Nite Flights (album)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
"Every once in a while, an album comes along that doesn't simply surprise you, it takes you down an alleyway, rips off all your clothes, then hares away with your socks on its head, singing selections from South Pacific." --Dave Thompson, AllMusic |
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
Nite Flights is the sixth and last studio album by the American pop group The Walker Brothers, released in July 1978. Each member of the group wrote songs for the album: two by Gary Walker with Scott Walker and John Walker each contributing four. "The Electrician" was released as a single from the album. The four Scott-penned tracks were released on that year's Shutout EP.
Contents |
Recording
The album was recorded in February 1978 in the UK at Scorpio Sound, London, England.
Content
Nite Flights was the last album the trio recorded as a group, although the structure of the album, effectively split into three sections in which each member writes and sings, has led to both critics and band members describing it as more akin to three miniature solo albums than a true group album.
The album is most notable for the first four songs, all written and sung by Scott Walker—his first original material since his 1970 solo album 'Til the Band Comes In, all of them notably darker in tone than the rest of the album, indicating the direction in which his later solo work would head.
The artwork was designed by Hipgnosis.
Release
Nite Flights was released in July 1978, through record label GTO. "The Electrician" was released as a single backed with "Den Haague", but did not chart. Scott Walker's four songs were also released as Shutout E.P. in 1978, under the Walker Brothers name.
Nite Flights was long out of print until the mid-1990s when it was re-released as a budget CD. In 2001, two outtakes from the Nite Flights sessions surfaced on the compilation album If You Could Hear Me Now. "The Ballad" written by John Walker is a complete song, the second outtake, "Tokyo Rimshot" is an unfinished instrumental written by Scott Walker.
Reception
In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Dave Thompson wrote, "Every once in a while, an album comes along that doesn't simply surprise you, it takes you down an alleyway, rips off all your clothes, then hares away with your socks on its head, singing selections from South Pacific."
Midge Ure claimed that "The Electrician" inspired him to write Ultravox's "Vienna".
Track listing
headline = Side one | title1 = Shutout | writer1 = Scott Engel | length1 = 2:46 | title2 = Fat Mama Kick | writer2 = Scott Engel | length2 = 2:57 | title3 = Nite Flights | writer3 = Scott Engel | length3 = 4:25 | title4 = The Electrician | writer4 = Scott Engel | length4 = 6:10 | title5 = Death of Romance | writer5 = Gary Leeds | length5 = 3:44 }}
| headline = Side two | title6 = Den Haague | writer6 = Gary Leeds | length6 = 4:03 | title7 = Rhythms of Vision | writer7 = John Maus | length7 = 2:55 | title8 = Disciples of Death | writer8 = John Maus | length8 = 3:49 | title9 = Fury and the Fire | writer9 = John Maus | length9 = 3:58 | title10 = Child of Flames | writer10 = John Maus | length10 = 3:14 }}
Personnel
- The Walker Brothers
- Scott Walker – vocals, bass, keyboards, production, mixing, sleeve design, photography
- Gary Leeds – vocals, percussion, sleeve design, photography
- John Walker – vocals, sleeve design, photography
- Additional personnel
- 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
- Dill Katz – bass
- Dave MacRae – keyboards, orchestrations and conducting, production, mixing
- Morris Pert – percussion
- Joy Yates and Katie Kissoon – vocal backing
- Dennis Weinreich – background vocals, mixing, recording
- Steve Parker – assistant engineering
- Hipgnosis – sleeve design, photography
