Intelligent Life On Planet Rock
Scott Walker - Tilt (A new appraisal)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilt_(Scott_Walker_album)
I've just been listening to this album for the first time in ages, but instead of a small CD player, I was listening through the church sound system where I work.
For all those who call Noel Scott Engel's later works "obtuse", "scary" and "boring", they really should try this.
Whilst not as accessible as the pop of the Walker Brothers, or the wistful balladeering of the 4 self-titled albums, "Tilt", and likewise "The Drift", after it, are a patchwork of ideas pushed to the maximum and allowed to run free, rather than being hemmed into the standard "Verse Chorus Verse" structure of most songs.
For those who saw the "30 Century Man" documentary (and I strongly recommend you do), the brief section where they listen to "Tilt" in a church-like building was a revelation. The music resonates and echoes, shimmering with the added pathos of a man very much at peace (and odds) with who he is, and the music he makes.
The opening track, "Farmer In The City", later sampled by UNKLE for their track "Reign"is an ominous string epic. For people who enjoyed the sumptuous strings of "Scott"'s 3 & 4, there is an eery semblance of a time long forgotten struggling to return. That it is inspired by the work of Pier Pasolini gives it an underlying element of intellectual grandiosity that runs throughout the rest of the album.
"Rosary", as performed on Later... with Jools is a menacing little ditty, despite being sung with just a guitar and featuring the word "ooohahooohahooohahohhh" prominently. In anyone else's hands, the song would just sound flimsy. But Walker's voice gives depth in a similar way to his beautiful crooning did with his early work.
"The Cockfighter" with its use of haunting ambient textures and brutal industrial dissonance is another example of Walker pushing the boundaries of music, and his very being, to the limit, just to see what he could achieve. The Fratellis this is not!
Another song worthy of note is the utterly sublime "Patriot (A Single)", which like Scott's earlier song "Sleepwalkers Woman" from "Climate of Hunter" features some epic string arrangements and Scott's beautiful voice lilting over the top. Although, like the rest of the album, it doesn't stay this way, crashing into a "chorus" of sorts, having louder sections, flute solos, oblique lyrics about the "Luzerner Zeitung", yet the melody returns, casting the listener back into a wistful mood - one that Walker seems to maintain throughout his work.
Just thought I'd share that. I really enjoyed listening to it this time, as opposed to previous listenings, where I've endured it, simply because of who it was by. Now I really like it.
"Tilt" has captured my heart.
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My mate loves Scott Walker,
David Sylvian, Marc Almond etc. I know this is not one of his favourites, but will recommend your suggestion to him,although i'm not quite sure how he will be to utilise a church for a listen!
Personally, I admire his sheer bloody mindedness in pursuing his artistic vision, but frustrated that his wonderful voice is not used to its best effect. I found tilt far too much like hard work at the time, and have not listened to it since its initial release
Still love it
but like a Gin and Tonic, I don't need it every day. I love the documentary and think that he comes across as a thoroughly honest, though driven, individual.
Like Scott 4, I'm convinced he'll be proven right in 15 years and those critics who dismissed him will be the ones doing the catch up.
Would love to hear it up big and loud like you did!
just downloaded it from Amazon for £3+
i loved it (Drift even more) when I listened to both on Spotify earlier in the year. Unlike anything I'd heard before or since.
A one off...
Tilt and Drift are no means an easy listen but it is extraordinary stuff, especially when you consider his background as a 60s pop heartthrob. I can't think of any of his contemporaries who are still making records are so complex, creepy and challenging.
Definitely the kind of records that require a revisit...leave em for a couple of years and try again...I know I'll get them eventually.
If only Brian Wilson or Paul McCartney had a dash of Scott Walkers bloody minded/bonkers experimental spirit.
Scott's tunes on The Walker Brothers 'Nite Flights' are pretty staggering too.
Farmer in the City
I listened to this - loud - on in-ear phones - as I walked at daybreak over the Millenium bridge recently.
I stopped briefly to take it all in. I could see old and new London and the swirling Thames below. Death and life and decay and renewal.
The music acted as perfect emphasis.
Of course, Scott Walker's music is mad and pretentious and near unlistenable but I love it for all those ridiculous reasons
Late Scott
Love it. Prententious. Yes, and all the better for it. By the way, too much blog backlog to catch up on in one sitting. What on earth's been going on during my brief sojourn. The new positive vibes phase seems to have been very ephemeral indeed. Let's Tangle, people.
What is great...
... what I find absolutely fascinating about these two gorgeous and wonderful records is that, as different and unlike Old Scott as they are, there is still something recognisable in them, buried somewhere. It's like we're listening to a version of old Scott who has been shoved through a meat-grinder, and muilated almost beyond recognition. A lot of still orchestral-based, and his voice is kinda of still in the same tone and register.
Tilt is perhaps my least-favorite of the two, but Farmer in the City is absolutely my favorite track, perhaps from his entire career. In context, this is a GORGEOUS lyric:
"Dark farm-houses against the sky.
Every night I must wonder why."
And the chords building...
between the lyrics "I knew nothing of the horses, nothing of the thresher"
damon albarn doing Farmer In The City
That is
quite the worst thing I've heard in a long time. Bad Karaoke Scott, ruining a beautiful tune and lyric. I'm guessing it's from the "Drifting and Tilting" show from last year? If so I'm glad it was something I couldn't get to.
After a previous Scott thread here...
... I made a point of listening to "The Drift" at least once a week for a few months (having only played it a handful of times since buying it when it was first released) and can confirm it really does start to "make sense" the more time you spend with it - like much classical music, it doesn't "reveal" itself to the listener at the first few attempts, but it's worth the effort, as there really isn't anyone else out there doing this kind of thing.
"Farmer In The City" though, what a track...