Last week marked the release of 'Do What You Want, Be What You Are,' a career-spanning box set from Daryl Hall and John Oates. The iconic duo is best known for smooth '80s staples such as 'Sara Smile,' 'Rich Girl' and 'Maneater,' and this collection surely rounds up their biggest hits. But the duo also spent several months mining their archives for a whole slew of unreleased material, a process that Hall says was a bit surreal.

"I had to listen to my whole life really," he tells Spinner. "I'd never done anything like this. I don't look back. To hear my own work in a big giant gulp, it was the first time I'd looked back." Hall goes on to describe collecting the material something akin to the challenges of making an entirely new record while also getting an overall view of how his production style has changed over the years. "I went from this early Philly stuff, where we'd just get in the room and play, but then it started changing," he says. "In the '70s with the rise of new technology, there were all these new tools available. I really saw this arch, this production-style arch that had to do with the rise of technology and my maturity."

Long time fans will relish in the fact that Hall was able to locate an old tune called 'Dreamer.' Written around the 'Whole Oats' era, 'Dreamer' had fallen through the cracks until this past summer, when a proper version was finally recorded.

"It was [a song] that appeared and disappeared over the years," Hall says. "Someone gave me a demo of it that I did back in 1972 and then it disappeared. When I was putting this together, I searched and searched and searched but couldn't find the song. It's one of those things where it runs in my head every once in awhile. I really wanted that song to be put on the CD. I found one of my early journals and I had the lyrics written down. I remembered the chords and remembered the melody so I recreated it."

'Do What You Want, Be What You Are' is out now on Sony Legacy.