Roger Daltrey
One of the Boys

THE REVIEW

Year 1977. Roger Daltrey releases his third solo album, "One Of The Boys". This is not a Who-style album. Forget the Who, forget that Daltrey is their singer (and what a singer!). 

The album starts with "Parade" by Philip Goodhand-Tait, a beautiful song that reflects Roger's disillusionment with the star system. The second track is a country song, "Single Man's Dilemma" (written by Colin Blunstone): not bad, although here Roger's voice doesn't quite fit...

The third piece, "Avenging Annie" by Andy Pratt, is considered by many to be one of the best moments of Daltrey solo and is the track on the album most similar to the style of the Who (partly thanks to the presence of John Entwistle on bass). "The Prisoner" is instead a ballad inspired by John McVicar, whom Roger will portray in the 1980 film dedicated to him. It is one of the three songs on "One Of The Boys" written by Daltrey in collaboration with Tony Meehan and David Courtney: this is the first time Roger collaborates in the writing of some of the songs for his solo albums.

The fifth song is "Leon", again by Goodhand-Tait, and I'm still not sure if I like it or find it irritating, but it's definitely not among my favorites. It then moves on to the title track, written by Steve Gibbons of the Steve Gibbons Band, considered by its performer as "the My Generation of 1977"; a comparison that sees the Who's song winning by a wide margin. Not that "One Of The Boys" is a bad song, on the contrary, it is one of the best on the album, but comparing it to "My Generation" is a bit far-fetched. The seventh track is "Giddy", written by none other than Sir Paul McCartney. Beautiful? No, it's an unattractive leftover by McCartney, completely anonymous. The album picks up with the last three songs: "Written On The Wind", "Satin And Lace", and "Doing It All Again". The first is a love song written by Paul Korda and very well performed by Roger. It was also released as a single in Britain but was not successful. The second is a very beautiful ballad with Daltrey in excellent form. The final song is another ballad written by Daltrey-Meehan-Courtney (like "Satin And Lace") characterized by a well-executed falsetto, atypical for Roger.

The 2005 remastered version includes four bonus tracks: two outtakes ("Martyrs And Madmen" and "Treachery") that don't do anything for me, as well as "You Put Something Better Inside Me", the b-side of the single "One Of The Boys". Beautiful, though, is "Say It Ain't So Joe" by Murray Head, a single both in the USA and Britain, which Roger makes his own with ease, giving it quite a distinctive twist compared to the original.

With this album, Roger Daltrey shows his desire to experiment with genres sometimes very different from his standards, with results sometimes excellent sometimes unappealing. Definitely not an essential album, although there are a couple of gems even here.