Poll Your Own Again - Scott Walker Solo Studio Albums

Voted "Drift"

.. because track one sounds like "Annalisa" Public Image Limited.

gonnba be boring and go for scott 4, although tilt is a runner up.

I mean, the bassline on "The Old Man's Back Again" is reason in itself...

4 is one of my favourite albums, so uh that one.

i really love how imaginative 'the drift' is though. such a challenging and confronting listen, which i like.

Love most of them but Tilt and The Drift are the real meat. Tilt edges The Drift for me, I like its mix of orchestral beauty with harsh dissonance - The Drift is just a bit too relentless.

Voted 4. Does anyone know/like Neko Case's cover of Duchess?

yeah, the drift gets the job of scaring the living pants out of you done with as little hassle as possible, but tilt has nicer arrangements and is generally more listenable (if that's possible).

3

3

4

"The Drift". Best album of 2006 and one of the finest albums of the decade. "Jesse" is sublime

Tilt

Best Scott Walker solo album

done before, scott 4 was the winner, with great justice

these days i think i like 1 > 4

Agonizing to choose between 3 and Tilt.

It has to be Tilt in the end, probably my favorite music of the last 20 years.

(if I could only have 1 CD to represent 1960s Scott, it would be the remastered/revised Boy Child comp, the one that includes 'Angels Of Ashes'.)

Pola X commands some high prices on Amazon.

So does anyone know when the "30 century man" documantary is out? I've been waiting for ages...

what, on DVD? about 2 years ago!

It's been showing here and there for a couple of years now at film festivals and such. There is a DVD now, and last time I checked it is watchable on Netflix 'Watch Instantly'.

It's not a very well-crafted documentary but if you're a Scott obsessive it's unmissable just for the interview segments with him.

In North America, as well? I can't find it anywhere.

http://www.amazon.com/Scott-Walker-30th-Century-Man/dp/B00227A81A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1253043705&sr=8-1

it's available via Amazon USA, for a start. not cheap (compared with the UK), but it's in stock: http://www.amazon.com/Scott-Walker-30th-Century-Man/dp/B00227A81A/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1253043744&sr=8-4

x-post

Since I saw it in a theater, can anyone say whether there's significant extra stuff on the DVD?

Not many extras; certainly nothing spectacular IIRC. Just checking the DVD. You get a series of further (short) interview outttakes with the likes of Bowie, Cocker, Neil Hannon etc., the trailer, the video to "Jesse" and director's commentary.

I wouldn't buy it for the extras.

Yeah that sounds like the kind of stuff I could have used less of in the film proper.

Now, some footage of the dance performance for 'And Who Shall Go The Ball..." THAT would be an enticement.

And Who Shall Go The Ball...

Speaking of Scott Walker solo albums.... If Pola X counts, why not "And Who..."?

And speaking of Pola X, ppl should just get the 5 Easy Pieces box set, it has all the material from Pola X you'd need and many other goodies.

3

thanks guys!

climate of hunter is hella underrated

Climate is a masterpiece, but not the winner of this contest.

When the cluster-cloud of overdubbed Evan Parker saxes comes in, I die.

three, with no hesitation. utterly flawless.

1, 2, 4, tilt and drift are only the tiniest of notches behind though.

Til The Band Comes In 4EVA!!!!! Cowbells Shakin, man!

Four, but I haven't heard a good deal of these. I probably should, though.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

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

pfft, Scott 4 is such a rockist choice. Aw man, he wrote all them songs himself. Doesn't change the fact that half of them are dull, personality free exercises in rudimentary songcraft. Even the good songs are far more simple than everything he did before, and not necessarily better for it. I much prefer the overreaching, overblown orchestal constructions of the earlier albums. I can't get behind the (let's face it, not even perfectly crafted) Scott 4 songs, and all the coda scatting in the world isn't gonna make them as spectacular or majestic as Plastic Palace People or It's Raining Today. Boy Child is still a jam though

This is about right, although I haven't heard any of the mid-period stuff. I should really check out Climate.

merked - do you not like The Old Man's Back Again?

yeah, i can dig that. The construction of it isn't perfect, lyrically it's a little disjointed and non-sequential, but it's definitely a great song. It's some of the other stuff that leaves me cold

Scott 4 is my least favorite of the first five Walker albums. I don't get the love for it either.

keep it down; 4 is great

for me it goes

1>4>3=tilt>2>climate of hunter

of what ive heard

i couldn't go for 1 myself either, far too much filler. Of the first four i reckon 2 is probably my favourite.. the best Brel covers, the best Walker songs (PPP is amazing, The Bridge is even better: "white doves turned grey, and flew away. And so did Madelaine"), and some great gems hidden elsewhere.

What do i know though? Scott himself wasn't much of a fan

Scott 4 is my least favorite of the first five Walker albums. I don't get the love for it either.

wouldn't go that far necessarily, but it is the one I listen to least out of the first four. 4 to me has as much filler as 1 – I've never got the appeal of 'duchess', 'angels of ashes' or 'rhymes of goodbye'. all pretty dreary. at least 'you're gonna hear from me', though ill-fitting, has a fun, louche dean martin quality to it, y'know? pretty much everything else on 4 is glorious though. 'world's strongest man' is a particularly unheralded high point in his early period. 'boy child' is easily the standout though.

