Daryl Hall & John Oates OUR KIND OF SOUL (U-Watch)

The recent Hall & Oates reunion tours proved that the duo didn’t need to be excused as a guilty pleasure: they had a long run of great singles that were more informed by classic soul than those of most of their MTV contemporaries. Before their career started winding down in the mid ’80s, H&O recorded a terrific live album at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, teaming with some ex-Temptations and doing a few Motown classics along with their own hits.

So you’d hope that this album, their first devoted mainly to covers, would pick up where the live disc left off, but that doesn’t prove to be the case. There’s nothing wrong with the songs they’ve picked: it’s a fan’s collection of soul nuggets, with more obscurities than hits, even one song from an early Temptations B-side. Nothing wrong with the vocals, either: Daryl Hall’s voice shows obvious signs of wear, but he does more honest emoting and less showing off with the high notes than before. (As usual, John Oates sings two leads, plays some rhythm guitar, and probably nods his head a lot.)

The problem is that they decided to record this as a semi-acoustic album, so instead of a funky rhythm section, there are just strummed guitars and light percussion, and the drum machines are almost metronomic enough to sink the disc. Even their sublime treatment of the Stylistics’ "You Are Everything" suffers from being the 15th consecutive song in the same tempo. By the time they wrap up with a low-key version of the Five Stairsteps’ "Ooh Child," you’re wondering why they made a heartfelt yet downcast album instead of a soul celebration.