Hall and Oates, the top-selling pop duo of all time, have culled through their 40+ year career to create a monster 74 song box set.  Do What You Want, Be What You Are: The Music of Daryl Hall and John Oates has music originally released under seven different labels and includes sixteen previously unreleased tracks.  The first three songs come from the rhythm and blues bands teenage Hall and Oates belonged to before they met.  There are two songs from Hall’s Temptones and one from Oates’s The Masters.  All three tracks are fun and a terrific gift for fans.

Prior to listening to this set, I only knew Hall and Oates from their hits of the ‘80s, and I wasn’t really a fan.  With this set, I was able to hear how much I was missing, though I still don’t like much of their 80’s music.  In fact, I think “Maneater” is one of the worst songs ever, but there was so much else to enjoy, that I won’t dwell on that.  The older songs with their soul sound are terrific, and while I remembered the song “She’s Gone,” before now I had no idea it was a Hall and Oates song.  There are too many standout songs to list, but all of the hits are here, the live songs are all well-chosen, and the rest include some forgotten gems and rare tracks.

The previously unreleased material ranges from a terrific live version of “Abandoned Luncheonette” to a fun remix of “Gino,” Hall and Oates’s ode to their manager, Tommy Mottola.  There are two songs from a performance Hall and Oates did with David Ruffin and Eddie Kendrick from The Temptations at the Apollo Theater that are simply phenomenal.  Also included is a performance of “I Want Someone,” recorded for Daryl Hall’s web series Live From Daryl’s House, a great live version of the title track, and new version of the 1972 song “Dreamer,” which had never been recorded because the demo was lost.  These touches make Do What You Want seem more personal and will really be appreciated by long-time fans, but casual and new fans will enjoy them as well simply because they give them that much more great music.

The audio quality is fantastic.  The sound for both the live and studio tracks is rich and crystal-clear, and the balance of music and vocals is perfect.  This set is not special only because of the music, though.  Roy Trakin has written a wonderful introductory essay, there is track by track annotation, and commentary on each track has been compiled from numerous Ken Sharp interviews of Daryl Hall and Joan Oates.  John Oates has said he and Daryl Hall were very hands-on in compiling this set, and it shows. Too many retrospectives only include the hits, a couple of B-sides, and a few live performances, but Do What You Want goes the extra mile for fans, giving them a lot for their money.