Search - Billy Walker :: Billy Walker - Greatest Hits on Monument

A Brief Lull

Paul W. Dennis | Winter Springs, FL USA | 04/13/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Billy Walker has had a long career which has had several stages to it. The initial stage (late 50s-early 60s) saw him on Columbia where he had his greatest success with "Cross The Brazos At Waco" and "Charlie's Shoes". The 1970s saw him on RCA where he clicked with "Word Games" and on MGM where "I'm Gonna Keep On Keep On Loving You" and "When A Man Loves A Woman" (NOT the Percy Sledge song) were Top Five records. Between these two periods of great success Walker was on Monument (which was not at that time a sister company to Columbia and Epic). None of these songs were big hits for Walker ("A Million And One" was probably the biggest and best remembered)and taken as a whole, they are the least country sounding and most "pop" sounding of Walker's recordings. Despite that,they are well worth a listen, as Walker selected songs with good lyrics and sang them well. "Sundown Mary" and "Age of Worry" are well crafted songs, that received heavy airplay in the Mid-Atlantic region, although they were not huge on the national charts. This wouldn't be the first Billy Walker album I'd buy, but with so little of his output available on CD (except for the massive Bear compilation), this is a worthy addition to the collection"

This is pretty good!

Cory L. Schwent | Bloomsdale, MO United States | 04/07/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Taken from his time on Monument Records, this collection features songs from the later part of his hit-making days. The songs are essential. The only problem: no notes or recording dates. Highly recomended despite this."