Scott Walker: Polished Tone of Glorious Melancholy
When Scott Walker, who first gained major stature as lead vocalist with The Walker Brothers in the 1960s, departed from this world in March of 2019, he left behind a musical sphere that was, and always will be, completely his own. His voice, with its polished tone of glorious melancholy, was unmistakable. Recoiling from the burden of his early renown, he took a solitary path toward a difficult ambition, choosing to stand apart from his peers, his detractors, and his fans. Few others of his generation have ever come near to matching the singular quality, and the enduring depth, of what he accomplished during his five decades as a singer and a songwriter, in a dogged journey that took him from teen pop to MOR to avant-gardism.
Scott Walker was born in Hamilton, Ohio, in 1943, under the name of Noel Scott Engel. He was an only child. His family made frequent moves around the United States when he was growing up, until he finally landed in Los Angeles, California. He did some acting in his youth, but also pursued a talent for music. Even in his younger years, his general outlook, which was strongly informed by jazz, beat poetry, and European films, put him at a distinct remove from the decidedly shallow tastes of the American mainstream. It seemed that, if Scott Walker was ever to discern his true direction as a person, it would be necessary for him to extend his gaze outward and look beyond the narrow confines of America.
In 1964, he joined two other American musicians, John Maus and Gary Leeds, in forming The Walker Brothers, with the threesome henceforth being known as Scott Walker, John Walker, and Gary Walker. After a period of performing at nightclubs in Hollywood, the trio decided to try their luck in England at the beginning of 1965, hoping to find fame and fortune within the trendy rush of swinging London, and quickly succeeded in their quest. They were signed by Philips Records, and within a number of months their third single, "Make It Easy on Yourself," a heartfelt ballad delivered by Scott Walker with a heavy backing of lush strings, was a huge British hit, making them overnight stars.
Two more hits quickly followed, "My Ship Is Coming In" and "The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore," and The Walker Brothers soon found themselves being propelled to the uppermost heights of excited worship, rubbing shoulders with the likes of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Scott Walker, in particular, with his golden hair, boyish handsomeness, shy demeanor, and velvet baritone, became a prime object of frantic affection to thousands of teenage girls, an overwrought state of affairs that did not suit his pensive temperament. By late 1967, the big hits had stopped and The Walker Brothers had grown weary of their frenzied stardom, prompting them to withdraw from their partnership.
Scott Walker had begun to write songs ("Experience," "Orpheus," "Genevieve") during the later days of The Walker Brothers, and also had developed a fervent interest in the music of Jacques Brel, a French singer and songwriter who sang earthy tales of star-crossed romance and lowlife characters. Moving on from The Walker Brothers, he released his first album, Scott, in September, 1967. It featured three of his own compositions, three songs by Jacques Brel, and a handful of songs by other composers. The sound of Scott, owing much to Frank Sinatra, was mature and serious, expressing dark thoughts and deep feelings through an expert use of voice and orchestra, and clearly was not intended for casual listeners.
After Scott came Scott 2 (1968) and Scott 3 (1969). Both albums continued in the overall style of Scott, with Scott 2 (1968) featuring songs by Jacques Brel and other songwriters, alongside four songs that proved how much Scott Walker himself had gained strength as a songwriter, and Scott 3 (1969) featuring three songs by Jacques Brel and ten songs written by Scott Walker. Taken together, his first three albums skillfully conveyed a resigned mood of heartbreak, longing, doubt, and doom, underpinned by a bittersweet awareness of the random beauty in everyday life. As he sings in "The Girls from the Streets," one of the most impressive tracks on Scott 2, "Things aren't so bad/They're just more wrong than right."
In 1969, Scott Walker began his own weekly show on BBC TV, which resulted in his fourth album, Scott: Scott Walker Sings Songs from His T.V. Series, a straightforward collection of standards and covers. His next album, Scott 4, was the first to be made up entirely of his own compositions, which ranged from "The Seventh Seal," inspired by Ingmar Bergman's famous film, to "The Old Man's Back Again (Dedicated to the Neo-Stalinist Regime)," a pained outcry against the Soviet forces that invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968. Although Scott 4 proved that he had matured further as a songwriter, it was not favorably received by the public, leaving him at odds with the executives at Philips Records, who wanted him to provide hits.
His sixth album, 'Til the Band Comes In (1970), evidenced a retreat in the more daring elements of his style, and was followed by a string of lightweight albums that, while not unworthy in themselves, contained no songs written by Scott Walker and appeared to be an overt attempt to reach a wider audience. In 1975, Scott Walker joined, once again, with John Walker and Gary Walker, resulting in three new albums by The Walker Brothers: No Regrets (1975), Lines (1976), and Nite Flights (1978). Although No Regrets and Lines provided few surprises, Nite Flights featured four striking compositions by Scott Walker (along with four by John Walker and two by Gary Walker), offering a welcome return to his former adventurousness.
After Nite Flights, The Walker Brothers dissolved their union for a second time, and Scott Walker kept quiet until the release of his eleventh album, Climate of Hunter, in 1984. All the songs on Climate of Hunter were his own compositions, and they gave notice that Scott Walker was determined to create music that did not allow for any compromise. His twelfth album, Tilt, arrived in 1995, and represented a bold step into an unknown territory, bearing little connection to the sounds of his past recordings. Instead of being "songs," the nine tracks on Tilt (all of which he composed himself) constituted an uneasy voyage into a forbidding region of ghosts, phantoms, and shadows, with Scott Walker’s exploratory voice as the only guidepost.
