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Music Monday: Scott Walker

by Scott Lydon


Happy Music Monday! There might be no artist with a more unusual career path than Scott Walker. Started as a youngster singing pop in America, moved to England with a bigger fan club than The Beatles, and now lives in quiet solitude creating incredibly weird music. Walk through his magic with our Scott, won't you? Let's try to take the name back from the Wisconsin governor and return it to music.

The Walker Brothers - The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Any More

 

Before the Ramones met in that elevator, three guys named Walker made this lovely smooth pop hit. Of course, in real life, none of them were actually named Walker. Scott Engel handled the vocals here, under his assumed name. Listening to this, who would have expected that this would be coming a few decades later?

It only gets weirder. More Scott Walker after the jump.

Scott Walker - Next

 

Scott's solo career was, at first, only sightly off-center. This song about soldiers at a brothel was certainly an odd subject, but it's delivered like a normal pop song. For 1968 it wasn't even sonically daring. But it's cool. Which is something Scott Walker was very good at being.

The Walker Brothers - The Electrician

 

It won't surprise anyone to learn that David Bowie was a Scott Walker fan (they even briefly dated the same woman) or that Bowie was openly floored by this song. Today it sounds current, of course, but what you're hearing is from 1978. This was basically the end of The Walker Brothers, but it was also basically the start of the Scott Walker we now know and love.

Scott Walker - Track Three

 

This song doesn't even have a name. 1984 was the year when branding became more important than anything, and the Scott Walker comeback song didn't even have a name. At list point a lot of people talked about how scary Scott Walker was, and how the odd musical decisions made them feel nervous. That's very understandable. But this song had nothin' on what the 1990s would bring.

Scott Walker - Farmer In The City

 

Tilt is a perfect record. Yeah, I'll say it. It's like an evil version of Pet Sounds. Sometimes I put it on with some headphones and just let it play. This particular song is like a summary of the whole thing, the strings, the operatic feel, the "Do I hear 21" hook that you can sing with ease, and all the little unexpected glories as it progresses. I don't think Scott Walker is going to be this perfect ever again, although I hope to God he proves me wrong.

Normally I stop at five, but I'm making a small exception this time just to drive home my point. Kathalene was one of Scott Engel's earliest songs. Brando is, as of this writing, his most recent. How many artists can say they've really changed that much? If you didn't know the real Scott Walker before today, I encourage you to change that. Strongly. THE MOST STRONGLY. Don't let a politician steal his good name.

Let us just remind you: some images come from the corresponding Wikipedia page and are here under fair use. See you next week.