by Ashley Paskill

Artist: Hall & Oates

Year: 1973

Album: Abandoned Luncheonette

Every band has an album that launches them into fame and remains iconic through the years. For Philly-area natives Daryl Hall and John Oates, that album was 1973’s Abandoned Luncheonette, the duo’s second studio album. Though they both were involved with other musical projects in the past, they met through fate at Temple University. The rest is history.

I live about 15 or so minutes from where Oates grew up. We graduated from the same high school, and we both graduated from Temple with a degree in Journalism. I have been a fan of the duo all of my life, having grown up with their music and even seeing a workshop put on by Oates. I have seen Oates perform multiple times, both solo and with Hall.

Abandoned Luncheonette includes hits such as “Las Vegas Turnaround” and “Had I Known You Better Then.” This album also features “She’s Gone,” which Oates still plays at all of his shows, whether he is performing solo or with Hall. He says he has played it at every show since the song’s inception. To this day, that song remains one of the duo’s most famous songs.

Each of the album’s nine songs contains a song. “She’s Gone,” according to a story in Oates’ memoir, is about the time a girl stood him up. “Abandoned Luncheonette” talks about an actual luncheonette diner that existed in Pennsylvania, and the song talks about various characters seen there. The songs are also conversational as if the listener is having a conversation with the duo. Every song talks about a personal experience that occurred.

While Hall often takes the lead vocals in some of the duo’s most popular hits, it is nice to hear Oates featured on quite a few of the songs on this album. His voice is so underappreciated, though he is more known for his songwriting, which also shines on this album. It is fascinating to hear how each of their voices has matured over the years while keeping the same excellent quality.

This album proves that big dreams can come true, even for those who hail from small towns, and that even the most famous people have struggled with heartbreak and insecurities. Despite the fame, the duo always returns to their Philadelphia roots, which are highlighted in story and sound on Abandoned Luncheonette.

Okay kids gather around, it’s time for a little That Mag lesson in music history. Once upon a time, long before the high definition sound of digital recordings and mp3 downloads, our ancestors used to listen to recordings via big black discs of wax that required a turntable that needed to move at precisely the right speed to ensure the playback of the recordings sound quality.

Some referred to them as “records” others called them “wax”, but the technical term for these artifacts is “vinyl”. There is something magical about those vinyl records: the warmth of the sound, the feel of the cover, the care you take when laying the needle on the groove. There is a lot of love for this format, which is why many artists have chosen to release their new albums on vinyl. We live in a world today where we can choose how we listen to our music, but in the 70s vinyl reigned king!

The Vinyl Dialogues is a brilliant collection of the stories behind some of the most memorable albums of the ’70s told by the artists themselves. Author Mike Morsch set out to get these stories and spoke to legendary artists that included Daryl Hall on Abandoned Luncheonette, Ian McLaglan talks about A Nod Is as Good as a Wink…to a Blind Horse, and Cheech and Chong talk about how a wild ride with Jack Nicholson inspired the song “Basketball Jones” off the Los Cochinos album. These are just a few of the book’s highlights, but goes on to include stories from David Cassidy, KC and the Sunshine Band, Chicago, and Peaches and Herb, until it ends with an epilogue of the decade from Philadelphia’s own Jerry Blavat.

The Vinyl Dialogues does more than just entertain; it serves as a way to preserve a historic time in music. In a decade where video was scarce and drugs were plenty, stories and memories suffer from the tragedy of “whisper down the lane”, so preserving these memories is essential in understanding how these legendary recordings came to fruition and Mike Morsch does so beautifully.

Filled with wonderfully fun and intriguing stories that are accompanied by great photos, my only complaint is that it’s not available in hardback version for display on my coffee table. Regardless, this books needs to be in the hands of every music fan, and sitting in every recording studio in the nation.