Scott Walker (Noel Scott Engel) sings: "Till
a hundred years or so, shame you won't be there to see me, shakin' hands with
Charles De Gaulle. Play it cool and Saran-wrap all you can, be a 30 Century
Man, you can freeze like a 30 Century Man," on his most loved
acoustic track "30 Century Man". Johnny Franz's production, Angela Morley's
orchestration and a hoard of fans awaited Walker's follow-up to his last cover
heavy sophomore album Scott 2. The success of Walker's Jacques Brel
covers including "Jackie" and "The Girls and The Dogs"
encouraged Walker to re-work more Brel songs. The Belgian songwriter was a heavy
influence on Walker's early works, which passed through Walker to the soon to
be great British art rocker David Bowie. It was Walker's third album Scott 3
that established him as an independent artist redefining pop music in the 60s.
The innocence of "Copenhagen", where Walker sings: "We're
snowdrops falling through the night. We'll melt away before we land."
His powerful low baritone capturing the essence of love using the magnificent
closing line: "And our love is an antique song, for children's
carousels," his aching voice surrounded in violin reverb and a
sweet percussion outro.
As the music industry thrived in the late 60s, the artists involved felt first-hand
the backend of fame. Walker accepted his rise but never put him in a position
of confinement. 1969's pre-release single "Lights of Cincinnati" was
recorded and released as a promotion to Scott 3. The lush
instrumentation and gospel-like backing vocals were uncharacteristic of Walker,
who was in his prime. It's a fantastic song that didn't make it on the original
and most copies of Scott 3. "Lights of Cincinnati" appealed to
an older audience, whereas the contrasting Scott 3 was for a younger
more eccentric audience. Take the 10th track "Two Weeks Since You've Gone", the flipside to pre-release single "Lights of
Cincinnati". It shows the complete opposite of what the men in suits at
Philips Records wanted. They were searching for the next Frank Sinatra, that
position was a shoe-in for the sex symbol who lead The Walker Brothers in the
opposite direction of The Beatles. It was Walker's challenging direction choice
that put huge pressure on producer Franz, something his superiors were weary
of. Franz delivered the goods on Scott 3, as did Morley, album opener
"It's Raining Today" was the track with redundant orchestral
features. Walker said of the song: “[I was] hitch-hiking over America,
meeting a lot of people with whom I had ephemeral relationships. [It's] A song
about meeting people, knowing them about a week, falling in love - and moving
on." His teenage years certainly opened up a whole world of
lyricism, he sings: "No hang-ups for me, 'cause hang-ups need
company."
The power of a gong starts "Big Louise", the euphonious fourth
track. This classic track is an absolute masterpiece, with Morley's expertise
arrangements of caressing strings layers of bliss over Walkers painful voice,
he sings: "Didn't time sounds sweet yesterday? In a world filled
with friends, you lose your way." It's the sheer audacity of
Walker's creativity that pushed Morely and Franz to acceptingly follow the man
that was changing the sound of contemporary pop. This is pop on its fringes,
bordered with experimental music and classical. Walker's soothing and heart
wrenching vocal hits the highs, but more importantly delivers the blow with his
low baritone. "Rosemary" takes Walker's song-writing to the next level,
he sings: "Dream back last summer. Dream back the lips of that
traveling salesman, mr. Jim, He smelled of miracles, with stained glass
whispers." His stunning lyricism encases the love shared between
Walkers characters in his short stories. And though these songs read happy and
lovely, one cannot help noticing the impending sense of doom and sadness. Scott
3 doesn't have the scare factor of its follow-up, but it has all the
experimentation and severed emotions: "That's what I want, a new
shot at life, but my coat's too thin, my feet won't fly. And I watch the wind
and I see another dream blowin' by."
