Everything under the sun from the Walker Brothers' studio output is indeed here on this five-CD box set. It not only has everything from their mid-'60s prime on the first three CDs, but also the more neglected (though considerably less impressive) three albums or so they did in the mid- to late '70s after reuniting. There are also 13 previously unreleased tracks from 1961967, as well as a 48-page booklet with a historical essay and oodles of photos and memorabilia. Naturally, like many completist box sets, this isn't for everyone; there's much superb material, but also a good deal of also-ran cuts and covers.
Too, the 1970s material is not only often rather dull pop (sometimes with slight country overtones), but not too similar or compatible with the lush 1960s productions. Plus, to be technical, it doesn't have everything the Walker Brothers issued, lacking the live album they recorded in Japan in 1968 (which, as of the release of this box set, still had not made it to CD). Focusing on the positive, however, this has a lot of quality music besides their familiar hits (which are also all included, of course).
The R&B and soul covers the brothers sang to pad out their releases may not have been their forte, and sometimes the pop ballads were gushy, but Scott Walker's voice (and John Walker's second vocals) usually at least made them pleasant on some level. As for the booming, brooding ballads (with nods to Phil Spector and the Righteous Brothers) at which they excelled, there are plenty of those, including "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore," "After the Lights Go Out," "Another Tear Falls," "In My Room," "Everything Under the Sun," "Just Say Goodbye," "Deadlier Than the Male," and others. A few other songs have seeds of Scott Walker's more serious, arty side ("Archangel," "Mrs. Murphy," "Orpheus," "Experience"), and John Walker takes a nice lead vocal on one of their best obscure tracks, "I Can't Let It Happen to You."
The 13 previously unreleased 1961967 recordings don't add up to an unissued album of sorts; they're more an assembly of odds and ends with a bent toward mediocre soul covers ("In the Midnight Hour," "I Got You [I Feel Good]") and pop standards (such as "The Shadow of Your Smile"). Again, however, the vocals make even these erratic leftovers worthwhile to some degree, and a few of the songs are rather good, including the characteristically melancholy "Hang on for Me," the dreamily orchestrated "Lost One," and the relatively upbeat Burt Bacharach-like "I Got Lost for a While." (The writers of all three of those mysterious tunes, incidentally, are listed as "unknown," leaving it open as to whether these were original compositions.) Also among these 13 unearthed items are alternate versions of two songs the Walkers did release, Randy Newman's "Looking for Me" and their big smash "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore)." While these aren't as good as the official versions, they are at least notably different, and it's interesting to hear "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore)" in a considerably tamer, more reserved arrangement.
Other than the obvious similarities in the vocals, discs four and five could almost be the work of a different group than the one heard on the first three CDs. While this latter portion does include their big 1976 U.K. hit "No Regrets," it's tough sledding, with much of it given over to middle-of-the-road covers of the likes of Jimmy Webb, Randy Newman, Kris Kristofferson, and Boz Scaggs. Suddenly, however, the torpor is interrupted by Scott Walker's four originals from their final album, 1978's Nite Flights. They're bleak, piercing, heavily electronic rhythmic numbers, wholly unlike anything else the Walker Brothers did in either the 1960s or the 1970s, and wholly unlike any other '70s Walkers recordings in that they sounded bold and adventurous, rather than just treading water. They're enough, just about, to justify the inclusion of the Walker Brothers' reunion material in the box, though not enough to keep the inclusion of said material from making the box even more erratic than most such complete overviews of major artists.
