An Album/Song A Week: "Sara Smile" - Daryl Hall & John Oates

It wasn't "She's Gone" that broke Daryl Hall & John Oates, it was 1976's "Sara Smile".  By then Hall & Oates had left Atlantic, where "She's Gone" was first released in 1973 and signed with RCA.  Daryl Hall hates the term "Blue-eyed Soul", but that's what "Sara Smile", and many of their other hits were labeled.  It's also a nod to their Philly Soul roots, even though it wasn't recorded in Philadelphia.  It should be on any Philly sound collection.  In addition to peaking at #4 on the Pop charts, it got to #23 on the R&B one. 

This is as smooth as a Hall & Oates hit would ever get.  "One on One" comes close, but this is my go-to Hall & Oates song whenever I want to show people how R&B their sound could get.   Soon after "Sara Smile" broke, Atlantic re-released "She's Gone",  and it too went Top 10. An argument can be made that both of those songs are their best singles.  I'd add "Out of Touch", "Kiss On My List", "One on One", "Maneater", "Say It Isn't So", "It's A Laugh", "You Make My Dreams", "I Can't Go For That" to the mix, but you get the point.  They had a lot of great songs.  But "Sara Smile" sets the stage.