Underrated: The Walkabouts

I admit the way that the Walkabouts have NOT been celebrated by that wing of folks sticks in my craw. But the end result of that strain of thinking turned out to be Ryan Adams, so fuck 'em. The Walkabouts are pearls before swine there.

whatever I was to say, Ned will say it better.

I think I have to sleep on this to get it right to my satisfaction.

(also, I think it's funny how alt.country -- which is a stupid stupid term and everyone knows it, yes -- is only ever referred to in the negative; there's been a lot of good stuff that falls in that zone over the last few decades, which I won't bother to list here, but it seems like alt.country only ever refers to the bad stuff -- of which there has also been plenty)

Well, here was my response on that other thread to Anthony's similar question, after talking about that one EP he mentions above:

Mm, where to start. That's a very early release and much has changed since then (in the sense of one strength to another). Scavenger is the album that single came from but I'd go for the one after it, New West Motel, which is a fucking barnburner of an album -- "Grand Theft Auto," a vicious post-mortem-while-it-happened of early nineties Seattle, and "Jack Candy" are the dark jewels there. Satisfied Mind, the first of their tribute records, is what got me into the group -- focusing mostly on country and country-inspired sources but that's not all of what goes into the band, by any means. The covers of Nick Cave's "Loom of the Land" and Charlie Rich's "Feel Like Going Home" are just beautiful. Devil's Road was the European breakthrough album -- "The Light Will Stay On" their biggest hit single, and well deserved. The Train Leaves at Eight is their 'European' covers release, from all over the continent, while Ended Up A Stranger, the most recent full studio album, is mysterious, evocative, deft and beautiful.

And long after we're gone
The light will stay on
The light will stay on

And long after we're safe
The lights will not fade
The lights will not fade."

Some bands actually DO have lyrics that stick with me. God bless 'em.

They're playing in September in Seattle -- the one place where they can get a show in this country. Jeez Louise.

Seems to be carrying on in the same lush, atmospheric, apocalyptic vein where Ended Up A Stranger left off four years ago, but more vigorous and concise (EUAS dragged a bit in places). Awesome book-like packaging too. Chris Eckman gets a bit (solo-era) Luke Haines on Before This City Wakes

They're playing techno calypso
At the apocalyptic disco

Which is a bit meh, but the rest of it's great, esp. tFuck Your Fear and the the tilte track.

Just picked up the compilation <i>Watermarks: Selected Songs, 1991 to 2002</i> based on the word-of-mouth I've heard about these guys. Not sure what to think yet, a few songs underwhelming and even boring, others memorable and gorgeous. Where's a good place to start if I move past this compilation?

goddamn formatting

How did this band elude me for so long? This is gorgeous:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piYAbPeC_PI

Played Scavenger in the car last week. Loud. Inspired to pull it out again by Josh in Chicago posting the youtube link of "Train to Mercy" on the Eno-collab thread. Fantastic album. Though they're wildly loved in my family, I only own Scavenger. Must remedy that. Are they still active? (will now use a few minutes to answer that myself).

err, widely loved, not wildly. well, maybe that too

Yeah they're playing here next week which is why I looked into them. Seems they are much bigger on mainland Europe than they are in the UK, which is strange since I would have thought UK Uncut types would lap this stuff up.

I think their popularity in Europe is in large part due to them being on Sub Pop in a time when grunge hit hard in Europe. There was quite a bit of coverage on them and their albums in music mags. I think most of the fans they picked up then are still following the band. Uncut was first published in '97, when the band's exposure was more peripheral (I think).

Nothing about their new album? Travels in the Dustland is absolutely gorgeous. My favourite song is probably Every River Will Burn with its sluggish drum beat and a strong psychedelic component. I had not listened to them for quite a while but this new album is definitely a step forward from the more folky stuff I used to know. The new one sounds like the baby of a marriage between Green On Red and Eleventh Dream Day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmjHAfIW8XI

Missed their Seattle show yet again. ONE DAY.

They will play in the Lido in Berlin on the 23rd, unfortunately I cannot go neither!

How is it that I've never posted here? I've loved this band since I heard a track of their on a SUB POP comp back in, geez, 1990? 1991? It's the one with the Charles Burns cover. Though I admit I haven't bought their new album yet. I really ought to fix that.

So yes, Walkabouts good. Criminally ignored walking-wreck alt-country-rock since forever ago.

loved this song enough to follow them for a couple albums:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33n_JuB3q-k

gave up when i realized that they didn't have any interest in sounding like that

Played this the other night at record club:

http://devonrecordclub.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/the-walkabouts-satisfied-mind-round-30-toms-selection/

Sounded great.

Sounds like the Walkabouts have ended their run, based on the Uncut review comment from Chris Eckman here, also reproduced on the band's FB page:

https://www.facebook.com/chris.eckman.9/posts/10203760975681939

And further confirmed with his own brief reply to a question in comments. Nothing formal said on their Twitter and Facebook pages yet but it seems right enough, though I'll always regret never getting a chance to see at least one of their irregular Seattle shows they'd do each time a new album was released. Ah well, the timing never worked out, and Chris's own new projects have been excellent.

That's sad news, but I'm glad to hear he's still doing musical things, albeit with a new band. Will look for their stuff, too. "Satisfied Mind" still gets a play about once a month around here, an all time fave. "Drunken Soundtracks" also high on the list.

this won't be the first time the Walkabouts will have broken up — iirc they went on hiatus about 5 years ago and reunited for Travels in the Dustland.

tbh I don't really like anything the Walkabouts released after Ended Up a Stranger (Dustland in particular seems like a retread of their much stronger late '90s/early '00s output). I'm much more partial to Chris's solo albums ( The Black Field and the new one Harney County) and the one Strange album he sang on, so this new project of his seems interesting.

I also love the Andrea Schroeder album Chris produced last year, which got virtually no attention from the English language press.

I just found my CD copy of Train Leaves at Eight buried in the depths of an Ebo Taylor double CD and godamn if it isn't perfect tonight. 'Solex in A Slipshod Style' is standing out, as is the cover of Stina Nordenstam's 'And She Closed Her Eyes'. The cover of Neu!'s Leb' Wohl is decent too. What a great band.

That they were.

Eckman seems to have stopped making music, which is a great pity. His website hasn't been updated since he put out his last solo album Harney County in 2013. He continues to post on Facebook but in a personal rather than a professional capacity. He seems to part-own/manage Glitterbeat Records and maybe still runs a studio in Ljubljana as well. I miss The Walkabouts.

it's been a while since he's released anything under his own name, but he's been pretty active over the past couple years: he played and sang on Dirtmusic's Bu Bir Ruya (2018), The Strange's Echo Chamber (2018), Distance, Light & Sky's Gold Coast (2018), and The Frictions' Torch (2019), all released on Glitterhouse.

it's hard not to hear this as Chris & Carla without Carla, but her surrogate is great tbf:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XML2KGDB_oU

Yeah Chris just keeps himself steadily busy with other pursuits. Good egg, been friends with him on FB for years now.

thanks for the update. i didn't know about distance, light & sky. that song is a soft shimmering beauty.

Still underrated. Finally did something about that.

https://theshfl.com/guide/walkabouts

Liked the Whitman mention. Also the college for one or more Gas Huffer members, the Bounce the Ocean guys (also Hawk Bjorn solo), and more recently, Chastity Belt.