857 Scott Walker - Scott 4 (1969)

 857 Scott Walker - Scott 4 (1969)

Studio Album - Baroque Pop




About the Act:

Scott Walker was the front man of the Walker Brothers, they were not brothers and they were not called Walker. They had an active career in the 60s, but partway trough, Scott Walker started to release solo albums. There increasingly came from a darker place than the Walker Brothers songs. After a hiatus he came back as an Avant Garde act.


About the Album:

This was Scott Walker's fifth solo album, following Scott, Scott 2, Scot 3 and Scott: "Scott Walker Sings Songs from his T.V. Series". Maybe after this he decided it was too confusing because he started having more imaginative names. This was the first of his albums that was entirely self-penned, although he was obviously heading in that direction.


My History with this Album:

None, I didn't even know that Scott Walker was a Walker Brother. When I started it playing I had no clue what it would be.


Review:

There are a category of singers from the 60s and early 70s that I would lump together, crooners, people like Andy Williams and Tony Christie, who predominantly sing other people's songs with a backing that is orchestral with some rock band instruments. The music is overblown, drenched in reverb and somewhat reminiscent of big band jazz. This would include songs like Macarthur Park, and Windmills On Your Mind. Growing up in the 70s, this was "old people's music" and widely to be despised by myself and my peers, in favour of proper radio 1 stuff, like rock and pop. 

That's what this sounds like. While I have mellowed towards individual songs in this style (apparently, "Baroque Pop") in general I find that when I hear it my musical taste buds start to itch.

So I have tried hard to listen it through. I have given it a fair shake, I think. The lyrics are bizarre and weird and quite dark at times, as if Max Bygraves had fallen into the Twilight Zone and turned into a beat poet. I respect these weird, dark lyrics, which raises this above an instant switch-off, but the music is so belaboured and anathema to me that in the end I find it hard to tolerate it.


6/10


Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/7uU2qrFZQSdQacicLXMnaJ

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMNMmvIC2uGY1d0q6ts1-5ELO7wVS1MW8

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_4


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