Scott Walker - ideal male Burt Bacharach singer?

[Pablo]

If I am not wrong, he only performed 4 Bacharach songs: Make it easy on yourself (with the Walker Brothers); Another tear falls (with the Walker Brothers); The windows of the world (in Scott 2); Any day now (from 'Any day now'). And though he never worked with Bacharach, in my opinion, he is one of the best (if not the best) Bacharach interpreter. In fact, he is fantastic, whatever he is singing, except for his late obscure, experimental records.

Also, with the Walker Brothers and in the beggining of his solo career, he had the same producer as Dusty in the UK Philips label (Johnny Franz) who provided that typical bombastic/dramatic sound. By the way, I highly recommend his albums Scott 1, 2, 3 and 4.

What's your opinion?

[Hank]

Scott Walker is fabulous.
Too bad he didn't tackle a few more burt classics. How about God Give Me Strength ?
I just got Scott 4 and am very pleasantly surprised (I thought it would be further down the road to weirdness).
One of my SW favorites is his version of I Don't Want to Hear it Anymore. For my money, his version is better than Dusty's and it's not often you say that.
I watched a documentary (30th Century Man ?) on SW on Sundance the other night. Very interesting. He did begin to lose me though - when he had his percussionist punching meat....

[An Enormous BB Fan]

For me, the ideal male Burt Bacharach singer is the great B.J. Thomas.

[grooverider]

A great interpreter of other's words & music, although I'm not sure Scott Walker really enjoyed being prodded into "commercial" areas of popular music by his record company.
I really enjoy his versions of some of Jimmy Webb's material: an absolutely beautiful version of "When Does Brown Begin" (I like it as much as the Supremes' version, which was arranged & produced by Jimmy Webb), "All My Love's Laughter" and "If Ships Were Made To Sail".
I, too, wish he gone further into the Bacharach/David catalogue.
A great double cd is "Classics & Collectibles" to hear more collaborations with producer Johnny Franz, with songs from Randy Newman, John Barry, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Johnny Mercer, Paul Williams, Paul Anka(!) and more.

[Pablo]

A great interpreter of other's words & music, although I'm not sure Scott Walker really enjoyed being prodded into "commercial" areas of popular music by his record company.
I really enjoy his versions of some of Jimmy Webb's material: an absolutely beautiful version of "When Does Brown Begin" (I like it as much as the Supremes' version, which was arranged & produced by Jimmy Webb), "All My Love's Laughter" and "If Ships Were Made To Sail".
I, too, wish he gone further into the Bacharach/David catalogue.
A great double cd is "Classics & Collectibles" to hear more collaborations with producer Johnny Franz, with songs from Randy Newman, John Barry, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Johnny Mercer, Paul Williams, Paul Anka(!) and more.

Scott Walker said in a 1990s interview that he used material of Bacharach/David and other compositors to keep happy the record company and to be able to include his own abstract compositions and Brel songs (both good and interesting, nothing against that). In general, in the late 60s all the "rock artists" tried to write their own material, like Dylan or the Beatles.

I have tried to buy the "Supremes produced and arranged by Jimmy Webb" album but it's not easy. I'll also try with that other CD you mention.

[steveo_1965]

I too enjoyed Scott Walker singing MAke IT Easy On Yourself
He can provide that "disembodied" voice with ehco on the record, just like Bill Medley on Lovin Feelin....
I agree it would have been great if he had done more Burt/Hal.
As far as the alltime great male voice for Burt/HAl...I dont know? MAybe Gene Pitney?

Steveo

[BachtoBacharach]

Hard one to call for me...like Gene Pitney, Lou Johnson and BJ Thomas and loved the Walker Bros Make it Easy on Yourself but I would lean toward BJ because his voice resembles Burt''s voice more closely than the others. Burt is on record as stating though that he vastly preferred the female voice to the male voice and I agree that Burt most of the time wrote with a female voice in mind...that's why he worked so closely with Dionne and aside from some movie soundtracks he wrote and produced, he produced for few others in the 60s and when he did it was usually a one off...he did write, arrange and produce a few tunes for Jackie DeShannon and worked with Gene Pitney within the confines of what Musicor and Gene's producer would allow him to do with Gene. In 1962, Burt broke free of all constraints created by records companies, A&R men, and dumbing down his compositions for less talented singers when he and Dionne began working together. If Burt could write it Dionne could sing it.

