New Scott Walker album: 'The Drift'

2. The thread of apocalyptic alliteration which runs right the way through the record ("pow pow," "psst psst").

fascinating, complex, terrifying, a worthwhile listen, but ultimately something i'd at best play once or twice more. i make myself watch horror movies. i slogged through hegel during my junior year continental philosophy class. even though it's got some beautiful language and i love joyce it took me over a year to finish "ulysses". and i decided to listen to "the drift" cause i figgered i'd learn something, or at least have an unpleasant experience that i could look back on for inspiration/whatever. i did, and now i'm done. i respect him a great deal for making it, and it's got lots of things in it to think about, but i really can't deal with it. bravo, scott. you've made a fucked up masterpiece that's borderline unlistenable.

but who knows, maybe i'll wander back to it someday and i'll feel differently.

I'm lovin' it.

And yes, I'd pay any amount of money to see this performed live, pretty much as is... sequentially.

...but I really can't think of any album, modern or older, that is a more succinct aural obliteration of a hard-on than this record...

...which isn't a bad thing at all! This is one of the best albums I've heard, period. But never put this CD anywhere in visibility on a date, much less play it to "get in the mood", which really goes without saying. But if you never heard the album before, get swooned in by the 4AD art, buy it, then decide to play it while snuggling against that crush of yours on the couch -- expecting something morose but still celestial and emotional and warming -- your night, or even perhaps your life, will be instantly ruined.

Well, unless you're both into snuff. O fuck I should shut up now, bed time *sniffle* bye bye.

First time I spun it late at night - very intriguing - some superb snippets of "song" in every track - actually some wonderful melodies - love the lyrics - track 1 sounds "80s" - track 10 is absolutely fucking brilliant - the end of track 9 was indeed quite scary when I first heard it - I went to bed, fell asleep, racoons killing each other in my back yard awoke me, and strangely, they sounded similar to the end of track 9 - I was freaked - did not sleep!

Now, after many spins, the end of track 9 makes me chuckle! :)

This is a wonderful CD. It really does have 10 distinct parts to it. His voice is fucking something to behold. I like it much more than Tilt. It will take me weeks to get my head around it - but the sign of a great CD is that I want to play it over and over.....

I say Tilt is best, but by a hairs breadth...

Holy. Fucking. Shit.

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there have been two private test-screenings in london and the feedback has been brilliant - new obsessives have been converted, and some of the old guard have given it a stamp of approval, including our archival researcher who went to see Scott solo with her dad when she was 13 years old. all good signs.

thanks!

http://www.scottwalkerfilm.com/blog/?page_id=88

cheers.

The other day I bought Clear or Cloudy, the complete Ligeti recordings on Deutsche Grammaphon (on 4 CDs for 30 euros, a bargain). The beginning of 'Mysteries of the Macabre' has someone going 'psst, psst', which immediately made me think of A Lover Loves. Given that the piece is taken from a Ligeti opera which (according to Wikipedia) is about mortality, and features a dead lover, a chief of police and other Walker-ish things, I think there might be a connection...

Six months on, are people still listening to The Drift? And what do you think of it now? I must admit I was initially disappointed with it, although I think that was inevitable considering I'd been obsessing over Tilt for so many years. I found his voice just a bit too mannered and less vulnerable than on Tilt. I missed the Walker trope of weird dissonance giving way to orchestral beauty. I found there wasn't enough variation... Now I guess I'm more reconciled with all those 'faults'. I do think it's a bit too long, though. I'm still listening to it, it's still slowly sinking in, it's genuinely gripping stuff, but sometimes I find myself listening to the first three tracks then skipping to the last two or three. I think it could be a couple of tracks shorter. I'm not too fond of Hand Me Ups or Psoriatic. Then again, Tilt too sags a little in the middle I feel (lemon bloody cola goes on forever).

In summary, I think both Tilt & The Drift are flawed masterpieces but I guess Tilt still has the edge for me.

This is looking like the consensus view (and mine too). I think Scott has one more brilliant album inside him (if his corneas don't mist up first). A pared down thing "to take on the road" that he talked about in a few interviews would be it.

hmmm...I don't agree. quite a lot of tilt hasn't aged that well, let down by some synths and production that seem a bit embarassing now. drift seems more timeless, more indefinable. the more organic sound helps it a lot. I know which one I listen to more.

There was a new track released on a various artists thing recently, Scott and a nearly hysterical choir -- sounded tremendous, nothing like "The Drift".

what compilation was this? I must obtain it!

I don't remember too much synth on Tilt.

Can anyone give insight into how/why he's decided to go down the road of nightmare soundscape operas in his old age? I'm not complaining, it's just so fricking bizarre for someone who used to be a 60s crooner.

just finished listening to the whole thing (i had to listen in sittings) and it is awesome. the donald duck voice! ARGH!

BTW I have never really listend to this album properly. I wonder if I ever will.

It actually is sort of what I expected, even though the only solo scott of this ilk that I know is "The Electrician" (i know, I know)..

As someone says, it is very "post-punk" gothic, and all the good for that.

"I'm the only one left alive."

http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/walkerscott/drift?q=scott%20walker#critics

http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/newsomjoanna/ys?q=newsom#critics