Best latter-period Scott Walker album

voted Climate because I thought nobody else would, then scrolled down and it turns out we all love it

I like Climate and Tilt the most, but Tilt feels like a richer and more varied album, full of interesting ideas. I haven't gotten into Bish Bosch or Soused.

my problem with soused is that... not to sound cruel, but a lot of the shock of tilt was in its novelty. this just radical, radical shift into creating something totally new. and his most recent records out of necessity don't do that. a person can't realistically be expected to completely reinvent themselves with every album.

The Drift

my problem with soused is that... not to sound cruel, but a lot of the shock of tilt was in its novelty. this just radical, radical shift into creating something totally new. and his most recent records out of necessity don't do that. a person can't realistically be expected to completely reinvent themselves with every album.

I see the real switch coming at the time of Tilt. That was when he abandoned traditional 'pop' song structures and started going for this more nightmarish operatic style. You could say there are elements of this in Climate of Hunter and the Electrician; hell even 'It's Raining Today' has that dissonant uneasiness running all the way through it. But yeah, Tilt is the big shift for me.
Tilt, the Drift and Bish Bosch are as much a perfect trio as Tom Waits' classic three-album run in the mid-eighties, and should be thought of as a trilogy. That said, each one's got its own edge. Tilt sets the scene and includes a nice diversity of sound with some surprisingly lush and beautiful parts. The Drift is the darkest of the lot. It genuinely terrifies me and I can't listen to it all the way through without freaking myself out. The donkey, the flugelman, the air raid strings during Clara, 'WHAT'S UP DOC??' - it's a proper harrowing work of art. Bish Bosch introduces scatological humour into the mix and has fewer 'jumps', which makes it an altogether easier experience but not without its challenges. Worth it for Epizootics and Flagpole Sitter alone; the rest is just a bonus.

Here's a personal favourites playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/1153731601/playlist/0Svklf1tNqCUiOuhNIXv7P

compiling a non-chronological list that flows nicely was actually pretty hard - it throws the sonic distinctions between each album into sharp relief

Soused may be about to be robbed because it was a lot of people's second choice -- it was mine, but the Drift won by a nose.

I really wanted to like Soused. That was like a fantasy-football collab - an all-time 'what if', for me. so when it was announced I had to pinch myself. Sadly I don't think it plays off the strengths of either act. Sunn O))) are reduced to just an annoying buzz in the background (this was my problem with Kannon too) and while it has certain lyrical highlights ('Oh the wide Missouri', 'a reaching long armed vet ape'), the ideas are drawn out and repeated for way too long. It lacks the thrills and spills of his other recent albums, and after only a couple of listens I felt as though I'd more or less exhausted its novelty.

Tilt is my favourite, but it was also the first of this style I heard, so I hold it dear for that reason too. I think the Drift would have had a good chance of beating it if it weren't for that emotional connection I have to Tilt.

I was so disappointed by Soused, I really thought it would be genius and it just fell flat for me. The sonics weren't big enough, it felt like the vocals were just riding on top of the music, and it didn't seem like either party were pushing themselves in any way. To me, anyway.

I really wanted to like Soused. That was like a fantasy-football collab - an all-time 'what if', for me. so when it was announced I had to pinch myself. Sadly I don't think it plays off the strengths of either act.

Ha, I was writing my post as you were posting this. My feelings exactly.

The three big albums are all about moments.

my faves on Tilt:
- The strings on Farmer in the City
- 'You were responsible for the rolling stock'
- 'I love this season'
- 'I knew nothing of the horses / Nothing of the thresher'
- That creepy, fairytale pan-pipey intro on Bolivia '95
- 'Doctorie... Bubaloo'
- The springy, almost country beat on 'Tilt'
- 'If heads this way when the moon is slow... They'll turn the buffalo'

oh and 'Ah-wow-ooo wow-ooo wow-ooooooo'

I still think So used is a really good album. I do wonder if they could have had Scott being less of a leader and being as metal macabre as he could. Probably not.

Tilt may also be my favourite because it came first but "The Cockfighter" is possibly what really settles it. "It's a beautiful night" is my favourite Scott Walker moment ever.

It was The Cockfighter was what put me off that album at first. It sets a 90s-industrial tone that feels dated to me. Luckily the rest of the album doesn't really do that.

