Interpreting the Masters sends you back to appreciate the masters. The Bird and the Bee will make you want to get Rock ‘n’ Soul Part 1 out again. Hearing the Bird and the Bee send up their faithful, jazz-influenced, electro pop versions of Hall & Oates hits is a thrill in itself, but it also makes you dig out the old cassette (if you still have it) or buy the songs again. Interpreting the Masters, then, almost should be a double album with the originals included, since you ache in a good way to hear Hall & Oates afresh.
Greg Kurstin (the Bee) bounces those classic songs through electro beats while Inara George (the Bird) keeps some of the soul alive through her airy vocals. Each track remains faithful to the original—even fading out the song in the same way—while breathing new life into them.
Hall & Oates may not always be considered “masters,” but they were part of my musical education growing up. Every summer my family would go on vacation with our family friends to Grand View Lodge in Brainerd, Minnesota. We’d get a cabin for the week and spend the time at the beach, the kids would run around the resort grounds, play tennis, and go to the children’s activities. For me, though, what sticks with me most is the music–the music we listened to everyday. My parents and our family friends (my godparents) gave me an incredibly good education in classics via The Big Chill soundtrack, Smokey Robinson, the Beatles, and added to the mix, Daryl Hall & John Oates.
Thanks to the Bird and the Bee I was back there again, family and friends together, warm summer days, and the melodies of Daryl Hall and John Oates in my steps as I walked down those Northern Minnesota paths.
The Bird and the Bee
Blue Note Records
