The Llano Idea

It seems that there have been a large number of album reissues this past month that are worth the attention of any self-described “die-hard music fan”. Among the noteworthy re-releases are Spiritualized’s 1997 euphoric space-rock album appropriately entitled Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space, the Beastie Boys’ Check Your Head (a follow up to the much heralded Paul’s Boutique), and the entire catalogue of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. However, the remastered collection that caught my eye the most was a quartet of LPs by experimental art-rock legend Scott Walker.

The four albums chosen – Boy Child 67-70, Classics & Collectibles, Sings Jacques Brel, and most importantly Tilt – do a good job of spanning the career of one of music’s most enigmatic artists, chronicling almost everything from his 60s pop-rock origins to whatever genre you call beating the shit out of a huge slab of meat for 30 seconds. I was first introduced to the music of Walker through his most recent 4AD released LP The Drift which, for anyone who has heard the album, isn’t the best of ways to gather a good first impression of his diverse discography. Tension filled melodies composed from chords containing both harmonic and dissonant elements puts the listener at a discomfort throughout, and Walker’s vibrato baritone voice does nothing to alleviate the uneasiness. The Drift as well as its predecessor Tilt are highly demanding albums to listen to, about the auditory equivalent of the Iron Man competition. Only after understanding the back story of Walker’s life and the drastic transformation his music has made over the decades can one fully understand how groundbreaking his most recent albums are.

Walker began his music as one-third of “The Walker Brothers” – an American band whose members were neither brothers nor had the surname Walker. Meant to counter the British Invasion of the mid to late 60s in the US, The Walker Brothers ironically achieved a widespread popularity in European countries, producing three top-ten UK LPs and a number one single sappily named “I Need You.” Scott also had a very successful and prolific solo career during this time, producing four LPs uninspiringly entitled Scott I-IV. But like so many idolized pop acts at the time, the fame slowly faded and The Walker Brothers were on the verge of being labeled as “dated”—a virtual death sentence in the music industry. Just before they were ushered completely out the door into obscurity, The Walkers produced Nite Flights in 1978 on the soon-to-be-defunct GTO Records label. The experimental tendencies on this album proved to be a jumping off point for phase II of Scott’s solo career and a silver dagger in the heart of The Walker Brothers.

Twenty years after the disbandment of the band and one half-assed put together LP Climate of Hunter, Scott came back from the dead (almost quite literally) to drop a bombshell of an album with his 1995 release of Tilt. Compared to the stark harshness of The Drift, parts of Tilt are beautifully composed with some moments, like midway through “Farmer in the City”, reminding me of opera arias. Content on being the soundtrack to both your dreams and nightmares, the opening of “The Cockfighter” shatters the idyllic ending of “Farmer” within the first minute by introducing creepy wind sounds, a persisting scratching noise, and a haunting narration before exploding with a wall of machined percussion accompanied by Scott’s wailing the line “It’s a beautiful niiiiiiiight.” This is how I imagine the welcoming to Hell would be.

The whole concept of “what a song is” – you know, a verse or two here, a chorus there, and maybe a bridge – is completely ripped apart and shredded throughout the album. Not to be hindered by the restrictions of meter, harmony, and song length, every track is an opportunity for Walker to bear his soul by any and all means necessary. One gets the impression that Walker is making music more to temporarily squelch the inner demons than to please an audience – a notion upheld by his non-existent touring and lack of public appearances. Thank goodness the demons return once every ten years, or music might just become complacent without a disquieting Walker album to jolt it out of its La-Z-Boy.

If you want to check out a more thorough biography of this avant-garde artist and his contributions to the musical landscape in the past fifty years, I highly suggest the recent documentary “Scott Walker: 30 Century Man”. If anything, it provides an insight on Walker’s recording process and how these bizarre works come about.

Scott Walker // Farmer in the City

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Scott Walker // Tilt

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UnclePhil Column, Music downloads, mp3s, Reissues, Scott Walker, The Walker Brothers, Tilt