Writer: Pete Townshend
Producers: Chris Thomas
Recorded: Late 1979/early 1980 at AIR and Eel Pie Studios in London
Released: April 21, 1980 (album), May 29, 1980 (single)
| Players: | Pete Townshend — vocals, guitar, synthesizer Tony Butler — bass John “Rabbit” Bundrick — keyboards Simon Phillips — drums |
| Album: | Empty Glass (Atco, 1980) |
After long complaining about how the Who sucked up his best material and never left him anything with which to make a solo album, Pete Townshend committed himself to a solo career with Empty Glass, taking the first 10 songs he wrote after 1978's Who Are You to use for his own album.
Considered by many to be the best of all his solo outings, Empty Glass was Townshend's third foray away from the Who, following Who Came First and his collaboration with Faces bassist Ronnie Lane, Rough Mix.
The spare, synthesizer-driven “Let My Love Open The Door,” as sweet and unconflicted a love song as Townshend has ever written, came as a significant surprise to Who and Townshend fans when it was released.
Townshend said the song has a spiritual subtext: “'Let My Love Open The Door' is one of those songs where you end up shooting to write something really deep and meaningful, and what you end up coming up with is something that appears to be froth. This was a song about love, but this is actually about divine love. It's supposed to be about the power of God's love, that when you're in difficulty, whether it's major or minor, God's love is always there for you.”
“Let My Love Open The Door” was his most successful solo single, peaking at Number Nine on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Townshend dedicated the Empty Glass album to his wife, Karen. They have since divorced.
The album peaked at Number Five on the Billboard 200 and has sold more than a million copies.
Townshend's 1996 best-of album features a remix of the song done by Chris Hughes, Jack Hues, and Tim Oliver.
