{{For|the song|We Had It All (song)}} {{more citations needed|date=November 2017}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox album | name = We Had It All | type = Album | artist = Scott Walker | cover = Scott_Walker_We_Had_It_All.jpg | alt = | released = August 1974 | recorded = 1973–1974 | venue = | studio = Nova Studios, Marble Arch, London | genre = {{hlist|Pop|country|country pop|easy listening<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nelson |first1=Sidney |title=Turn Table |journal=Evening Post |date=18 October 1974 |page=10 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/882667529/?terms=%22we%20had%20it%20all%22%20scott%20walker&match=1 |access-date=28 May 2026 |location=Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England}}</ref> }} | length = 34:37 | label = Columbia | producer = Del Newman | prev_title = Stretch | prev_year = 1973 | next_title = No Regrets<br /> by <br /> The Walker Brothers | next_year = 1975 | misc = {{Singles | name = We Had It All | type = studio | single1 = Delta Dawn" b/w "We Had It All | single1date = July 1974 }} }} '''''We Had It All''''' is the tenth solo studio album by the American singer Scott Walker. It was released in August 1974 but was unsuccessful on the music charts. It was Walker's final solo album for ten years; in the interim Walker reformed The Walker Brothers for three albums, the last of which, 1978's ''Nite Flights'', included his first original songs since his 1970 solo album '''Til the Band Comes In''.
Four of the 10 songs on the album were written by Billy Joe Shaver and had previously appeared on Waylon Jennings's 1973 outlaw country album ''Honky Tonk Heroes'', as had the title track. The album was recorded in August 1974 at Nova Studios, Marble Arch, London. The album was released as an LP in late 1974 and received generally negative reviews. The album was reissued and released on CD in 1997 by BGO Records coupled with Walker's ninth studio album 1973's ''Stretch''. The artwork for the album was produced by Roslav Szaybo with photography from M. Joseph.
==Critical reception== {{Music ratings |rev1 = Allmusic |rev1score = {{Rating|2|5}}<ref>[{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r52266|pure_url=yes}} Allmusic review]</ref> |rev2 = Allmusic (''Stretch''/''We Had It All'') |rev2score = {{Rating|2|5}}<ref>[{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r310592|pure_url=yes}} Allmusic review]</ref> }}<!-- Automatically generated by DASHBot-->
In a contemporary review of ''We Had It All'', Sidney Nelson of the ''Bucks Examiner'' noted the "slightly world-weary touch" to Walker's voice but it also its power and tone, further praising the "most pleasing" self-produced album for containing "cleverly chosen" songs and expertly handled performances. "A singer I always felt deserved more solo success", the reviewer concluded, "Scott enhances that opinion with an LP of good easy listening."<ref name="Bucks Examiner">{{cite journal |last1=Nelson |first1=Sidney |title=A Singer Who Seems to Have Seen It All |journal=Bucks Examiner |date=25 October 1974 |page=15 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/785810500/?terms=%22we%20had%20it%20all%22%20scott%20walker&match=1 |access-date=28 May 2026 |location=Chesham, Buckingham, England}}</ref>
Retrospectively, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic noted Walker's new focus on country music and felt that, despite being "still a little musically tentative" and lamenting the continued lack of original material, ''We Had It All'' is nonetheless the singer's "strongest record in years, since the country leanings are a welcome change of pace and he sings with authority throughout the record."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Erlewine |first1=Stephen Thomas |title=We Had It All Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/we-had-it-all-mw0000848477 |website=AllMusic |access-date=28 May 2026}}</ref> In an AllMusic review of the 1997 CD release which pairs ''We Had It All'' with its predecessor, ''Stretch'' (1973), Erlewine deemed both albums to be "slight collections of contemporary country-pop and folk-rock covers, produced in an anemic, bloodless fashion where the strings don't soar, they limp."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Erlewine |first1=Stephen Thomas |title=Stretch/We Had It All Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/stretch-we-had-it-all-mw0000605170 |website=AllMusic |access-date=28 May 2026}}</ref>
Wilson Neate of ''Trouser Press'' similarly noted that, whereas Walker dabbled with country music on ''Stretch'', he explored this direction further with ''We Had It All'', "this time with a little more success". Neate deems both albums to be reasonably entertaining but noted that Walker was "going through the motions, refusing to challenge himself or his listener the way he did on his first four albums."<ref name="Neate">{{cite web |last1=Neate |first1=Wilson |title=Scott Walker |url=https://trouserpress.com/reviews/scott-walker/ |website=Trouser Press |access-date=28 May 2026}}</ref>
==Track listing== {{track listing | headline = Side one | title1 = Low Down Freedom | writer1 = Billy Joe Shaver | length1 = 3:43
| title2 = We Had It All | writer2 = Donnie Fritts, Troy Seals | length2 = 3:29
| title3 = Black Rose | writer3 = Billy Joe Shaver | length3 = 3:16
| title4 = Ride Me Down Easy | writer4 = Billy Joe Shaver | length4 = 3:32
| title5 = You're Young and You'll Forget | writer5 = Jerry Reed | length5 = 2:27 }} {{track listing | headline = Side two | title6 = The House Song | writer6 = Robert H. Bannard, Paul Stookey | length6 = 3:44
| title7 = What Ever Happened to Saturday Night | writer7 = Randy Meisner, Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Bernie Leadon | length7 = 2:53
| title8 = Sundown | writer8 = Gordon Lightfoot | length8 = 4:49
| title9 = Old Five and Dimers Like Me | writer9 = Billy Joe Shaver | length9 = 2:58
| title10 = Delta Dawn | writer10 = Alex Harvey | length10 = 3:47 }}
==Release details== {| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" ! Country ! Date ! Label ! Format ! Catalog ! |- ! scope="row" rowspan="2" | United Kingdom | 1974 | CBS Records | Vinyl | 80254 | |- | 1997 | BGO Records | CD | BGOCD358 | Coupled with ''Stretch'' |- |}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Scott Walker}}
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Category:Scott Walker (singer) albums Category:1974 albums Category:Columbia Records albums Category:Albums produced by Del Newman Category:Albums with cover art by Rosław Szaybo Category:Easy listening albums