The Last Detail

Put Your Weight on Me - Written by Daltrey & Pumer (Features additional vocals by Eddy Pumer)
Michael J Delaney
Coming Down from Boston
Tompkins Park (Guitar: Oli Daltrey / Backing vocals: Faye Daltrey)
Stones in my Shoes
Over the Hills (Traditional;lyrics: PD)
Doctor Collis Brown
Circles of Rain
Red Pony (Guitar: Eddy Pumer)
Jackie`s All-Nite Bar
This Time Tomorrow (Guitar: Arjen Lucassen)
Go on your Way
The Light of the World - Written by Oli & Peter Daltrey (Guitar: Oli Daltrey)
When We Return From the War

Place your order now for Peter`s seventh solo album, `The Last Detail.` This fourteen track CD collection features all new songs, many with guest appearances from guitarists Eddy Pumer, Arjen Lucassen and Oli Daltrey. Not to be missed!

Place your order HERE

PETER DALTREY INTERVIEW

Mick Capewell talks to Peter about his seventh solo album

Let's begin with the title "The Last Detail". Is there a connection with the Jack Nicholson / Randy Quaid movie?

I was originally going to call it `Circles of Rain` after one of the songs on the album. A habit of mine. But I happened to hear a film buff talking on the radio and he mentioned the film, `The Last Detail` and it suddenly
struck me as a great title. Not sure why -- it just seemed to fit the collection
of songs. With this in mind I then set about designing the packaging and came across a Salvador Dali painting that, again, just seemed right for the title, the songs -- and my current mood. Don`t ask me what that
means....

Following the concept albums "Nevergreen" and "Heroine" this album appears to be a set of individual songs with no particular theme. Are they all new songs or have some of them been 'in the can' for a while?

There are fourteen `new` songs on the album. Two or three have been in the can for a couple of years as they didn`t fit in with the mood of the `Tambourine Days` and `Heroine` albums. Both those albums, I felt, had a certain `feel` to the tracks. `Tambourine Days` was an album essentially about loss and the relentless passage of time, culminating in the title track which I wrote after speaking with a friend about Annie. `Heroine` was a homage to women either in my life or who have touched me in some way. Hopefully these feeling were communicated to the listener who might have recognised something of their own experiences in the songs.
There are many recent songs on the new album, of course. More upbeat than usual, I suspect many will find.

There will undoubtedly be much interest in the tracks which feature Eddy Pumer. How did you come to work together again? Is there a possibility of further collaborations?

Ed and I wrote `Put your weight on me` a few years ago when we were talking about getting the band back in the studio. There is a very spooky story attached to this song. I wrote the words -- sent them to Ed -- he
wrote the music -- and sent me a rough demo on cassette of the song. I decided to start putting the track together here in my home studio. But I couldn`t find a new tape. Anxious to get on with it I decided to use Ed`s tape. I recorded all the instruments over one week and the following week began working on the vocals. Once I`d completed my work I decided to transfer a rough mix to the computer. Music -- vocals -- and Ed!!
I`d thought I`d erased Ed`s demo, but found that his vocal track was still on the tape -- and exactly in time with my track! So we now have an introduction from Ed and some gritty backing vocals at the fade out. Very weird!
I wrote `Red Pony` shortly afterwards and punted the tape back to Ed for his guitar contribution.
Future collaborations? Why not?

Your son Oli has co-written a track for the first time, which I imagine must be pleasing for you. Did you put words to music that he had already written?

I`ve always been immensely proud to have my children contribute to my albums. Faye enjoys singing backing vocals and is very supportive of her old dad`s efforts. Oli has his own band, a high-energy punky little outfit who can blow yer socks off at twenty paces! His contributions to my tracks have always lifted the songs and given them more appeal to those who object to synthesized instruments. I`ve always wanted to write with Oli and he came round one evening with a piece he`d been working on. We taped it, I added vocals and there you have it: a gentle, introspective track that fits well into a collection of varied songs. An interlude more in keeping with my usual mood and a good contrast to some of the other tracks.

