D
,
Daryl Hall
's first solo album since
Laughing Down Crying
in 2011, arrived not long after the singer severed his relationship with longtime partner
John Oates
over a series of business disagreements. The record doesn't feel as clean a break from
Daryl Hall & John Oates
as
Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine
, the solo album he delivered after the duo's record-breaking reign of the early '80s, but it does share one important thing in common: most of it is written and produced in concert with
Dave Stewart
, the
Eurythmic
who helmed much of that 1986 LP. Where
careened from style to style,
is relatively streamlined, offering nine amiable variations on
Hall
's signature Philly soul. Alternating between mellow grooves and slow-burning ballads,
seems settled, an impression strengthened by the album's curiously undercooked production. Clean and spacious,
feels slickly sealed within its own cocoon; the rhythms percolate but never quite boil, the arrangements are sparse to the point of almost seeming a bit sterile. In this polished context, the slight weathering on
's voice helps give the record its warmth. He's the human element on
, tarnishing its smooth surfaces, not so much enlivening the sculpted melodies but giving the music the pulse it needs. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine