Checkin out Scott Walker

Rhapsody informed me this morning via a prominent homepage positioning that there's a Razor and Tie compendium of SCOTT WALKER tracks.   (Not sure why they chose to spotlight it now, since it came out in '96, but there you are...)  Walker is a cult figure who's long cited among the cognoscenti - I guess if you like Lee Hazelwood and Wes Anderson soundtracks, you 'll probably be into Scott Walker.  Here's the Rhapsody blurb:

Practically unknown in the U.S., this American became a cult star in the U.K., where his bleakly romantic songs had a profound influence on everyone from David Bowie and Roxy Music to Julian Cope and Nick Cave. This set is poorly sequenced but there's no faulting the brilliance of cuts like "The Old Man's Back Again," "The Little Things…" and the rain-soaked title track.

I'm all for collecting UK semi-obscurities - hey I even bought the Chris Farlowe album, in search of the original version of "Handbags and Gladrags", though I don't think that's it...

So I checked this out.  There's some wierd shit on there - highlighted by (naturally) a couple of notable Jaques Brel covers - "Next" seems to be a story of an angst-filled Army induction (and sexual initiation) set to bullfight music, which commences with the image of our narrator "naked as sin, an army towel covering my belly" and just gets stranger from there...  Meanwhile a couple other songs even call to mind Frank Sinatra, esp the "It Was a Very Good Year" type crooning - and both those influences then point to a straight line toward Bowie's turn-of-the'70s theatricality on "Space Oddity" and "MHSTW."

So there you are -- I played it through a couple times, and saved it to my library - time will tell how often I go back to it...

Comments

[caysha]

this thing is ssssooooooooooo awesome i want to write a song about it!Thats kinda weird a song about a song player(mp3 player)!
thanks 4 inventing it
caysha

[Jay]

Scott Walker is genius. You must revisit many times over. It's lush, it's vibrant, it's original, it's campy. If you have to get an individual Scott Walker album (unavailable in the US), get "4". He sings a song on there about the movie The Seventh Seal. John, if only I could do a Scott Walker mashup with something. U think 2 Many DJs would put it on their next compilation for me? Cheers!

Jay

[Knapster]

I recommend is last (latest) album 'Tilt'. Musically is sounds amazing and is very contemporary and layered. The lyrics are far more abstract and strange compared to the ballads and show him going from strength to strength. He's now signed to the Pixies label, 4AD, so should be interesting to hear what he does next.