I felt compelled to do a review of this book which came out a few years ago and in light of the recent passing of John Walker (April 2011). l also had a vested interest as both my parents were on friendly terms with the Walker boys and when my mother went into labour with me ” Make It Easy on Yourself “was playing on the radio, so there you have it.

As if that was not reason enough, they were an amazing group of individuals who bore great songs and even greater insight on choosing cover versions and giving them a new fresher sound which became the famous Walker Brothers trademark.

This book gives reflection of what it was like being in London in the swinging 60’s for Gary, John and Scott Walker who *** hailed from the California. The Walker Brothers were not brothers just like The Ramones, in fact The Walker Bros got their name from a phoney ID that John made up so he could play in bars. 1965 was the year The Walkers broke big in Britain scoring two number one hits in the charts and having more top thirty singles before ending there run in 1967-68, during this time we get the bulk of what it was like being in the bubble of stardom and the madness of fan worship, at times the Walkers were stars in their own zombie movie as they play the last human survivors barricaded in a toilet as the fans (undead) try to get at them, scary stuff, they also have to think of ingenious methods to avoid the carnage of the adoring admirers, sometimes those methods failed and they still got through it *** by losing bits of clothes  and maybe some strands of hair. In 1967 they went on tour with a right motley bunch  including Engelbert Humerdinck, Jimi Hendrix and Cat Stevens and managed to pull it off however this was to be the end of the Walker Bros as the music scene was changing and the psychedelic flower power was taking over.

Gary went on to form the psychedelic “Gary Walker and The Rain” who were successful in Japan but were not as well known in England. John also went solo and even recorded an album with Bill Wyman in 1971 when the Stones were in their Exile phase however this was never released. In 1975 they reformed and scored a top 3 hit with “No Regrets” and went on to put out 3 albums until Scott decided to knock it on the head.

This book is filled with anecdotes that are very funny, bizarre stuff like Werewolf sightings in California to more serious stuff like the fact both John and Gary were very willing to join the Airforce and could have gone to Vietnam, but luckily they both failed medicals, so music was their path thanks to Garys dad lending them money to come to london and then Gary having to persuade John and Scott that England was the place to be and he was on the money on that one. l would like to add would David Bowie please return the £20 that Gary lent you in 1965 and would Bill Wyman please release the John Walker music recorded in 1971. And finally l would like to say Thanks to Gary for the the sweet things he said about my late Father in this book.