Song#: 1794
Date: 02/18/1984
Debut: 90
Peak: 62
Weeks: 9
Genre: Rock
Pop Bits: Daltry's last solo album was his soundtrack to the 1980 film McVicar. It featured what would be his biggest solo hit on the Pop chart, the #20 ballad "Without Your Love." After that, he returned to The Who for It's Hard, the band's final album before their initial breakup. Following The Who's farewell tour, Daltrey was completely out on his own and began work on his next solo LP, Parting Should Be Painless. As the title might suggest, the album was filled with songs that reflected his frustrations following the breakup of The Who. Not really being a songwriter, Daltrey enlisted some A-listers to contribute songs including Bryan Ferry, Eurythmics, and Nicky Chinn. This first single was issued and Rock radio responded well taking it to #4. However, it didn't click at Pop and the song fell off the chart after a couple of months. The lack of a bigger hit and negative reviews doomed the album, which became his lowest charting at #102.
ReduxReview: This song is a bit boring. I typically like Daltrey's vocals, but he just sounds pinched and restrained here. It almost sounds like he is limiting his vocals in order to match the weak production. The song itself is not all that interesting, but I think it could have been better with a different arrangement. Imagine if a band like The Fixx took this on. Something along those new wave lines would have boosted the tune. As-is, the single is a snoozer and I'm not surprised it didn't do well.
ReduxRating: 4/10
Trivia: This song was co-written by Jack Green and Leslie Adey. Green had been a member of T. Rex and The Pretty Things in the 70s before going solo in 1980. In 1983, he issued his third album Mystique, which featured the original version of this song. The LP went unnoticed, but this song made it to Daltrey and it got a second chance.
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