Solo John, Solo Scott
wrbtu | Long Island Motor Parkway | 08/26/2000
(3 out of 5 stars)
"This CD, when originally released as an LP in the late 1960s (in the UK but never in the USA), marked the beginning of the end of the Walker Brothers (one of the trax, "Just Say Goodbye," proved prophetic). Gone are the big Spectorish sounding productions, & in their place are simpler songs with a heavier emphasis on old fashioned pop music. On some of the songs, Scott does his "thing," & on other songs, John does his "thing," & rarely do they meet in the middle. Before this LP was originally released, they had already broken up acrimoniously & went on to solo projects. There are a few extra bonus trax here, not included on the original LP, & they're mostly odds & ends of UK singles released during their first phase together (they rejoined briefly in 1976). Of these, "Walking in the Rain" is a stand-out song that needs to be heard by everyone who has ever heard any other version of that song. I won't compare their version to Phil Spector's Ronettes' version (that wouldn't be fair because Ronnie had her own unique presentation), but Scott's smooth deep baritone vocal on this song makes Jay & The Americans' version sound like a little boy by comparison!!"