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View Full Version : September Artist Focus: Scott Walker



wunderbar
8th September 2011, 03:14
This is a bit long, but keep in mind this is an overview spanning nearly 50 years.

http://i.imgur.com/uPIJ1.jpg http://i.imgur.com/L8MEy.jpg

Scott Walker is a singer-songwriter whose long career has seen many and often drastic changes in style. Born Noel Scott Engel in 1943, he worked as a session bassist in Los Angeles, where he met guitarist John Maus and drummer Gary Leeds. Together, they formed the group The Walker Brothers, adopting Walker as their last name. After little success in the United States, The Walker Brothers moved to the United Kingdom in 1965, where they soon became stars with Scott's deep crooning voice singing lead on hit singles including "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore", "My Ship Is Coming In", and "Make It Easy On Yourself". At the height of their popularity, The Walker Brothers fan club had more members than The Beatles fan club.

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Soon after the breakup of The Walker Brothers in 1967, Scott Walker began his solo career with the album Scott. Featuring original songs, English-language covers of Jacques Brel songs, and popular standards of the era, Scott was a success, reaching #3 on the UK album charts, followed by 1968's "Scott 2", a #1 album.

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Bored with this formula, Scott started relying more on his own songwriting, which proved to be unpopular with record-buying audiences, resulting in decreased album sales, with 1969's "Scott 4" failing to chart at all. The followup album, 1970's "'Til The Band Comes In", also failed to chart and the last Scott Walker solo album to feature original songs for over a decade.

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(this one is about the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia)

After recording several albums (including a brief foray into country music) with zero success, The Walker Brothers reunited in the mid-1970s. After brief success with a single, "No Regrets", a country-pop cover, The Walker Brothers struggled to release another hit. Their final album, 1978's "Nite Flights" was an abrupt shift in style, with a sound similar to David Bowie's "Berlin period" collaborations with Brian Eno.

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Since the 1980s, Scott Walker has released three albums, one every decade. 1984's "Climate of Hunter", 1995's "Tilt", and 2006's "The Drift" are far more experimental and avant-garde than his classic 60's albums, but Scott Walker continues to enjoy cult popularity.

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coda
8th September 2011, 20:09
Nice writeup. This one hasn't passed my way before --but he has now! And I have pretty broad knowledge of obscure early 60's mostly British musicians and sessions players. Curious to hear how you discovered/were introduced to him?

coda
8th September 2011, 20:34
Hey!! I wonder if The Kinks were inspired by the song "30th century man"? Their song "Lola" (1970) has a similiar guitar sound at the beginning. Also they have a song called "20th century man" off their 1971 album "Muswell Hillbillies". Everybody is inspired by somebody! Anyhow, I am a crazy Kinks fanatic.

wunderbar
9th September 2011, 09:08
Curious to hear how you discovered/were introduced to him?

It was a while back when I was on a Phil Spector kick, and was looking for music with production similar to his. I found out about The Walker Brothers and from there, solo Scott Walker. There was sort of a "degrees of separation" between The Walker Brothers and Phil Spector, his primary arranger Jack Nitzsche produced what became The Walker Brothers' first UK hit, "Love Her".

coda
9th September 2011, 14:00
interesting stuff! The hows and whys of people's musical tastes and interests is equally fascinating. Thanks for posting!