Scott Walker: Tilt

Everyone I knew was wowwed by this when it came out. Totally classic.

Actually except my girlfriend who said it reminded of Meredith Monk.

OTOH none of us were Scott Walker fans until then ... so go figure.

i bought a non-cutout budget-series cd of it two years ago max from cduniverse or cdnow or amazon or cow -- whichever one it was, they had it sitting in stock -- since it's apparently the least units sold virgin album of all time i'd imagine you'd as easily be able to track it down today (includes evan parker session sax on one track !)

anyway, to get from scott 3 and scott 4 (and 'til the 1/2 comes) through to tilt

goto those four scott tracks from '77 walker bros 'niteflights' (three similarly oddball harsh hard funk hard word assoc + one more straightforward sicko 'electrician', in hindsight all clearly bowie food) -- these four tracks are hidden at the end of "walker brothers live in japan" still in print

and then goto 'climate of hunter'

i think they all help ?? -- i can't quite get to tilt myself but i _love_ most of scotts 3 and 4 and 'niteflights' and have not decided what to make of ' .. hunter' yet and am hoping to move backwards from these as reissues of 1 and 2 are out and note: reissues of walker bros albums from '60s have b-sides, out-takes (ie a few early scott songs)

do not read jeremy reed's book on scott walker -- imho it will not help you with anything

And Billy Ocean and Mark Knopfler!

that album doesn't seem to draw me back to it much -- and i like parker's session work on annette peacock's "been in the streets too long" much more, actually

I managed to pick up 'climate of hunter' on vinyl in a second-hand record shop in Edinburgh in 1993, it's not too difficult.

I remember my local indie record shop taking ages to get Tilt in stock when it came out, i can't say i've listened to it in about 7 years. Farmer in the City is pretty close to vintage Scott though.

It's a Windows Media Player file, sorry about that.

maypang, why not try try listening to Scott 1-4 and visualising Sam the Bald Eagle from the Muppets singing it? Works for me.

"What a waste of a great voice," was his verdict.

Tilt is fantastic. As are his 60s albums. Scott Walker, what a hero.

http://www.balconymusic.com/reviews.htm

(I was fooled too, when I first heard it)

In idly doing some checking in the AMG -- I'm reviewing a slew of Scott's songs, including this and "The Cockfighter" from Tilt -- I was somewhat surprised and suddenly worried to find out that there's been a recorded COVER of "Farmer in the City." By some dude from Canadian band the Rheostatics. I have no idea what to think but there it is:

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=UIDMISS70406240155450850&sql=Asd6gtq7zpu47

Is it actually any good? Dare I even contemplate it?

Does anybody remember when some Scott Walker was played on "Eastenders" and Pauline Fowner was getting all reflective?

that tube interview is so painful, so embarassing. but the video is good.

God it's raining bad suddenly!

jones: "do i hear 21?"
audience: "21!"
jones: "i can't hear you! do i hear 21?"
audience: "21!"
jones: "all riiiiiiiight"

-- Michael F Gill (rain19...) (webmail), December 1st, 2004 8:09 PM. (Michael F Gill) (later) (link)

yeah, i sort of had that (awful) review in mind as the archetypal "oh no it's so impenetrable and scary oh no" review--even the positive reviews often take this tack. which i find unfortunate.

Yes, but I consider a lot of the Merzbow I've heard easy listening.

Ned absolutely OTM.

Who on earth described this album as impenetrable or inaccessible?!?

I can only imagine that it must have been one of those damned longhairs who write reviews for AMG and consider a lot of the Merzbow they've heard to be "easy listening" - am I right?

OK, fair enough, he's come a long way from "Make It Easy On Yourself" and "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Any More" (and if that's what you're looking for then you'd best look elsewhere!) but if this is a "difficult" album then it's only "difficult" in the same way that e.g. Charles Mingus is "difficult": i.e. if it gives the listener some sort of perverse pleasure to consider it in such terms rather than just listening to it and enjoying it.

Track 2 I'd believe you — but the opener is merely cinematic.

I wouldn't trust that guy. What a punk.

I believe it was Stephen Thomas Erlewine, actually!

oo whaoo whaoo whaoo

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

It's a good record! But the drumming is real square, drags it down.

