Roger Daltry - After the Fire

This was actually the album that turned me into a Roger Daltry fan. In '85 when this came out Roger was 41 and out to prove that he could still rock with the kids. While the album may not have been a huge commercial success, it certainly seemed like a big deal in my house. 

My buddy Otto had the cassette copy of the album that contained the bonus track "Love Me Like You Do" which was an incredible song, and it was too bad it didn't make the cut for the album. There was a time, thankfully a short time, that record labels were trying to push cassette sales and a number of artists from Phil Collins to Flock of Seagulls included bonus tracks on their tape releases, and later this translated to CDs where extended versions and bonus tracks weren't restricted to 22 and a 1/2 minutes a side.

Roger's voice was his instrument, and boy howdy he let it loose. Speaking of voices, I remember being really excited to see Mark Williamson's name listed as the backing singer on many of the tracks. For those who don't know, and probably don't care, Mark fronted The Mark Williamson Band, which was renamed Lyrix for the North American market back in'82. To me seeing a singer from a Christian band I liked was cool.

The album opens with "After the Fire" a song penned by Pete Townshend, and it is one of the album's highlights. I was particularly taken with "The Pride You Hide" and Robbie McIntosh's guitar work on the song. It's stunning. Robbie's work throughout the album is just so tasty. I may have to go and revisit those Pretenders Learning to Crawl (1984) and Get Close (1986) that he was part of.

You have to remember that back in '85 Bryan Adams was suddenly the kid with the midas touch, and side two has not one but two Adams/Vallance tracks. The first "Let Me Down Easy" is an odd duck, it borrows heavily from "Somebody" from Adam's '84 album Reckless. It was distracting back then, and I'd actually forgotten how similar they are. I actually pulled out the lyric sheet to check and see. They were different ... but not really. It didn't matter, it was delivered with gusto and for all that is a decent song. "Rebel" is the second Adams/Vallance track, and it appeared here first, and later in '87 would pop up on Adams' overlooked and maligned album Into the Fire. It's interesting to hear the differences between the two. The perspectives from age and experience to youth are compelling. Athough you have to give it up for the Daltry scream as the song draws to a close. The guy still had it.

The centrepiece of the album is the closing track "Under a Raging Moon" that was written by John Parr and Julia Downes. The opening organ bears more than a passing resemblance to "Won't Get Fooled Again" and while in the credits it says "For Kit" it's obviously for Keith Moon. The song also features an extended outro section that is kind of mind blowing. More so when you read the credits for who took a guest spot to add a fill at the end:

• Martin Chambers (The Pretenders)
• Roger Taylor (Queen)
• Cozy Powell (Jeff Beck, Rainbow, Whitesnake, on and on)
• Stewart Copeland (The Police)
• Zak Starkey (Ringo Starr and the All-Starr Band, Icicle Works, Oasis)
• Carl Palmer (Emerson Lake & Palmer, Asia)
• Mark Brzezicki (Pete Townshend, Big Country)

Yeah, if that sounds like a lot, it is. It's pretty cool.

The album over the years has been mostly forgotten and is merely an '80s footnote, which is too bad. It was a really solid album, and while there are some songs that are better than filler, there are a handful of extraordinary songs here that should have been huge. Roger couldn't catch a break when it came to his solo career.