Scott Walker. (RIP March 2019)

Marcello - thanks, looking forward to that.

RJG, I don't know if you're kidding or not, but if you haven't heard the original version of "Maria Bethania" by Caetano Veloso, you should really really download it. I love it to death. Walker's version is good, but disappointingly faithful to the original.

Libby

there's something off about the idea of a scott box set. how does one excerpt "tilt" anyhow?

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scottwalker/message/162

If it's real, it sounds more interesting than the box set!

Amateurist, I'd still be delighted to burn discs for you and propel them across the ocean. Just send me your address.

Anyway, it seems the MP3 downloads are down, "temporarily" but they have been replaced by a video clip from Scott's TV show which is well worth watching. HAHA look at his hair.

The albums are back for download.
I made a single ZIP file for each album.
Each ZIP file is protected by a password.
All I ask of you is to send me an e-mail in order to get the Password for the Zip file, and not telling it. I promise fast replies !
It's the only way I found to keep an eye on the downloads without losing control...
I am glad you can all get the tracks.
Regards
Cedric

http://www.ckthual.net/scott

PS/ Regarding the video : I wish I had the same hair every morning... ;o)

try again

Review by Dave Thompson
The 1990s' rediscovery of Scott Walker, hitherto the Pop Star That Time Forgot, was one of the most gratifying events of the mid 1990s. No man blessed with a voice like that, taste like that, talent like that, should ever have been consigned to the creaky oblivion of oldies radio. But one needs to tread carefully when plunging into the cult. Even at his best, and particularly at his most recent, Walker can be an excruciatingly difficult taste to acquire. Move into the early 1970s mid-point of his output, and oftentimes, it's simply excruciating.

Never regarded among Scott Walker's finest efforts, and a resounding flop when it first appeared in 1971, Til The Band Comes In is, retrospectively, the most shocking of all the singer's early albums. His first four, after all, are dramatic slabs of MOR-noir, crucial experiences for anybody anxious to discover Brel, Bergman and a taste for truly surreal pop tones; by their standards alone, surely album #5 should have traveled even further astray?

It doesn't. Two tracks culled for the It's Raining Today compilation, "Thanks For Chicago Mr James" and "Joe," are this album's sole concessions to such matters as reputation. A year earlier, the BBC gave Walker his own TV series, with the assurance that he would concentrate his tonsils on ballads and standards. He fulfilled the brief admirably, and released a soundtrack album to prove it. Unfortunately, Til The Band Comes In suggests he never got the sacharine out of his system. He even brings TV guest Esther O'Farim back into the action, but morbid curiosity and an incomprehensible fondness for "Cinderella Rockefeller" are surely the only reasons anyone could want to check out her solo contribution to the set.

There is a reasonable rendering of Roy Orbison's "It's Over," aptly closing the album on a merciful note, but while Walker's first four albums remain essential listening, and the TV LP at least has its moments, 'Til The Band Comes In is best left waiting at the stage door. Some "lost classics" were lost with good reason.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Thursday, 22 July 2004 19:47 (nineteen years ago) link

does anyone have track listings for these???

Someone on Ebay is offering a promo called "Scott on Screen" which appears to compile all of the TV Series album and The Moviegoer minus the last track. The seller says it's done from the master tapes and was ready to go before Walker stepped in, but it seems odd that Fontana would issue the albums in this not-quite-twofer way.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Scott-Walker-Scott-On-Screen-CD-1999_W0QQitemZ290140393933QQihZ019QQcategoryZ1049QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD2VQQcmdZViewItem

Track listing
1. Will You Still Be Mine
2. I Have Dreamed
3. When The World Was Young
4. Who Will Take My Place
5. If She Walked Into My Life (from Mame)
6. To Dream The Impossible Dream
7. Song Is You
8. Look Of Love
9. Country Girl
10. Someone To Light Up My Fire
11. Only The Young
12. Lost In The Stars
13. This Way Mary (theme from Mary Queen Of Scots)
14. Speak Softly Love (theme from The Godfather)
15. Glory Road (theme from WUSA)
16. That Night (theme from The Fox)
17. Summer Knows (theme from Summer of '42)
18. Ballad Of Sacco And Vanzetti (theme from Sacco And Vanzetti)
19. Face In The Crowd (theme from Le Mans)
20. Joe Hill (theme from The Ballad Of Joe Hill)
21. Loss Of Love (theme from Sunflower)
22. All His Children (theme from Never Give An Inch)
23. Come Saturday Morning (theme from Pookie)

Anyone know anything about this?

What in heaven's name is he going on about in "We Came Through"? That song's been a favourite of mine for years and years and I still have no idea whatsoever.

Yeah, I know Scott's not the most straightforward songwriter anyway, but most of the other songs from that era are reasonably easy to parse, though flowery and filled with metaphors. With "We Came Through" I'm just completley lost.

new "lady, if you have to ask..." answers

If Scott Walker was so cutting edge, wouldn't he be ranting about slightly better music than Pulp?

I like parts of Climate of Hunter, and the Scott albums are pretty good but all this great modern brutalist crap that's been piled on his Tilt/Drift albums seems a bit much. That said I've never heard Drift but Tilt put me off insufficiently.

His "ranting" can be summed up in producing one of their albums six years ago, and inviting them to a festival seven years ago; not much there to get worked up over now, especially since the band is, you know, split up. All I've heard him say about producing tho is that it's a good way to earn some cash, and he's pretty upfront about hating pretty much all current music and cinema, predictably enough. Anyway I don't think being a taste maker for current music is something he'd be particuarly interested in, or suited for.

