ROGER DALTREY : PARTING SHOULD BE PAINLESS

1. Walking In My Sleep
2. Parting Would Be Painless
3. Is There Anybody Out There
4. Would A Stranger Do
5. Going Strong
6. Looking For You
7. Somebody Told Me
8. One Day
9. How Does The Cold Wind Cry
10. Don't Wait On The Stairs

Label : WEA

Release Date : February 1984

Length : 40:03

Review (AllMusic) : In a certain sense, Roger Daltrey's solo career should be divided into two parts. The first part, running from 1973 to 1980 and including the albums Daltrey, Ride A Rock Horse, One Of The Boys, and McVicar, consists of work Daltrey did in between making records and touring with The Who. The second part, from 1984 on, is Daltrey's post-Who career, during which you might expect be would be more focused and would concentrate on making his solo albums primary statements rather than diversions. Guess again. Daltrey was much more successful, commercially as well as artistically, when his solo career was a side project. Parting Should Be Painless, the first album Daltrey made after The Who's breakup in 1982, contains some interesting tracks, including Bryan Ferry's "Going Strong," which gives you an idea what Roxy Music would sound like if Daltrey was its lead singer, and "Somebody Told Me," written by Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox of Eurythmics. But for the most part, it consists of mediocre material indifferently sung. The message: Parting was painful, especially to Daltrey.

Review (Wikipedia) : Parting Should Be Painless is the fifth studio album by English singer Roger Daltrey. It was originally released in February 1984, on the labels Atlantic, in the United States, and on WEA in Germany, and Japan. The album was Daltrey's first solo album since the first breakup of The Who, and the first by any member of the band. "Walking in My Sleep", "Parting Would Be Painless", and "Would a Stranger Do" were all released as singles. Two of those singles failed to chart, while "Walking in My Sleep" was a success, peaking at No. 4 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. On release, the album was received negatively by the majority of music critics. It was Daltrey's poorest selling studio album up to that point, peaking at No. 102 on the US Billboard chart, however it did make the Top 60 in the Netherlands, peaking at No. 45 on the MegaCharts. The album was produced by Mike Thorne, with the executive producer listed under the pseudonym "Spike". This is presumably the same woman who was credited as the executive producer of Pete Townshend's compilation album Scoop, later revealed to be Helen Wilkins. The album was re-released as a limited edition audio CD on 12 October 2004, by Wounded Bird Records, but it vanished from the market almost as quickly as it was issued, becoming something of a rarity and by 2014 copies in very good condition were trading for £250. The album was a concerted effort on Daltrey's part to vent his frustrations in the wake of the Who's breakup by assembling a set of roughly autobiographical songs. These included a track contributed by Bryan Ferry ("Going Strong"), and one contributed by Eurythmics ("Somebody Told Me"). The album featured contributions from bass player Norman Watt-Roy, and keyboardist Mick Gallagher who were both members of Ian Dury and the Blockheads. It also features contributions from the critically acclaimed saxophonist Michael Brecker, and from two prolific session musicians, guitarist Chris Spedding, and drummer Allan Schwartzberg.