Hall & Oates’ seventh studio album brings their sound into better focus. Christopher Bond’s production on Beauty on a Back Street had tipped too far toward harder guitar-based rock to show off the blue-eyed soul in Daryl Hall’s iconic voice. Producer David Foster managed to slick up the duo's sound without losing their heart, and Hall & Oates called in their road band to re-create the magic heard in concert. A number of intriguing guitarists—Robert Fripp, Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen, Todd Rundgren, Dick Wagner, and George Harrison—play on the record in spots, with Harrison working on Hall’s atmospheric “The Last Time” and Fripp contributing to Hall and John Oates’ rocker “Don’t Blame It on Love.” The duo broke back into the Top 40 with “It’s a Laugh” coming in at No. 20, while “I Don’t Want to Lose You” just missed at No. 42. Sara Allen and Hall’s “August Day” captures the feel of the East Coast as the summertime heat and humidity wear everyone down. The only thing missing on these late-'70s Hall & Oates albums is the kind of crossover hit that they’d land through the early '80s.