by Richie Unterberger
Tracks
Disc 1
1. Pretty Girls Everywhere (Eugene Church, Thomas Williams) - 2:18
2. Doin' The Jerk (Scott Walker) - 2:26
3. Love Her (Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil) - 3:20
4. The Seventh Dawn (Paul Francis Webster, Riziero Ortolani) - 2:38
5. Make It Easy On Yourself (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) - 3:12
6. There Goes My Baby (Benjamin Nelson, George Treadwell, Jerome "Jerry" Leiber, Mike Stoller) - 3:05
7. First Love Never Dies (Bob Morris, Jim Seals) - 3:36
8. Dancing In The Street (Ivy Jo Hunter, Marvin Gaye, William Stevenson) - 2:47
9. Lonely Winds (Doc Pomus, Mort Shuman) - 2:35
10.The Girl I Lost In The Rain (David Gates) - 2:46
11.Land Of 1000 Dances (Chris Kenner, Fats Domino) - 2:33
12.You're All Around Me (Lesley Duncan, Scott Walker) - 2:37
13.Love Minus Zero (Bob Dylan) - 3:02
14.I Don't Want To Hear It Anymore (Randy Newman) - 3:45
15.Here Comes The Night (Doc Pomus, Mort Shuman) - 2:25
16.Tell The Truth (Lowman Pauling) - 1:47
17.But I Do (Paul Gayten, Robert Guidry) - 2:53
18.My Ship Is Coming In (Joey Brooks) - 3:12
19.The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore (Bob Crewe, Bob Gaudio) - 3:02
20.After The Lights Go Out (John Stewart) - 4:06
21.(Baby) You Don't Have To Tell Me (Pete Autell) - 2:39
22.My Love Is Growing (John Stewart, Robert H.J. Van Leeuwen) - 2:17
23.Looking For Me (Randy Newman) - 2:10
24.Young Man Cried (John Franz, Scott Walker) - 2:33
25.Everything's Gonna Be All Right (Phillip Mitchell) - 2:15
26.I Need You (Gerry Goffin, Carole King) - 3:12
27.The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore (Bob Crewe, Bob Gaudio) - 3:11
Disc 2
1. Another Tear Falls (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) - 2:26
2. Saddest Night In The World (John Walker) - 2:10
3. In My Room (Joaquin Prieto, Lee Julien Pockriss, Paul Vance) - 2:31
4. Saturday's Child (Scott Walker) - 2:05
5. Just For A Thrill (Lilian Harding Armstrong) - 3:34
6. Hurting Each Other (Gary Geld, Peter Udell) - 2:42
7. Old Folks (Dedette Lee Hill, Willard Robison) - 3:11
8. Summertime (DuBose Heyward, George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) - 4:28
9. People Get Ready (Curtis Mayfield) - 2:37
10.I Can See It Now (John Franz, Scott Walker) - 2:58
11.Where's The Girl? (Jerome "Jerry" Leiber, Mike Stoller) - 3:11
12.Living Above Your Head (Jay Black, Kenny Vance, Marty Sanders) - 2:40
13.Take It Like A Man (Jerome "Jerry" Leiber, Mike Stoller) - 2:29
14.No Sad Songs For Me (Tom Springfield) - 3:38
15.Deadlier Than The Male (John Franz, Scott Walker) - 2:30
16.Archangel (Scott Walker) - 3:41
17.Sunny (Bobby Hebb) - 3:47
18.Come Rain Or Come Shine (Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer) - 3:19
19.The Gentle Rain (Luiz Bonfá, Matt Dubey) - 2:42
20.Mrs. Murphy (Scott Walker) - 3:20
21.Stay With Me Baby (George David Weiss, Jerry Ragovoy) - 3:17
22.Turn Out The Moon (Scott Walker) - 3:51
23.Walking In The Rain (Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Phil Spector) - 3:25
24.Baby Make It The Last Time (Kirk Duncan, Michael Nicholls, Scott Walker) - 3:27
25.Me About You (Alan Gordon, Garry Bonner) - 2:12
Disc 3
1. Everything Under The Sun (Bob Crewe, Gary Knight) - 4:22
2. Once Upon A Summertime (Eddie Barclay, Eddy Marnay, Johnny Mercer, Michel Legrand) - 3:50
3. Experience (Scott Walker) - 2:54
4. Blueberry Hill (Al Lewis, Lawrence Stock, Vincent Rose) - 3:27
5. Orpheus (Scott Walker) - 3:24
6. Stand By Me (Ben E. King, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller) - 3:57
7. I Wanna Know (John Walker) - 2:24
8. I Will Wait For You (Jacques Demy, Michel Legrand, Norman Gimbel) - 3:39
9. It Makes No Difference Now (Iller Pattacini, Norman Newell) - 2:38