Is there room on ILM for a 'songs about apes in captivity' thread?
Captain Beefheart - Apes Ma
Scott O))) - Herod 2014
Manic Street Preachers - Small Black Flowers That Grow in the Sky

And let's not miss out David Dundas' "Guy the Gorilla"

Joanna Newsom - Monkey and Bear

I listened to Tilt at the weekend, it dips in the middle and some of the tracks are too long (esp. Bolivia 95, tho it's stll great), I'll probably vote for it though. I think Climate probably has the best lyrics though, most memorable anyway.

need to spend more time with Climate... I do like it but it feels compromised by the period it came out, 'No Scott it's the eighties, we HAVE to have fretless bass and wet drums and a video of you dancing around a car in a rolled-up blazer, it's THE LAW'

all that stuff is cool

it's okay but I don't imagine it as being the sound in Scott's head. it feels like a label intervention to me

I doubt that very much.

no way man scott would've been like "man I hate that 80s shit what is this the eighties?"

I'm gonna roll my sleeves down and just you try and stop me.

Tilt may have been an achievement conceptually but I've never felt it was that compelling sonically. The Drift is one of the best sounding albums I've ever heard.

My only complaint about The Drift onward is that Scott imo has not yet found a melodic sensibility to match the wildness of his adventurousness as a producer. More often than not he sounds like a Phantom-Of-The-Opera-bot stuck in recitative mode. Small complaint, bc these albums are all great

lol wins

Tilt. My all time favorite album (perpetual tie with Laughingstock).

Ilxors otm itt that the subsequent albums are a bit more "this then that" structurally speaking. But WHAT thisses and thats!!!!

Tear-bringing CoF moment not yet mentioned: the swarming cloud of overdubbed evan parker saxes!

So what's the report on Childhood OST? I've been pleasurably postponing buying it.

Well, there was that Pulp album... (XPosts)

I remember buying And Who Shall Go To The Ball? upon release and thinking it was bollocks.

I enjoyed the film on the big screen. would maybe have got bored if I'd watched it on the telly but came out feeling rewarded. shades of Barry Lyndon but maybe that's cos I saw that film a few weeks before. anyway - very effective soundtrack but not really anything I'd listen to for fun

Tilt is a masterful album.. The Drift, while it sets up an impressive atmosphere, doesn't seem to exceed the sum of its parts as Tilt does.

"Tilt. My all time favorite album (perpetual tie with Laughingstock"

Same here on both.

So, Tilt, but Clara from TD and Epizootics! from BB are at least equal to anything on Tilt.

Well, almost... It's actually a three way tie and the third album is Private Parts (The Record)

I love Tilt. It's a very sentimental choice - probably the first "difficult" album I loved as a teenager. I'm as sentimental about the record as I am about the effort it took to love it. Also - if it's okay to say this - it sounds amazing when you're fucked.

By the time Drift rolled around I was too old to make the effort, and five years later I got tinnitus so that put Soused and Bish Bosch out of my zone. I've listened a couple times and find them way too cacophonous. I need the simple melodies like Farmer and Bolivia to make it through the rest.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

The Drift is one of the best sounding albums I've ever heard.

― fgti, Monday, November 21, 2016 12:48 PM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^^ me too

I love Tilt....it sounds amazing when you're fucked.

See, I think I would make it a point to NOT listen to these records while under the influence of anything! They have me hiding behind the sofa enough as it is when I listen to them straight!

I remember having raptures to "Farmer" and "Rosary", but yeah, The Cockfighter might have been a bit much.

I can't physically listen to The Escape when sober. I once nearly fell off my bike in broad daylight during THAT bit...

"The Cockfighter" is probably in my all time top10 songs by any artist.

Either The Drift or Bish Bosch.

Climate of the Hunter is the one I never managed to get into. I should give it another shot at some point.

I'm probably gonna vote the The Drift. Mostly because Clara is one of the best songs ever recorded. I get that the some of the tracks in the second half are a bit unremarkable, but that just makes "The Escape" so much more effective.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I was having a bad trip once and had to listen to tilt to sort myself out

voted the drift without a second's hesitation but think all these are great

That Donald Duck bit in "The Drift" is definitely the funniest moment in latter-period Scott Walker.

these are all as great as great can be, obv. strange to see an ILM poll where the results are more or less right for a change, good work children.

xp funny but terrifying AF

Well, I don't find it terrifying but fair enough - but I don't really find his music 'terrifying' in general.

