If you like your male solo artist music in the vein of Jude Cole and Troy Newman then Jamie Walter’s debut album might hit the spot.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Jamie Walters
ALBUM: Jamie Walters
LABEL: Atlantic
SERIAL: 82600-2
YEAR: 1994
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Jamie Walters – vocals, guitar, harmonica
Musicians: Michael Landau, Dean Parks, Bob Mann – guitars * Zachary Thorne – guitars, Hammond B-3, bass, percussion, background vocals * Mike Finnegan – Hammond B3 * Guy Moon – keyboards * Kevin Savigar – keyboards, percussion * Leland Sklar, John Pierce – bass * Gary Mallaber, Russ Kunkel – drums, percussion * Roy Campanella III – programming * Gary Mallaber, Marlena Jeter, Mortonette Jenkins, Alex Brown, Steve Tyrell, Merry Clayton, Dee Harvey, Barry Coffing, Vonda Shepard, David Palmer, Dr. John – backing vocals
TRACK LISTING: 01 Hold On * 02 Comfort Of Strangers * 03 The Distance * 04 Why * 05 Drive Me * 06 Neutral Ground * 07 I Know The Game * 08 Release Me * 09 No Rhyme No Reason * 10 Perfect World
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
Jamie Walters was a name bandied about in the 90’s, due to his combined movie, TV and music career. Originally from Massachusetts, Jamie studied in New York before moving out West to Los Angeles to venture into the entertainment industry. His first foray into movies was in the 1991 film ‘Shout’ which featured John Travolta and Gwynneth Paltrow. Walters moved onto the TV series ‘Heights’, which generated a hit single ‘How Do You Talk To An Angel’, though the TV show flopped.
Atlantic Records were keen to take up Walters as a solo artist and signed him to a deal. 1994 was a busy year for Walters, as not only was his first CD out in the market, but he also joined the cast of Beverly Hills 90210, as musician Ray Pruitt. Putting ‘..90210’ to one side, let’s focus instead on his album. Completed with a star-studded line-up including Mike Landau, Lee Sklar, Mike Finnegan, Russ Kunkel and more, it was clear that Atlantic threw some money at this record, and it did reasonably well on the charts too, selling over a million copies (platinum).
The Songs
If you like your male solo artist music in the vein of Jude Cole, the late Troy Newman and Jimmy Davis, then Jamie Walter’s debut album might hit the spot. The opener ‘Hold On’ made it to #4 on the Billboard Charts, and though popular, I don’t think it’s the best thing on the CD.
The next two tracks however are sublime, and worth the price of admission for this album alone. ‘Comfort Of Strangers’ is a brooding number which opens out brightly on the choruses, and Mike Landau’s guitar solo is an absolute killer. I loved the simple but gorgeous atmosphere created on ‘The Distance’.. wistful, engaging, and in places feather-light lilting, lovely track. From here though, the album undulates with inconsistency, some tracks work, some less so.
‘Why’ and ‘Drive Me’ touch on Americana related themes, ‘I Know The Game’ has some of the attributes from that first Jimmy Davis album ‘Kick The Wall’, whereas ‘Release Me’ and ‘No Rhyme Or Reason’ return to the heartland style. The closing ballad ‘Perfect World’ is another gorgeous mellow effort, and finishes up with a smooth blanket of melody.
In Summary
As mentioned some tracks don’t quite hit the mark, and those would be the ones where Walters applies the acoustic-electric heartland trad rock approach. I just felt those songs were ordinary when compared to masterpieces such as ‘Comfort Of Strangers’, ‘The Distance’ and ‘Perfect World’.
Still, teens from the 90’s bought this regardless, but it wouldn’t be until 1997 that Walters would reappear with a new album, 1997’s ‘Ride’. Jamie is no longer active in the music/TV industry, these days he works as a fulltime Paramedic-Firefighter in Los Angeles, but according to his website, hasn’t ruled out a return to music.
Jamie Walters on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
