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The very title of Interpreting the Masters suggests that the Bird & the Bee are digging into a catalog of a widely respected pop songwriter -- a Burt Bacharach, perhaps, or a Jimmy Webb. That†s not the case: children of the †80s that they are, singer Inara George and producer Greg Kurstin have chosen Daryl Hall & John Oates for the first volume of Interpreting the Masters, a sly move that reveals both their age and intended audience -- i.e., ex alt-rockers raised on new wave and now settling into a tasteful, hipster middle age, hauling around kids dressed in Ramones t-shirts -- and a reflection of Hall & Oates† increasing reputation as soul-pop songwriters and record-makers. The Bird & the Bee don†t dig deeply into Hall & Oates catalog -- there†s none of the burnished folk-rock of Whole Oates, nor do they pluck album tracks like "†Looking for a Good Sign†" off of Private Eyes -- they simply choose the biggest hits, then give them a slyly modern update, one that consciously recalls the modernist new wave productions of the duo†s biggest hits yet fits within the Bird & the Bee†s nicely tailored AAA pop. So if Interpreting the Masters, on the surface, provides no surprises, why is it such a wonderful surprise as a whole? Perhaps it†s because the Bird & the Bee manage to make these very familiar hits sound fresh without radically reinventing them. That in itself is a much trickier move than turning these all into slow acoustic dirges, but it†s better still because these arrangements are true to both Hall & Oates and George & Kurstin. The Bird & the Bee illustrate just how much they†ve learned with their introductory original "†Heard It on the Radio,†" a song about the tunes they†re about to sing that holds its own with the covers, but the heart of the album lies in these covers of †80s staples: they shift the spotlight just enough to prove how good both the original song and singles are, and by never drawing attention to their own performance and arrangements, the Bird & the Bee prove just how good they are too.
Condition:NEW. Drilled case
TRACK LISTINGS
1 Heard It On the Radio 3:02
2 I Can't Go for That 3:36
3 Rich Girl 2:48
4 Sara Smile 3:06
5 Kiss On My List 4:18
6 Maneater 3:32
7 She's Gone 3:04
8 Private Eyes 3:03
9 One On One 3:40
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