By
the time Scott Walker released his third solo album, Scott 3 (1969), he had
evolved into a great songwriter. On Scott 3 there are ten original
compositions and three Jacques Brel songs. Depending on how you see
it, you could say this is Scott's best from this period.
This is definitely Scott's most waltz-oriented album. The album is overall
very peaceful and slow and many songs are in 3/4 which could be the
reasons why the album didn't do as well as the first two albums.
Scott 3 doesn't, in fact, make the best possible album for workout or
other situations when you wish to draw energy from what you hear. A
very different kind of energy emanates from Scott 3: a melancholic,
yet hopeful, peaceful and tremendously beautiful feeling.
It's
Raining Today represents Scott's appreciation towards both harmony
and dissonance. Big Louise is another song that may sound a bit
frightening in the beginning but both of these songs are actually
perfectly listenable and lovely. Peaceful songs with big arrangements follow one after
another and this pattern doesn't really change much until the end of
the album where you find the Brel songs.
Actually,
there are a couple of times when the album momentarily turns into
something else than a peaceful cradle of hopeful melancholy. We Came
Through sounds to me like a medieval battle song – glorious! By this
song you will also have noticed that Scott's songwriting leans quite
a bit on very traditional pop melodies – the kind of material that
is still recycled in pop music today.
30
Century Man, a song that carries the same title as the Scott Walker
documentary film (which I highly recommend to watch) is different in
the sense that it doesn't have anything else for accompaniment than
an acoustic guitar. The song is also a bit more... bluesy than the
rest of songs. Many of Scott's songs on this album are sweet and
short, and 30 Century Man is the shortest: only 1:29.
Scott's
every song is filled with extremely fine imagery. His lyrics might
even be too cryptic for some people's taste... I don't understand
even half of it. Scott's vocals are obviously beyond perfection all
through the album, and the arrangements are just as excellent as
always. There are wonderful strings, sometimes also beautiful harp,
piano and amazing percussions.
In
the end of the album there are three Jacques Brel songs. Sons of is a
pretty peaceful waltz, yet it is clearly more restless than any other
waltz on this album. Funeral Tango is a great song with macabre lyrics – once
again about death but from a very fun perspective. Scott even laughs, kind of.
I didn't expect to hear that... Finally, there is If You Go Away. All
I can say is... I would definitely consider going away if it meant that Scott would sing this song to me...
Listen
while watching the rain!
Music
from Scott 3 (YouTube):
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