Hall and Oates: every album every song (On Track...) Paperback – April 29, 2022

I expected a rundown of "every song on every album" but the author is clearly not an expert on Daryl Hall & John Oates' music. He actually did a good job with writing, research and various article excerpts, plus a set of color photos in the middle of the book, but I couldn't get past his panning of signature Hall & Oates classics like "Do What You Want, Be What You Are" and "Don't Hold Back Your Love". That would be like ripping The Beatles for "She Loves You" and "I Want To Hold Your Hand".

I own 15 of the on track books. by far the worst. missing many details. Important live Lp missing for starters. Could have done a much better job.

Hall & Oates are my favourite songwriters , whom i have loved for over fourty years. I have bought other books in the on track series which i have been impressed with, so i knew the standard was good.This book is excellent, it has the detail i had hoped for,with quotes from Daryl and John at the time and from the present, which adds nicely to the authors opinions. The photos in the book are in time order and are a great complment to the book. Some of the song reviews i don't agree with , but not many, after all it is all subjective , so that is fair enough. The reviews of the solo albums and live albums are excellent too as are the prefaces to each studio album are loaded with interesting detail as to what the goal was and who was onboard , to augment the songwriting process etc.So in summation an excellent book, which i have already derived a lot of pleasure and knowledge from, the author has done his subject proud.

The author has written this guide through the prism of his own lived experience. I own many of the books in this enjoyable series and this is possibly my least favourite after the truly repugnant Nick Drake book. Just take a listen to the excellent 70's live release, Livetime, and hear if it sounds badly recorded and dry(It doesn't btw)