Daltrey (album)

The album was packaged in a gatefold sleeve, photographed and designed by Daltrey's cousin Graham Hughes, featuring a Victorian locket-style soft-focus image, portraying Daltrey with Pre-Raphaelite looks. The inner-sleeve photography shows a trompe-l'œil in reference to the Narcissus myth, as Daltrey's reflection in the water differs from his real appearance. The cover itself features an image of Daltrey also shown in the film Tommy (1975).

The success of the album caused some upheavals behind the scenes. With Pete Townshend being generally regarded as the Who's mouthpiece, Daltrey's renewed confidence now placed him in a strong position to influence the group policy. The Who's management team, Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp, were reportedly concerned that the album might spell the end of the Who or at the very least, a Rod Stewart and the Faces-type situation where the singer's solo success eclipsed the parent band. To Daltrey, at the time, these fears were misplaced. "I think it will do the Who some good if it's a hit, and I think there's a market for my album", he told Chris Charlesworth.^{[citation needed]} The fact that Lambert and Stamp tried to derail the album's chances for the aforementioned reasons, and their increasingly erratic handling of the group's affairs, meant that their days as the Who's managers were numbered in Daltrey's eyes.^{[citation needed]} He entrusted his affairs to Track employee Bill Curbishley who was fast rising through the ranks, having already successfully renegotiated the terms of a European Who tour the previous year.^[6]

All but two of the songs were co-written by the previously unknown David Courtney and Leo Sayer, the latter of whom later became a well-known singer in his own right. At the time, Daltrey was playing in his home recording studio with Sayer, who told Daltrey about his struggles to get a recording contract. Daltrey, joking, asked Sayer to write him some songs for a solo album. Sayer and Courtney came back with ten songs, which Daltrey recorded for his first solo album.^[7]

Sayer enjoyed greater chart success than Daltrey did as a solo artist; the opening track on this album, "One Man Band" (also reprised at the end), became one of Sayer's biggest hits.^[8]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[9]
Creem	C[10]

In a contemporary review for Creem, Robert Christgau said "by anybody else, this would be one more dumb concept album, and it still is."^[10] He found its exploration of the musician's plight pitiful, and believed Daltrey lacked "the personality or the smarts to assert himself as an interpreter".^[11] In a retrospective review, AllMusic's Dave Thompson said that the album was "a sometimes horrifying shock for die-hard fans, but a pleasant surprise for anyone tired of hearing him voice the increasingly dictatorial Townshend's self-aggrandizement".^[9]

 

Musicians

• Roger Daltrey – lead vocals, acoustic guitar
• Dave Courtney – piano
• Russ Ballard – guitar, piano on "The Story So Far"
• Bob Henrit – drums
• Dave Wintour – bass guitar

Additional musicians

• Brian Cole – steel guitar
• Roy Young Band – brass
• Dave Arbus – violin on "The Way of the World"
• Jimmy Page – guitar on out-take "There Is Love"^[4]

Technical

• Del Newman – string arrangements on "You Are Yourself", "You and Me", "It's a Hard Life" and "Giving it All Away"
• John Mills – recording engineer Apple Studios & Burwash
• Richard Dubb – recording engineer for strings
• George Peckham – cutting engineer
• Nigel Oliver – tape operator

• Roger Daltrey discography

• Daltrey at Discogs (list of releases)
• Giving it All Away Performed on German TV at YouTube
• Giving it All Away Performed on The Old Grey Whistle Test (Excerpt) at YouTube