Alas, I have no record of my 2016 MoPOP/EMP paper on Hall and Oates; you’ll have to search the archives for other writings. Best to describe them as cynics who can’t see their loss of faith in women as a failure of their own imagination, which is inseparable from sympathy.
The Hague
You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’
Meh
Did It in a Minute
So Close
Adult Education
Missed Opportunity
Do What You Want, Be What You Are
Downtown Life
Maneater
Sound, Solid Entertainments
Everything Your Heart Desires
Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid
Family Man
Sara Smile
Kiss on My List
Back Together Again
It’s a Laugh
Possession Obsession
Good to Great
I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do)
Rich Girl
Say It Isn’t So
Out of Touch
Your Imagination
She’s Gone
Method of Modern Love
One on One
Wait For Me
You Make My Dreams
Private Eyes
How Does It Feel to Be Back
Humanizing The Vacuum 
I had a girlfriend in the 80s (yes!) who was a harcore fan. Perhaps, that’s the reason I found them irritantly sugary and mechanical early on and only came back to them later; as an out man, when they have already had a brief split. It was overdose of straight life. Enough!
One thing I noticed about them right on is how soulful sounds Abandoned Luncheonette respect to their early 80s more poppish success. “Let the carbon monoxide choke my thoughts away” has to be one of the bset lines in all of the 70s (now that I am scanning lyrics and music I neglected like crazy in that decade) Not “She’s Gone”. To me, that song is deathless and never was or will tired of hearing of. The video I found years later is terrific. They refused to lyp-synching on it. That was punk! It’s a masterpiece of genius deadpan sketch. Otis Redding would have sang that!
I dunno. “I Can’t go For That” is the OTHER song I have of them in my list. Can’t fuck with its spartan synth lines (that was bold back then!) And “Rich Girl” about to enter in 77, NOW.
The rest,,, well, Private Eyes won’t make it. Too calculated to chart imo. Ditto “You Make My Dreams”. Big Bam Boom’s “Out of Touch” it’s a delicious to hear every now and the but that was them being so 1984 I don’t care!
I think no song in the 80’s describe that symptom as well as Peter Gabriel’s “Big Time”. By being out-there and Big-sounding, of course.
I knew you wouldn’t like “Maneater” for the same reasons (I suppose) you don’t dig Santana’s “Evil Ways” (I like it for other reasons besides the lyrics) or ANY mysoginistic song out there. Sometimes men are trash and I like them being exposed in lyrics, that’s all. Human Nature. Like films, just because I like aspects of a song don’t mean I endorse what it’s about.
Secret crush early on: “Wait for Me” (the live version). How would you rate that? No top 10, but curious.
“One On One” it’s possibly my other entry of theirs. I’ve yet to see. Another spartan and sinous synthline. You have no idea how many can of thoughts you open up to me by making me hear “Rock On”. I blame Michael Damian for ruining it and made me care zero about it. It’s how to make noise with nothing at all. But so many things happening! I love those!
Hall’s synth work on “One on One” gives his anger some warmth — at their best they were a dialectical listening experience.
True!! That’s the interesting part of the song. It may sound like gimmick or bordering on novelty but there’s much more in its spareness. I find Essex’s song sexy and, another choice of yours you made me re-listened, Timmy Thomas “Why Can’t We Live Together”, misleadingly too simple but its sadness too palpable to ignore. Not only because Thomas delivery but the skeletal arrengement plays a huge part in achieving that. It is more than a “gimmick”. It’s desolate . Almost hopless. It trascends the scholar lyrics clearly.