being as i have an incommensurable love and appreciation for everything related to scott walker, i thought it'd be appropriate to represent a charitable section of his discography. scott walker is a name that rings with a certain familiarity now, but i've still yet to encounter many people who have actively listened to his work. the main point about scott walker is that his music is meant to be devoured with an almost reverent appreciation, and listening to his latter work especially means committing yourself, challenging yourself, experiencing the atmosphere and miasma of what he presents, of all the ghosts and unnameable worlds he conjures.
walker's early work with the walker bros. has its moments, but he began to develop more when he tore apart from the group and pursued a solo career (which saw him covering jacques brel and ornamenting his own morbid lyrics with bombastic string arrangements). his first two records are fairly hit-or-miss for me, though not without disorienting heights. his third and fourth solo records are where the real vertiginous, almost hallucinatory depths begin.
when the walker bros reunited in the late 70s, they completed an album called "nite flights," and it began an entirely different, unnavigable direction for his work. the first four songs from "nite flights" are all walker originals, and are unlike anything i've ever heard. they share affinities with some of the work bowie was doing with eno and the usual krautrock pioneers, but they are a world apart, unbelievable. the rest of the album isn't remotely as good as the first four tracks, but based on the strength of those, the rest is forgivable, forgotten.
following the walker bros. dissolution, scott went on to record "climate of hunter," elaborating on what he began with "nite flights," but in no way anticipating the direction he'd pursue on his two subsequent releases, "tilt" and "the drift." the nature and atmosphere of both, the latter especially, is tenebrous and inescapably dark, operatic, dizzying, unpredictable. the instrumentation varies and flits from crushing density to haunting austerity, demonstrating a kind of adventurousness that has been long absent from music.
i can't begin to convey even a fraction of my enthusiasm and love for walker's work, and i hope his music affects more people in the manner it effects me.
here's a link to "nite Flights" from icoulddietomorrow:
http://www.mediafire.com/?zwfny13zain
here's a link for "tilt"
http://rapidshare.com/files/230956334/Tilt.zip
and finally "the drift"
http://www.mediafire.com/?dzmdmllj1dz
"climate of hunter" and walker's third and fourth solo records are also worth seeking out, and will invariably be uploaded here soon
No comments:
Post a Comment