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I saw this documentary last night. It was a bit like Scott's career, fascinating to start with until it lost its way when he got to the 80's and frankly in the end I turned it off as it was as baffling as the albums Scott is making now.
He started recording as Scott Engel in the late fifties when he was in his early teens. He achieved fame however when he moved to England and became part of the Walker Brothers. He took over the main vocal duties when it became apparent he had one of the great voices of rock.
His main fame and reason for his cult status now is when he went solo and recorded four of the best albums ever made in rock. His third album, Scott 3 arguably the weakest of the four reached number three on the UK charts. His follow up, Scott 4 in my opinion his finest moment and featuring his stellar songwriting didn't even chart and this probably caused the many misteps of his later career.
For a while he tried to become a mainstream balladeer even starring in his own TV show but these records are barely remembered now. He then was talked into joining the ill fated reformation of the Walker Brothers in the late 70s but this was forgettable pap except for the final album Nite Flights. If he'd kept going in the direction of Night Flights he may have continued making memorable music but alas it was not to be.
The first mistake was signing a 20 album deal with Polydor. The first album under the deal took 6 years to appear. At that rate he would have been well over 100 years old when he completed the deal. That album was the impenetrable Climate of Hunter. Mind you that was like the Beachboys compared to later albums like Tilt. Scott forgot he was a peerless ballad singer of melancholic epics and tried to become an avant garde composer using his voice as an inappropriate instrument. He also refused to tell his producer the melodies of the songs if indeed there were any. He also explained that he's never listened to his albums since he recorded them. I can understand that Scott with the later stuff.
I think Scott's mental balance may well have been an issue also as he is a retiring loner with ever present sunglasses and a baseball cap pulled down so his face is invisible. The doco became too much for me when Scott recording his latest album had his percussionist hit a side of beef (yes in the studio) and then said "no, no not thud, thud its more thud thud, thud thud". Sorry Scott I just don't live on your planet.
Scott has been championed by such fellow eccentrics as Julian Cope, Eno and David Bowie and in one final weird footnote his main 60s producer/arranger Wally Stott has changed gender to Angela somebody.
Here's my compilation of my favourite Scott songs most of which he wrote. Link Track list in comments.
Further thoughts. I listened to Climate of Hunter again and it actually does have its moments. Its not as bad as I remembered but I still don't care for his later stuff. Of course a lot of people think he's a fearless and innovative artist. He's still one of my favourites and Scott 4 was so good I have high expectations of all his later stuff and for the most part have been disappointed.
For a while he tried to become a mainstream balladeer even starring in his own TV show but these records are barely remembered now. He then was talked into joining the ill fated reformation of the Walker Brothers in the late 70s but this was forgettable pap except for the final album Nite Flights. If he'd kept going in the direction of Night Flights he may have continued making memorable music but alas it was not to be.
The first mistake was signing a 20 album deal with Polydor. The first album under the deal took 6 years to appear. At that rate he would have been well over 100 years old when he completed the deal. That album was the impenetrable Climate of Hunter. Mind you that was like the Beachboys compared to later albums like Tilt. Scott forgot he was a peerless ballad singer of melancholic epics and tried to become an avant garde composer using his voice as an inappropriate instrument. He also refused to tell his producer the melodies of the songs if indeed there were any. He also explained that he's never listened to his albums since he recorded them. I can understand that Scott with the later stuff.
I think Scott's mental balance may well have been an issue also as he is a retiring loner with ever present sunglasses and a baseball cap pulled down so his face is invisible. The doco became too much for me when Scott recording his latest album had his percussionist hit a side of beef (yes in the studio) and then said "no, no not thud, thud its more thud thud, thud thud". Sorry Scott I just don't live on your planet.
Scott has been championed by such fellow eccentrics as Julian Cope, Eno and David Bowie and in one final weird footnote his main 60s producer/arranger Wally Stott has changed gender to Angela somebody.
Here's my compilation of my favourite Scott songs most of which he wrote. Link Track list in comments.
Further thoughts. I listened to Climate of Hunter again and it actually does have its moments. Its not as bad as I remembered but I still don't care for his later stuff. Of course a lot of people think he's a fearless and innovative artist. He's still one of my favourites and Scott 4 was so good I have high expectations of all his later stuff and for the most part have been disappointed.
