My older sisters were big Walker Brothers fans when I was growing up. Some of it rubbed off on me. Later I finally got round to buying some of Scott's solo albums on CD. Sometimes challenging, but always original when recording his own work. We've lost another of music's mavericks.
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“A lot of people have tried to reactivate my career, but I always found them too contrived,” said Walker. “I’ve got no interest in nostalgia. There was a misunderstanding between Eno, Lanois and myself on the particular record. I spent six months writing material and then brought it to the studio to record with them, but I found their way of working too scattered, and Lanois I found totally useless. So one night in the early stages of making the record I just stood up and walked out.” https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/scott-walker-obituary
Scott Walker’s favourite films: https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/scott-walker-s-favourite-films
Just watched a doc on YouTube from 1995 that I’d never seen before. Well worth watching and only 20 minutes long.
https://youtu.be/DKPGGwRjTlo Loved this part: “I was a kid in Southern California who at a very early age just loved watching Lola Montès and films like that, you know, and ... uh ... used to watch this movie, The Rocking Horse Winner, and I’ve actually never seen it on television over here. It was an English film and I was just fascinated and I was very young when I must’ve seen this ... uh ... and it had the boy in it who was in Oliver Twist ... the young boy who was in Oliver Twist and ... uhh ... all ... they had such a dreamlike quality that the American things didn’t have for me.”
Love Scott. Loved the Scott Walker Prom from a couple of years ago. And love Scott's down to earth manner, despite his unquestionable god-like status. Very sad to hear of his passing, but goodness, he left a body of work!
Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson was among others to pay tribute, remembering Walker as "one of the most original and stylish music makers of his generation."
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-47691995
What do UK Nelsonians think of Labour Deputy Leader Tom Watson? Don't know if I know much about him.
Also if you've got 35 minutes to spare, please check out this 2017 convo between Jarvis Cocker and Walker:
https://youtu.be/k5dnqA-r3Iw
Wonderfully strange music from Scott, all the way back to the very early ‘60. Every time I feel like I almost caught up with his recorded works, there was always something else to discover.
Scott always seemed to me to be a very disciplined person, quiet but with a good sense of humour.
His speaking voice had the cadence of an English person, a Londoner, the drawl of Californian from Los Angeles and yet also sounded to me like a Midwesterner as well, with that Midwest monotone/twang paradox arising once in a while.
A magnificent singing voice. Always felt close to not completely comprehending of his lyrics. That’s what was great about the interviews and conversations on YouTube: Somehow all the lyrics made sense hearing his speaking voice talking freely.
Noel Scott Engle who walked to London in 1964 and became an official Englishman in 1970 gave us ample to discover.