Scott 2 [Import, Original recording remastered]

Scott Walker | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 2, 1992)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import, Original recording remastered
• Label: Mercury
• ASIN: B0000075YD
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #12,054 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #51 in Music > Imports > Pop
  • #54 in Music > Pop > Oldies > Baroque Pop

Editorial Reviews

Originally released in 1967, 'Scott 2' reached # 1 in the UK & includes the Top 20 hit 'Jackie'. 2000, 24 bit digitally remastered with the restored original sleeve. Fontanta.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The '60s You've Never Heard, September 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Scott 2 (Audio CD)

Crass and sophisticated, delicate and rocking, far-reaching and introverted all at once. "Scott 2" is Walker's best record, his most forceful and cathartic. Reaches from the bombast of "Jackie" at the outset and closes simply with "Come Next Spring"--in other words, "I want to rule the world, but I'd settle for just being happy", as a friend put it. The impact this record had on me was pretty profound, almost the same as hearing Black Flag for the first time in '83 (not quite in the same way, though)! Give it a chance if you're of discriminating tastes and you won't be disappointed.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Before the Bottle Dulled My Eyes", September 28, 2000

By 

patrice - See all my reviews

This review is from: Scott 2 (Audio CD)

"Scott Walker Two" is a step up from Scott's first solo album though perhaps is not quite as grand as the two solo albums to follow.

Walker has one of the great voices of rock, a velvety emotive croon perfect for his often theatrical music. He is also a brillant songwriter, having seemingly absorbed some of Jacques Brel's complexity into his own compositions. Three excellent Walker compositions are included here; "The Amorous Humphrey Plugg" which is somewhat marred by a Neil Diamondish vocal, the light swirling "Plastic Palace People", and my favorite Scott tune "The Bridge". "The Bridge" a suitably melancholy tale of lost love has some startling imagery, such as that of a sailor staining cobblestones with "wine and piss and dead desire", is simply one of the lost classics of the late sixties.

There are three superior Jacques Brel songs here, the jauntily subversive "Jackie", the scabrous "Next", and smirkily misogynist "The Girls and the Dogs" which suggests the latter are superior to the former (though of course we self destructively end up kicking the dogs out in favor of the women in the end).

The rest of the album are covers, they aren't quite throw aways yet aren't as powerful as the Brel and Walker compostions.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Walker delves in orchestral excess with mixed results, November 28, 2009

By 

Christopher Culver - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Scott 2 (Audio CD)

It never ceases to amaze me than in 1968, a year of ever more psychadelic rock and extreme youth counterculture, Scott Walker's great inspiration in pushing the boundaries of his art was Jacques Brel, orchestrated. The album opens with in full charge with Brel's "Jackie" in saucy translation and a plush backing of strings. Walker's strong baritone expresses Brel's fear that the excesses of showbusiness will soon lead him to such quaint extremes as opium running and sex addiction. In spite of the fact that these bloated cabaret stylings ought to be dated and boring, rarely have I heard music that feels so fresh and fun. "Next", another Brel cover, has a plot that almost seems comedic, before it is revealed as tragic.

Of Walker's own songs, they generally work well. "The Girl's From the Streets" shows him almost slavishly imitating French song, complete with rather over-the-top accordion, but is still pretty catchy. "The Amorous Humphrey Plugg" is a strong effort looking ahead to the material on SCOTT 4 with its mysterious plot (bigamy?). "Plastic Palace People" and "The Bridge" develop most purely the vocal style that is Walker's alone, neither comparable to his inspirations nor successfully imitated by later singers as much as they try.

The album doesn't always stay at those heights, however. Brel's "The Girls and the Dogs" is a bit too comedic, and goofy songs don't serve Walker well. Mark London and Don Black's "Best of Both Worlds" is a weak choice of material, and Walker sounds downright bored as he sings its shallow lyrics. "Black Sheep Boy", a cover of a tune by Tim Hardin, doesn't exercise Walker's considerable talents at all. (Has any other country-inflected song ever made it so high in the British charts?) "Windows of the World", a tune by Hal David, Burt Bacharach, has an anti-war message but without the punch of "Hero of the War" from SCOTT 4.

I'd rate this album around 3-3.5 stars. The presence of considerably weaker material, as well as the ocassional excess of the orchestral arrangements makes this an album I love rather less than SCOTT 4 or THE DRIFT, though there are some great moments and people exploring Walker's output should pick this up sooner or later.