Roger Daltrey 6: Parting Should Be Painless

After being blindsided by Pete Townshend’s announcement that the Who were finally finished—and after some time waiting to see if he’d change his mind, as he had in the past—Roger Daltrey found himself suddenly solo, and not as a side project. With a title like Parting Should Be Painless, it was hard (sorry) to think of the album as anything but a commentary on the end of his band. This being Roger, of course, he didn’t write any of the songs, and we find it hard to believe he set out such a thesis to the ones who did.

The album came out in the wake of the New Romantic movement in British music, whereas Americans were still catching up to New Wave and whatever was on MTV. And now that he had the chance to do anything he wanted, with a deal on Atlantic to boot, Roger didn’t want to make an album that sounded like the Who, so he didn’t. And then nobody bought it.

“Walking In My Sleep” was a half-decent single heavy on synth and sax, and unfortunately the high point of the album. While it’s unknown why the tense is different, “Parting Would Be Painless” was already on an album put out by its songwriter, one Kit Hain, the year before, and its romantic angle should definitely not suggest it’s about the Who. “Is There Anybody Out There?” serves up middle-aged angst on a track better suited to Bonnie Tyler, though the nightmare strings really need to be toned back. The unintended creepy come-on “Would A Stranger Do?” is an early composition by one Simon Climie, who’d go on to collaborate with the likes of Pat Benatar and Eric Clapton down the road. The first really surprising track is “Going Strong”, written by Bryan Ferry, likely in the lead-up to Avalon. While one-chord songs may have worked too many times for Roxy Music, here it just plods.

“Looking For You” is another Kit Hain tune that kinda works, though his voice gets buried in the otherwise catchy choruses, but we’re more startled by his gruff take on “Somebody Told Me”, an obscure song from the first real Eurythmics album. “One Day” is somewhat in the vein of his R&B-flavored work from the ‘70s, if a little dull, whereas “How Does The Cold Wind Cry” tries for something of a stadium anthem without the dynamics. “Don’t Wait On The Stairs” throws another publishing bone to Steve Swindells, done here in an almost Prince style. (No, really.)

Roger doesn’t sound very confident throughout Parting Should Be Painless, and it would appear he wasn’t. The production, courtesy of a guy who’d worked with Wire in the punk days and helmed Soft Cell’s version of “Tainted Love”, is competent, only slightly dated, but not very unique. This couldn’t have been the statement Roger wanted to make. (And the cover? What’s up with the leopard print and the diving pose?)

Roger Daltrey Parting Should Be Painless (1984)—2