Review: The Walker Brothers – Nite Flights (1978)

Nite Flights is The Walker Brothers’ eighth studio album.

Formed in 1964, The Walker Brothers were an interesting phenomenon. The three members were definitely not brothers; they simply named themselves the Walkers for the band. Apparently, it was a rather random choice. Scott Walker was the band’s lead vocalist and bassist and also played guitar and keyboards from time to time. Gary Walker handled the drums and John Walker played guitar. Both Gary and John also sang backing vocals and occasionally took on a more prominent role as lead singers. Although the “brother” trio hailed from America, they were much more popular in Europe—and especially in England—from the very beginning. London became the band’s home base as early as 1965.

The Walker Brothers were essentially the 1960s version of a boy band, and for a short time they were admired teen idols. They were, as it were, a wholesome substitute for The Beatles, who had begun experimenting with drugs and making more unconventional music. The Walker Brothers’ music, on the other hand, was tame, melodic, and almost always coated with saccharine ornamentation—whether strings or a full orchestra. At its best, the music was clever “baroque pop”; at its worst, it was cloying and vacuous pop schlock. The band’s repertoire consisted mainly of covers or songs by outside composers, but here and there among them were always a few compositions by Scott Walker, which he wrote under his real name, Scott Engel.

Scott Walker gradually became a reluctant pop star who didn’t enjoy the attention of screaming teenage girls. The Walker Brothers broke up in 1967, and Scott Walker embarked on a solo career. Walker’s solo albums largely followed in the footsteps of his former band, but everything was done with a touch more style and sophistication. With each album, more of Scott’s own Jacques Brel-influenced compositions appeared. On his fourth solo album, Scott 4, all the songs were Scott’s own. However, his solo career, which had started out successfully, had begun to wane, and Scott 4—which was the most ambitious of the albums—fared poorly. This crushed Scott, and it seemed as though he no longer cared. His subsequent solo albums were unremarkable works. They revealed a clear lack of inspiration, and their commercial success was nothing to write home about.

The Walker Brothers reunited and made their comeback in 1975 with the album No Regrets. No Regrets blended the band’s pop-rock sound with country influences. No Regrets was followed in 1976 by an album titled Lines. It largely followed in the footsteps of its predecessor. Both albums consisted entirely of cover songs, and their artistic merit was negligible. Commercial success wasn’t much better either. No Regrets did yield one UK Top 10 single, but Lines was a complete flop.

This is just speculation on my part, but perhaps the total failure of Lines was what sparked the trio into action. Maybe Scott and the guys thought, “Screw this—let’s try doing something other than music for grandmas for a change.” Whether my guess is right or not, Nite Flights is a truly radical departure for The Walker Brothers compared to their earlier work.

On Nite Flights, the band makes a dramatic leap from their outdated style to the cutting edge. It feels as though David Bowie’s albums from the latter half of the ’70s, in particular, served as inspiration for The Walker Brothers—and especially for Scott Walker. David Bowie is known to be a huge Scott Walker fan, but at this point it’s clear that it was Walker who took Bowie as a sort of role model to reinvent himself.

Nite Flights’ style is cool and even bleak. The instrumentation is mostly stripped down, even though the band still uses strings to support the rock instrumentation. The orchestrations are handled by Dave MacRae, a keyboardist known from Robert Wyatt’s band Matching Mole, who also plays keyboards on the album and co-produced it with Scott Walker.

In addition to the new sound, it is also noteworthy that, for the first time in the band’s history, all the songs on the album are original compositions by the band members. The first half of the album consists of four compositions by Scott Walker and one by Gary Walker. The B-side features one more song by Gary, and the remaining four were written by John Walker.

The general consensus on Nite Flights seems to be that Scott’s songs are excellent, while Gary’s and John’s are just silly trash. Personally, I don’t understand this view at all. Sure, compared to Scott’s music, their songs are closer to the mainstream and, on the surface, more conventional, but they ultimately fit quite well into the album’s overall vibe. Perhaps it’s because the album is produced by Scott Walker, after all. Gary’s and John’s songs even have some disco influences here and there, but thankfully, the country vibe of previous albums is conspicuously absent from these tracks as well. John and Gary also sing their own songs, and they do so quite well. Scott provides backing vocals here and there, so you don’t miss his golden baritone too much.

The album kicks off with the crisp, pulsating “Shutout.” The song showcases Walker’s new, intentionally more detached vocal style, which is colder and more emotionally distant than before. “Shutout” also features an intense—if somewhat brief—Les Davidson guitar solo that brings to mind Robert Fripp’s work on Brian Eno’s and David Bowie’s albums. Davidson’s solo is skillful, but it doesn’t quite measure up to the real thing.

