War Babies (Hall & Oates album)

Daryl Hall and John Oates recorded their first two albums with venerated producer Arif Mardin, Hall believed that although the duo embodied the 'Philly sound', having worked with Thom Bell and Gamble & Huff, they separated themselves by placing their "soul roots and street-corner gospel harmonies into other contexts. War Babies was the first and most extreme example. Taking something familiar, and heading to Mars. And sometimes Mars is a good place, and sometimes a cold place. That album represents both." Another motivation for the duo's stylistic change was their experiences with glam rock, particularly when supporting David Bowie on his 1973 Ziggy Stardust Tour of the United States. Hall said: "We sounded very musical and grounded, and he came on like Godzilla. We realised we could kick ass a lot harder." Rundgren, similarly to Hall and Oates a Philadelphian, was enjoying the belated success of Something/Anything? (1972) when asked to work on War Babies. According to Chris Charlesworth, the material Hall and Oates were writing for War Babies was closer to rock than soul, thus Rundgren was deemed suitable to produce. Oates later said that he believed Rundgren would be "sympathetic to the kind of thing we were trying to do", as War Babies is "a very urban-orientated album" that mixes R&B with progressive rock, "and that's what we thought Rundgren was involved with then." Hall reflected that Rundgren was "on the same wave length" as the duo, adding: "He has a very urban New York electronic thing. We couldn't think of anyone else who could actually simulate what a monitor beam sounds like when it scans, or portray that visual image on a record." The music writer Max Bell wrote that Rundgren encouraged Hall and Oates "to go quasi-metal" for the album. ==Recording==

Rundgren has said that, during the pre-production discussions and upon listening to the War Babies demos, he noticed that Hall and Oates had not settled on a direction. Considering "She's Gone" to be relatively atypical of the duo's work up to that point, because their previous albums were eclectic, he believed that the duo were "possibly chafing at the idea that they only would be able to do one kind of music. So coming into the record that became War Babies, the material already had an experimental and exploratory quality. They were on the cusp of deciding what direction to go in and War Babies gave them all kinds of opportunities and places that they wouldn't go later!" (pictured in 1977) played on War Babies. War Babies was recorded over two months from June 19 to July 4, 1974, at New York City's Secret Sound Studios, The producer found working with Hall and Oates undemanding and was impressed with their skills, singing and eagerness to experiment. He said that using his own studio for the record allowed Hall and Oates to be "more experimental", later saying: "Often I was trying to interpret ideas into techniques we could use to get what they wanted, like an echo on the voice, a certain kind of keyboard tone or an especially watery sound." Drummer John "Willie" Wilcox made his recording studio debut with War Babies. It was the first meeting between Rundgren and Wilcox, and after touring with Hall and Oates in promotion of War Babies, Wilcox joined Utopia for their live album Another Live (1975). Also appearing on War Babies was Hall's future girlfriend Sandy Allen, who sings with Hall on the eccentric songs "War Baby, Son of Zorro" and "Johnny Gore and the 'C' Eaters". The final album was mastered by Jean Ristori at Sterling Sound. ==Composition==

Musical styles and themes Described by Oates as an urban-sounding mix of R&B and progressive rock that the duo made for their own pleasure, War Babies eschewed the blue-eyed soul of Hall and Oates' first two records in favour of "a more keyboard-heavy hard rock sound", according to the music journalist Bryan Rolli, while Kris Nicholson of Circus writes that Hall and Oates used War Babies to display "their ability to be creative outside the limits of R&B". The music critic Martin Aston, however, argues that it represents an extreme form of blue-eyed soul. A loose concept album, War Babies is themed around the struggles and experiences of baby boomers and the perils of touring. In Smash Hits, Birch wrote that War Babies "dipped into the same type of brittle, urban soul that Bowie was experimenting with [in the same period]." Songs War Babies opens with "Can't Stop the Music (He Played It Much Too Long)", written solely to Oates who was inspired by his reservations around touring. It concerns an aging rock performer who has forgotten much about his musical prime. It segues into "Is It a Star", whose echoed drum machine marks the first use of the instrument on a Hall and Oates song; it would later become a staple of the duo's sound. "Better Watch Your Back" is an acoustic funk song while "I'm Watching You (A Mutant Romance)" is a ballad concerning a surveillance camera operator. Considered the album's centrepiece, "War Baby, Son of Zorro" has a heavy arrangement with phased guitar, dominant synthesisers, synth-treated vocals and television sound effects. Paul Myers describes it as a "musical collage" of Hall, Oates and Rundgren's shared memories of childhood during the Cold War in the 1950s. Reflecting on the track, Rundgren contends that he and the duo had no intention of "making anything resembling a pop song; this was high-concept music". "Screaming Through December" was described by Aston as the album's "glam-soul opus", deeming it to be a "four-verse diary of broken souls and automobile chaos." Despite being bookended by Hall's unusual, psychedelic descriptions of touring life, the track is otherwise instrumental and the longest cut on the album. Bryan Bierman of Magnet considers it to be "possibly the most radical departure" in Hall and Oates' career, highlighting its funky, progressive sound and the lengthy mid-track breakdown centred around Rundgren's guitar, bassist John Siegler and drummer Willie Wilcox. ==Release and promotion==

