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Scott Walker

C

cliffpatte

Speed camera anarchist
Great Voice, obviously.

But since 1970 what has he done?

Interesting Bio on BBC tonight, but how can you rate discordant stuff for 30 plus years against a tunesmiths skills from the 60s

Interesting, n'est ce pas?
 
I have the last lp on vinyl. To be honest I am afraid of it. I can see it sitting there in the lp box on it's own. I have to keep it away from the Pat Metheny and the Coil lp's in case it gives them any ideas about becoming dark and scary.

Sometimes I think it moves about on it's own..............what happened to Scott......he used to be such a nice boy!
 
what B-D said,he comes across as having no personality and i find his singing really annoying,i have clothed ears anyway and i wouldn't know art if it hits me between my eyes.
 
One for the most overrated club perhaps?

"Get in there, behind Morrison, Dylan, Zappa and the rest..."

DS
 
Well I enjoyed the documentary! I'd been aware of how he'd left the Walker Brothers and of his reputation but never had a prolonged listen to any of his solo albums, so I suspect that I'll have a punt on one or two.

His voice and the overall lushness and complexity of the musical arrangements were/are superb but the only doubt I have is the vaguely comic element to some of the more depressing lyrics that aren't supposed to be funny. For example:
"He'd like another name the one he's got's a curse
These people cried
Why can't they understand
His mother called him Ivan then she died"

Well it makes me chuckle anyway.

This is way funnier but then it was written by Jacques "laugh a minute" Brel
"One day I'll cut my legs off
Or burn myself alive
Anything, I'll do anything
To get out of line to survive
Never to be next
Never to be next"
 
There are some wonderful Scott Walker lyrics:

Over the rooftop sails Billy
A string tied to his underwear
Through cobbled stone streets a child races
And shouts "Billy, come down from there"
…

(Plastic Palace People)

And if one day I should become
A singer with a Spanish bum
Who sings for women of great virtue
I'd sing to them with a guitar
I borrowed from a coffee bar
Well, what you don't know doesn't hurt you
My name would be Antonio
And all my bridges I would burn
And when I gave them some they'd know
I'd expect something in return
I'd have to get drunk every night
And talk about virility
With some old grandmother
That might be decked out like a Christmas tree
And though pink elephants I'd see
Though I'd be drunk as I could be
Still I would sing my song to me
About the time they called me "Jacky"

If I could be for only an hour
If I could be for an hour every day
If I could be for just one little hour
Cute in a stupid ass way
…

(Jackie)

She stands all alone
You can hear her hum softly
From her fire escape in the sky
She fills the bags 'neath her eyes
With the moonbeams
And cries 'cause the world's passed her by

Didn't time sounds sweet yesterday?
In a world filled with friends
You lose your way

She's a haunted house
And her windows are broken
And the sad young man's gone away
Her bathrobe's torn
And tears smudge her lipstick
And the neighbors just whisper all day

Didn't time sounds sweet yesterday?
In a world filled with friends
You lose your way

(Big Louise)

The little clock's stopped ticking now
We're swallowed in the stomached rue
The only sound to tear the night
Comes from the man upstairs

His bloated belching figure stomps
He may crash through the ceiling soon
The window sees trees cry from cold
And claw the moon
…

(Montague Terrace In Blue)

It’s his delivery – he is just so deadpan and traditional ‘easy’ that it makes them laugh out loud funny for me. I don’t think I’ve heard any of the later stuff, but Scott 1 through 4 are all superb albums.

Tony.
 
Yeah, I fancied getting 1 to 4 and "The Drift" - sort of representing the extremes chronologically and stylistically.
 
I think his later work eclipses his otherwise excellent earlier work.

1 - 4 do contain a lot of humour which is really incongruous wrt the lounge lizard delivery.

"Tilt" is utterly stunning. "The Drift" is challenging, but rewarding.

It's probably fair to say there have been (at least) three Scott Walker phases.

I would like to have seen the documentary.
 
Having been a Scot Walker fan of some years, I have to confess I have got stuck at Climate of Hunter, a stunning and spooky album. Give me another ten years and I might get Tilt and then I will tackle Drift. I thought the documentary was really interesting and didn’t frighten me by dwelling on Drift too much. I am being painfully honest now; I haven’t even broken the seal (there is only one, not seven) on my copy of Drift yet. I am waiting till I ‘get’ Tilt, then I will have a go at Drift.