[JR]

Speaking of BJ Thomas... What a touching moment. What a unique talent.

[Pablo]

I think BJ Thomas and Scott Walker sing at different levels. BJ is more relaxed and ironic, while Scott W. is more melodramatic (to be honest, I don't imagine him doing Everybody's out of town).

[grooverider]

HI Pablo, "The Supremes" arranged & produced by Jimmy Webb is only available on cd format in their box set, "The Supremes This is the Story" (a superb collection, but it's not cheap) from Hip-O Select (a fantastic reissue label) a 3cd set with much unreleased material from their work without Diana Ross.

I know "ideal" does not constitute two songs, but I really, really like the two Bacharach/David songs Mark Lindsay did: "Something Big" and "I'll Never Fall In Love Again". I wish he had done more!

[igtmfo33]

I always like to put the plug in for Scott' Walker's songwriting, for those that haven't discovered it.

Burt's super-high quality and originality of melody is impossible to find in contemporary music, but stuff close to it was scarce even in the 60s.

Scott had great melodic inspiration for awhile in the late 60s with his "Scott 3" especially. "Scott 4" ain't bad either. And both are somewhat in the Burt grand style ... Folks talk about Jimmy Webb's, Tony Hatch's oeuvre etc., but Scott is often left out of the discussion, perhaps because Scott's contribution to classic pop was short-lived. Scott would be off on some new tangent over the intervening years, confusing fans and critics who wanted more of the "old days."

A great thing that both of those S. Walker albums are on myspace for free listening nowadays. ... (I don't see any D. Warwick albums on myspace but there is plenty of her for free on last.fm ...)

[Pablo]

Absolutely. The incredible thing is that Scott Walker's first three solo records (Scott 1, 2 and 3) were very successful, charting respectively at numbers 3, 1 and 3 in the UK (Scott 4 did not chart and sent Scott Walker to a dark period, being forgotten until he reunited the Walker Brothers again in the mid-70s).

Looking today at the unimaginative shame that is mainstream pop music, it is amazing to think that somebody could release such risky, intense, fabulous (and expensive) orchestral records, sell it to the general public and be successful.

And, yes, I think Scott Walker the songwriter is frequently overlooked.

[blueonblue]

Classic Scott.........and classic Bacharach !!!


"blue"

[An Enormous BB Fan]

[Jerry]

Hey, Everybody!

I only recently became a serious listener of the early Scott Walker work, with a special admiration for PLASTIC PALACE PEOPLE (a small masterpiece of emotional power and arrangment!!) and the theme from WAIT UNTIL DARK on Scott 2. Frankly, i am quietly blown away!

In addition to that incredible up-from-the-coal-mine baritone, which reeaaly gives an instant emotional resonance to anything he puts (or put) his voice to, he seemed to have a genuine musician's affinity to where his instrument fits in with all the others. Frankly, there are very few singers who have that sort of natural instinct, Dionne and Sinatra being the two come chiefly to mind. And yes, he is an artist who--God Love Him!--marches to a beat that only he, and he alone, is able to hear. Although I greatly admire that fact about him and respect him for going his own way, when taking the easy nostalgia money would have been infinitely more profitable, his work from 1980 onwards, is tough going.

Anybody even remotely interested in what it means to REALLY break away from the pack should check out 30 CENTURY MAN, the David Bowie-produced (Bowie is an admitted acolyte) documentary about him. And though, I may be one of the few who enjoys substantial portions of his albums TILT(1995) and THE DRIFT (2006), they are not something designed for casual background sounds!

As far as, Scott Walker being Mr. B.'s Foremost male interpreter, I must respectfully beg to differ, giving the nod to either BJ Thomas or Gene Pitney, singers who were a tad more relaxed in their delivery, making Burt's deceptively-easy sounding arrangments sound simple. Though, I do really love the dark-hued MAKE IT EASY ON YOURSELF!

Very Best To All,

Jerry