Scott Walker

Scott Walker音樂是困難的，在Scott Walker身上我們找尋許久的東西依然是那么的精彩，太多的音樂、太多的經歷在他身上發(fā)生了化學反應，相遇拼合中那種堅硬的不和諧卻被Scott Walker巧妙地用作了靈感的催生劑，挑戰(zhàn)著不可能的潤化過程，同時左翼激進的政治主張與自已充滿奇異絕妙的念頭更是加劇了Scott Walker的傳奇色彩。
 
by Richie Unterberger
One of the most enigmatic figures in rock history, Scott Walker was known as Scotty Engel when he cut obscure flop records in the late 50s and early 60s in the teen idol vein. He then hooked up with John Maus and Gary Leeds to form the Walker Brothers. They werent named Walker, they werent brothers, and they werent English, but they nevertheless became a part of the British Invasion after moving to the U.K. in 1965. They enjoyed a couple of years of massive success there (and a couple of hits in the U.S.) in a Righteous Brothers vein. As their full-throated lead singer and principal songwriter, Walker was the dominant artistic force in the group, who split in 1967.
While remaining virtually unknown in his homeland, Walker launched a hugely successful solo career in Britain with a unique blend of orchestrated, almost MOR arrangements with idiosyncratic and morose lyrics. At the height of psychedelia, Walker openly looked to crooners like Sinatra, Jack Jones, and Tony Bennett for inspiration, and to Jacques Brel for much of his material. None of those balladeers, however, would have sung about the oddball subjects — prostitutes, transvestites, suicidal brooders, plagues, and Joseph Stalin — that populated Walkers songs. His first four albums hit the Top Ten in the U.K. — his second, in fact, reached number one in 1968, in the midst of the hippie era. By the time of 1969s Scott 4, the singer was writing all of his material. Although this was perhaps his finest album, it was a commercial disappointment, and unfortunately discouraged him from relying entirely upon his own material on subsequent releases.
The 70s were a frustrating period for Walker, pocked with increasingly sporadic releases and a largely unsuccessful reunion with his brothers in the middle of the decade. His work on the Walkers final album in 1978 prompted admiration from David Bowie and Brian Eno. After a long period of hibernation, he emerged in 1984 with an album, Climate of Hunter, that drew critical raves for a minimalist, trancelike ambience that showed him keeping abreast of cutting-edge 80s rock trends. This notoriously reclusive figure, who has rarely been interviewed or even seen in public since his days of stardom, emerged from hibernation in 1995 with a new album, Tilt. During the next several years, he contributed to soundtracks (To Have and to Hold, The World Is Not Enough, Pola X) and assisted with recordings by Ute Lemper and Pulp. He didnt release another album until 2006.