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3351.

Scott

Scott Walker

"Once, coiled soundly beneath the kaleidoscopic cornucopia of musical excess that was the 1960's, a tidal wave which reached sacred heights but synchronically cannibalized itself ten times over, there was a man. A man who, fit with somber body language and European sensibilities, wore dark sunglas...""Once, coiled soundly beneath the kaleidoscopic cornucopia of musical excess that was the 1960's, a tidal wave which reached sacred heights but synchronically cannibalized itself ten times over, there was a man. A man who, fit with somber body language and European sensibilities, wore dark sunglasses indoors and crooned with regard to the fraudulent nature of suburban, posh societies and serial drinkers who typify carnal, animalistic yearnings on midnight pub parades. The man's name was Scott Walker and he's seemingly lived a thousand lifetimes, shuffling along in the footwear of names past and present, rich and poor, angelic and depraved in equal measure. Here, on 'Scott', Walker begins to chisel out his first, significant artistic personality, free from the restraints of the pop band expectations of the Walker Brothers and into a new era of thought-provoking, thematically challenging baroque pop. On his first solo record, the enigmatic songster registers a mere trio of writing credits, however, it's the ascendancy and grandeur of the LP that transfigures the collective into something wholly idiosyncratic. On 'Scott', a caged, creative genius breathed new air that billowed with currents of Belgian chanteurs and classical composers and laid the bedrock for one of the most beguiling careers of the modern era. The album begins with 'Mathilde', an English rendition of Jacques Brel's 1964 chanson that details an abusive, romantic entanglement that forever resurrects like a pitiful, desperate phoenix. This is an opportune time to discuss Walker's admiration and veneration for Brel's work, once even calling him the "most important singer-songwriter in the world". Brel's pension to uncover and rhapsodize on all things strange and uncomfortable in society appealed to Walker, during a period where such things weren't touched or even discussed in pop music, let alone music at large. As a result, Walker christened his exodus from the mainstream by breathing life into Brel's haunting, challenging and sunless parables. At their moral best, they're hopeless, demoralizing accounts of unrequited love and at their worst, accounts of molestation, both mentally and physically at the hands of Army officers. Despite Walker's radical and firmly adult direction, his albums began to fall on a more gradually disinterested audience. Yet, it began to plot the roadmap for a rapidly escalating sonic approach that few (if any) could find parallels to. On 'Mathilde', Walker channels Brel while proclaiming, "My hands, you'll start to shake again when you remember all the pain; Mathilde's come back to me; You'll want to beat her black and blue but don't do it, I beg of you." The track is framed within an up-tempo sheen, reminiscent of a march into battle or a swaggering anthem of boisterous victory. The subject's early indecision is apparent with his mind made up by the end of the piece. Walker employed the assistance of three composers on 'Scott', perhaps most synonymously, Angela Morley (then Wally Stott), who would go on to further heights as Walker's arranger. On track two, Montague Terrace (In Blue), one of three penned by Scott himself, Morley crafts a dizzying, yet chic sheen before propelling walls of brass that instantly unionize with Walker's baritone hollers. There's an air of satire purveying here, like a thick vapor. "The girl across the hall makes love; Her thoughts lay cold like shattered stone; Her thighs are full of tales to tell of all the nights she's known," Walker details. It's unclear if the image is one of a much yearned for, idyllic, societal upgrade or a disdain for others' possessions and dispositions. Arriving third, LP highlight 'Angelica' softly vibrates before segueing into Walker's cries for the song's titular maiden. The organ tones from the onset color the track with melancholy, conjuring images of eulogization for lost love. Walker explains, "Now in my solitude, I tend the flowers that I buy, As they slowly fade and die, watered by the tears I cry." 'Angelica' represents a landmark in the early days of Walker's solo odyssey, as an indication of his desire to routinely croon overtop pessimist anthems far before it was vogue, complete with a dim worldview that would become progressively overcast. Fourth Track, 'The Lady from Baltimore', is Walker's attempt at Tim Hardin's classic. Scott's take is fittingly folky, with the prose in lock-step with his bleak paradigm. His voice sports a twangy timbre, faintly foreshadowing his self-assessed "Wilderness Years" in the early 1970's. However, his foray into folk and flirtation with country is marvelously executed. Walker's most ardent statement on the LP is the final track, 'Amsterdam', a swooning, cinematic recoloring of Jacques Brel's famous live staple. It's through this piece that Walker proves himself to be most worthy to succeed Brel as the patron saint of fatalistic allegories. The track opens with accordion hisses that wash over the empty pockets of sonic space like a patient sunrise as eyelids softly open to greet it. Walker sets the the scene for the finale with a tale of the rawest kind of human desperation, with a pistol of willful ignorance tucked away in its holster. The tale is as much about revelry as it is despair, or maybe more astutely, how the two co-exist in the minds of the downtrodden. 'Amsterdam' steadily ascends, starting as a lone man recounting a drunken memory out loud. Soon, it seems as if others join in (characterized by the power of Walker's vocals). Finally, the collective emerges, taking the form of the swirling instrumentation that rises the tide lead by Walker's voice. It's a picture so vivid that it's hard to disassociate the visual from the track. It's a stunning statement ushered off by Walker's repeated chants. 'Amsterdam' is without question Walker's finest Brel interpretation and one of his career's most prolific efforts. Noel Scott Engel died on March 22, 2019, but the world knew him as Scott Walker. However, few people knew that he died in 1967 as well. This death did not serve as a passageway to the afterlife, but rather, a reincarnation. An invigoration. A rebirth. 'Scott' remains the genesis of a career that words couldn't succinctly articulate. The Scott Walker of the Walker brothers walked and died, dried up in a desert of creative disillusionment and disgust so that the Scott Walker that would follow could run and consequently, swim oceans fiercely cavernous and artistically unbound. The transaction included trading in a handsome, youthful face for a stern demeanor and a military cap that slumped lower and lower throughout the years, reflecting the thematic directions his music would take while hiding the weathered, hardened features of his face. The seedlings planted within 'Scott' would grow to spawn a wonderous garden whose fruits few would taste. Walker saw very little monetary success throughout the remainder of his career and by 1978, he was a recluse. He would occasionally resurface with records that would scorch earth and send those with their ears to the ground into a frenzy. By some, he is regarded as the most unheralded genius in music history. To others, he was a passing shadow of an assembly line industry of musical malaise. In 1967, with a brilliant, stark solo debut, he began a journey of endless ambition fit with thankless repercussions. It's a journey we all should take, for it is rooted in the very soul of what music should be, endlessly imaginative and unyielding. However, few have the inclination to look at the natural world as Walker did. It's a blessing and a curse. "In the port of Amsterdam there's a sailor who drinks And he drinks, and he drinks, and he drinks once again, He drinks to the health of the whores of Amsterdam Who have promised their love to a thousand other men They've bargained their bodies and their virtue long gone For a few dirty coins, and when he can't go on, He plants his nose in the sky and he wipes it up above, And he pisses like I cry for an unfaithful love." -Amsterdam Standout Tracks: 1. Amsterdam 2. Angelica 3. The Lady from Baltimore 91.6" [+] Reply

