Customer Reviews

Daltrey

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4 star:		(7)
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Daltrey's First Solo CD Displays a Pop Rock Side

It was the year 1973, and a plethora of great albums were to come out of that period. Almost forgotten due to the long list of classics, was the first solo album of current Who lead vocalist: Roger Daltrey. '73 was also the year that the Who released `Quadrophenia' which had its own share of success. Daltrey was approached for a solo project that coupled him with Leo Sayer (single: Long Tall Glasses) and Adam Faith. It was the third solo album by a member of the Who.

Leo Sayer had a carnival rock approach to music: a bit tongue in cheek with a lively high energy uplift. Richard Perry often called Leo Sayer the Charlie Chaplin of rock. These were the types of songs that populated the Daltrey self-titled debut cd. Several hard rocker fans of the Who were highly disappointed in Daltrey converting to a more pop-rock style by his own personal choice. Others lauded the great songwriting and singing combination that Sayer and Daltrey made.

The highlights of the cd are: One Man Band, Giving it All Away and You Are Yourself. They allow Roger D to show this emotive vocal range. In one moment, he is jovial, another shouting rock, and the last is a pathos laden voice. If you love his singing voice, like I do, you will definitely enjoy the mastery of feeling that Daltrey is capable of: perhaps stymied a bit by his music partner's ability, Pete Townshend, and thus allowed the freedom on his solo cd to pursue more of his personal experiences translated into song.

It's an overall very satisfying effort, and is one of Daltrey better solo cds. If you are any Who fan at all, you must at least listen to this cd at least once, and hopefully you will enjoy its nuances outside the Who prison. Roger enjoys himself on this cd: that's for sure. I, for one, was glad to just go along with the ride!

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Jeff Feezle of Macafeez

I find Daltrey in his own to be a brilliant diversion from the WHO's work. I grew up listening to both and except for the purposes of this review, i don't really compare the two. The first couple of tracks were soundtracks to my growing up, so i have particular affinity for them. What can i say, it's comfort music!

Roger Daltrey's first solo effort, "Daltrey", features eight songs written by Leo Sayer and David Courtney, and another two by Adam Faith and David Courtney, and one "bonus" track ("There Is Love"). This is an introspective album revolving around joint themes of loneliness and alienation. While the songs stretch their emotional sensibilities to the point where they could have lapsed into melodrama, they are saved by the sheer honesty and piercing emotional expressiveness of the lyrics. In the opening "One Man Band" we find Daltrey proclaiming "I'm a one man band, nobody cares or understands", which sets the emotional tone for the following nine tracks. Throughout, the album always returns to the main theme of the loner adrift in and overwhelmed by a frightening world. The songs run the gamut from initial expressions of loneliness ("The Way Of The World" and "You Are Yourself"), to tentative emotional contact ("Thinking" and "You And Me"), then back again strongly to the alienation theme with the song pair "It's A Hard Life" and "Giving It All Away", possibly the two strongest songs in the entire set, where we find the defeated Daltry pronouncing "It's a hard life/When you're alone/Cramped in your lonely little room", then despairing "Worked hard and failed now all I can say is I threw it all away". "The Story So Far" frames the dissolution of love found, while the sentimental but beautiful "When The Music Stops", enveloped entirely in quartet-like string arrangement, expresses a heart rending yearning to regain love lost. The succeeding "Reasons" is chillingly defensive and accusatory, with Daltrey's lament "Well I pick up my life and I turn and walk away". The album ends, fittingly, with a recap of its opening notes, "One Man Band". There is a cohesion and unity in these 11 tracks that suggest more than a mere collection of unrelated songs. Daltry proves here that he can function quite well outside the bounds of The Who and, with some help from Leo Sayer's songwriting, gives an emotional tour de force. This is most definitely NOT a Who album. The heavy Who sound is here replaced on several tracks with piano and strings arrangements and a much lighter sound, though electric guitar and drums are present on other tracks and Daltrey proves himself quite the rocker on a number of the cuts. The emotional depth of the songs on this album is quite impressive, making "Daltrey" a classic in its own right. The only negative to this album, in my opinion, is the addition of the bonus track "There Is Love". This is a gospel song which in almost every respect does not fit with the overall feel of the other songs, and seems to be simply an add-on, which I feel only detracts from the album as a whole. In every other respect, though, "Daltrey" comes out a winner.

On this disc, Daltrey gives us a better understanding of why the WHO has such staying power. The power of vocals like "You Are Yourself" and the creative genius of songs like "One Man Band" show us a great rock musician at work. This is a disc to listen to over and over.

