Interpreting the Masters, Volume 1: A Tribute to Daryl Hall and John Oates
- The Bird and the Bee
- Blue Note/EMI
Two on two, they're going to play that game tonight. The Los Angeles duo of singer Inara George (the bird) and Greg Kurstin (the bee) kiss the kissable Top 40 canon of Daryl Hall and John Oates, honouring that act with straight-faced, chilled synth-lounge renditions of H&O classics from the Casey Kasem era. Except for a great take on the album-closing One on One, where George shows nuance, her vocals are unemotional and barely charismatic. And yet, there's no sneering spirit of hip irony at work: the affection is genuine, with the one original number (the ABBA-dabbed Heard It On the Radio) all about the intertwining of melodies and sun-bathed memories. I can go for that - I think most of us can.
Brad Wheeler