The Walkabouts - Devil's Road [1995]

Devil's Road was the first album in cooperation with Virgin Records, reaching new heights of success. The Light Will Stay On became a veritable radio hit in Europe. Half of the tracks comprising feature the string arrangements of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, giving greater depth to a sound that's already impossibly rich. Recorded in Berlin, the album is dark and soulful, the work of a band at the peak of its powers.

The Walkabouts is an American rock band formed in Seattle in 1984. The core members are vocalist Carla Torgerson and vocalist and songwriter Chris Eckman. Although the rest of the line-up has changed occasionally, for most of the time the other members have been Michael Wells, Glenn Slater and Terri Moeller.

The band draws inspiration from folk and country music, particularly Townes Van Zandt, Neil Young and Johnny Cash, but also from other types of artists and musical styles such as Scott Walker, Leonard Cohen, French chanson and Jacques Brel. Their sound is typically rich, with string arrangements and keyboards in addition to the standard rock instruments. In reviews the band's music is often described as melancholic or mellow, while Eckman's lyrics, concerning such themes as human relations, loneliness and restlessness, are often emphasized as poetic.

The Walkabouts have achieved commercial success and a strong fanbase in Europe, where they have done promotion and extensive touring since early 1990s. They have occasionally even made it high on the record charts in countries such as Greece and Norway.

Tracklist:
01. The light will stay on
02. Rebecca Wild
03. The stopping-off place
04. Cold eye
05. Christmas valley
06. Blue head flame
07. When fortune smiles
08. All for this
09. Fairground blues
10. The leaving kind
11. Forgiveness song

Total running time: 56:56