When Walter's debut solo LP came out earlier this year, I deliberately avoided it. There were two reasons for this. Firstly, the cover art looked whack. Secondly, it was released by about four labels at the same time, each doing multiple colours of vinyl. This annoyed me so I ignored it.
Fast forward a few months and I found myself listening to his solo demo CD that I picked up at a show about three years ago, and I realised that I was ignoring the most important thing - the music. It has to be said, dude writes catchy songs. So I decided to finally pick up the LP.
I had the choice of two colours to pick from - solid blue, or clear blue, both out of 200. I couldn't make my mind up so I bought both. Here's the clear blue:
And here's the solid blue:
This LP comes in a (pointless) gatefold sleeve. The inside of the gatefold sleeve is used to present a picture of the man himself sat in a room that looks like the inside of some big old stately home, or perhaps Windsor castle. I can't help but wonder whether this is where he lives, and if he actually owns any furniture or shoes:
Also, the inner sleeve is a full colour affair which, in true form, arrived with big rips down either side. Great. The featured picture is interesting though, showing Walter sat at a typewriter in a scene that looks like it would not be out of place on the inside of a Beatles LP, with Walter playing the part of Paul McCartney:
Despite this think looking a bit like something that would have been released during the summer of love, it's musically very good. I have struggled to not listen to this lately. The only downside is that 5 of the 10 songs were not exactly new. One I had from a CD from when I saw him live about three years ago, one was a Walking Concert song, one is an Agnostic Front cover, one is a Civ song, and one is an old song that was either a World's Fastest Car or Rival Schools song. On balance though, I think that my favourite is the title track of the album, which is a very touching tribute to Raybeez. Overall I'm glad I finally picked this up.
3 comments:
Walking concert record finally comes out on vinyl end of this month - arctic rodeo records
I haven't given a shit what Walter has done since Quicksand. Reading this post kind of had me intrigued. I downloaded this album...listened to two songs...then deleted it from my computer. Not for me, but I tried!
Just so you know, there's a clear version of this limited to 100 on the Big Scary Monsters website. They're a UK label as well so delivery shouldn't be a rip-off/take forever if you wanted to complete the set. Been wanting to listen to this album for a little while, I may do so soon.
Post a Comment