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Scott Walker.

antnield wrote: Mon Mar 25, 2019 8:38 am Scott Walker.

Sadly we lose Mark Hollis and Scott Walker so close together.

Scott Walker wishes Bowie happy birthday

He was also an incredibly hip cinephile

antnield wrote: Mon Mar 25, 2019 8:38 am Scott Walker.

We're reaching those years where, when heroes go down ... they go down fast. I adore Scotts 2-4. And while I've never grown to love Tilt as a whole, 'Farmer in the City' is a hell of a tune.

antnield wrote: Mon Mar 25, 2019 8:38 am Scott Walker.

Another reason to watch Vox Lux, his score is just fantastic.

antnield wrote: Mon Mar 25, 2019 8:38 am Scott Walker.

What an amazing talent and career. Aside from the seminal 60s solo albums, his contribution to film was immense, particularly the soundtracks to Pola X and The Childhood Of A Leader. He even recorded a “normal” song for the Bond film, The World Is Not Enough, at the height of his experimental phase. A very sad day for me. One of the greats of popular music, and he was a big film fan, particularly of Ingmar Bergman and European and World cinema in general. RIP to an outstanding musical innovator.

bdsweeney wrote: Mon Mar 25, 2019 1:04 pm

antnield wrote: Mon Mar 25, 2019 8:38 am Scott Walker.

We're reaching those years where, when heroes go down ... they go down fast. I adore Scotts 2-4. And while I've never grown to love Tilt as a whole, 'Farmer in the City' is a hell of a tune.

Farmer In The City is one of the best film-referencing songs too (although he'd done that with The Seventh Seal already).

bearcuborg wrote: Mon Mar 25, 2019 12:52 pm

antnield wrote: Mon Mar 25, 2019 8:38 am Scott Walker.

Sadly we lose Mark Hollis and Scott Walker so close together.

Scott Walker wishes Bowie happy birthday

He was also an incredibly hip cinephile

Walker was probably the only pop singer whose artistic journey was even more extraordinary than Hollis's.

He's left an incredible artistic legacy that I'm going to enjoy grappling with for the rest of my life.

If you haven't seen the documentary 30 Century Man, it's one of the best film portraits of a musician (and one of the very few that actually places the music front and centre and doesn't cut tracks off after fifteen seconds!)

Another thumbs up for 30 Century Man.

This seems as good a time as any to suggest that We Love Life by Pulp is a truly great album. With Different Class being an instant classic, and ultimately a burden on Jarvis Cocker, This is Hardcore was a tumultuous follow up. From what little I know of Scott Walker coming on board as a producer, he saved that album after it had been previously scrapped. He must have been a great sport and wonderful influence. Jarvis spokento Scott a few years ago in a fascinating interview that one can find on YouTube I imagine.

I'd also highly recommend 30 Century Man. It's really messed up that for no reason I decided to watch my copy of the dvd this past weekend ](*,)

Fourthed. Though for whatever reason, the first thing of his that came to mind for me today was the end of Enemy.

One of my favourite Scott Walker covers, by Paula Frazer and Mark Eitzel:

Rhymes of Goodbye

My friend who introduced me to Walker years back was literally coming out of a screening of Vox Lux when he found out. Sad news.

Most people get old and their art peters out, but you just know that Walker would have had another groundbreaking album or two up his sleeve if he'd stuck around. A really fascinating and eclectic musician, and yes, "Farmer in the City" is one of the all-time great songs. "Paolo, take me with you."

I remember watching the opening minutes of Pola X, with its assaultive S.W. music and frenzied war footage, from the balcony of the Brattle Theater and thinking, "now this is how you start a movie." It's too bad Carax and Walker weren't able to collaborate again, because those guys were on very complementary wavelengths.

I think The Drift is every bit as commanding and powerful as Tilt.

Perhaps prescient, too: "'Clara" is about how fascism is now in the air,' says Walker."

Bish Bosch is great as well

zedz wrote: Mon Mar 25, 2019 8:02 pm

bearcuborg wrote: Mon Mar 25, 2019 12:52 pm

antnield wrote: Mon Mar 25, 2019 8:38 am Scott Walker.

Sadly we lose Mark Hollis and Scott Walker so close together.

Scott Walker wishes Bowie happy birthday

He was also an incredibly hip cinephile

Walker was probably the only pop singer whose artistic journey was even more extraordinary than Hollis's.

He's left an incredible artistic legacy that I'm going to enjoy grappling with for the rest of my life.

If you haven't seen the documentary 30 Century Man, it's one of the best film portraits of a musician (and one of the very few that actually places the music front and centre and doesn't cut tracks off after fifteen seconds!)

Care to elaborate on both? I vaguely know Walker thanks to his scores, but sadly ive never even heard if Hollis until now...

The Drift and Bish Bosh are masterpieces of experimental music. The 60s albums are perfection. The 80s material is also pretty damn good. He will be missed.

