LOST TREASURES

LOS WALKERS

“Walking Up With Los Walkers”

By Peter Marston

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Los Walkers were a ’60s Argentinian pop band heavily influenced by the British beat and American garage scenes. After two albums that mixed a handful of originals and a host of covers (including “Gloria,” “The Letter,” “Tobacco Road” and even Bobby Goldsboro’s “Honey”), Los Walkers drifted with the psychedelic tide and recorded what is generally regarded as their finest work, 1969’s Walking Up With Los Walkers. Though I will refrain from using the most common description of the album—“the South American Sgt.Pepper”—it is still an excellent record and one that every ’60s pop fan should know.

Formed in 1966 after the worldwide spread of Beatlemania, Los Walkers were like any number of suddenly mop-topped bands from non-English speaking countries. Their love of the music is palpable if their lyrics and pronunciation are somewhat off-beat (their version of “The Letter”—a big hit for them in Argentina—is especially other-worldly). The original members of the band were: Carlos Altamirano, Tata Ignacio, Roberto Antonio and Rover Jorgé. This line-up recorded their first two LPs, Los Walkers and Nosotros in 1967 and 1968 respectively. As noted above, these albums consisted mostly of covers and while very successful in Argentina, they do not really hold up to those of their British and American influences.

Later on in 1968, though, Polo Perieira (from Los Mockers, a popular band from Uruguay) replaced Jorge and Machi Rufino (who went on to form two other successful South American bands, Pappo’s Blues and Invisible) replaced Ignacio. The new line-up decided to drop the covers and to record only original songs. This time around their influences were decidedly psychedelic—and even if I hesitate to use the “South American Sgt. Pepper” sobriquet—it seems very likely that that was precisely Los Walkers’ intent in recording Walking Up with Los Walkers, though it’s clear they had been listening to a lot of Rubber Soul and Revolver, too.

Each of the songs on Walking Up with Los Walkers is titled in Castilian Spanish, but sung in English. Here I have provided both the actual title and its English translation. “Tenemos Mucha Ayuda (We Got Plenty of Help)” starts off the album very strongly with touches of the Beatles’ “If I Needed Someone,” the Monkees’ “The Door Into Summer” and “the Stones’ “We Love You.” “Toma Mis Manos Y Dime (Take My Hands and Tell Me)” is a faux-country romp not unlike the Rutles’ “Living in Hope,” but with slightly more adventurous changes. “Sonrie A Tremelon (Smile at Tremelon)” is a ballad whose opening melody seems to presage Oasis by over twenty years. It also features a striking and stark string arrangement. “Donde Esta Miss Lee Los Sabados (Where is Miss Lee on Saturdays)” starts with an “I Saw Her Standing There” count-off and then settles into a simple psych-funk groove complete with a meandering Farfisa solo and lots of sleepy background vocals. “Si Yo Conociera A Esa Chica (If I Knew that Girl)” has an intro similar to Mott the Hoople’s “All the Way to Memphis” that seems unrelated to the garage psych raver that follows. “Recordano (Remembering)” is a charming and extremely catchy singalong music hall number. “Una Vez Al Ano (Once a Year)” recalls “I’m Only Sleeping.” “19.8.” the album closer, is the most psychedelic track, with guitar fills that try to duplicate the effect of the tape loops on “Tomorrow Never Knows.”

No singles were released from Walking up with Los Walkers, and outside of South America, there was no significant chart action. Indeed, there seem to be no releases of the English version of the album in any other country. After Walking Up with Los Walkers, the band released five more singles—this time actually sung in Castilian Spanish—before disbanding in 1970.

Walking Up with Los Walkers has never been officially or, perhaps more precisely, legally reissued on CD, though it has recently been released in the digital domain by Git It. If you prefer the sound of the original vinyl, needledrops are frequently posted on blogs or available through various torrenting sites. Either way, put Google to good use and walk on up!

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Pop Pioneer and “Lost Treasures” writer, Peter Marston is the leader of long-running power pop band, Shplang, whose most recent album, “My Big Three Wheeler” has been described as “the Beatles meet Zappa in pop-psych Sumo match.”  You check it out at this link:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/shplang

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LINKS:

LastFM:  http://www.last.fm/music/Los+Walkers

Blog Post:  http://oldishpsychprog.ucoz.com/news/los_walkers_1968_walkin_up_con_los_walkers/2011-01-05-3339

Blog Post:  http://hippy-djkit.blogspot.com/2009/09/los-walkers-walking-up-con-los-walkers.html

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