"We Came Through" is influenced from Brel's lyricism. Walker takes
a patriotic view; using military aspects and fast paced instrumentation too
enhance the one minute 50 second song in all its glory. Soaring strings and trumpets
reminiscent of the great composer Ennio Morricone plague "We Came
Through" in a slightly unusual manner. Walker's gloomy vocals and Morely's
compositions are somewhat deranged from the passion and pace of "We Came
Through". Walker sings: "We came through, like the Gothic
monsters perched on Notre Dame. We observe the naked souls of gutters pouring
forth mankind, smothered in an avalanche of time. And we're giants as we watch
our kings and countries raise their shields, and Guevara dies encased in their ideals, and as Luther King's
predictions fade from view; We came through." Walker's imagery in
all its glory is surrounded by Tchaikovsky styled "1812 Overture"
cannons in an emphatic fashion.
One of Scott 3's short and sweet tracks is "Butterfly", the
beautiful dreamy sixth track that evokes the raw inner beauty of women. This is
followed by one of Walker's many ballads, "Two Ragged Soldiers". He
says it's: "About two tramps who get their fantasies from a
bottle," and the lyrics tell that story from an onlooker,
presumably Walker. He sings over a softly dimmed melody: "There were
nights on park benches, stale bread for the pigeons. Good mornings to faces who
just turned away." Walker's extensive lyricism and Morely's
fantastic compositions are showcased in these mid album tracks - from the powerfulness
of "We Came Through" to the prettiness of "Butterfly",
ending up at this heart-breaking tale. It plays an important role on Scott 3,
as Walker progresses to play the simplest track on the album, "30 Century Man". It's the track that defines Walker's career, unaware that his lyrics
would come back to bite the audience with Walker's sporadic return to music in
the late 70s after a substantial absence. He sings: "You can freeze
like a 30 Century Man," referring to: "People who
advertise that they will put you in deep freeze, suspend life, and bring you
back in the future."
Before entering Brel’s territory, Walker drops one last original song,
"Winter Night" - one of the most graceful baroque pop songs of all
time. It features love longed lyrics such as: "You're like a winter
night, your thoughts are frozen." You can almost feel the cool
winter breeze and at the same time the sunny side of summer when he sings: "I
hum inside, like the meadows in summer," all to be smashed back
down to winter with: "But I'll never light them up, again."
Scott 3 wouldn’t be complete without the three Brel covers, "Sons Of", "Funeral Tango", and "If You Go Away". The first
of these, "Sons Of" is an identical cover, with Walker obviously
singing in English rather than Brel's native French tongue. These three songs
are among the last of brel's discography, and Walker does the English versions
justice. He picks the latter "If You Go Away" as the final track on
the album. There's a sense of darkness behind the purity of Brel's songs.
Walker covers it with ease and uses the romanticism behind Brel's lyrics to create
a painful song in the Tom Jones sense. This song has of course been covered by
many artists, none so as thoughtfully and emotionally as Walker.
There's no doubt about it, Scott 3 started Walker's creative
revolution. Scott 4 and the amazing experimental and avant-garde albums
that later followed are somewhat descendants of this album. Walker's been a
major influence on an array of artists including Radiohead, their single
"Creep" massively lends from Walker's "The Old Man's Back Again". Pulp's Jarvis Cocker makes a personal connection with Walker, he
even collaborated with Walker. Damon Albarn, Richard Hawley, Sting, Brian Eno,
David Bowie, Walker's music wowed the greats. He lives on today in an eccentric
experimental form, still influencing, still making music and still pursuing his
creativity. Walker's masked imagery and recluse lifestyle has been one of great
ups and downs. Scott 3 captured Walker in his most creative 60s state
with the backing of two important figures and an array of session musicians at
their exposal. The sounds are beautifully constructed with Walker originals and
Brel re-works. Morley
certainly plays her part in making Scott 3 a fantastic album. This album
is still a regular on my iPod, my Clementine player and my record player. It
loves on in the memory of Walker fans above and beyond the pop.
~Eddie
~Eddie
9.6
