Listen To The Bird And The Bee Cover Hall And Oates Classic “Kiss On My List”

Robbie Daw | March 8, 2010 7:00 am

In March of 1980, Daryl Hall and John Oates recorded their commercial breakthrough album Voices at New York’s famed Electric Lady studios. Thirty years later, synthy alt pop duo The Bird And The Bee are releasing their third studio LP—an homage to the Philadelphia pop-soul pair titled Guiltless Pleasures Volume 1: A Tribute To Daryl Hall And John Oates (out March 23).

Altogether, the nine-track album contains eight Hall and Oates covers—including the #1 hit “Kiss On My List,” which you can listen to exclusively here at Idolator below—and one original tune called “Heard It On The Radio.”

[wpaudio url=”//idolator.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/05-Kiss-On-My-List.mp3″ text=”The Bird And The Bee – Kiss On My List” dl=”0″]

Now, lest anyone think The Bird And The Bee went at these classic tunes with tongue firmly planted in cheek, the band’s Greg Kurstin notes of Daryl Hall and John Oates, “There’s definitely no irony. They’re great songwriters and these are great songs.” [Check out our gallery of live photos of The Bird And The Bee live in Los Angeles on Friday, March 5.]

The Guiltless Pleasures project spans from early Hall and Oates material (“Sarah Smile,” “She’s Gone”) to their first chart-topper (1977 classic “Rich Girl”) and biggest ’80s smashes (“Private Eyes,” “Maneater,” “I Can’t Go For That”).

Personally, we would have loved to hear the B&B take on our faves “You Make My Dreams” (though, we admit that between (500) Days Of Summer and Glee, that one’s definitely reached it’s modern pop culture over-saturation point) and “Out Of Touch.” Oh well, maybe for Volume 2!

Nerdy trivia moment: “Kiss On My List” knocked Blondie’s “Rapture” off the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1981, and stayed at #1 for three weeks. It was the duo’s first of two chart-topping singles that year—seven months later “Private Eyes” also climbed to the top spot. Of all the covers on the Bird And The Bee’s new album, only “Kiss On My List” and “Private Eyes” were co-written by Jana Allen, sister of Daryl Hall’s longtime girlfriend Sarah Allen—who “Sarah Smile” was written for.

The tracklist for Guiltless Pleasures Volume 1: A Tribute To Daryl Hall And John Oates:

1. Heard It On The Radio 2. I Can’t Go For That 3. Rich Girl 4. Sarah Smile 5. Kiss On My List 6. Maneater 7. She’s Gone 8. Private Eyes 9. One on One (stream it at Prefix)