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In 2016, Hall described the record as "so ridiculous, it makes me laugh. But it is incomparable and free-spirited, an outsider mood as raucous as the environment it was made in. I got that out of my system. It was chaotic. We sounded like demented squirrels."<ref name="Bell2" /> Interviewed for ''[[Phonograph Record]]'', Hall described ''War Babies'' as the culmination of the duo doing "basically were doing whatever we wanted to, but that was a turning point. The culmination of not paying attention. We realized that it was our pleasure or the commercial field. So our [self-titled] album was our first concession to that, to thinking about what people actually expected from us."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Eliscu |first1=Lita |title=Hall & Oates: Blue-eyed Soul For The Masses |journal=Phonograph Record |date=September 1976 |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/hall--oates-blue-eyed-soul-for-the-masses |access-date=October 11, 2024}}</ref> In 2005, Hall believed that the duo could have become "a bit edgier through the years if ''War Babies'' had sold — which it didn't."<ref name="Aston" /> In her ''Creem'' piece, Whithall reflected that "it seems to be assumed that if ''Babies'' had hit it big, that hard-edged [[Delaware Valley]] sound would have been with Hall & Oates a bit longer."<ref name="Whitall">{{cite journal |last1=Whitall |first1=Susan |title=Hall & Oates: Laugh All The Way to the Synth Bank |journal=Creem |date=June 1982 |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/hall--oates-laugh-all-the-way-to-the-synth-bank |access-date=October 11, 2024}}</ref>
In 2024, ''[[Ultimate Classic Rock]]'' ranked ''War Babies'' at number 39 in their list of the top 50 albums of 1974.<ref name="Rapp" /> Martin Aston of ''[[Mojo (magazine)|Mojo]]'' describes the "practically forgotten" ''War Babies'' as representing the fullest expression of the "glam-smitten, acid-laced and frazzled kind of blue-eyed soul" that Hall and Oates explored at the time.<ref name="Aston">{{cite journal |last1=Aston |first1=Martin |title=Daryl Hall & John Oates: ''War Babies'' |journal=Mojo |date=December 2005 |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/daryl-hall--john-oates-iwar-babiesi |access-date=October 11, 2024}}</ref> In ''[[Record Collector]]'', Max Bell described ''War Babies'' as "a crazed train wreck of an album" and a "screaming, mutant, [[Dissonant|discordant]] mess", adding that it was Hall and Oates' "most experimental early work." He recommends the album to those who "want to imagine a climate where blue-eyed soul gets slaughtered by disgusto-[[heroin chic]]".<ref name="Bell2">{{cite web |last1=Bell |first1=Max |title=Hall & Oates |url=https://recordcollectormag.com/articles/hall-oates |website=Record Collector |access-date=October 11, 2024 |date=April 15, 2019}}</ref> [[Paul Lester]] of ''[[Uncut (magazine)|Uncut]]'' credits the album's "crazed electro-distorted soul" for anticipating [[Lewis Taylor]]'s [[Lewis Taylor (album)|eponymous 1996 album]].<ref name="Lester2">{{cite journal |last1=Lester |first1=Paul |title=Lewis Taylor: Sweet Insanity |journal=Uncut |date=July 1997 |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/lewis-taylor-sweet-insanity |access-date=October 11, 2024}}</ref> In 1982, Susan Whitall of ''Creem'' wrote that fans of the album were pleased that the duo had "[surrounded] themselves with strange noises" on their 1980s hits.<ref name="Whitall">{{cite journal |last1=Whitall |first1=Susan |title=Hall & Oates: Laugh All The Way to the Synth Bank |journal=Creem |date=June 1982 |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/hall--oates-laugh-all-the-way-to-the-synth-bank |access-date=October 11, 2024}}</ref> Marcello Carlin of ''Uncut'' groups ''War Babies'' with Hall's [[avant-garde music|avant-garde]] solo album ''[[Sacred Songs]]'' (1980) as "evidence of the grit beneath the shiny surfaces" of the duo's sound.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Carlin |first1=Marcello |title=Daryl Hall – Sacred Songs |url=https://www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/daryl-hall-sacred-songs-23506/ |website=Uncut |access-date=December 22, 2024 |date=July 1, 2003}}</ref>
==Track listing==
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