“Say It Isn’t So” isn’t just the name of a classic Hall & Oates song — it’s the much-headlined reaction to the news that the duo that practically defines duos had a nasty and seemingly final split last year. The two, who began singing and performing together more than 50 years ago over a mutual love of soul and doo-wop music, were almost impossible to imagine without each other — even more than Simon without Garfunkel or George Michael without Andrew Ridgeley, this was more like a final split between peanut butter and jelly. It’s actually hard to imagine.
The problem stemmed from Oates’ attempt last year to sell his half of the duo’s jointly owned company, Whole Oats Enterprises, which controls trademarks, personal name and likeness rights, record royalty income, website and social media assets — something he cannot do without Hall’s consent.
“It hit me by surprise,” Hall acknowledges, speaking from his home in the Bahamas. “I don’t know, man — all I can say is people change and sometimes you don’t really know someone like you thought you did. Difficulties can be made from things that aren’t difficult, and then it goes to a place where it can never come back from. It’s unfortunate and untimely, but some things just change. People rewrite history and harbor thoughts you had no idea about.” Asked if we’ve seen the last of his former group, he replies, “That is correct.”
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He continues, “I haven’t had a creative relationship with John for at least 25 years. We didn’t write songs together, we didn’t do anything together except perform live shows. We had an arrangement that I couldn’t play my solo songs onstage with Hall & Oates — and now I get to.”
And that’s exactly what Hall, who was always the primary songwriter in the duo, plans to do with his forthcoming sixth solo album, which reunites him with longtime collaborator and fellow Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Dave Stewart, who produced Hall’s second solo album, “Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine,” in 1986.
“Dave has been my shadow partner since 1984,” Hall says. “We’re best friends. This was a real duo album, two people coming together, understanding one another and writing songs — most of them were written on the spot. I had ideas and Dave enhanced them. It’s a real 50-50 project. Dave and I have a real partnership and have had for a long time.”
Out on June 21, “D” is a reminder that Hall is one of the most talented singer-songwriters of the past half century. The first single, “Can’t Say No to You” (out today) epitomizes the sweet, street-corner Philly soul that has characterized Daryl Hall’s music from the start of his career. Other influences appear on the album, like the Beatlesque “The Whole World’s Better,” which starts with a live audience cheering like at the start of “Sgt. Pepper,” and itself echoes that abum’s song “Getting Better.”
“I wasn’t thinking about that when I wrote it, but I totally agree with you — those clanging chords in the intro,” he says. “It was Dave’s idea to put in the crowd noise. Whatever comes out of my brain are these licks that I’ve learned in my childhood. It’s the basis of my style, my musical DNA.”
And while it might be tempting to think titles like “Rather Be a Fool,” “Not the Way I Thought It Was” and the Sly-styled Philly funk of “Why You Want to Do That to My Head” refer to the split with his former partner, Hall insists it was the furthest thing from his mind.
“These songs couldn’t be less about that,” he insisted. “I had a particularly rocky time over the past 10 years, especially over the last five with romantic relationships, and it’s also about my reactions to all the fucked-up things that are going on around me. But,” he stresses, “I never emotionally cared about Hall & Oates enough to write songs like this.”
A famously private person, Hall was divorced in 2015 from his British wife Armanda Aspinall, who passed away in 2019 at the age of 61. In “Rather Be a Fool,” he sings, “How could something be so right/ And go so wrong overnight?”
“I wrote that song in the midst of my divorce, and it was about exactly what was happening to me and my wife at the time,” he explains. “It’s very dramatic because I was writing in the middle of all this turmoil. At the end of the song, when I sang that line, it was just to see if the lyrics worked, but we kept the first take. Most of the vocals on the album were like that.”
Hall’s career renaissance began in the ‘00s, not coincidentally after he and Oates began working with Jonathan Wolfson, who took over managing the duo in 2009 after serving as their publicist for the five years before that. Hall’s ongoing web series, “Live from Daryl’s House,” which bowed in November 2007 and returned after a five-year absence last year with episodes featuring Robert Fripp, Andy Grammer, Lisa Loeb and Howard Jones.
“It defined me, that’s what I really am,” Hall says. “I love working with other people. It give me something to hang my creativity on, when I’m singing or playing with someone else in different styles. I feel comfortable in that space. I think it showed people things about me that they had no idea were there — that fulfilled me.”
Speaking of unexpected collaborations, Hall embarks on another solo tour, this one with Elvis Costello — with whom he duetted some 40 years ago on Costello’s “The only Flame in Town” — starting June 2 in Troutdale, Oregon, with dates scheduled for the Greek Theater in Los Angeles on June 18, the Fontainebleau in Las Vegas on June 23 and New York’s Radio City Music Hall on July 16.
A new album, an exciting tour with an old friend, a relaunch of his beloved web series — it all would seem to add up to a fresh start for Daryl Hall. But maybe not.
“I wish I could say yes, but no, nothing’s really been resolved,” he sighs. “There’s always a weight on my mind. Every good thing that happens to me, something bad happens. I’ve accepted that. All I can say is, I’m very proud of this album. I got things off my chest, and I’m ready to get out there and sing for people.”
