Scott Walker
 

Is anyone a fan? Can anyone recommend a favorite cd?

I just watched 30th Century Man and thought he was fascinating and Ligottian

Re: Scott Walker
 

I really enjoy "the Drift". It's pretty out there & not something I listen to very often but, similar something like Black Angels from the Kronos Quartet or Blut Aus Nord records, when the mood is right nothing else will scratch that particular itch. I'm very interested in what you found to be "Ligottian" about the documentary?

Re: Scott Walker
 

I was impressed by similarities in their creative processes.
In his approach song writing, he's not interested in melody (as TL is not interested in plot). His songs seem to be samples of some surreal existence rather than conciously composed (not that he doesn't work his butt off to achieve this effect).

I'm not familiar enough with his material to be more explicit. These are just the impressions I got from the documentary.

Thanks for recommending The Drift. I'm also inclined to track down Scott 3 and Scott 4.

Re: Scott Walker
 

I've been a huge Scott Walker fan for many years. Though there is a continuity in the mood and atmosphere of his work, there's a big stylistic change between the lush orchestration of his early solo albums (Scott, Scott 2, Scott 3, Scott 4 and 'Til The Band Comes In) and the more abrasive avant garde approach which began with the last Walker Brothers album (Nite Flights) and continued with Climate Of Hunter, Tilt and The Drift. I think your choices of Scott 3 and Scott 4 are good ones. The Drift is also a great album but it's his most strange, fragmented and disturbing. Maybe Tilt would be a better one to try first.

Re: Scott Walker
 

My, it's come to something when you see the claim that an album is less accessible than Tilt.

Every Scott Walker album has great stuff on (apart from a few half-hearted sets of cover versions done for the pop market after the Walker Brothers broke up), but my favourites are Scott 3, Scott 4 and the wonderfully unnerving Climate of Hunter. There's also a great compilation of his covers of Jacques Brel songs (or rather, of American versions of Brel songs) with some bland title like Scott Walker Sings Jacques Brel. All the tracks are taken from his first four solo albums.

Wally Stott, the brilliant producer responsible for the orchestration on such magnificent early Scott Walker songs as 'Montague Terrace (in Blue), 'Always Coming Back to You', 'The Bridge', 'Big Louise' and 'Boy Child', died recently at an advanced age. He had gone through a gender reassignment and lived as a woman for the last thirty or so years.

Re: Scott Walker
 

Re: Scott Walker
 

Arf! I agree that it's not exactly easy listening.:)

I was lucky enough to see Drifting And Tilting - The Songs Of Scott Walker at the Barbican in November last year. This was a semi-theatrical performance of eight songs from Tilt and The Drift. Scott didn't sing himself of course so they were performed by a range of other singers.
The visual presentation complemented the nightmarish "songs" very well and it was great to hear the music powerfully played by an orchestra (apparently buried beneath the stage) and Walker's band (occasionally visible at the back of the stage). The meat-punching percussion on Clara was taken to new heights by having a boxer pummelling a full-size pig hanging from the ceiling! The singers were variable of course and none of them could match Scott's peerless delivery on the albums. As I expected the classical singers did the best job though Damon Albarn, Dot Allison and Gavin Friday were better than I expected. Jarvis Cocker's voice is totally unsuited to Scott's material but it didn't really matter too much as his song (Cossacks Are) was dominated by the menacing rock backing. On the first night I happened to be sitting right in front of the mixing desk so I got a glimpse of Scott himself (who did the mixing) as I made my way out. I was hoping he might take a bow on stage at the end but I guess he still prefers to keep the proverbial low profile. I went to the third (and last) show as well and at the end Scott got an ovation and was surrounded by fans taking advantage of the rare opportunity to get an autograph. I was tempted to try for one myself but I feel a bit guilty about pestering my heroes so I left...

Re: Scott Walker
 

Many thanks for this! This was my first video streaming selection on Netflix via our new Playstation 3, and I am captivated immeasurably.

Re: Scott Walker
 

Poking around in the Ligotti Online archives I was pleased to find this thread! I love Scott Walker, especially the Brel covers and the Brel-influenced songs on Scott One-Four, but I've had a hard time with Tilt and Drift.

I've been working on the theory that my very favourite albums are rarely those that I've instantly enjoyed, so I'm happy to give second, third and fourth chances to the most inaccessible music, but no, later Scott Walker doesn't seem to be for me, which is a shame.

Incidentally, I can recommend Jacques by Mark Almond if anyone else is a fan of Scott Walker's cover versions. (Unfortunately I recently bought Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris which was excruciating.)

Re: Scott Walker
 

In Search of Scott Walker: The Wire: Adventures In Sound And Music: Article