Do It for Love

Do It for Love

VH-1's <I>Behind the Music</I> may signify the final curtain for some acts, but Hall and Oates aren't so easily confined to the dustbins of pop history. With a chart run that spanned most of the '70s and '80s, Philadelphia's most enduring purveyors of blue-eyed soul went on to keep a fairly low profile until "Do It for Love," a newly recorded track for their 2002 VH-1 retrospective, crept up to the top of the adult contemporary charts. Nearly a year later, the duo reprises the track and title on a full album that aims to recapture the best aspects of their glory days. Among its highlights are a sublime cover of New Radical's "Someday We'll Know" that teams them up with <I>War Babies</I> collaborator Todd Rundgren, and the funky "Miss DJ," a playful pop confection that avoids the excessive novelty of their more calculated '80s hits. After three decades, Hall's remains one of pop's most expressive voices. And while the album as a whole may lack the edge and energy of the pair's earliest work, it's still a promising collection from a rock duo that's earned a place in Philly soul history. <I>--Bill Forman</I>