The Link

The Link is of course Scott Walker who sang with the Walker Brothers during the '60s before releasing his own solo albums.

My sister was a huge fan of Scott Walker and was a bit upset because I was decidedly unimpressed by his boyish good looks and adequate voice. What did impress me was the choice of songs for his albums - songs by Tim Hardin and Jacques Brel. So I have Scott Engel (Walker) to thank for introducing me to really good music.

'No regrets' was of course released by the Walker Brothers when they reformed in 1976 but was never as good as the original by Tom Rush. Although the group unexpectedly scored another UK top ten hit with 'No regrets' the three albums that followed sold poorly.

The Walkers' 60s sound mixes Phil Spector's "wall of sound" techniques with symphonic orchestrations and for me that just drowned the song - so it was just amazing to listen to the songs as performed by Tim Hardin and Jacques Brel.

Tim Hardin died the same year that John Lennon was killed, but his death went mainly unnoticed.