I wasn't exactly terrified, but the first time I heard that Donald Duck voice is definitely the most WTF moment I've ever had while listening to music. It was like some scary bit from a David Lynch movie. I didn't think music could do that.

The idea that the void at the center of everything is a malevolent cartoon duck is not a happy idea.

Hell yesh Someone Who Cared is great. Also If Ships Were Meant To Sail is on a Jimmy Webb CD i bought about 20 years back called And Someone Left A Cake Out In The Rain, always liked that one.

i like his caetano cover from the "lost" period

Not sure about the accent he puts on though. His version of "Cowboy" is great.

so is there a new record coming out? when?

how do we know he's got a whole album's worth already?

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that the book contains lyrics for songs for an upcoming album. I don't know if it's an album's worth of songs though.

Yeah the book has like nine new songs

Yeah the Albert Hall was all about the first five albums..

I didn't know that Scott and Jarvis had already done a Drift/Tilt event a few years ago.. http://5against4.com/2008/11/16/drifting-and-tilting-the-songs-of-scott-walker/

Yeah I remember when they announced that. The pain of being utterly unable to see it.

I love 5 by 4 blog but never noticed he had that write up on there - it was really good.

I was at that gig! Walker semi-disavowed it, saying something to the effect of "some of it worked, some of it didn't" but I thought it was really excellent, even the Jarvis bit. Only sour note was fuckin Damon albarn singing farmer in the city 😷

You were there??? God damn you!

Yep! Those two albums are huge favourites of mine so it was great to hear them realised live - meat punching and all. I also thought the staging really stayed true to the feel of the songs although I don't have the clearest memory of that side of it anymore (it was ten years ago fml) with the exception of patriot which I remember VERY clearly for some reason

Damn, so jealous! Are there any recordings of those nights? The 'Clara' performance sounds amazing as per 5:4.

Well, as I said up thread, at the end of 30 century man, Scott said something about maybe doing something that could be rendered in a live environment. Was wondering if that meant doing something like Kate Bush did, but hadn't realised he had already done it.

Must have been hard for Scott to put on without listening to it.

I was there too. Scott Walker is totally right that some things worked and some didn't, but I don't know if we'd agree on what worked.

I was really bothered by the soccer team picture and the guy with make-up and condoms in his stockings because it completely violated my idea of how these songs should look. There were a few other visual things I didn't like that I can't remember.

I was iffy about some of the singers like Jarvis and Albarn but I don't think anyone was bad. One of the opera singers didn't really work for me but it probably wasn't his fault. Wire magazine criticized the choice of some of the more popular singers.

The music was awesome, Gavin Friday was good but the absolute highlight was the dancing corpse lady, it was just perfect with the music.

Something else negative that left an impression was a couple a few rows behind me who clearly wanted to lets us all know that they thought it was all stupid and we were idiots for liking this arty farty nonsense but they were glad they saw Bono at the end when the performers were bowing (Bono just suddenly appeared to lead them out to take a bow). Most of the audience wouldn't hear their booing but anyone in a nearby seat would have.

Overall it was really good.

Lmao I do not remember bono at all

(Fuck those people obv)

why would you pay a premium to sit and slag off a show for being pretentious? surely they kind of knew what they were letting themselves in for?

I don't think they did at all. According to their conversations, they were invited there by friends and were expecting something different, probably 60s style Walker.

I miss the Scott walker in records like 3, 4 and climate of hunter. At this point it would be more unconventional for him to make a straight up record than go more esoteric..feel like the only one who jumped ship after drift

(Bono just suddenly appeared to lead them out to take a bow)

classic bono move

I didn't want to be too cynical and assume it but it did look like he invited himself onstage to show the cool people he hangs out with. People kept wondering if Scott would come out because he apparently was at the event but he never came out.

see also the bono ruins tinariwen concert youtube

so was this his last ever live appearance?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5E1VXaCBW8

I believe so.

and i gotta quit

Wasn't scott visible at the mixing desk? Or am I thinking of his dance piece