Hall and Oates' record label, Atlantic Records, were mystified by War Babies, and the duo's manager Tommy Mottola told them: "Make another record like this and you'll never make another again." reaching number 86 on the Billboard Top LPs and Tape chart. The album nevertheless did not chart in Britain. ==Critical reception==

War Babies was met with a hostile response. In his Rolling Stone review, Bud Scoppa called it a "jarringly disappointing album" which discards the sweet vocals, full arrangements and sentimental lyrics that characterised Abandoned Lunchonettte in favor of "a tough, big-city stance that sounds both forced and perverse." He deemed it a shrill and effect-ridden LP with both the sound and material at fault, noting: "It's extremely rare for still growing artists to show this disdain for the audience they've managed to win." In his review for New Musical Express, Max Bell described War Babies as a "bona-fide goodie" which "maybe having worked on it will rescue Rundgren from the Utopia he's unfortunately ensconced in. With this sort of competition, it will need to." Ian Birch, writing retrospectively for Sounds, described the "underrated" War Babies as the duo's least consistent but most rewarding album. Martin C. Strong, writing in The Great Rock Discography (2006), describes the album as "a heavier, more experimental set" whose commercial failure "marked the end of [the duo's] ill-fated tenure with Atlantic." In his review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine notes the rock-oriented material marked a stylistic departure for the duo and stated: "Some of the tracks work, but the duo's performance sounds forced throughout much of the record." In his review for Magnet, Bryan Bierman described War Babies as "a unique highlight for the duo, and a weird detour on their road to master pop music." ==Legacy==

Having been dropped from Atlantic, Hall and Oates signed to RCA Records for their subsequent album, Daryl Hall & John Oates (1975), which proved to be their breakthrough release. In 2005, Hall believed that the duo could have become "a bit edgier through the years if War Babies had sold — which it didn't." In 2024, Ultimate Classic Rock ranked War Babies at number 39 in their list of the top 50 albums of 1974. In Record Collector, Max Bell described War Babies as "a crazed train wreck of an album" and a "screaming, mutant, discordant mess", adding that it was Hall and Oates' "most experimental early work." He recommends the album to those who "want to imagine a climate where blue-eyed soul gets slaughtered by disgusto-heroin chic". Paul Lester of Uncut credits the album's "crazed electro-distorted soul" for anticipating Lewis Taylor's eponymous 1996 album. In 1982, Susan Whitall of Creem wrote that fans of the album were pleased that the duo had "[surrounded] themselves with strange noises" on their 1980s hits. Marcello Carlin of Uncut groups War Babies with Hall's avant-garde solo album Sacred Songs (1980) as "evidence of the grit beneath the shiny surfaces" of the duo's sound. ==Track listing==

Adapted from the liner notes of War Babies ;Musicians • Daryl Hall – lead vocals (3–10), backing vocals, keyboards, synthesizers, guitars, mandolin, vibraphone • John Oates – backing vocals, lead vocals (1, 2, 10), keyboards, synthesizers, guitars • Don York – keyboards, arrangements on "Is It a Star", ARP String Ensemble on "70's Scenario" • Todd Rundgren – lead guitar, backing vocals • Richie Cerniglia – lead guitar on "Is It a Star" • John Siegler – bass • John G. Wilcox – drums • Sandy Allen – backing vocals on "War Baby Son of Zorro" and "Johnny Gore and the "C" Eaters" • Gail Boggs – backing vocals on "War Baby Son of Zorro" and "Johnny Gore and the "C" Eaters" • Hello People – backing vocals on "Johnny Gore and the "C" Eaters" • "Admiral Television" – "soloist" [presumably TV-broadcast noise] on "War Baby Son of Zorro" • Tommy Mottola – voice ["Erased Conelrad warning"] on "War Baby Son of Zorro" ;Production • Produced and Engineered by Todd Rundgren • Assistant Engineer – David Lesage • Mastered by Jean Ristori at Sterling Sound (New York City, New York). • Art Direction – Bob Defrin • Artwork – Peter Palombi • Photography – David Gahr and Armin Kachaturian • Musical Assistance – David LaSage and Gene Perla ==Notes==