Republic/UMeRoger Daltrey‘s new album, As Long as I Have You, is out today. The 12-track collection, the Who frontman’s first full-fledged solo record since 1992’s Rocks in the Head, features nine covers and two new original compositions by Roger: “Certified Rose” and “Always Heading Home.”
Appearing this week on the U.K. chat program The One Show, Daltrey said of the album, “I’ve gone back to the music that The Who used to play before Pete Townshend [started] writing the songs…We were a soul band and a blues band…a Tamla-Motown band.”
Among the covers on the album: Stevie Wonder‘s “You Haven’t Done Nothing” and The Jackson Five‘s “The Love You Save.” Branching out from soul, Daltrey also recorded renditions of Stephen Stills‘ “How Far,” Nick Cave‘s “Into Your Arms” and country singer K.T. Oslin‘s “Where Is a Woman to Go?”
On The One Show, Roger revealed that Townshend, who plays guitar on seven songs on As Long as I Have You, convinced him to finish the album when he got discouraged with the project.
“I had a really kind of long-running period with the record where I got really sick [with meningitis],” said Daltrey. “And when I went back to it, it sounded rubbish, and I was gonna shelve it. And then Pete heard and said, ‘You gotta finish it, Rog. And I’ll play guitar on it.'”
You can preview a few of the songs from As Long as I Have You on YouTube.
Daltrey kicks off a solo U.S. tour on July 8 in Bethel, New York. At the shows, he’ll be playing the Who’s classic rock opera Tommy with orchestral accompaniment.
Here’s the full As Long as I Have You track list:
“As Long as I Have You”
“How Far”
“Where Is a Man to Go?”
“Get On Out of the Rain”
“I’ve Got Your Love”
“Into My Arms”
“You Haven’t Done Nothing”
“Out of Sight, Out of Mind”
“Certified Rose”
“The Love You Save”
“Always Heading Home”
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