X-Static

Working again with producer David Foster (but not with their road band), Hall & Oates turned in a very strong album in 1979 that sounded like it should’ve been more of a chart hit than it actually was. While obvious hits—like those that turned the next year’s Voices into a mega-smash—aren’t here, songs such as “Wait for Me” (a No. 18 pop hit) and “Running from Paradise" (a No. 37 hit on the U.S. dance chart) might’ve done better had the right circumstances come along. The use of Jerry Marotta on drums, John Siegler on bass, Charles DeChant on keyboards and saxophone, and G.E. Smith on guitar gave the recording a consistency that comes to life in such propulsive material as “Portable Radio,” “Bebop Drop," and “Intravino.” That the group never aimed for the high seriousness of artistes during an age when the punk and new wave scenes seemed to mint new visionaries weekly hurt them with critics. But for anyone who wants to dance and enjoys accomplished musicianship, X-Static is an album that deserves to step out of the shadows of what came next.