Abandoned Luncheonette

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.

The most well-known track from the album is "She's Gone," one of the act's best-loved songs; Daryl Hall, according to some reports, 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.

An odd promotional video for "She's Gone" was produced. This video opens with shots of the "abandoned luncheonette" (see note below about Album Cover), 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)," draws its inspiration from Hall's then-girlfriend and future songwriting collaborator Sara Allen, much as the later "Sara Smile" would. Oddly, however, "Las Vegas Turnaround" is credited to Oates.

Abandoned Luncheonette is the most commercially successful of their first three albums of the Atlantic Records period. 29 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.