Mar 172014
Like “Free Me,” many of the songs on Ride a Rock Horse were written by Russ Ballard, a noted “rock mistress,” whose career seems to have been founded on enabling misguided, flagging veteran rock legends to produce “commercial” records that have little to do with the artists’ legendary works.
Unlike Wikipedia’s details on the making of Ride a Rock Horse, the authoritative site contains extensive and fascinating details on Ballard’s cheese-rock escapades: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russ_Ballard
I strongly suggest you put off what you should be doing and read his Wikipedia page. If we can’t explain the motivation behind Roger Daltrey’s mid-1970s solo career, perhaps we can shift gears and examine the works of Russ Ballard.
God, it’s been years since I thought about, much less listened to, Daltrey’s solo records. Awful, best as I can recall. I can only think he was trying to shame Pete into writing him better songs. It doesn’t seem to have worked.
If I could design just one piece of album art that is 1/10th as inspired and brilliant as Ride A Rock Horse, my mission in this realm would be complete. I would assuredly advance to the next level of hyper-existence.
Woulda been better with brown horse pubes that matched Daltry’s doo though.
First off, it should be noted that the most important thing that Stuart ever did was hook us up w/ Townsman Sethro!
I forgot how funny the “Free Me” video was. I liked the song when it came out but the video always made us crack up especially the “can’t you hear me say, can’t you hear me say….” part.
Looking at that Russ Ballard Wiki, although there’s a bit of cheese, there’s also some good stuff there, like “New York Groove”, “I Don’t Believe In Miracles” & “Hold Your Head Up”. It’s funny to know that there’s actually a connection between the Zombies & Kiss through him. Also, I bet he does “the check dance” when the royalty checks come in every month unlike us.
As for solo Daltrey, wasn’t it also the time when all of the Who’s members put out solo albums, even Moonie, whose solo album would probably make Ride a Rock Horse sound like the Who Sell Out. I think that Pete was in one of his crisis situations re: the Who at that time & didn’t want to tour.
As for that cover itself, I don’t know if it was that out of place at that time. It was the pre-punk 70s, after all, when Yes album covers were all the rage. I could see that image being spray-painted on vans across the country.
So true. I even bought Entwistle solo albums (Whistle Rymes, Mad Dog) but never touched a Daltrey solo record.
I do recall this single Daltrey released – “Walking In My Sleep”
http://youtu.be/52nvO0QlKC0
I think it was derailed as a single by the more popular “Talking in Your Sleep” by the Romantics that came out nearly the exact same time. I don’t think you could have two “sleep” songs on the radio during the same period.
Russ Ballard? I remember that Voices song. I was in a friend’s wedding years ago, and I was partnered with his sister, who lived in Houston and was a little younger than us. Voices came on the radio and she cranked it up while we were going to get our pictures taken. It was weird, but not as weird as 2:10 in this video:
http://youtu.be/ftcyFZxnTro
I don’t recall that song for the life of me!
I am the proud owner of a genuine collector’s item, found in a thrift store for 50 cents: the McVicar “making of” interview LP (cheekily titled “McVicar For the Record”). I should rip it and post it here for our collective amusement. I believe there are Who nerds who pay upwards of $30 for the thing.
PLEASE RIP AND POST THAT BAD BOY!