First to Fight 1967

One of the most enigmatic figures in rock history, Scott Walker was known as Scotty Engel when he cut obscure flop records in the late '50s and early '60s in the teen idol vein. He then hooked up with John Maus and Gary Leeds to form the Walker Brothers. They weren't named Walker, they weren't brothers, and they weren't English, but they nevertheless became a part of the British Invasion after moving to the U.K. in 1965. They enjoyed a couple of years of massive success there (and a couple of hits in the U.S.) in a Righteous Brothers vein. As their full-throated lead singer and principal songwriter, Walker was the dominant artistic force in the group, who split in 1967. While remaining virtually unknown in his homeland, Walker launched a hugely successful solo career in Britain with a unique blend of orchestrated, almost MOR arrangements with idiosyncratic and morose lyrics. At the height of psychedelia, Walker openly looked to crooners like Sinatra, Jack Jones, and Tony Bennett for inspiration, and to Jacques Brel for much of his material. None of those balladeers, however, would have sung about the oddball subjects – prostitutes, transvestites, suicidal brooders, plagues, and Joseph Stalin – that populated Walker's songs.

Hanns Dieter Hüsch / Franz Josef Degenhardt / Wolfgang Neuss / Dieter Süverkrüp - Quartett ´67
EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 442 MB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Conträr # 4304-2 | Country/Year: Germany 1967, 1996
Genre: Folk, World | Style: Folk, Political Song

Mit Klampfe, Orgel oder Pauke hatten die vier Liedermacher Degenhardt, Hüsch, Neuss und Süverkrüp in den späten 60er Jahren einem geistig erstarrten Wirtschaftswunder-System den Kampf angesatt. Zwecks Bündelung der Kräfte beschloß man anno '67 ein gemeinsames Programm, das jedoczh nur ein einiges Mal aufgeführt wurde: am 20. März 1967 im Sendesaal des Saarländischen Rundfunks. Über drei Jahrzehnte war dieser Auftritt nur in Buchform dokumentiert, jetzt erst liegt er als CD-Mitschnitt vor: ein überragendes, historisch wertvolles Dokument.

Soul Don’t Worry is the most ambitious project to date for NarroWay / Gospel Friend, the Sweden-based gospel reissue operation headed by producer Per Notini.