I think I actually like most other Scott records more than this one, but "Farmer" and "Rosary" are all time, what can you do

This thread is like the Muppet Babies of ILM -- Dom having no idea what this record is, Nick making juvenile jokes and me making snide, unfunny retorts. Oh, the difference a decade makes.

drumming is real square

Not just the drumming, but a lot of the production in general. Scott only knows studio professionalism, for better or worse. Really, it's the fact that Tilt sounds like it does in spite of that which makes it so genius. (the Drift suffers from this slightly less)

Slightly less? "Drift" is the best recorded album I can think of.

slightly less stiff -- of course it's wonderfully recorded, just like all of SW's albums. And really, years from now, divorced from the notion of what stiff 80s adult contemporary pop sounds like, my bet is that all of his records sound immaculate

Ah, less stiff. Yah.

The stiffness is very, very much on purpose. In his Wire interview after Tilt I remember him talking in detail about how he did not want his musicians to groove and how he would do things in the studio to deliberately undermine their ability to groove. I actually really like that quality, esp on Tilt.

Yeah, this would not make sense if it had any looseness about it at all.

By "square" I don't mean "not loose", I mean predictable. The kit sounds like a kit, it's playing 4/4 at all times. In a record filled with alien sounds, the drums keep the thing tethered to the ground. I mean, it's a bitty-bitty complaint, really, such a great record.

Does anyone know the story behind Robert Plant covering "Farmer In The City"? Was he a fan of Scott's back in the day and followed his career?

when I spoke to him in '97, upon the Drag City release of Tilt, he was very keen to talk about how he didn't want the musicians to groove in any way…Climate of Hunter grooves. perhaps in a Avalon kinda way, so mebbe he didn't dig that kinda thing?

Bring It on Home - 15 Classic Tracks Chosen by Robert Plant

Right, I know about that Uncut comp but how did he get there in the first place? I mean, maybe this is my own limited thinking, but I don't imagine big stars like Robert Plant or Sting going down to HMV and picking up the latest underground rock albums.

isn't plant famous for have eclectic taste? iirc someone here mentioned him talking about swans once.

>Does Robert Plant like Kingdom Come? <

When I interviewed him maybe 15 years ago, actually, he kept saying he likes the Cocteau Twins, the Swans, and Husker Du. He hated Whitesnake. But I kept wondering whether he was just dropping names that he thought would impress a music critic.

― chuck, Monday, June 7, 2004 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i remember plant being on the cover of Q back in the early 90s holding a copy of Big Black's More Songs About Fucking.

― stevie (stevie), Tuesday, June 8, 2004 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

more of this here

I think now there can be no doubt that meant what he said. I do think that sometimes Xhukk has a vastly over-thought and over estimated view of the relevance of rock criticism to not only famous musicians but the general public. Regular peepul do not fukkin care what Xgau thinks! I say this as a guy who has moved furniture for him.

i agree it's really hard to imagine somebody who has made their living from music for most of their life being interested in any music other than the genre they're famous for performing

I sense sarcasm. And, yeah, Robert Palmer is an excellent counter-example to that theory as well.

Anyway, this album... Almost 20 years on and it's interesting how it sounds so much more accessible to me now. When I first heard it, it was so alien and unapproachable, but with much water under the bridge and music heard since then, the musicality of certain songs stands out and the oddness doesn't put me off at all. Moving on to "The Drift", which felt even stranger.

I don't think it's much weirder than him covering 'I Dream Of Wires' by Gary Numan.

Neither original track is anything like 'I Didn't Mean To Turn You On' really.

when I spoke to him in '97, upon the Drag City release of Tilt, he was very keen to talk about how he didn't want the musicians to groove in any way…Climate of Hunter grooves. perhaps in a Avalon kinda way, so mebbe he didn't dig that kinda thing?

― veronica moser, Wednesday, July 9, 2014 11:40 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ooh where did this get printed? I wanna read it. Also I am wicked jealous of you now.

Climate totally grooves, as does Nite Flights.

Tilt remains SW at zenith for me even though I love love love the shit he has done before and after. But Tilt is almost totemic to me, the way Laughingstock and Up On The Sun and A Walk Across the Rooftops are totemic. It's just a sound world that was fashioned to be extremely comfy for my brain. I was super into late 60s Scott when Tilt came out, my friend and I bought it as soon as we could get an import, and I loved it from :01.

It's my favourite by him too, I got it a few years before Drift came out and it made me a big fan.