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It was the mid-60s. The Beatles may have been bigger than Jesus, but the Walker Brothers for a moment at least, were even bigger. In 1965, they had a number one hit with Bacharach/David’s “Make It Easy On Yourself”. True, the song had been a hit only three years previously for Jerry Butler, but that didn’t matter. The grandiosely orchestrated reading of the song was a showcase for Scott Walker’s rich baritone. The similarly paced “My Ship Is Coming In” reached the Top 3. Their neurotic romanticism reached its apogee on the Bob Crewe/Bob Gaudio composition “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore”, in which Scott’s deep baritone was wonderful balanced by John’s Four Seasons-styled soaring harmony. The Walkers made three albums fast, a half-dozen Top 20 hits and split in May 1967.

As soloists, the Walker Brothers suffered mixed fortunes with only Scott troubling the charts, but it was still a surprise when the trio reunited in 1975. Their comeback album “No Regrets” consisted largely of extraneous material, but the classy Tom Rush title track returned the group to the Top 10. A follow-up album “Lines” was similar in style to its predecessor, but for their swan song, the self-penned “Nite Flights” the trio produced a brave experimental work with oblique, foreboding lyrics and unusual arrangements, most notably on “The Electrician”. “Nite Flights” was a commercial failure, but by the time the initial sales figures had been computed. John, Gary and Scott had returned to their individual ventures and concomitant obscurity, although Scott remains a cult figure all over the world.