Roger Daltrey's first solo album sounds little like The Who but that's to the album's advantage--this release features some top notch songs co-written by Leo Sayer(!) who was then a member of a duo called Patch. Daltrey like the material and decided to record it as a solo album produced by UK music legend Adam Faith. The album sounds extremely good in this re-release remastered by Jon Astley with one bonus track the gospel flavored b-side "There is One Love". The album proves Daltrey's versatility as a singer. Filled with music that has echoes of folk-rock, country rock the album still stands tall in the Who solo discography.

The reissued CD also features liner notes discussing the making of the album. This is one of Daltrey's finest solo albums with its hints of folk music (some of the tracks wouldn't have sounded out of place on a Fairport Convention album from the era), more traditional rock ballads and even gospel on the bonus track. A pity there's only one bonus track but it's still a terrific album. It's well worth checking out for Daltrey and Who fans just keep in mind that it sounds little to nothing like The Who.

I admit that the only reason I got this album at my favorite used record store back in my college town was because it was only three dollars and Roger looks so beautiful on the cover, but I ended up finding the music not bad at all. It's not something I listen to on a regular basis (nor does it sound anything like The Who), but it is a fun guilty pleasure to listen to every so often. Not all music is meant to be deep, serious, timeless, great, and classic. If one isn't hung up on musical snobbery, it just might grow on one and come to seem fun, cute, and charming.

At first listen, it is obvious that these songs seem incredibly out of character for Roger, with a couple of notable exceptions (foremost among them the two-song suite "It's a Hard Life" and "Giving It All Away"). My other favorite songs are "You and Me" (though I wish it weren't so terribly short!), "You Are Yourself," "When the Music Stops," and "Thinking." How could anyone not love a song like "Thinking" when it has the line "Thinkin' about the love we made on the floor" as part of the refrain? It does seem a really bizarre choice that Roger teamed up with Leo Sayer of all people for his first solo album, but somehow it just seems to work. The time stamp of the early Seventies kind of adds to the charm and fun of this album. I don't have all of his solo albums yet, but I think my final verdict on his solo work will be that it's really not as awful as its reputation. Roger always seemed to do the best he could with uncharacteristic, weak, or below-par material. It is a shame that he wasted his amazing voice on so much less-than-stellar material, but I can kind of get past a lesser song just because he's the one singing it. And while this album is so far from most of what he did with The Who after they got really good and came into their own in the late Sixties, that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's not fair to pigeonhole an artist and hold it against him or her for trying a new style.

Though it's not an album I'd recommend to someone just getting into Roger's solo work (hands-down I'd recommend most strongly 'McVicar,' 'Under a Raging Moon,' and perhaps 'One of the Boys'), it isn't something I'd recommend be avoided till very last either. Sometimes it's fun to step out and try something a little different, and to hear what Roger might have sounded like had there been no Who, or had the band broken up much earlier and compelled him to only sing as a soloist.

Roger Daltrey's first solo album sounds little like The Who but that's to the album's advantage--this release features some top notch songs co-written by Leo Sayer(!) who was then a member of a duo called Patch. Daltrey like the material and decided to record it as a solo album produced by UK music legend Adam Faith. The album sounds extremely good in this re-release remastered by Jon Astley with one bonus track the gospel flavored b-side "There is One Love". The album proves Daltrey's versatility as a singer. Filled with music that has echoes of folk-rock, country rock the album still stands tall in the Who solo discography.

The reissued CD also features liner notes discussing the making of the album. It's well worth checking out for Daltrey and Who fans just keep in mind that it sounds little to nothing like The Who.

I really enjoyed this album and will be playing it for years to come. Lots of great, catchy tunes and folk melodies. The orchestral arrangements and violin add depth to most of the songs. There are a few weak titles here and there, but still is quite an immpressive album.

Originally released in 1973, as this was Daltrey's first ever solo outing. Thank goodness he stuck with The Who, I have to say. This isn't such as bad album, however his later solo works did improve some. One reason I've giving 'Daltrey' a three star rating is I believe he put his heart and soul into the making of this record. A few of the cuts here I thought were decent include "One Man Band", "You Are Yourself", the well performed "Giving It All Away" and "Reasons". Noticed that all of this album's songs were penned by Leo Sayer and David Courtney. Not sure if that was a good move or not.

Daltrey's first venture into a full solo album began as a vehicle to help friend Leo Sayer and his writing partner David Courtney a recording deal. Daltrey agreed to use his credentials to record an album of mostly Sayer/Courtney songs that, if successful, would launch the Sayer as an act of his own. The album did well, and Sayer soon recorded the very good but little known 'Silverbird' album. 'Daltrey' stands on its own as a solid work due to the quality songs, sensible production and Daltrey's incredible vocals.