DriftingOrpheus | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1967

Appears in:

113 charts

Rank Score:

453

Rank in 1967:

Rank in 1960s:

285

Overall Rank:

3,351

Average Rating:

75 (136 votes)

Comments:

3352.

Tell Me I'm Pretty

Cage The Elephant

"Very much like Melophobia. There is not a track here I dislike, very fun, just not amazing. Though, definitely not 170th for 2015." Reply

- dgarr22 | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

2015

Appears in:

61 charts

Rank Score:

453

Rank in 2015:

Rank in 2010s:

565

Overall Rank:

3,352

Average Rating:

73 (132 votes)

Comments:

3353.

The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You

Neko Case

"I saw Neko Case play live in Atlanta in support of this album, and although it's the only time I've ever seen her, I can't imagine it was her best performance. I give her credit for perseverance, though: she was horribly sick, and carried on with the show despite an obvious case of laryngitis (sh..." [+] Reply

buzzdainer | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

2013

Appears in:

112 charts

Rank Score:

452

Rank in 2013:

Rank in 2010s:

566

Overall Rank:

3,353

Average Rating:

78 (97 votes)

Comments:

3354.

Los Ángeles

Rosalía

"AOTY" Reply

luigybetis | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (5 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

2017

Appears in:

73 charts

Rank Score:

452

Rank in 2017:

Rank in 2010s:

567

Overall Rank:

3,354

Average Rating:

77 (110 votes)

Comments:

3355.

Golliwog

Billy Woods

"A solitary, nocturnal bruiser of a record." Reply

HoldenM | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

2025

Appears in:

91 charts

Rank Score:

452

Rank in 2025:

Rank in 2020s:

208

Overall Rank:

3,355

Average Rating:

73 (84 votes)

Comments:

3356.

Teenager Of The Year

Frank Black

"Listening to Teenager of the Year, I can't help but be amazed at the amount of music this man had inside of him. This 22 songs-long tour de force manages to be astounding from start fo finish despite its ambitious length and it's as good, or maybe even better, than anything he did with the Pixies..." [+] Reply

- chivocosmico | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (2 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

1994

Appears in:

124 charts

Rank Score:

452

Rank in 1994:

Rank in 1990s:

552

Overall Rank:

3,356

Average Rating:

76 (153 votes)

Comments:

3357.

Something More Than Free

Jason Isbell

"There's a review that criticizes these songs as mere character sketches in which "very little happens." If that's what you're taking away from these songs, you're just not listening. I've said it before, but his ability to create a whole world in four minutes is masterful." Reply

zdwyatt | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

2015

Appears in:

129 charts

Rank Score:

451

Rank in 2015:

Rank in 2010s:

568

Overall Rank:

3,357

Average Rating:

76 (117 votes)

Comments:

3358.

New

Paul McCartney

"Wow, does Paul McCartney seem revitalized or what? I've never been a huge McCartney fan, but there's a focus to this album i haven't ever seen in his solo works, including any of his recent stuff all the way back to "Ram". He works with a handful of producers to deliver a very good album with no ..." [+] Reply

paladisiac | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +5 votes (5 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

2013

Appears in:

114 charts

Rank Score:

451

Rank in 2013:

Rank in 2010s:

569

Overall Rank:

3,358

Average Rating:

72 (219 votes)

Comments:

3359.

Some Nights

fun.

"This is the type of pop music i'm into nowadays. Combine queen and elo with a geeky, beat-centric hip-hop album obsessed with lonely nights spent with friends and you have "some nights". "we are young" is great, even if janelle's vocals are rather plain and underutilized. I wish the "some nights ..." [+] Reply

paladisiac | Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +6 votes (7 helpful | 1 unhelpful)

Year of Release:

2012

Appears in:

118 charts

Rank Score:

451

Rank in 2012:

Rank in 2010s:

570

Overall Rank:

3,359