Do you think that this album is a progression from your earlier work?
Have you tried to do anything differently this time around?

A progression? That`s for others to judge, I guess. A writer, musician is always pushing himself, trying to do something different each time. But I can only do what I can do. I`m a writer first, a singer second and a musician third. But I hope the combination gels to give a finished product that I hope my listeners enjoy. `Nevergreen` was an experiment which, judging from the response, was a success. I`m working on other `experiments` at the moment... I`m also continuing my work with Damien Youth. We have almost completed our new album. I see this work as a continuing writing and learning process.
Have I tried anything different? I`ve used more samples on `The Last Detail` than on previous albums. It`s fun! I want to enjoy what I`m doing. Samples extend your palette of available instruments and can add some interesting colours to the picture. Still learning -- still stretching the old grey matter before it all dies off...

Overall this album is a gritty, robust collection of songs. Were you aiming for a 'tougher' feel than on previous albums?

That`s not easy to answer. An album takes shape over quite a long period of time (nine months gestation!?) I don`t / can`t sit down and say, "Ok, today I`m going to write a tough `n gritty song for the new tough `n gritty album."  If inspiration comes it just hits you with no premeditation.
Suddenly there are some lyrics coming through and -- oooh, hear that? -- it`s a melody! Then the song has to be refined and arranged and recorded. That process alone can take weeks or even months. In that time the original idea might metamorphise into something quite different. Just the addition of a different instrument or changing the tempo can send a song off  at a tangent. So to answer your question: nope. The songs came together from new material and older tracks that had been sitting in the can because they hadn`t been suitable for, or fitted the mood of earlier albums. Did I overhear a remark from someone to the effect:"He can`t write uptempo songs"?
The point is this: I was writing and recording uptempo songs,  but for albums such as `Tambourine Days` and `Heroine` they were impossible to include in the running order without throwing the concept or atmosphere, if you like, out of kilter. I will say I`m quite pleased with the way the album holds together. The running order is very important to me -- as anyone who knows  my work will know --  and hopefully I`ve got it right on `The Last Detail.`

"Put Your Weight On Me". Sounds like a personal message perhaps?

It`s those wayward kids again! Inspite of what you might think, I rarely write songs with personal messages. There are one or two that are implicitly personal. Most use personal references and characters because they add to
the mood of the song for me.
I`m not sure that resonance would be recognised by the listener. But most would know that I write from a personal perspective.
The most outwardly autobiographical song is, perhaps, `Tambourine Days` -- oh, and `English Roses` -- er, and `Anne`s House` -- and `A linden tree in Chelsea` -- oh, god, and `... No I`m not going to name that one..  Damn, you`ve got me! It`s all personal.... I jest. OK, some are personal, but none are with a particular  message. And you certainly won`t get moral ranting from me. No more `Bless the executioner`s from this Biro.

"Michael J Delaney". Is this a real person or just a fictitious character? This song is another where you create an image of light and space, high above the trials of life below and yet there's the rather ominous line "It's a room where love and hate are often confused". It often seems as if you place a number of 'props' into a lyric to set the scene and then you invite the listener to create their own Play and draw their own conclusions.

You`ve got it in one, Gunga Din. I began by writing poetry, something I used to enjoy. The sparse use of images and key words is essential to poetry. The haiku form is particularly demanding for a writer. Images and the use of key words is essential.  Something that has carried over into my song-writing. `MJD` is a case in point. I don`t know who the guy is. But I can see him in this very high room over-looking a stark city. His life is complicated like yours and mine. There`s a girl in the room; she`s crying. Why? Who knows? There`s a letter from his mother. Bad vibes... He loses
himself in Puccini. "The room is like a space-ship passing over the city..." I can feel that. He`s looking down and he`s above it all, but locked into his own world. His head is spinning. Yes, the devil is in the detail. It`s fun playing with words.

