TAKE IT EASY WITH THE WALKER BROTHERS BL 7691 (-65) UK MONO

Los Angeles male trio with moderate US fame in the early sixties. They were persuaded to try their luck in England and got a contract with Philips records 1965. Treated by some of the UK studio gigants - arranger Ivor Raymonde and producer Johnny Franz - a fitting sound was created with heavy orchestration and prominent reverb. Together with the guys good looks and choice of adequate covers it became success. Coming years they had a number of top 20 in UK, a few top 10 and one #1. US sales were also good with a couple of top 20 hits. But as the music scene developed their sound became dated and the group disbanded 1968. Later reunions and solo projects brought further sales, but never topping this first breakthrough. Today the combo would probably fit in the concept "Boy Group". Looks and appearance made them mostly hailed by girls and women, also the style and sound was created by the label and not a product of inner development. And although Scott Engel had a nice baritone the vocals wasn't very impressing. If you peel off the reverb and big orchestras there's not much left. It's easy to compare with Tom Jones since his repertoire had about the same type of covers. In his case the voice was everything no matter what backing, for these guys the backing and looks was a necessary support. Still the package comes through pretty nice - it truly fits and the audio of the mono is enjoyable. This was the debute album. Issued in US as "Introducing The Walker Brothers" with different cover and tracking (Smash MGS 27076). 1:st UK with label as shown here and stiff laminated cover.