That loose trilogy of albums - Tilt, The Drift and Bish Bosch - are just extraordinary. The Day the Conjugator Died is just such a perfect ending to that album in particular and that cycle of work as a whole. Really captures the humorous side of the darker areas he explored, which is rarely acknowledged. Have yet to listen to Soused as a whole, but as a fan of Sunn O))) as well, very much looking forward to it. Would absolutely agree about Farmer in the City, a stunning track. The Walker tracks on Nite Flights are brilliant too, in fact The Electrician is a perfect encapsulation of the two sides of his work. Climate of Hunter often seems to miss people by falling between the two 'major' periods of his work, but his mix of popular and avant-garde styles and musicians was remarkable and for me it contains some of his strongest work.

Soused impressed me as slightly less than you might have reasonably suspected could result from that collaboration, but still quite worthy. Nearly any other 70-something musician teaming with that band would have seemed like they were desperate for credibility points and/or way out of their element, but Walker obviously completely understood what Sunn O))) were good at and wrote to their combined strengths. And yet nothing really strikes me as hard as on SW's previous "solo" records.

The humor in SW's work is sometimes missed, for I suppose obvious reasons.

I've said elsewhere that this death hit me harder than many (even now that Baby Boomers are dropping like flies)-- in part because I've been an enthusiast of SW's work for over 20 years, but also because he seemed so damn youthful, a product of reinventing himself, artistically, several times; still staying on, to cite a cringeworthy cliché, the cutting edge of music, as evidenced by his various collaborations; and the fact that his voice seems to have deteriorated almost not at all. Cf. Bob Dylan, who while not entirely lacking in musical inspiration for the past decade, has what you could fairly describe as "old man voice," creaky and phlegmy.

dda1996a wrote: Tue Mar 26, 2019 9:00 am

zedz wrote: Mon Mar 25, 2019 8:02 pm

bearcuborg wrote: Mon Mar 25, 2019 12:52 pm

Sadly we lose Mark Hollis and Scott Walker so close together.

Scott Walker wishes Bowie happy birthday

He was also an incredibly hip cinephile

Walker was probably the only pop singer whose artistic journey was even more extraordinary than Hollis's.

He's left an incredible artistic legacy that I'm going to enjoy grappling with for the rest of my life.

If you haven't seen the documentary 30 Century Man, it's one of the best film portraits of a musician (and one of the very few that actually places the music front and centre and doesn't cut tracks off after fifteen seconds!)

Care to elaborate on both? I vaguely know Walker thanks to his scores, but sadly ive never even heard if Hollis until now...

Both started out in hugely successful pop acts appealing to squealing teenage girls. (The Walker Brothers; Talk Talk)

Both had their eyes set on much more artistically adventurous musical territory and almost immediately began twisting their commercial careers in that direction. (the self-penned songs on the Walker Brothers albums and singles; the semi-ambient tracks on The Colour of Spring and its singles)

Within a few years they had largely left contemporary pop music behind and were making avant-garde pop music drawing on non-pop influences (20th century classical music, jazz, Euro art song). (Scotts 1-4, Spirit of Eden & Laughing Stock)

They disappear artistically or publicly for several years. (Scott Walker into MOR slush; Mark Hollis into radio silence)

They resurface briefly with even more radical and adventurous music. (Nite Flights, Mark Hollis)

Then they disappear from view completely.

Only Scott gets a fourth (fifth, sixth) act, resurfacing each decade with ever more challenging music.

For Talk Talk / Mark Hollis, you can sample their early synth-pop hits ('Talk Talk', 'Today', 'It's My Life', 'Such a Shame', 'Dum Dum Girl'), then the four subsequent albums mentioned above are all essential.

For Scott Walker, there's a much bigger catalogue, but I'd suggest sampling the early Walker Brothers hits, then:

Scott 4 (Scotts 1-4 are all good to great, but this is the only one that's entirely self-penned, and it's a tour-de-force. 1970's 'Til the Band Comes In is 2/3 Scott 5 and 1/3 easy listening cover versions, but the latter will at least give you a taste of where he'd be mired for most of the 1970s)

Nite Flights - The Walker Brothers (Scott is only responsible for the first four songs, but they're doozies!)

Tilt (The grand avant-garde comeback of the 1990s, 1984's Climate of Hunter is a fine album, but in the context of his entire career it's somewhat tentative, and - uncharacteristically - a little sonically dated)

The Drift (The grand avant-garde comeback of the 2000s)

There's a lot more great music to discover, but this sampling will give you an idea of his career's remarkable contours.

If you can only listen to one album by each, I'd go for Scott 4 and Spirit of Eden.

Thanks! I'll give them a try

Thanks for the great summary, zedz - I wasn't familiar with Hollis or Talk Talk either; cueing up The Spirit of Eden on YouTube as we speak!

‘Scott Walker’s Favourite Films’ article on the BFI website.

and here's an episode of WFMU's show "Morricone Island" devoted to Walker's soundtrack and other movie-related work:

http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/84934

neilist wrote: Wed Mar 27, 2019 3:01 pm ‘Scott Walker’s Favourite Films’ article on the BFI website.

“The Round-up (1965) Walker saw Miklos Jancso’s hypnotic Hungarian historical drama while an avid cinemagoer on the arthouse circuit in 1960s London. He told The Guardian: ‘I went six nights running. I absolutely loved it! … It’s so obscure that it seemed the only way I could get to see it [again] was to programme it for Meltdown!”

I hope he picked up the dvd when it was released by Second Run.

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