Coming Down To Boston--see the last question! It's the intriguing dropping of names, the placing of clues and the open ending ("Wondering if I will ever be free".) What was the inspiration here? I gather from the Hippie reference that it's a '60s' song?

In `74 my wife and I visited friends in New York and then drove up to Boston. "Coming down from Boston in the Firebird, shooting down the freeway lined with trees..." We didn`t have children at the time but I`d recently read a book with a child in it called Ruben and I`d made a unilateral decision to call our son Ruben; didn`t happen -- but that shows how much I`m listened to! The song is a series of images culled from that trip: the Pancake Man fast food place; Hyannis etc etc. The band hadn`t long collapsed and I guess the reference to my dreams and ever being free refers to the confusion of the time. The song was written only a few years ago, but the memories of that trip and of the mess of the past and the future were obviously still fresh. We can`t ever escape our past. We drag it with us in an emotional rucksack. It can be a burden or it can sit on your back quite comfortably. I`ve got a big rucksack; it`s got lots of pockets and zips -- and secret compartments. Does it sit comfortably on my back? Listen to my songs...

Tompkins Park--This is rather more specific. Kerouac and his comrades, his environment and his lifestyle--big inspiration for you?

Kerouac was an obnoxious drunk, a boring old guy who had burnt out in spectacular style before most of his books had even been published. He must have been impossible to live with. He`s my hero. I love the guy. I`ve read every word he`s written, read every book about him.  Any creative person can recognise terribly familiar shadows in his tragic life story. Like Fitzgerald with his `This Side of Paradise` Jack made it bigtime with that one book, `On the road.` Both wrote many other wonderful books, but their stars were shooting across the literary sky. Fame suited neither of them. Alcohol offered solace of a kind and an early death for certain. Both life stories are utterly fascinating.
I reread Kerouac and Fitzgerald every year. If you`ve got a spare twelve months read Jack`s `Dulouz Legend` -- his entire catalogue -- from start to finish in chronologicaal order. You`ll feel like Jack`s brother, on the road
with him through all his self-made trials and tribulations. You`ll live his life with him. You will be exhausted, uplifted, confused, angry, refreshed, terrified, drunk as a skunk and inspired. And when you finally say goodbye, just remember we are all flawed human beings. "Where to -- what final light ahead? All that we lost will come back to us in heaven..."

Stones In My Shoes--This appears to be a rather gloomy song?

Chorus:"But it`s alright now..." OK, it`s sort of gloomy, but I just write what I feel at that moment. Guess I`d had a bad-hair day. Look, even I don`t know what most of this stuff is about. But, again, it`s the images and the mystery they create that are important to me and probably are to most listeners. I rarely listen to music because it hurts my old broken ears -- literally -- but most of us choose what we listen to in response to our mood. If I`m feeling rough my `Wham` albums stay in the cupboard and I reach for Leanord Cohen to make me feel worse. We`ve all done that.

Over The Hills--to my chagrin I can't place the Trad. source of the melody

Ha, ha, ha, ha....Me neither!!

--Doctor Collis Brown--Heavy arrangement and a heavy subject. Could you fill in a few details about the good doctor?

Hmmm... Wonder if I should. Back in the Sixties there was a cough syrup called `Doctor Collis Brown`s elixir` -- it contained traces of opium...
Listen to the song, Sherlock Holmes...

--Circles Of Rain--you always seem to include a song that has mud on it's boots, rain on it's face, blood on it's hands. I take it that this is a comment on the Hunting debate? "While little girls are tied to crosses made of stone" ???

See above: no overt moral messages from me in my songs. I live in the country. I see its beauty and death every day. I hate blood sports. My wife and I and our three children are all vegetarians. We love animals. All life is precious. `Circles of rain` like `Country Song` before it is a stream of bucolic images and impressions. There`s beauty and death and more mystery.
Oh, and plenty of mud!

