Customer Reviews

Scott 2

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

"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.

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.

Scott 2 is the second solo album of the legendary musician Scott Walker (a.k.a. Engel). In addition to rendering his sublime voice and impassioned interpretations to three Jacques Brel pieces and others, he also wrote four original pieces for this album: The Amorous Humphrey Plugg, The Girls from the Street, Plastic Palace People, and The Bridge. These songs suggest that Scott is gifted not only with a superb capacity to communicate complex emotions but also with a mind that can observe the social realities of human existence in a realistic manner. (His songs at times remind me of Sherwood Anderson's novel, Winesburg, Ohio.) Most of the selected songs here are not "pretty" in a conventional way (for instance, Come Next Spring, which can be sung in a straightforwardly romantic way, becomes a song of irredeemable loss due to the tragically nuanced delivery of Scott's singing voice); but they definitely engage the listeners' hearts and minds in a profound manner. To listen to Scott's singing voice is to be moved by it. I highly recommend this album to anybody who appreciates complexity and ambiguity of human emotional life.

One of the strange things for the Scott Walker fan is that his records make you want to get a bigger sound system .
For me , at least .
You know how some people listen to opera at top volume ?
Scott's early albums can make you want to do that , as there is a similiar thing going on , intensity wise .

The music packs a punch , both sonically and often emotionally . This album has Scott branching out a bit with his own songs , covering Jacques Brel again to fine effect and doing some showbizzy numbers , which must have made some people think of giving him his own TV show , which he later did .

It's like he's fine tuning things and getting further out .
I can only imagine what his listeners thought .
A great album leading toward his later darker work .
Buy this if you want to be challenged and hear different musical possibilities .

It is pleasing enough to discover an English speaking vocalist who dares interpret the signature songwriting of Jacques Brell, but to dare take on the master! Well, that is a consummation devoutly to be wished. . .

And yet, here it is! When you first listen to this album I recommend jumping directly to "Next." I am not going to tell you what the song is about, you can discover that for yourself. But here's a hint: glance at the next song, "The Girls From The Streets." Let us just say that this song is a response, of sorts, to "Next." And what is striking is that, side by side, neither song outshines the other. I tip my cap to that.

But Walker moves beyond assuming the mantle of Brell's style (both vocal and written) in "Plastic Palace People." Dare I say that what I thought I heard was the emergence of a voice in pop that was nonpareil? I suppose you can find its "after-shocks" in singers like Nick Cave but has anyone in pop or easy listening matched what we are hearing here? Walker simply puts an almost "beat" spin on this Sinatra/Bennet crooning yet never claims to be better than these icons, merely different. He takes vocal performance in an interesting direction; I almost got the sense that Walker's work on this album was an amalgam of "beat" consciousness, swaggering hipster nonchalance, and a trace of Gershwin -Porter era ditties with their gorgeous lyrics and panoramic tunefullness. But still, all of my pretensions do this music no justice at all. I am merely laboring here out of love.

I don't think you will be disappointed by this record, especially if easy listening and pop music appeal to you and you've a penchant for indulging in both the gothic and the effulgent. Just think Leonard Cohen meets "sunshine pop" or Nelson Riddle and you're on the right track.

Five stars. I'm lovin' this stuff.

Of Walker's 4 numbered albums, this is consistently the best. From the opening blast of the world-weary Brel epic "Jackie" to the closing tones of "Come Next Spring" this is an album full of musical gems, hidden treasures, and astoundingly tender wonders. I don't know what I love more - the Sinatra meets Wagner swell of "Best of Both Worlds," the lounge-folk of "Black Sheep Boy," or the sheer, mournful beauty of "Window's of the World." This album surges from the ridiculous to the sublime without flinching, all the while carried along by breathtakingly stunning production. The only song that overstays its welcome is "Plastic Palace People," though even that has some memorable moments. The previous album, though good, suffered from pacing/song-selection issues, the later albums, each briliant in its own way, tend to be overly experimental. This is the one (although it's called 2).

Scott 2 features some great songs, but as some other reviews have said, many tracks are mismatched. The cd will feature high moments of craft and lyricism, as in all the Brel covers (naturally), Windows of the World, and Plastic Palace Alice. The other songs are forgettable and just too soupy to get into. Personally, other than the songs listed, I can only recall Best of Both Worlds only for the fact that the opening notes match Dvorak's New World Symphony.

But, though forgettable, the other tracks aren't offensive or unlistenable. And the majority of other songs make up for them to keep you listening to the cd the whole way through. And all serves as a harbinger for great albums to come, namely Scott 4.

Su segundo disco viene casi sin tiempo para digerir una maravillosa obra maestra como es su primer disco. Vuelven a predominar las versiones sobre las composiciones propias, las cuales esta vez no son tan brillantes (si exceptuamos The Girls From The Streets). Las que si son fantasticas son las versiones de Jacques Brel; abriendo el disco Jackie, Next y The Girls And The Dogs son 3 de las mejores interpretaciones de S. Engel. Tambien tenemos fantasticas versiones de otros autores como Best Of Both Worlds o Wait Until Dark absolutamente estremecedoras.
El nivel es casi, casi como el de su primer disco. Puede ser considerado como su segunda parte ya que su estilo y espíritu es el mismo, excelentes versiones, interpretaciones y orquestaciones para una de las más maravillosas e irrepetibles voces de la música pop.