Album Review – Scott 3 by Scott Walker
A Tender and Quiet Album Before a Leap In Musical Growth
May 11, 2009
After leaving the Walker Brothers in the mid-1960s, Scott Walker began releasing solo albums of material similar to the classic Walker Brothers single “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore.” With Walker’s soaring voice at the forefront, his first albums built upon the highly orchestrated style laid down by the Walker Brothers. Songs like “Mathilda” and “Jackie” utilized full-band bombast, going over the top with layer-upon-layer of timpani, horns, and – of course – vocals. 1969’s Scott 3 sees similar affectations, but a much more mature Scott Walker is apparent, as well.
Bittersweet Songs of Love and Loss
Though Scott Walker has built a career upon bittersweet songs of love and loss, Scott 3 is even more representative of those qualities than the rest of his catalogue. While there are sadder songs in his repertoire (Tilt’s “Rosary” and Scott 4’s “Rhymes of Goodbye," for example), the third record has this overarching sense of despair.
“It’s Raining Today” opens the album with a violin drone, the strings buzzing for a few measures until Scott’s voice comes in with “It’s raining today / and I’m just about to forget the train window girl”, sinking lower than it ever has on “today” and soaring back up right away.
“Copenhagen” is next, and Scott really shines as a poet here, taking his knack for imagery and pulling it through for the entire 2:22: “Hope for me, I hope for you / We're snowdrops falling through the night / We'll melt away before we land / Two teardrops for somebody's hand” “Rosemary" and "Big Louise" are two similar sounding songs, with the standard slow croon Scott shows off throughout the majority of his work.
Scott Walker's Classic and Instantly Recognizable Qualities
Scott Walker's classic and instantly recognizable qualities start to really be shown on "We Came Through," the big energetic song on the album that is reminiscent of "Mathilda" with its war-march drums and horns. There are even gun shots and other assorted noises at the end of the sub-two minute track, and it leads into "Butterfly" quite nicely. Is it the end of the war or the middle calm of it? If anything is known about Scott, the war is never over.
He comes back to the war theme on "Two Ragged Soldiers" and proves that the war really is never over: "One would speak of a lake where he used to go swimming / The other had no memories left for his mind / With their arms round each other the two ragged soldiers / Laughed through a war that they couldn't see / Laughed for a world filled with fantasy."
The music is pleasant, with strings and slow strums of a Spanish sounding guitar, but the voice and the story are where it's at. There seems to be extra reverb on Scott's vocals, letting the two ragged soldiers echo past the song, even.
A Lighthearted Move to the End
Walker makes a lighthearted move to the end of the album, beginning with the fun little acoustic song "30th Century Man" and following it up with "Winter Night," the fourth song that clocks in under two minutes on the album. Both the album and the listener benefits from the length, as none of these songs get a chance to overstay their welcome.
While Walker is no minimalist, he manages to keep the excess trimmed to be perfection on Scott 3: different and barer than his other work, but still distinctly Walker. "Two Weeks Since You've Gone" is the last original tune on the album, ending Walker’s first ten-song-run of self-penned work.
Scott Walker Chooses Three Final Jacques Brel Songs
After building his solo career upon covers of French singer Jacques Brel, Walker chooses three final Brel tunes to cover before turning in his next album comprised of completely original songs. The hokey mood of "Sons Of" is a fun choice, with a bad melody stuffed into a silly waltz that would be more at home in a classy ballroom. "Funeral Tango" is more silliness, with Walker getting very snide with his "Ha, haha ha-ha, haha ha!”
The album closes with the melodramatic "If You Go Away", and there's no other way for it to end. Scott plays his triumphant sadness off a near whisper, putting a beautiful close on what was perhaps a time when he used the music of Jacques Brel as a musical crutch. Scott 3 sees Walker nearing his creative peak, showing the beauty in the bleakness.
Related Article: Album Review -- Scott 4 by Scott Walker
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