“Fat Mama Kick” begins with a teasing rhythm set by Mo Foster’s thick-sounding bass guitar and the noir-inspired saxophone blasts of Alan Skidmore, who was among the cream of London’s avant-garde jazz scene. When Scott Walker’s vocals kick in, the song settles into a slightly krautrock-inspired groove. Toward the end, Skidmore gets to let loose with an avant-garde saxophone solo that you’d have wished would have lasted much longer.

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The title track kicks off grandly with an almost heroic sound. Frank Gibson Jr.’s lifeless drumming ruins the mood. Gibson’s wooden drumming is generally the album’s biggest weakness. I don’t know if the aim was to achieve a Krautrock-style mechanical sound, but at the very least, it completely lacks the groove of the greatest masters of that genre. Gibson is certainly no Jaki Liebezeit.

Fortunately, the album’s main bassist, Mo Foster, plays quite tastefully and helps salvage the situation somewhat. And especially on “Nite Flight,” his rich, resonant bass lines are particularly interesting. The song works well overall, and Walker’s baritone roars more boldly here than on any other track on the album. There’s also something very ’80s-esque about the song. The drum sound just doesn’t quite fit, though. It’s as if Scott Walker were reaching a few years into the future but still couldn’t quite make it all the way there.

The undisputed highlight of the album—and the track that has garnered the most attention over the years—is the chilling “The Electrician,” which concludes Scott Walker’s contribution to Side A. More than any other song on the album, “The Electrician” foreshadows Scott Walker’s future as a dark avant-gardist. A particular kinship is evident in the song’s two-minute minimalist intro, driven by an oppressive synth drone, but also in the string arrangement, which is at times captivating—almost Hollywood-esque—and at other times menacing. Unfortunately, Gibson’s lackluster drumming holds this track back again, even though Morris Pert tries to make up for it a bit on the percussion. Oh, if only the virtuoso we know from Brand X had been allowed to play the drum kit as well! Despite Gibson Jr., “The Electrician” is a stunning track and also offers a taste of Scott’s macabre flair when it comes to lyrics, as they seem to be about torture.

Highlights on Side B include Gary Walker’s hypnotic “Den Haague” and John Walker’s excellent “Disciples Of Death,” which sounds livelier than many of the album’s other tracks simply because Gibson is replaced on drums by Peter Van Hook, whose approach is noticeably more energetic. The track “Rhythms Of Vision,” backed by John Walker’s horn section, is also powerful, and MacRae gets to play a delightfully corny organ solo on it. The rest of the tracks on the B-side are more minor offerings, but still relatively pleasant to listen to, even though the album’s closing track, “Child Of Flames,” is mired in disco clichés.

Of course, Nite Flights can’t hold a candle to the albums in Bowie’s Berlin Trilogy, but it’s still a solid art-rock album that captures a similar vibe. Nite Flights is also by far the best album The Walker Brothers ever released. It also turned out to be the band’s final album, as the change in direction did nothing to improve the trio’s commercial standing. Nite Flights also sold poorly, and the Walker “brothers” went their separate ways. Gary and John never again achieved any significant success as musicians, and Scott Walker’s return wouldn’t come until 1984.

Best songs: “Shutout,” “The Electrician,” “Nite Flights,” “Fat Mama Kick,” “Den Haague,” “Rhythms Of Vision”

Rating: 4 out of 5.
Author: JANNE YLIRUUSI

Tracks

  1. ”Shutout” 2:46
  2. ”Fat Mama Kick” 2:57
  3. ”Nite Flights” 4:25
  4. ”The Electrician” 6:10
  5. ”Death of Romance” 3:44
  6. ”Den Haague” 4:03
  7. ”Rhythms of Vision” 2:55
  8. ”Disciples of Death” 3:49
  9. ”Fury and the Fire” 3:58
  10. ”Child of Flames” 3:14

The Walker Brothers:

Scott Walker: vocals, bass, keyboards Gary Walker: vocals, percussion John Walker: vocals

Other musicians

Ronnie Ross: soprano saxophone Alan Skidmore: tenor saxophone Chris Mercer: saxophone Jim Sullivan: rhythm guitar Les Davidson: guitar Frank Gibson Jr.: drums Peter Van Hooke: drums Mo Foster: bass guitar Dill Katz: bass guitar Dave MacRae: keyboards Morris Pert: percussion Joy Yates: backing vocals Katie Kissoon: backing vocals

Producer: Scott Walker & Dave MacRae
Label: GTO

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