Abandoned Luncheonette
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| Review scores | |
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| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |  link |
| Rolling Stone | (Not Rated) link |
Abandoned Luncheonette is the second album by the American pop music duo Hall & Oates, released in 1973, which combines folk, Philly soul, and acoustic soul. It is the most commercially successful of their first three albums of the duo's Atlantic Records period. Twenty-nine years after its release, the album was certified platinum (over one million copies sold) by the Recording Industry Association of America. Critically acclaimed, Rolling Stone and Allmusic both gave it a 5/5.
Notable songs
The most well-known track from the album is "She's Gone." Daryl Hall, according to some reports,[citation needed] has called it the best song he and John Oates wrote together. Both performers were undergoing romantic problems at the time the song was written; a 1985 article in Rolling Stone said the song was about Hall's divorce from wife Bryna Lublin.
While "She's Gone" did not become a hit when first released as a single, the song gained momentum from two later covers, one by Lou Rawls, and one by Tavares. After the latter cover topped the Billboard R&B chart in 1974, the original was re-released and became a Top 10 pop hit in 1976, reaching #7, while the album reached #33. This song was included in Hall & Oates's 1983 greatest hits compilation Rock and Soul as well as in numerous other compilations.
The promotional video produced for "She's Gone" opens with shots of the "abandoned luncheonette" in which Hall & Oates sit in recliners, Hall wearing a robe and women's platform sandals, Oates wearing a sleeveless tuxedo shirt and pants, and singing the song while a woman in a long dress and a man dressed in a shiny red devil's costume repeatedly walk past the pair. Towards the end of the video, Oates rises, dons a jacket with long cuffs, and proceeds to perform his guitar solo with his hands completely covered by the sleeves of his jacket, which makes it appear as if he has fish fins for hands.
Another song from the album, "Las Vegas Turnaround (The Stewardess Song)," although written by Oates, draws its inspiration from Hall's then-girlfriend and future songwriting collaborator Sara Allen,[citation needed] much as the later "Sara Smile" would.
Album cover
The diner on the album cover was formerly the Rosedale Diner, located in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. When it went out of business, its structure was dumped in a small wooded area located along Route 724 in Kenilworth, PA,[1] at the entrance of Towpath Park in East Coventry Township, where the photo on the linked page was taken.[2] Stripped by souvenir-hunters, the structure remained in place until about 1983, when Ridge Fire Company, along with the owner, burned what was left to clear the land.
Track listing
- Side One
- "When the Morning Comes" (Daryl Hall) – 3:12
- "Had I Known You Better Then" (John Oates) – 3:22
- "Las Vegas Turnaround (The Stewardess Song)" (Oates) – 2:57
- "She's Gone" (Hall, Oates) – 5:15
- "I'm Just a Kid (Don't Make Me Feel Like a Man)" (Oates) – 3:20
- Side Two
- "Abandoned Luncheonette" (Hall) – 3:55
- "Lady Rain" (Hall, Oates) – 4:26
- "Laughing Boy" (Hall) – 3:20
- "Everytime I Look At You" (Hall) – 7:04
Personnel
- Daryl Hall – Mandolin, piano, electric piano, keyboards, vocals
- John Oates – Acoustic guitar, wah-wah guitar, electric guitar, vocals
- Christopher Bond – Mellotron, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, synthesizer, Howling guitar
- Hugh McCracken – electric guitar
- Steve "Fontz" Gelfand – Bass
- Bernard Purdie – Drums
- Ralph MacDonald – Percussion
- Joe Farrell – Oboe, tenor saxophone
- Jerry Ricks – Acoustic guitar
- Rick Marotta – Drums, percussion
- Steven "Sticks Douglas" Moore – Drums, percussion (Vocals)
- Gordon Edwards – Bass
- Pancho Morales – Conga
- Pat Rebillot – Organ
- Richard Tee – Piano
- Gloria Agostini – Harp
- John Blair – Vitar electric violin
- Marvin Stamm- Flugelhorn
- Larry Packer – Fiddle
- Marc Horowitz – Banjo
- Arif Mardin – Bass (Vocal), Horn & String Arrangements,
- Daryl Hall, John Oates, Franklin Hohl, Kathy Mae Hohl, Ronald & Donald Wanner, Christian Bond, Sandy Allen, Greg Fulginiti, and Arif Mardin – Humanity Chorus on "Abandoned Luncheonette"
Production
- Produced By Arif Mardin; production assistant: Christopher Bond
- Recording & Engineering: Alan Ade, Jimmy Douglass, Lewis Hahn, Joel Kerr, Gene Paul
- Mixing: Christopher Bond, Jimmy Douglass
- Mastered By Stephen Innocenzi