10.I Can't Let It Happen To You (John Walker) - 3:12
11.Genevieve (Scott Walker) - 2:49
12.Just Say Goodbye (Petula Clark, Pierre Delanoë, Tony Hatch) - 3:37
13.Looking For Me (Randy Newman) - 2:12
14.The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore) (Bob Crewe, Bob Gaudio) - 3:26
15.Lazy Afternoon (Jerome Moross, John LaTouche) - 4:10
16.In The Midnight Hour (Steve Cropper, Wilson Pickett Jr.) - 2:16
17.A Song For Young Love (Bill Post, Doree Post) - 3:04
18.Let The Music Play (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) - 2:46
19.The Shadow Of Your Smile (Johnny Mandel, Paul Francis Webster) - 2:28
20.Hang On For Me (Unknown) - 1:54
21.I Got You (I Feel Good) (James Brown) - 1:43
22.I Got Lost For A While (Unknown) - 3:01
23.A Fool Am I (Alberto Testa, Flavio Carraresi, Peter Callander) - 3:01
24.Wipe Away My Tears (Unknown) - 2:35
25.Lost One (Unknown) - 3:07
Disc 4
1. No Regrets (Tom Rush) - 5:44
2. Hold An Old Friend's Hand (Donna Weiss) - 3:42
3. Boulder To Birmingham (Bill Danoff, Emmylou Harris) - 3:51
4. Walkin' In The Sun (Jeff Barry) - 3:51
5. Lover's Lullaby (Janis Ian) - 3:47
6. I've Got To Have You (Kris Kristofferson) - 3:28
7. He'll Break Your Heart (Curtis Mayfield, Jerry Butler) - 5:08
8. Everything That Touches You (Michael Kamen) - 4:06
9. Lovers (Mickey Newbury) - 2:59
10.Burn Our Bridges (Jerry Ragovoy, Linda Laurie) - 3:31
11.Remember Me (John Walker) - 3:52
12.Loving Arms (Thomas Jans) - 3:36
13.I Never Dreamed You'd Leave In Summer (Stevie Wonder) - 3:13
14.The Moon's A Harsh Mistress (Jimmy Webb) - 3:00
15.Marie (Randy Newman) - 3:43
16.Lines (Jerry Fuller) - 3:25
17.Taking It All In Stride (Tom Snow) - 4:34
18.Inside Of You (Tom Jarvis) - 3:36
19.Have You Seen My Baby (Randy Newman) - 3:34
1. We're All Alone (Boz Scaggs) - 4:37
2. Many Rivers To Cross (Jimmy Cliff) - 4:39
3. First Day (John Walker) - 2:21
4. Brand New Tennessee Waltz (Jesse Winchester) - 3:12
5. Hard To Be Friends (Larry Murray) - 3:28
6. Dreaming As One (David Palmer, William Smith) - 3:03
7. Til I Gain Control Again (Rodney Crowell) - 5:02
8. The Ballad (John Walker) - 4:06
9. Shutout (Scott Walker) - 2:46
10.Fat Mama Kick (Scott Walker) - 2:52
11.Nite Flights (Scott Walker) - 4:21
12.The Electrician (Scott Walker) - 6:02
13.Death Of Romance (Gary Walker) - 3:42
14.Den Haague (Gary Walker) - 4:02
15.Rhythms Of Vision (John Walker) - 2:53
16.Disciples Of Death (John Walker) - 3:46
17.Fury And The Fire (John Walker) - 3:56
18.Child Of Flames (John Walker) - 3:14
19.Tokyo Rimshot (Scott Walker) - 3:40
Musicians
*Scott Engel (Scott Walker) - Vocals
*John Maus (John Walker) - Vocals
*Gary Leeds (Gary Walker) - Percussion, Vocals
*Brian Bennett - Drums
*B.J. Cole - Pedal Steel
*Les Davidson - Guitar
*Mo Foster - Bass
*Tristan Fry - Percussion
*Frank Gibson - Drums
*Steve Grey - Conductor, Piano
*Reg Guest - Accompaniment, Orchestra Director
*Ritchie Hitchcock - Electric Guitar
*Alan Rankin Jones - Bass
*Chris Karan - Percussion
*Paul Keough - Acoustic Guitar
*Ben E. King - Composer
*Katie Kissoon - Vocals
*Dave MacRae - Conductor, Keyboards, Orchestrationr
*John Mealing - Piano
*Chris Mercer - Tenor Sax
*Barry Morgan - Drums
*Jack Nitzsche - Arranger, Conductor
*Brian Odgers - Bass
*Morris Pert - Percussion
*Simon Phillips - Drums
*Judd Proctor - Acoustic Guitar
*Ronnie Ross - Soprano Sax
*Alan Skidmore - Tenor Sax, Saxophone
*Peter Vanhook - Drums
*Dr. John Walker - Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
*Len Walker - Acoustic Guitar
*Dennis Weinreich - Vocals
*Dave Wilus - Saxophone
*Dougie Wright - Drums, Percussion
*Joy Yates - Vocals
1969 Scott Walker - Scott 3
1968 Gary Walker And The Rain - Album Number 1 (2009 edition)
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