We
have arrived at Scott Walker's fourth solo album and the almost final solo
album for a long time to feature original material by Scott himself (There was also a "Scott 5" but I will discuss it sometime later). Many people consider Scott 4 his absolute masterpiece which is
of course open to debate. I like to think about Scott 1–4 as
equals. Even though there weren't that many Scott Walker compositions
on Scott 1 and 2, the cover songs reflect Scott's personality in some
way and when they don't, they are at least extremely well-rendered by Scott. Scott 4 is 100
% Scott Walker-written material (credited to Engel, as it is his real
name).
Whereas
Scott 3 was quite slow and often in 3/4, Scott 4 has perhaps a better
balance of slow and mid-tempo songs. Still, Scott 4 is not really a
super high-energy album of rock&roll but compared to Scott 3 it
has a faster average tempo. Scott 4 is also the most pop-oriented
solo album Scott has ever created. There is no sign of the crooner
music style and the arrangements have elements of folk, and of course
baroque pop.
The
World's Strongest Man is, for a change, a song the lyrics of which
are quite easy to understand. Even though you probably thought
Scott's vocals couldn't get any more tender and emotional, they
actually do just that on this album. One of Scott's biggest
accomplisments regarding this album is, in fact, his vocals that seem
to have improved from perfection...
To me,
Boy Child is definitely one of the most memorable songs here. First
of all, there is a strong connection to You Still Believe in Me.
There are a couple of things that connect these songs, one of them
being the comforting mood. Scott's performance has a hypnotizing
effect. Angels of Ashes has a pretty similar effect, although I still
feel the need to complain a bit about the melody sounding too much
like Goin' Back.
Scott
even gives us an anti-war protest song, Hero of the War, which is an
extremely well-written song, The lyrical content comes across quite
heavy but Scott makes it all very light to listen with his
rendition. Could this be one of the reasons why he later decided to "become" a tenor
(instead of baritone that he really is) – his serious songs have a soothing effect
even when he intends to cause restlessness?
The
Seventh Seal, a song about Ingmar Begman's film of the same title may
be the structurally simplest of all these ten songs. Despite having
only one part, the song evolves a great deal on the way. The Seventh
Seal and The Old Man's Back Again (Dedicated To The Neo-Stalinist
Regime) both have some quite impressive choir vocals. These vocals
give both the songs a touch of unease even though Scott again channels some
really easy-going and careless vibes. What a curious contradiction,
you could say!
Rhymes
of Goodbye is the final song and I think it is my #1 favorite from
Scott. I actually like the song so much that I could call it some
kind of a guilty pleasure... Except that I don't really feel guilty
about it. But there are times when I listen to it over and over and
over... Rhymes of Goodbye has quite a strong folk rock vibe. In fact,
Duchess is a quite similar song but I am not quite as much fond of
it. Still, don't ignore Duchess, it is lovely.
And
there we have it: Scott 1, 2, 3 and 4. Fortunately, this is most
definitely not the end of Scott Walker's fantastic pop music.
Scottmania will continue.
Music from Scott 4 (YouTube):
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