Martin
 
Tony L said:
There are some wonderful Scott Walker lyrics:

Over the rooftop sails Billy
A string tied to his underwear
Through cobbled stone streets a child races
And shouts "Billy, come down from there"
…

(Plastic Palace People)

And if one day I should become
A singer with a Spanish bum
Who sings for women of great virtue
I'd sing to them with a guitar
I borrowed from a coffee bar
Well, what you don't know doesn't hurt you
My name would be Antonio
And all my bridges I would burn
And when I gave them some they'd know
I'd expect something in return
I'd have to get drunk every night
And talk about virility
With some old grandmother
That might be decked out like a Christmas tree
And though pink elephants I'd see
Though I'd be drunk as I could be
Still I would sing my song to me
About the time they called me "Jacky"

If I could be for only an hour
If I could be for an hour every day
If I could be for just one little hour
Cute in a stupid ass way
…

(Jackie)

She stands all alone
You can hear her hum softly
From her fire escape in the sky
She fills the bags 'neath her eyes
With the moonbeams
And cries 'cause the world's passed her by

Didn't time sounds sweet yesterday?
In a world filled with friends
You lose your way

She's a haunted house
And her windows are broken
And the sad young man's gone away
Her bathrobe's torn
And tears smudge her lipstick
And the neighbors just whisper all day

Didn't time sounds sweet yesterday?
In a world filled with friends
You lose your way

(Big Louise)

The little clock's stopped ticking now
We're swallowed in the stomached rue
The only sound to tear the night
Comes from the man upstairs

His bloated belching figure stomps
He may crash through the ceiling soon
The window sees trees cry from cold
And claw the moon
…

(Montague Terrace In Blue)

It’s his delivery – he is just so deadpan and traditional ‘easy’ that it makes them laugh out loud funny for me. I don’t think I’ve heard any of the later stuff, but Scott 1 through 4 are all superb albums.

Tony.
Click to expand...

All of which are splendidly covered by the Cope,on 'Fire escape in the sky.'
I've got other bits and bobs ( nothing amazing just Walker Bros stuff, ) and am looking forward to watching the Imagine prog. to see what Scott's been doing in the last 20 years!
 
A wasted huge talent Imo- a handful of songs are magnificent.. more often tho his songs are pretty poor Imo condidering his voice is so strong (and lyrics it seems); the fact that he did produce the odd gem Imo reinforces my frustration with Scott Walker. Surprised the doc was bbc1- ideal late night bbc2 type thing- odd.
 
I caught the second half of the documentary last night.

Interesting, but the shot towards the end with him in the studio recording some guy punching a rack of meat just lost me I'm afraid.:) They all seemed SO excited about it for some reason.
 
Surely you have to view the clip in context - the track being recorded deals with SW's impressions of the lynching of Mussolini & his mistress. Bearing that in mind, how else would you convey the sound of fist on flesh?
Gary
andyoz said:
I caught the second half of the documentary last night.

Interesting, but the shot towards the end with him in the studio recording some guy punching a rack of meat just lost me I'm afraid.:) They all seemed SO excited about it for some reason.
Click to expand...
 
I have to revise totally my evaluation of Scott now I discover that he runs a chip-shop just outside the Potteries.

(I so hope this is true)
 
bor said:
I think his later work eclipses his otherwise excellent earlier work.

1 - 4 do contain a lot of humour which is really incongruous wrt the lounge lizard delivery.

"Tilt" is utterly stunning. "The Drift" is challenging, but rewarding.

It's probably fair to say there have been (at least) three Scott Walker phases.

I would like to have seen the documentary.
Click to expand...

The doco on TV is a shortened version of a film called 30 Century Man which is doing a tour of art house cinemas at the moment. I'm sure it will get a DVD release at some point, and no doubt the Beeb will repeat the edited version too.

I agree with you about Tilt and The Drift.

Regards,

Mickey
 
GaryT said:
Surely you have to view the clip in context - the track being recorded deals with SW's impressions of the lynching of Mussolini & his mistress. Bearing that in mind, how else would you convey the sound of fist on flesh?
Gary
Click to expand...

Thanks for clearing that up...I was only catching glimpses of the show.
 
Thanks for the info about 30th Century Man, Mickey. I'll keep that in the back of my mind.

I think I'll order "Climate Of The Hunter", next.....
 
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