A lot of younger folk prefer his atonal recordings, Tilt onwards. View his sixties abums like a black & white movie "old".
If I had to choose between the 60's stuff and the new stuff, I'd probably pick the 60's stuff. Even though I love Tilt, Drift and Bish Bosch (not to mention Soused) nothing beats stuff like Montague Terrace (In Blue). Shivers down my spine.
Watching the prom now. It's a bit of an impossible task for the singers - accurately recreating the lush instrumentation doesn't really give them much of anywhere to go with their interpretations. I'd imagine the likes of Jarvis could do a worthwhile cover of some of Walker's material, with a more Jarvis-appropriate arrangement. Lovely seeing the orchestral stuff played, and it sounds sumptuous.
I've got that 5-CD boxset but midway through 'appreciating' it, I had an enlightenment and can now bring it to the world. Forget all those complicated eulogies from the likes of Marc Almond and Jarvis Cocker, this is the only quote you'll need to begin and end your Scott journey. 'He's Perry Como for hipsters'
Not true, though. I'm old enough to remember when Como had his own TV show, and trust me, the similarity between him and Walker ends at them both being men.
A steal for the newbie. Art cover /photo could put a few people off. His best album cover/gatefold was Scott 4. Do yourself a favour amd hunt down the org LP you won't be disappointed.
There really isn't anything much. I saw the master tapes about 15 years ago, and could only see two unreleased songs from the 1-4 period. These had annotations by Cally Calloman who compiled Boy Child, so he must have been considering them for release, but I expect they were vetoed by Scott. The two tracks were 'Overgrown Paths' and a version of Jacques Brel's 'The Desperate Ones'. The latter is a fully realised production with strings. Bleedin' marvellous it is too. I'd love to hear it again.
Bung them on a lavish Smile type box..w/book LPS /CDS poster etc What about Til The Band Comes In outakes ?
I didn't see the tapes for that, but word is that there's nothing. Scott tended to know what he wanted and didn't appear to record any half-hearted numbers. Similarly with The Walker Brothers, not a lot of outtakes really. My favourite is 'I Got Lost For A While'.
Thx for the info, much appreciated. Perhaps big box set too problematic. A 45rpm 2LP of Scott 4 would suffice.
There's this rather fine unreleased track too, with the accompanying blurb of it being "recorded during sessions for Scott's debut LP in 1967 and slated for release as a single. It lay in the archives until the early 1990's when a copy was made directly from the unmixed 4-track master, which is exactly what you hear on this clip"...
Last weeks BBC Prom Scott tribute didn't really do it for me. I really like John Grant and Richard Hawley's albums. I like Jarvis and have listened to his Sunday service BBC Radio 6 music show for years but thought No this aint right! It just didn't work and i have watched it twice now. Jarvis singing Scotts songs just doesn't work for me. I can't fault the orchestra in anyway whats so ever. They were outstanding. Only one person on this planet that can do Scott Walkers music justice and thats Scott Walker. Tilt.
Is 'The Desperate Ones' this song? I love that performance from Nina Simone (and its weird arrangement!) and could imagine a very different, but equally good, one from Scott.