I voted 3 btw. every moment sublime.

while i do appreciate scott's brel covers, i can't help preferring the originals. helps if you understand the french of course though.

'duchess', 'angels of ashes' or 'rhymes of goodbye'. all pretty dreary.

Dude if I didn't know you were cool this is cruisin' on SB street

Yeah, those are certainly not the three worst songs on that album! And no polls puh-leeze

Think I'm starting to agree with the 4 revisionism. 3 is best of his 60s albums. But Tilt trumps them all.

cruisin' on SB street

I have no idea what this means, but it sounds delightful.

My home-made Scott best-of is killing me tonight. Goddamn, such a literate songwriter, one of the few who can create fully fleshed out characters that you connect with in 4 minutes. Then there's the haunting use of strings in both his classic stuff as well as his recent work. And the VOICE! Holy crap, up from the depths of hell or the out of the gates of heaven, depending on your perspective.

Good albeit brief interview:
http://www.dazeddigital.com/mobile/music/article/11462/1/20-qas-scott-walker

Thx Gerald, That was actually p exciting.

hey Gerald what was on your homemade best of?

thanks for the link!

Dazed & Confused: Scott, we are excited to hear that you will be back with new material, perhaps as soon as next year. Can you tell us anything about it?
Scott Walker: If you’ll indulge me, I’d rather not discuss the new recording as it is still ongoing. One lives in hope.

Bless him <3

This comp was initially put together by a mate of mine but I expanded it a bit. Since my post upthread in January, that same mate track down the Scott box for me.

The (Slightly) Condensed Best Of Scott Walker:
The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore (alt version)
In My Room
Orpheus
Mrs. Murphy
Montague Terrace (In Blue)
Jackie
Mathilde
The Girls And The Dogs
Next
My Death
Amsterdam
If You Go Away
Funeral Tango
Sons Of
Angels Of Ashes
Rhymes Of Goodbye
'Til The Band Comes In
30th Century Man
Shutout
Fat Mama Kick
Nite Flights
The Electrician
Rawhide
Track Three
Track Seven
I Threw It All Away
The Church Of The Apostles
Farmer In The City
The Cockfighter
Cossacks Are
Clara
Jesse
Jolson And Jones
Hand Me Ups

Good selections; too much Brel for my taste, I'd cut My Death, Amsterdam, If you go away, Funeral Tango and Sons Of, and replace with Engel originals; no Boy Child? no Big Louise? no It's Raining Today? no Two Ragged Soldiers?

Oh, I adore the Brel covers - those are some of the extras I added initially. But as I said, since then I just got the box set (and even added some tracks to that!). Delving so deeply into Scott's world for hours on end is... revelatory.

Yeah y'all need some more SCOTT 3 selections on there! That is actually my favorite Scott Mark I album.

Also-- "Scope J" with ute lemper, surely.

Right on with your early Walker Bros selections. I would add only "Deadlier Than The Male".

heard we had it all for the first time recently -- kind of great. obviously not what people think of nowadays when they think of the dude, but it is wonderful AM radio seventies pop.

I have always kinda wanted to order that STRETCH/WE HAD IT ALL 2fer...

yeah, that's what i've got. schmaltz-y arrangements, sure, but walker sells 'em.

"Delta Dawn" is on there, right?

There was a 2nd Scott Walker bio, came out a few years after A Deeper Shade Of Blue, which made a pitch toward the rehabilitation of Scott's MOR covers period...

yeah delta dawn is on there, last track on stretch i think.
in some ways, scott's voice is made for these kind of albums imo. i like his more arty recordings, but these are nice too. he's pretty much disowned them, right?

Oh yes, The Voice is what makes much of the material work at times, but some of the covers are still irredeemable in my mind. The second side of "Til The Band Comes In" is really not good, and "Stormy" particularly offended me.

i suppose i might disown them too, just because of this cover
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_T6h4XunOytc/TF9q82SPEjI/AAAAAAAABfE/HH2vsqvM9RM/s1600/scott_walker_stretch_lp.jpg

I can't remember what comments he's made on those records, but I would expect it to be heavily tinged with his memory of a pretty down time in his life.

I really should reread the first bio... it's been at least 15 years...

Yeah TIL THE BAND COMES IN is p much impossible to listen to front-to-back despite its superb high points (IMO the BOY CHILD anthology really really should have chosen "Joe" instead of "Time Operator")

What are the worthwhile tracks on the zero-vote albums (other than Pola X soundtrack)?

ah, wish I knew. Would have voted "3".

The essential purchase not listed in this poll is the Japanese version of Ute Lemper's Punishing Kiss album, which has 2 long post-Tilt style songs written and produced by Scott for her (the normal version only has one of them).

They're utterly incredibly, aren't they? I was listening to them just the other day thinking how it's possible this is as good as music gets.

Oh, and they're both on the "Five Easy Pieces" box set, too.