Can it be that Roger Daltrey’s singing
career has finally turned the full circle and his time with The Who was merely
an aberration? Back before Pete started messing around with riff-driven songs
about teenage angst and graduated to rock operas, Roger was an R&B singer
through and through, thoroughly at home on those songs from the 1965 My Generation album like ‘I Don’t Mind’,
‘Please Please Please’ and ‘I’m A Man’, not to mention the out-takes from the
album sessions that surfaced later like ‘Shout And Shimmy’ and ‘Anytime You
Want Me’. And all the way along it often seemed to me that he was at his
happiest singing those rock’n’roll standards The Who covered, like ‘Summertime
Blues’, ‘Shakin’ All Over’ and ‘Road Runner’. Then there was Pete’s ‘Long Live
Rock’, a curio really, but it wouldn’t be out of place on this record Roger has
made with Wilko Johnson, ailing guitar hero of Dr Feelgood whose back catalogue
is plundered by the pair of them in some style and plenty of swagger.
Indeed,
the album’s opener and title track ‘Going Back Home’ doesn’t sound a million
miles away from ‘Long Live Rock’. Is it sacrilege to suggest that this material
suits Roger’s voice better than anything Pete has written since, well, maybe Quadrophenia, or at least since Keith
died? That voice, together with Wilko’s trademark stabbing, choppy, echo-free
guitar style makes for a rollocking good album, gritty and energetic, foot
down, head for home and don’t spare the horses, as you would expect from
seasoned professionals like Roger and Wilko, alongside Blockheads über-bassist
Norman Watt Roy and drummer Dylan Howe, who have made up Wilko’s most recent
touring band.
Going Back Home was recorded in seven
days – and there’s nothing wrong with that – at Roger’s home studio at East Burwash
on the Kent-Sussex Border, its speedy gestation suggesting an element of
urgency in view of Wilko’s fragile state of health. It’s long been a contention
of mine that music recorded quickly conveys an urgency that is lost when
sessions drag on for months and this urgency can only be good for the music, well
music like this anyway, ten no-nonsense old fashioned (Maximum) R&B-styled
Feelgood and Wilko originals plus a full-bodied stab at Dylan’s scornful ‘Can
You Please Crawl Out Your Window’.
It’s
no surprise that Wilko and Roger share a mutual admiration for Johnny Kidd
& The Pirates whose influence can be felt in both The Who and Dr Feelgood,
and some years ago this became a topic of discussion for them when they met at
some awards do. It evidently resulted in a plan to record together at some vague
time in the future. Then Wilko’s diagnoses made it a matter of urgency, hence Going Back Home and the live show at
Shepherds Bush that accompanied its March release.
I’ve
been listening to Going Back Home for
a month now, usually on the train between Guildford and Waterloo, and come to
like it a lot. There is a vintage feel to the record which in many ways points to the fact that these two were made for one another. Roger is
certainly at home on the two Feelgood classics ‘All Through The City’ (I
particularly like hearing him enunciate ‘… See you in the morning, down by the
jetty’) and ‘Sneaking Suspicion’ but he’s also very effective when he takes his
foot off the gas to slow down for ‘Turned 21’. Wilko’s short sharp solos are as
invigorating as ever, for which we can all give thanks, and Steve Weston, another Southend-on-Sea marvel, gives it his all on harp too.
Roger himself probably put it best when
asked to describe the album for Uncut
magazine: “Fast, three-minute r&b songs,” he said. “No bullshit.” Great job
lads, and here’s to Wilko staying strong for a good while yet.
Nice review, Chris. It's a great album and has done well in the charts, seemingly thanks to punters' word of mouth. Over 200 5-star reviews on Amazon UK since its launch on March 24th and all of the lower-starred reviews say it's great. I reckon Wilko and Roger caught lightning in a bottle with this one!
ReplyDeleteGonna have to get this album.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan myself of the My Generation album cover versions listed in your post. My fave Roger voice is certainly Who's Next / Quadrophenia. But always loved Wilko's style. And Mick Green of course. Wonderful player.
thanks for the review / recommendation.
Yep - two old sods ripping it up in a studio and clearly having a great deal of fun; a bit like young sods ripping it up in a studio and clearly having a great deal of fun........ The reason live music is so compelling is that it captures the moment (a moment) and that's exactly what the great debut albums (My Generation, Tons Of Sobs etc) do - a stage act in the palm of your hand. Benn Kempster
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