Stumbled across this on YouTube yesterday while researching that song from Streets of Fire. I had no idea Hall and Oates had ever covered it, let alone covered it so beautifully. And apparently Dan Hartman originally wrote it with them in mind.
BTW, there was a major anti-Hall and Oates piece -- at Salon, I think -- online the other week; apparently the present-day hepster concensus is that the duo was not just the worst remaining artifact of the 80s but actually worse than Hitler. I gotta say -- I don't get it.
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Worse than Mussolini, perhaps, but only "Lovin' You" makes the worse-than-Hitler list.
I don't get the hate for Hall & Oates. Okay, they're commercial pop and Hall may be an asshole, but somehow I don't think that's particularly unusual in the music biz --- let's just say I always wound up singing along when they came on the radio.
What is likable about Hipsters on any level anyway?
Just tiring.
Way too much of what passes for music criticism is cynical putdowns of the "things I don't happen to like".
There is a whole world of music out there that doesn't move me particularly. Do I have to be clever and put it all down? Do I have to like every artifact in the museum for it to be valid as art?
Get over it. Ignore what you don't like. Simple no?
And ignore those who don't like what you like:-)
WTF is a hipster anyway? Seems like a big mish-mosh of confused posing by snarky little twits who are trying to cover up the fact that they don't know shit about anything. Pathetic and useless life forms that emit bad vibrations while embracing the artistic emptiness of their trendy "non-conformity".
It's no surprise to me that Hartman wrote this song for Hall and Oates. That was the first thing I thought of when I heard the tune. It's right up their alley. They were bonkers not to do it back then. It was tailor made.
Hartman was immensely talented. He could do it all. Multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, engineer, producer, hit songwriter. Fuck, he was a one man show, if there ever was one.
I've always been fond of the Edgar Winter Group's "They Only Come Out at Night" album, which Dan had a big hand in. Edgar assembled a fine little combo after White Trash dissolved. That is a great party album. And shouldn't that be the essence of rock 'n' roll?
Hartman penned and sang one of the greatest pop singles of the Seventies, "Free Ride." It was perfect as a 45 and delicious as an album track.
When I was a senior, the cleft-lipped editor of the embarrassingly awful high school newspaper included me in a list of song dedications for students. "Vickie Rock - Free Ride."
I had no problem with it in spite of the fact that not one guy at the high school ever got one. They wished. I preferred older guys and a few select girls on campus.
BTW, I love "Live From Daryl's House" on Palladia. Great show. Daryl's band is phenomenal. Loved the show he did with Shelby Lynne a while back. This week he's got Sammy Hagar in the house. Really. I gotta tune in just to see how that one plays out.
Vickie Rock
Always liked H&O. Good songs, good singing.
For a long time I didn't "get" Hall and Oates. In fact I loathed them. "Jinglebell Rock" used to be my all time most hated song until one day I saw a bank of TV's in an appliance store playing H&O's version. I found it utterly charming and pitch perfect.
Just because an artist isn't my taste, doesn't mean they aren't really good, making well crafted music.
I can't hate them.
liked h&o back in the 70's and 80's when my then hipster friends thought i'd lost my mind. so today's hipsters you got to liked guys with greasy pompadours and lumberjack beards trying to play banjo and "rocking out" - news hint not really hip, just really trying too hard!
Saw Hartman and Ronnie Montrose with The Edgar Winter Band when I was in the eighth grade in Birmingham, Alabama. I was kind of disappointed at first because it was Derringer and White Trash, but they rocked it really good and Winter was his usual dependable showman/leader. It was my first exposure to Hartman...Didn't he also write "Living In America" for James Brown? This song works here because it's simple and straight-forward unlike so much of Hall and Oates 80's stuff.
Abandoned Luncheonette is a great album.
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