It'd have been pretty easy for him to go the Nancy Sinatra/Solomon Burke/whoever route and make a comeback record with songs by Cocker, Nick Cave, Neil Hannon and who-have-you, too. I'm happy he didn't go that route, tho yeah, I'm not much interested in The Drift, either.

Anyone heard "And Who Shall Go To The Ball And What Shall Go To The Ball" yet? Or seen the dance piece it was written for?

Yeah, I got "and who shall go to the ball," and I can't really get into it. This is also from a person that loves The Drift and Tilt. I think it may be the absence of his voice, but it just isn't as riveting or anything. As weird as it is to say this about such an out there recording, it seems really predictable coming from him at this point.

I'd love to see the show, though. Shame if he doesn't realise how compelling his voice is.

He should work with Harrison Birtwhistle.

I've always thought it quite clear that "We Came Through" concerns the forces of good prevailing against evil in WWII.

Who's the Luther King in this scenario? EMI

it's like the most cracked idea of a popular rock song

What time of the year did Scott Walker go to that farmhouse to write material for "Climate of Hunter"? I’m wondering if the title of that album can be interpreted as a reference to the constellation of Orion. His experiences in the farmhouse surely left their mark on the album’s lyrics; it’s hard not to connect "Rawhide" with, as he mentioned in an interview, his seeing herds of cows grazing while there.

well that was an ill-advised and overemotional full discography listen i did yesterday, but i came away thinking the drift is his masterwork (and he made several albums that qualify). surprised me a little, i sort of expected to love tilt or climate the most at this point but... even though it's slow-hatching nightmare, the drift is surprisingly, perversely catchy? most of the songs lingered in my head from when i spent a lot of time with it in college

\They really do have their own little characters despite all living in the same world. Some days I'm into the more melodic, strangely beautiful elements of Tilt; the brute-force dynamic terror of Drift; or the dark scat humour of Bish Bosch. I've also reassessed Soused lately and while it's certainly not his best sonically, his lyrics come into their own on that one.

scott was also one of the best lyricists to ever do it, i feel like that is often lost in recapitulations of his weirdness and daring

Brad thoroughly otm as usual

I haven’t fully revisited it yet but will put in a mention for Ian Penman’s wonderful and long (~70pp!) essay “a dandy in aspic” in rob Young’s book, it makes a case for those middle years: the moviegoer and songs from his tv show and that. Penman touches on stuff mentioned upthread eg that the originals in til the band comes in go well into the second side, and posits that the reason the received wisdom “SIDE 2 IS ALL BAD!!” was allowed to ossify is that for a long time it was difficult to actually get ahold of the album to check - not to be too on brand but maybe cf twin peaks “SEASON 2 IS ALL BAD!!”

it's some way the best piece in the book i think

For sure although I like the David Toop interview where (iirc and I may be thinking of a different one) he asks walker about the significance of kabbalistic references in the drift (serifot and kellipot) and Walker has no memory of even coming across the words before, let alone what he meant by their deployment!

I think he said recently one of his songwriting strategies just involved going to an acquaintance’s vast personal library and reading and picking out words

checked out a preview on google and think i'm gonna buy the ebook of the rob young collection. penman otm that til the band comes in is three quarters brilliant one quarter ok. "war is over" is scott 3 quality

I actually like almost all of the songs that fill out side 2, it's just that this record HAS to end with "The War is Over", going from that to "Stormy" etc is just too weird and jarring. Same with Scott 3 though I love those three Brel tunes. Both LPs have a resoundingly clear natural ending point at which they do not end.

i'd like to argue against conventional wisdom here and suggest the three brel tunes are actually the best possible way to end scott 3, the album entering this arch wormhole at the end ("sons of" both creepy and beautiful! "funeral tango" a complete delight and less jarring in the sequence than "we came through" imo) and closes with the most beautiful "ne me quitte pas," can't argue with it ("two weeks since you've gone" would've been a weaker closer)

No way, "Two Weeks Since You've Gone" is gorgeous and heartbreaking and "If You Go Away" is his worst Brel cover by a country mile.

"Have you written enough songs for the album yet?" "Er, almost".

"If You Go Away" is his worst Brel cover by a country mile.

― Angry Question Time Man's Flute Club Band (Tom D.), Monday, April 1, 2019 10:39 AM (nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

idk how you arrived at this opinion but it does not reflect my experience at all

You're NEXT!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0LmWUUVvUM

had never heard this drift-era track (from a 4ad comp called plague songs) until now, it rules

Oh yeah, also has a classic Scott footnote/gloss iirc

(Contrary to the idea many have of his later career he often took pains to clarify what certain songs were about!)

Brad otm about the Brel covers at the end of Scott 3

Man I wish "We Came Through" was just not on that album though!

Wonderful Amazon review for Rob Young's book here. Yikes!

James J. Omeara
5.0 out of 5 starsThe Implicitly White Genius of Scott Walker
February 17, 2014
Format: Hardcover
Even if my review at the Counter-Currents blog hasn't convinced you that Scott Walker is the ultimate White musician and worthy of your attention for that reason alone, this book will appeal to anyone with an interest in the mechanics of the post-war pop music industry or just some damned fine cultural writing. It’s really quite exciting to see such implicitly White music, both avant garde and MOR, receiving serious critical attention. White Nationalists should be heartened by it, and should encourage this unexpected entry point into the mainstream by purchasing multiple copies for family and friends!
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the jarvis interview from 2017 is awesome for a lot of reasons but i especially liked when walker talked about how much he loved jazz. no one tell james j. omeara

it's almost funny how much effort a human being will put into being racist these days

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0004d8x

Freak Zone tribute show, includes bits of interview where he just sounds charming and funny.