| PRODUCT DETAILS | | The Best of the Walker Brothers |  | |
The Best of the Walker Brothers
Full title - After The Lights Go Out - The Best Of 1965 - 1967. Amid the pomp and foppery of Swinging London, The Walker Brothers always stood out. Lean, moody Californians with matinee jawlines and those strange, tortured ballads about cuckolded existentialism and how the sun was never gonna shine anymore, they clashed with both the grinning beat-groups on their way out, and the communal trip-out around the corner. 'Love Her', 'Another Tear Falls' and 'Make It Easy On Yourself' are all closed eyes and clenched fists, photogenic torment backed with the lushest orchestration of its day. In between the hits are songs like 'Mrs Murphy' and 'Archangel', that hint that Scott Walker was not just a pretty face and a mile-wide voice, but a visionary melancholic set to dim the lights on the late 1960s with his string of incomparable solo albums. Free of the usual omissions and superfluous additions, After The Lights Go Out is the definitive Walkers compilation. Universal.
Manufacturer: Universal/Polygram
Price Range: $10.93 - $22.99
 The Best of the Walker Brothers
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| User Reviews |  | Back to the 60's
rating: 5
I am very pleased with this purchase, it's wonderful to hear songs from my Junior High years.
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The sun is going to shine - again!
rating: 5
The Walker Brothers: After the Lights Go Out is a collection of "the best of 1965 - 1967." Since I am primarily a devotee of Scott Walker/Engel's music this CD perfectly satisfies my need. It contains Scott's earlier pieces, such as Archangel and Orpheus, as well as The Walker Brothers' hit pieces, such as The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore and Make It Easy on Yourself. This CD is highly recommended for those who love both Scott Walker's and The Walker Brothers' music. Although most Americans seem unfamiliar with Scott Walker or The Walker Brothers, I can say here unequivocally that Scott Walker/Engel is one of the greatest musicians of the last half of the 20th Century, and that this CD functions as an introduction to his earlier work. As some people said, to listen to his voice is to be enchanted by it.
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This is the one to buy!
rating: 4
I've been a Walker Brother fan since the fall of '65 when I first heard "Make It Easy On Yourself" on the radio. These guys did their best work from '65 til '67 -then self destruction. They were always more popular in England than the U.S. but I don't know why. There are lots of Walker cds available on the inet now with most of them being imported from England. I say from experience if you're going to buy just one Walker Bros. cd this is the one. It's contains all their hits and some really good less familiar work as well. If some jerk wants to sell you his copy for forty something dollars turn and walk. If you do your research you can get one new for under $20. Highly recommended for Walker fans!
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(Over the)Top of the Pops
rating: 4
I can't say I know terribly much about the Walker Brothers, but a quick scan of their discography suggests there may not be all that much to know. An American vocal trio who enjoyed a string of British hits from 1965-67 and a brief comeback a decade later, they would seem the sort of act amply served by compilations. AFTER THE LIGHTS GO OUT must surely rank as a good one, at least as far as the Walkers' early work is concerned.
Merging - at times even overlapping - Motown and Phil Spector sensibilities with grand theatrical frills and heartrending delivery, the Walker Brothers crafted some of the sixties' most dramatic ballads, the best of which have lost nothing after forty years. Scott Engels/Walker's full, clear low tenor, a compellingly effective instrument even when interpreting outright schmaltz, generally takes the lead (with good reason), though the other "Walkers," John and Gary, provide more than worthy support and (in John's case) occasional solos. To be sure, not everything works: there's some truly over-the-top stuff here, with soap opera lyrics, swirling horror-movie organs, hair-curling violins and an ambience worthy of Broadway at its brightest. But when these guys are good, they're unbeatable. The Drifters-influenced title track, "Love Her," "Make It Easy on Yourself," "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" and "Don't Say Goodbye" are all masterpieces, big and brash with just enough weeping melodrama to stick them permanently into the listener's memory after one or two plays. A number of other winners are in here too, as well as a few fairly laughable tracks; all fit, nevertheless. This is superlative mid-sixties pop, and I doubt that anyone, of whatever age, couldn't find something to love on this disc.
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Righteous Brothers Meet Edgar Allan Poe
rating: 4
While certainly a decent Walker Brother's collection, I'd have to say you'd be better off buying their "Images" and "Portrait" cds which contain generous bonus tracks and numerous excellent songs not found here (such as Scott's "Geneieve"). The Walker Brothers (incidently they aren't brothers nor are any of them named Walker) recorded legacy is not that large so I'm not so sure that a greatest hits package is really the right way to go. If you just want "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" you could probably find that on any one of numerous sixties compilations, if you want to dig deeper you should go to their albums. I always like to think of the Walker Brothers as the Righteous Brothers meet Edgar A. Poe. They share that orchestrated white soulish type sound of the Righteous Brothers but with a darker more adventurish edge. The best known Walker Brother songs are all here, along with some lesser known gems like "After the Lights Go Out" or "Mrs Murphy". There are also a few amazing Scott Walker compositions, most notably "Archangel" that equal the standard of his solo work. Since the Walker Brothers are still pretty hazy to most people a more enlightening set of liner notes would probably have been helpful as well.
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The Best of the Walker Brothers
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