Parting Should Be Painless
	Produced by Mike Thorne
	Released on February 1984
	US CHART POSITION #102
	Find it at GEMM
80128-1 cover [high resolution scan]

T wasn’t the parting what pained me really, but the meeting with Daltrey’s destiny, which would seem to be singing songs written by other people not named Pete Townshend. With Who’s Last in the books, Roger sleepwalks through a solo album that could have come from Bryan Ferry. One song actually did (Going Strong). There are the usual mild rockers here, a few creaky ballads, more or less what you’d find on any Roger Daltrey solo album. But his success as a singer is directly related to the number of hairs that stand up on your neck, and Pete Townshend knows his way around the human neck far better than a Kit Hain or Simon Climie. If you’re looking for a definitive post-Who statement, you’re looking in the wrong place anyway. (White City is where you should be looking.) Of course, I’ve heard worse albums cobbled together, and the recording industry would have failed us all if it didn’t find some venue for that golden voice. The diminished expectations I now have for any Daltrey album are satisfied by “Walking In My Sleep,” “Parting Would Be Painless” or “Would A Stranger Do?,” just as I eventually convinced myself that “Without Your Love” was better than alright. Subsequent albums (Raging Moon, Rocks In The Head) run a little hotter, so feel free to save Parting for later if Daltrey the rocker is what you’re after. And, no, you probably don’t need the digital remaster of this either, unless you’re building some kind of shrine to Daltrey.

80128-1 back cover	80128-1 lyric sleeve

TRACK LISTING

1. WALKING IN MY SLEEP    (Jack Green/Leslie Adey)    3:20
2. PARTING WOULD BE PAINLESS    (Kit Hain)    3:41
3. IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE?    (Nicky Chin/Steve Glen)    4:16
4. WOULD A STRANGER DO?    (Steve Andrews/Simon Climie)    3:35
5. GOING STRONG    (Bryan Ferry)    5:06
6. LOOKING FOR YOU    (Kit Hain)    3:21
7. SOMEBODY TOLD ME    (Annie Lennox/David A. Stewart)    3:10
8. ONE DAY    (Gerald Milne)    3:10
9. HOW DOES THE COLD WIND CRY    (Colin Towns)    3:53
10. DON'T WAIT ON THE STAIRS    (Steve Swindells)    6:30

CREDITS

ROGER DALTREY -- vocals, harmonica
MICHAEL BRECKER -- tenor sax
MICKEY GALLAGHER -- keyboards, synthesisers
ROBERT MEDICI -- marimba
BILLY NICHOLLS -- backing vocals
NORMAN WATT ROY -- bass
ALAN SCHWARTZBERG -- drums
CHRIS SPEDDING -- guitar
MIKE THORNE -- synthesisers
DAVE TOFANI -- clarinet
Jimmy Biondolillo -- string and horn arrangements, conductor
Spike -- executive producer
John Brand -- engineer
Lincoln Y. Clapp -- engineer
Harvey Goldberg -- engineer
Don Wershba -- engineer
Ron Brinkworth -- typography
Graham Hughes -- photography

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