Wednesday, October 31, 2018

"Let Me Down Easy" by Roger Daltrey

Song#:  2575
Date:  12/28/1985
Debut:  89
Peak:  86
Weeks:  4
Genre:  Rock



Pop Bits:  Daltrey's song "After the Fire," the first single from his album Under a Raging Moon, was #3 Rock hit that just missed out on making the Pop Top 40 (#48). For a follow-up, this next track was selected. The tune did well at Rock reaching #11, but it couldn't catch a break at Pop and only managed to spend a month near the bottom of the chart. The album, which was a tribute to his former bandmate Keith Moon who died in 1978, did fairly well reaching #42.

ReduxReview:  This is a pure commercial rock track that fit Daltrey very well. At a time when Adams and Vallance (see below) were shuffling off their lesser extra tracks to other artists, they occasionally tossed out a good one like this. I think had "After the Fire" done better, this single might have had a good chance to move up the chart. Adams probably should have kept this one himself, but actually his recorded version is a bit bland. Daltrey's take is much better. It has a richer production with crunchy guitars and Daltry is totally on and engaged. It's a hit that everyone missed.

ReduxRating:  7/10

Trivia:  This song was written by the team of Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance. The mid 80s were a very productive period for the composers and many of the songs they wrote during this time were pegged for other artists and not necessarily for any of Adams' albums. Vallance has said that this particular song is one that they wrote specifically with Stevie Nicks in mind. Apparently they did submit the tune to Nicks' camp, but did not hear anything back. It ended up with Daltrey who recorded it for his album. Adams' own demo version of the song would later appear as a bonus track on the 30th anniversary of his hit album Reckless.

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