1987 saw Roger Daltrey with perhaps his greatest AOR accomplishment ‘Can’t Wait To See The Movie’.
Written by: Dangerzone
ARTIST: Roger Daltrey
ALBUM: Can’t Wait To See The Movie
LABEL: Atlantic
SERIAL: DIXCD54, 81759-2
YEAR: 1987
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: England
LINEUP: Roger Daltrey – vocals * Gary Grainger, Clem Clempson, Chas Sandford – guitars * John Siegler – bass * John Van Tongeren, Nick Glennie Smith – keyboards * Gary Barnacle – sax * Peter Beckett – backing vocals
TRACK LISTING: 01 Hearts Of Fire * 02 When The Thunder Comes * 03 Ready For Love * 04 Balance On Wheels * 05 Miracle Of Love * 06 Price Of Love * 07 Heart Has It’s Reasons * 08 Alone In The Night * 09 Lovers Storm * 10 Take Me Home
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
Following The Who‘s breakup in 1982, Roger Daltrey resumed his solo career with the lacklustre ‘Parting Should Be Painless’ in 1984. Roger corrected this with his finest effort to date, 1985’s ‘Under A Raging Moon’, a perfect set of hard rock and AOR, aspects that had been sparse in his early albums.
Roger was fairly prolific back in those days and in 1987 he was at it again with his greatest AOR accomplishment ‘Can’t Wait To See The Movie’. With a stellar collection of session musicians, Daltrey recorded what can only be described as a melodic triumph. It never saw any chart action, but nevertheless was a fine addition to the genre.
The Songs
Russ Ballard wrote the opener ‘Hearts Of Fire’, a significant rocker, which saw Ballard make an appearance on guitar. The sax accompanies the melody well and it’s a classy sentimental gem. ‘When The Thunder Comes’ keeps the tempo going, fierce guitar solo especially.
‘Ready For Love’ has a gospel chorus, not unlike Michael Bolton‘s ‘Everytime’ from ‘Everybody’s Crazy’. The synth programming is well up in the mix, indeed the dominant weapon through the whole affair.
‘Ready For Love’ gets off slowly, dramatic sound effects aplenty, before a hard rock mid section. Daltrey puts all his emotion into the delivery, great song. ‘Miracle Of Love’ inhabits Chicago like territory, slow ballad, but intense synth fest adds to the drama raising it far above those levels.
The Jack Blades penned ‘The Price Of Love’ fits in nicely to what Blades was doing with Night Ranger at the time, less heavy but still melodic with just the right amount of guitar keeping it somewhat heavy.
The main highlight is the classic AOR of ‘Lover’s Storm’, a delight, rating with Bolton himself. Pumping guitars and synths push melody to the limits and the bridge is awe inspiring making this a must hear.
In Summary
Many might be unaware of this album, but it displays how versatile Daltrey is vocal wise – the guy could (and still can) turn his hand to anything. This was his last real stab at AOR, although 1992’s ‘Rocks In The Head’ had its share of moments.
Amazingly that was Daltrey’s last studio album. With most of his time devoted to touring with The Who, new music has been a long time coming. As a period piece ‘Can’t Wait’ is worth a listen though. Any fan of late 80’s keyboards and AOR in general will be pleasantly surprised by this.
Roger Daltrey on Video
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