Q&A: Daryl Hall on the ups and downs of duo-dom, his secrets to aging well and hating Jann Wenner
LOS ANGELES — The five solo albums Daryl Hall has released, starting with “Sacred Songs” in 1980, include two singles that landed in the Top 40. By comparison, Hall and John Oates have had 29 hit songs, making them the bestselling duo of all time — a fact Hall disputes, but more on that in a minute.
Solo albums from singers in hugely popular groups don’t always sell well — for every Phil Collins, there’s a Mick Jagger and a Scott Weiland. Fans seem to almost resent a singer who separates from their band, but also, singers sometimes use solo albums to restlessly explore offbeat sounds.
Hall, for example, has recorded with an array of musicians ranging from King Crimson guitarist Robert Fripp to Dave Stewart of Eurythmics and funk guitarist Wah Wah Watson. When he compiled the highlights of those albums for a new solo compilation, “BeforeAfter,” he selected songs specifically “so people would understand that my body of work consists of — hell, all kinds of things,” he said, calling from the kitchen of his London home.
The 30 songs he compiled include eight from “Live From Daryl’s House,” a web series and TV show he started