Scott Walker released two albums in the 21st century, The Drift (2006) and Soused (2014), both of which were infused with the same harsh beauty that was heard on Tilt, and also wrote music for films and the stage. To the end, he remained a willful figure of rumor, mystery, and conjecture. He lived quietly in London, purposefully avoiding the cheap distractions of the limelight, taking his time to do the work that he wanted to do. He had ceased to perform before the public in the late 1970s, and rarely spoke to the press. It was as if he had put the honest totality of his soul, the unguarded whole of his being, into his best recordings, and, having thus opened himself as much as he could, had nothing more to add.
Scott Walker was born in Hamilton, Ohio, in 1943, under the name of Noel Scott Engel. He was an only child. His family made frequent moves around the United States when he was growing up, until he finally landed in Los Angeles, California. He did some acting in his youth, but also pursued a talent for music. Even in his younger years, his general outlook, which was strongly informed by jazz, beat poetry, and European films, put him at a distinct remove from the decidedly shallow tastes of the American mainstream. It seemed that, if Scott Walker was ever to discern his true direction as a person, it would be necessary for him to extend his gaze outward and look beyond the narrow confines of America.
In 1964, he joined two other American musicians, John Maus and Gary Leeds, in forming The Walker Brothers, with the threesome henceforth being known as Scott Walker, John Walker, and Gary Walker. After a period of performing at nightclubs in Hollywood, the trio decided to try their luck in England at the beginning of 1965, hoping to find fame and fortune within the trendy rush of swinging London, and quickly succeeded in their quest. They were signed by Philips Records, and within a number of months their third single, "Make It Easy on Yourself," a heartfelt ballad delivered by Scott Walker with a heavy backing of lush strings, was a huge British hit, making them overnight stars.
Two more hits quickly followed, "My Ship Is Coming In" and "The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore," and The Walker Brothers soon found themselves being propelled to the uppermost heights of excited worship, rubbing shoulders with the likes of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Scott Walker, in particular, with his golden hair, boyish handsomeness, shy demeanor, and velvet baritone, became a prime object of frantic affection to thousands of teenage girls, an overwrought state of affairs that did not suit his pensive temperament. By late 1967, the big hits had stopped and The Walker Brothers had grown weary of their frenzied stardom, prompting them to withdraw from their partnership.
Scott Walker had begun to write songs ("Experience," "Orpheus," "Genevieve") during the later days of The Walker Brothers, and also had developed a fervent interest in the music of Jacques Brel, a French singer and songwriter who sang earthy tales of star-crossed romance and lowlife characters. Moving on from The Walker Brothers, he released his first album, Scott, in September, 1967. It featured three of his own compositions, three songs by Jacques Brel, and a handful of songs by other composers. The sound of Scott, owing much to Frank Sinatra, was mature and serious, expressing dark thoughts and deep feelings through an expert use of voice and orchestra, and clearly was not intended for casual listeners.
After Scott came Scott 2 (1968) and Scott 3 (1969). Both albums continued in the overall style of Scott, with Scott 2 (1968) featuring songs by Jacques Brel and other songwriters, alongside four songs that proved how much Scott Walker himself had gained strength as a songwriter, and Scott 3 (1969) featuring three songs by Jacques Brel and ten songs written by Scott Walker. Taken together, his first three albums skillfully conveyed a resigned mood of heartbreak, longing, doubt, and doom, underpinned by a bittersweet awareness of the random beauty in everyday life. As he sings in "The Girls from the Streets," one of the most impressive tracks on Scott 2, "Things aren't so bad/They're just more wrong than right."
In 1969, Scott Walker began his own weekly show on BBC TV, which resulted in his fourth album, Scott: Scott Walker Sings Songs from His T.V. Series, a straightforward collection of standards and covers. His next album, Scott 4, was the first to be made up entirely of his own compositions, which ranged from "The Seventh Seal," inspired by Ingmar Bergman's famous film, to "The Old Man's Back Again (Dedicated to the Neo-Stalinist Regime)," a pained outcry against the Soviet forces that invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968. Although Scott 4 proved that he had matured further as a songwriter, it was not favorably received by the public, leaving him at odds with the executives at Philips Records, who wanted him to provide hits.
His sixth album, 'Til the Band Comes In (1970), evidenced a retreat in the more daring elements of his style, and was followed by a string of lightweight albums that, while not unworthy in themselves, contained no songs written by Scott Walker and appeared to be an overt attempt to reach a wider audience. In 1975, Scott Walker joined, once again, with John Walker and Gary Walker, resulting in three new albums by The Walker Brothers: No Regrets (1975), Lines (1976), and Nite Flights (1978). Although No Regrets and Lines provided few surprises, Nite Flights featured four striking compositions by Scott Walker (along with four by John Walker and two by Gary Walker), offering a welcome return to his former adventurousness.
After Nite Flights, The Walker Brothers dissolved their union for a second time, and Scott Walker kept quiet until the release of his eleventh album, Climate of Hunter, in 1984. All the songs on Climate of Hunter were his own compositions, and they gave notice that Scott Walker was determined to create music that did not allow for any compromise. His twelfth album, Tilt, arrived in 1995, and represented a bold step into an unknown territory, bearing little connection to the sounds of his past recordings. Instead of being "songs," the nine tracks on Tilt (all of which he composed himself) constituted an uneasy voyage into a forbidding region of ghosts, phantoms, and shadows, with Scott Walker’s exploratory voice as the only guidepost.
Scott Walker released two albums in the 21st century, The Drift (2006) and Soused (2014), both of which were infused with the same harsh beauty that was heard on Tilt, and also wrote music for films and the stage. To the end, he remained a willful figure of rumor, mystery, and conjecture. He lived quietly in London, purposefully avoiding the cheap distractions of the limelight, taking his time to do the work that he wanted to do. He had ceased to perform before the public in the late 1970s, and rarely spoke to the press. It was as if he had put the honest totality of his soul, the unguarded whole of his being, into his best recordings, and, having thus opened himself as much as he could, had nothing more to add.