--Red Pony--a Daltrey blues! Any Steinbeck connection here? Nice slide guitar!

As with `Flight from Ashiya,` the title has been pinched from a book.
The band started by playing blues. We loved Muddy Waters and Mose Allison and all those guys. I still enjoy blues -- and modern jazz -- today.
This track adds a bit more variety to the album. I prefer `Faintly Blowing` to `Tangerine Dream` because it is more of a showcase of our writing skills.
I still like to vary the type of song you get on an album collection.
I guess `Red Pony` will come as quite a surprise to a lot of listeners who thought they knew what to expect on one of my albums.

--Jackie's All-Night Bar--almost a movie in one song! Kind of a 40s/50s Noir feel--apart from the Manilow quip :-) This must have taken a while to complete?

Another fun track from my point of view. Simple construction on the surface, but quite a complex mix of lyric ideas, musical arrangement and recording technique. I like a challenge. It is cinematic. I like story songs; `Tom Bitz` and `The Sky Children` come to mind, along with a dozen others like `Emily` and `A Linden tree in Chelsea` and `Candy` etc etc...

--This Time Tomorrow--the latest in a fine series of ballads. Arjen Lucassen plays a lovely recurring guitar 'hook'.

This started out as a very stark track, a very sparse arrangement. You get a flavour of this in the first couple of verses. But after four minutes of this I began to feel it needed more warmth and colour. I asked Arjen if he`d like to contribute and he agreed immediately even though he`s in the middle of arranging a tour of Holland and Belgium. That guy never stops working!
As before, his guitar playing is both sympathetic and exciting. He is a fantastic musician -- and a lovely cat-loving swimming-pool-owning horse- riding six-feet-seven guy!

--Go On Your Way--obviously a song for Oli?

When DID you graduate from the Sherlock Holmes academy!?

--The Light Of The World--speaking of whom.....the first Daltrey/Daltrey
composition!

 There will be more, I hope. Oli has his own band: The Fog Band. He has his eyes on the stars. I went to hear them the other evening. They are a punky high-energy outfit, held together by Oli`s complex driving style. But there is much more to Oli than loud in-yer-face two-minute mahem. We`ve been talking about collaborating for awhile. I had thirteen tracks for the album. Superstitious me decided I needed one more and Oli came to the rescue.

--When We Return From The War--going by its position as the album closer and the subject matter this appears to be a kind of 'Grand Statement' yet the arrangement is quite modest and the track brings the album to a dignified end. Did your own upbringing in the aftermath of WW2 have any influence on this song?

Thankyou for the word dignified. I have read extensively on the Second World War. Not sure why I`m so interested, but -- as you say -- I was born nine months to the day of my father`s return from the war. Reverberations of the war echo through me from that time, however subconsciously.
I am particularly moved by the tragedy of the holocaust. I`ve just finished reading Prof Mark Roseman`s book, `The Past in Hiding.` A remarkable book of suffering and a split-second decision that opened the door to life. It should be required reading in every school. My song pales into insignificance.

I think that this album will be acclaimed as one of your best. The
positive initial reaction from fans must be pleasing for you?

Yes, of course. That`s the whole point of this. I write because I have to. But it`s pleasing to find that there are people out there, all round the world who want to listen, who feel as I do about emotions and love and the past and music and humour and relationships and Barry Manilow.

When can we expect the next instalment?

 I`m really enjoying my collaboration with Damien Youth. The album, `Nevergreen` even surprised me! Where did that come from?! Our new album, `Tattoo` is coming along nicely; almost finished, in fact.  After that we`ll continue working together, I`m sure. There`s a chance I might be working with someone else in the near future as well. And I`m currently working on a highly experimental project. I`m just amazed and heartened that others are interested in my humble scribblings.

Thanks very much to Peter for his time, patience and understanding
Thanks also to Mick Capewell for setting this interview up, much appreciated.

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