''Walkabout'' is the fourth studio album by the English new wave band

the Fixx The Fixx are a rock band from London, England, founded in 1979. The band's hits include " One Thing Leads to Another", " Saved by Zero", " Are We Ourselves?", and " Secret Separation", each of which charted in the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot ...

, released in 1986. The first single, "Secret Separation", spent two weeks atop the ''Billboard'' Album Rock Tracks chart in July 1986; it was the band's second No. 1 single on the chart.

Production

The album was produced by

Rupert Hine Rupert Neville Hine (21 September 1947 – 4 June 2020) was an English musician, songwriter and record producer. He produced albums for artists including Rush, Kevin Ayers, Tina Turner, Howard Jones, Saga, the Fixx, Bob Geldof, Thompson Twins ...

. Singer

Cy Curnin Cyril John Curnin (born 12 December 1957, Wimbledon, England) is a singer/songwriter and musician and is the lead vocalist for the new wave music group, the Fixx. As a songwriter, he has co-written over a dozen songs that have appeared on the ...

started working on the album while temporarily living in Africa. ''Walkabout'' was the first album to include bass player Danny Brown as an official member of the band.

Critical reception

The ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris, it was renamed the ''Citizen'' in 1851. The new ...

'' called the album "the most well-rounded, honest effort by the group so far, marked by a deliberate attempt to 'uncomplicate' the group's sound, without sacrificing the poignancy of the social messages in the songs." The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' called the album the band's best to that point, writing that "the LP's uninventive slices of quirky new wave, tentative funk and Bowie impersonations could have been worse." The ''

Sun Sentinel The ''Sun Sentinel'' (also known as the ''South Florida Sun Sentinel'', known until 2008 as the ''Sun-Sentinel'', and stylized on its masthead as ''SunSentinel'') is the main daily newspaper of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, as well as surrounding B ...

'' wrote that "the Fixx is capable of creating polished but ultimately passionless and perfunctory pop-funk ... this is not a record that anyone's going to remember five years from now."

Track listing

All songs are written by Dan K. Brown, Cy Curnin, Rupert Greenall, Jamie West-Oram, and Adam Woods, except when noted. #"

Secret Separation "Secret Separation" is a song by British new wave rock group the Fixx, from their fourth studio album ''Walkabout''. The single peaked at #19 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in July 1986 and peaked at No. 1 on the US Album Rock Tracks cha ...

" (Brown, Curnin, Greenall,

Jeannette Obstoj Jeannette-Thérèse Obstoj (5 June 194926 March 2015) was a British lyricist, video-maker, music video director, poet and graphic artist. She is best known for her work as a lyricist, usually working in collaboration with musician Rupert Hine. ...

, West-Oram, Woods) - 3:51 #"Built for the Future" - 4:07 #"Treasure It" - 4:38 #"Chase the Fire" - 4:27 #"Can't Finish" - 4:09 #"Walkabout" - 4:35 #"One Look Up" - 4:15 #"Read Between the Lines" - 3:59 #"Sense the Adventure" - 3:42 #"Camphor" - 3:53 ith hidden CD track "Peace on Earth (Do What You Can)" - 10:46

Personnel

- lead

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

*Adam Woods - drums *Rupert Greenall -

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

*Jamie West-Oram -

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

, backing vocals *Dan K. Brown - bass ;Additional personnel

The TKO Horns The TKO Horns were a horn section formed in 1982 when Big Jim Paterson (trombone), Paul Speare (tenor saxophone) and Brian Maurice (alto saxophone) left Dexys Midnight Runners. After a brief spell touring with Paul Young's Q Tips they began perfor ...

: *Geoffrey Blythe -

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...

*Dick Hanson -

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

*Brian Maurice (credited as 'Brian Morris') - alto saxophone *Jimmy Paterson -

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

Production

*Producer: Rupert Hine *Recording and Mixing Engineer: Stephen W Tayler

Charts

Singles

References

{{Authority control The Fixx albums 1986 albums Albums produced by Rupert Hine MCA Records albums