and the old songs never end...

today, in a nostalgia-fueled fit of impulse, i purchased "back together again" by hall and oates from itunes. before you cut up my music snob id card, know this: i was raised on this music. my dad had a pretty peculiar taste in music- too young to be a hippy, to much a hippy to be into disco. so he settled on that 70's academic music, and that's what i spent most of my childhood listening to. lots of steely dan and santana, the occasional electric light orchestra, and the average white band's first lp were in frequent rotation in good old 4118 beehner rd. another album he was fond of was "bigger than both of us" by daryl hall and john oates. when i came across the opening track on itunes this morning, i was instantly 6 years old again, hearing gentle white man falsetto doing a call and response with a booming baritone (although it is only now that i can hear the words "it's like the old days, old days, old days. for the longest time i thought he said something like no change, no change, no change).

anyway, i came to grips with steely dan being great a long time ago. i love the beach boys and the kinks. earth wind and fire is a-1 awesome. but i just can't go there with hall and oates.

take, for one, john oates' ridiculous appearance. the perm-moustache combo had a shelf life of 6 weeks in it's mid 70's prime, but oates rocked it well into the new millenia. then there's the matter of their album cover:


as you can see, hall and oates apparently live in a giant stereo where all you can eat are ritz crackers and the red wine flows like water. and what is oates staring into? an overhead projector? a microfiche machine? a futuristic teleconference apliance? furthermore, i think hall is sketching a naked oates, where his guitar is the only thing covering his unmentionables, and oates has all kinds of body hair. finally, look at the bottom of the album cover, and you'll see a pair of sandled man-feet resting up where the food goes. that's gross and confusing.

i can't think of a proper way to wrap this post up, so i'll just put up a link to the google image results for "john oates"

note: this post was partially inspired by jordi barnes of portland's the third floor, and her hilarious cartoon.