Roger Daltrey: Who Am I?

Two years after the agonizing bust-up of the Who, Roger Daltrey can no longer stand premature rock burial. uaurey never wanteo me group I0 oreax up, but bowed . to Pete Townshend's wishes, after his old sparring partner went through mind-wrecking personal crises.

II was me end or a srzeame cnunK or rock history. Pete launched his solo career, putting booze and drugs behind him. (He's even formed a new band, Ueep I:nO, to play some cnanty snows In London in aid of drug victims...with exPink Floyd man Dave Gilmour on guitar.) lt�s an impressive comeback: a film and reco_ro caueo wn/re wry rrom me man who only a few years ago was seen rolling around London discos, drunk out of his mind.

but wnere aoes mus leave me vvno's one-time lead singer, the man who formed the group when they were the Detours, the star or Iommy and the bare-chested Adonis (well, sort of) who stomped throucxh a million czias?

ualtrey cnensnea an acting career when the Who were at a peak. He starred in Tommy (the movie), Lisztomania and Mcvicar. He made solo albums, too, like Hide A HOCK Horse and -Uneor lone Boys. But after Pete's announcement that the Who would no longer tour-which came aner a senes or onstage puncn-ups with his sinoer-Da|trev lanouished.

He produced one solo album (that ne said would be his Jast) and vanished into his country retreat, emerging only to lllE1Kb' UIB UUU l'\ll|Bl|Udll l:XfJlt>'5:5 IV cnmmemial.

Roger was haunted by memories of the Who...the good times as well as the tears and tragedies. It had been his whole life since he left school. During their 20 years he saw not only the hit records and massive world tours, but the death of friends like Keith Moon and early Who managers Kit Lambert and Peter Meaden. With Kenney Jones on drums it had seemed like the Who had a good few years left to make music. But when Pete finally pulled the plug it seemed—to Roger at least—like it was time to pack it in.

In the months after the Who split (following their last American tour in 1982), Roger moped and let his memories run riot, like a tape on fast rewind. He was suffering from an acute attack of nerves and post-group depression. Then came encouragement from record producer Alan Shacklock, one-time guitarist with Babe Ruth and now producing the Alarm. Said Alan: �Why don�t you make a record and sing like you used to in the Who?� Simple advice which pushed Daltrey back on the right track. The result after months of work, is a new album, Under A Raging Moon on Atlantic Records. The songs are well-crafted and businesslike, and the whole album has drive, pace and sense of purpose. Roger sings his heart out, with no contrived attempts to alter his style.

The album has already yielded the successful single �After The Fire,� written by Townshend, which is just the prelude to further collaborations between the old sparring pair next year. Other album highlights include a seven drummer raveup in tribute to Keith Moon, while �The Pride You Hide� and �Don�t Talk To Strangers� are both excellent songs for Roger to wrap his tonsils around.

Under A Raging Moon has already been well received in America, but Roger has noted a certain coolness towards him in England. He suspects, rightly or wrongly, that unless you have entrenched political views expressed through music, there isn�t much chance of it getting noticed. He laughs about it, but he�s still annoyed, especially at the way �After The Fire� was edited for radio play. �There is a full length version of �After The Fire,� but they cut the bloody thing,� he complains. �It should run as long as on the album, but on radio they cut out all the guitar solos—so it doesn�t make sense. The whole point of the song is that it builds and builds. The age of the musician is over, mate! When I go for interviews now I don�t know which part of me to send because they don�t want to hear the whole story. It�s the same with videos;

I spend a lot of time making a video and they only showed 20 seconds of it on TV. That�s your lot!

�I did a record show on radio with Phil Collins, Paul Weller and Noddy Holder.

I thought Weller was a wonderful example of where this country is now. The music is the last thing that is important. It�s down to what your politics are, and if you are straight or gay. We were discussing a record by one of the guys from Bronski Beat...three of us hated it, but laugh-a-minute Weller said he thought it was great because he liked the guy�s stance and what he stands for. I suddenly realized people like Weller don�t judge the music, they judge everything else. It�s very confusing for me, and it makes it difficult when you are trying to present yourself to the public.�

Daltrey began work on his album last Christmas. �Basically, after the break up of the Who I didn�t want to do anything again. It was the end of 1983 and I thought: �I don�t want to do anything again. That�s it * But in the middle of last year Meatloaf asked me to do a duet with him on his Bad Attitude album. While I was doing that I realized �God, I miss this.�

�The producer on the date was Alan Shacklock and he suggested I make my own record.� Daltrey�s first reaction was �Oh no...well, I�ll have to think about it.� Gradually his resolve to give up making music began to crack. �I said �All right, let�s do it,� because I always miss the old band more than ever at that time of year. It wasn�t a case of just missing my mates. It was because we always used to finish our tours at Christmas and it was strange not to be involved in that anymore. It was a traumatic period for me. So I decided to have a go at it once again. I worked for two months on getting material together.

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Daltrey�s last solo album three years ago was Parting Should Be Painless. �It was a transition period...it was gonna be my last album!� Roger laughs. �The new one is doing fabulously well in the States and I can�t wait to get over to play. I�m gonna put the same band together I had on the album, with Russ Ballard doing backing vocals. I�m really excited about it; it will be my first time ever on my own. I never did �live� shows for my other solo albums. I always regarded it as a hobby. Now I�m taking it seriously, at last!