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Album, Reviews

Album Number One | Gary Walker & The Rain

Outside of looking good (which,
admittedly, was important),
nobody knew why Gary Walker
was in The Walker Brothers.
Did he really sing and drum on
their records? The fact that he
didn’t defend himself against
such accusations suggested
minimal contribution.

When the group split, Gary
was the brother least likely to
succeed, but he teamed up with
The Rain, which featured Joey
Molland (Masterminds,
Badfinger) and Charlie Crane
(Cryin’ Shames). As Molland and
Crane wrote and sang most of
the songs, Album Number One
sounds like a latterday
Merseybeat album. The originals
include Joey Molland’s homage
to Playboy, Magazine Woman,
and the rough R&B of Doctor,
Doctor. Most, however, sound
like they were written in the pub.
There are also covers of Classics
IV’s hit, Spooky (also a single)
and The Drifters’ If You Don’t
Come Back.

Album Number One was only
released in Japan, where Gary
had a big following, though not
big enough for Album Number
Two. After 41 years, this is its
UK debut, enhanced by the
moody 1968 single, Cutie
Morning Moon, written and
produced by brother Scott (the
line, “The fog don’t hide my
fears,” is pure Scott Walker). Its
B-side, Gary’s Theme, however,
was as inconsequential as Sony
and Cher’s Hello.

Eclipse/Universal | 9846790
Reviewed by Spencer Leigh
Back to Issue 367

Concert & Documentary Europe 1997

Monster rock anthems don’t
come much more monolithic or
indestructible than Iron
Butterfly’s In-A Gadda-Da-Vida.
Shot on tour in Germany in
1997 and very much post-vintage
Iron Butterly, this in-concert
DVD showcases the then
reformed band, which at this
point included original members
lead vocalist/keyboardist Doug
I…

A Van McCoy Songbook: The Sweetest Feeling

Van McCoy’s name may be indelibly linked to the fluffy disco jiggle of his huge 1975 hit, The Hustle, but the late songwriter-producer’s 700-song CV went far deeper than mirrorballs and afros. Starting with doo wop he then joined the Philadelphia-based Scepter imprint as songwriter-producer, later landing at Columbia in the mid- 60s bef…

The Willie Nelson Special

First broadcast on US television
in 1985, Nelson is in typically
restrained mood on the stage of
the Austin Opera House in
Texas, rattling through a
selection of his best known
tunes to a curiously reserved
audience of good ol’ boys.
Maybe it’s the presence of the
cameras, but the crowd seem
reluctant to indulge in the

Frank Sinatra: An Extraordinary Life

Sinatra’s upcoming centenary – which falls on 12 December this year – has inspired a glut of biographies aiming to capitalise on the event, among them one from US writer James Kaplan, whose veritable leviathan of a tome, The Chairman, has already been making tabloid headlines with its lurid revelations about Sinatra’s p…

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