO, MOTHERFUCKER! TURN UP THE POWER! So what are you gonna write a disco song about?!"
posted by DecemberBoy at 1:46 PM on August 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

Thanks miss lynnster and eric b: I indeed was thinking of G. E. Smith and I wasn't mistaking him for Daryl Hall. I was just intrigued that I was always very turned off by Smith's performance mein, and, watching this, Mr. Hall resembled him superficially but somehow didn't turn me off. I'm sure G. E. Smith is a fine person, and he's obviously a great musician, and this made me think of my reaction to him.
posted by Turtles all the way down at 2:07 PM on August 23, 2008

T Bone Burnett , Nick Lowe and Daryl Hall : Power Trio! (heh)
Seriously, though, they do one FINE job of "Cruel to Be Kind"
posted by TDavis at 3:19 PM on August 23, 2008

Oddly...Daryl's house, or at least one of his houses, is about a half mile from where I'm sitting. Turns out he's an old-house nut, and last year he bought a 1700s landmark in my town. So I'm wondering: how many of these sessions are happening here? A couple of the pictures look like they could have been taken there. I think I'd better keep my eyes a little more open down at the market.
posted by Miko at 3:37 PM on August 23, 2008

This is cool. Daryl hall is a good blue-eyed soul singer ('Rich Girl' and 'Sara Smile') are gems and his solo work, especially 'Dreamtime,' is some suprisingly rockin' Beatlesque power pop.
posted by jonmc at 5:25 PM on August 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

Here's why I like this, and posted it. You hear a lot of music on the radio, and it often seems overproduced and generic and not of particular quality. I was working in the lab in San Diego one night and NPR had Freedy Johnson and Marshall Crenshaw on together. They seemed to have decided on the spot which songs they would play. I remember, in particular, Vaya Con Dios. It moved me, and engendered in me an appreciation of the people who live music, something that is pretty foreign to me: I love music, but would never be able to play it. I see much the same thing in this webcast by Daryl Hall. I'm jealous of the people he invites.
posted by Turtles all the way down at 7:06 PM on August 23, 2008

This is completely unsubstantiated, but after watching a few of these, I think he'll be making a play to be the house band for The Tonight Show when Conan O'Brien takes over from Leno. If I'm right, you heard it here first, and if not...well, that'll be a shame.
posted by davejay at 7:10 PM on August 23, 2008

I like threads like this because, even though I feel out of touch, it gives me a chance for some adult education. Oh yeah.
posted by strangeleftydoublethink at 8:25 PM on August 23, 2008

If Conan O'Brien doesn't pick Max Weinberg as his bandleader, I'm totally voting for Dave Letterman.
posted by emelenjr at 9:07 PM on August 23, 2008

The best H&O video ever made: She's Gone:

Is Daryl Hall wearing high-heeled clogs and smoking a cigarette during the video? Yep. Are they literally "paying" the devil to replace the woman by throwing fake money in the air every time they sing the lyric? Of course. Is John Oates wearing a tuxedo shirt with neither arms, sides, nor back? You bet! And does the devil then help him into a tuxedo jacket, and does that tuxedo jacket have flippers, and does Oates then rip off a wicked fake solo while holding the guitar in his flipper-clad hands? Yes, yes, yes, yes!

posted by pracowity at 4:21 AM on August 24, 2008 [1 favorite]

That video is a thing of beauty.
posted by emelenjr at 10:06 AM on August 24, 2008

John appears to have taken up fighting crime with his mustache. Yes, with his mustache.
posted by haqspan at 4:32 PM on August 25, 2008