Scott Walker is Dead.

[Conchis]

From his record company’s website. Nothing on MSM as yet.

https://4ad.com/news/25/3/2019/scottwalker19432019

[cloughie]

From his record company’s website. Nothing on MSM as yet.

https://4ad.com/news/25/3/2019/scottwalker19432019

A really good singer, and a great interpreter of Jacques Brel’s songs. RIP Scott Engel, The Sun ain’t gonna shine anymore for him.

[Conchis]

BBC are now reporting it.

It seems wrong to mourn someone you never actually met, but this news has laid me low.

[teamsaint]

Sad news. He made a lot of wonderful records, in a startling variety of styles. His popularisation of Brel in the UK, was pretty significant, and his own writing was thoughtful and highly creative. In the latter part of his life , he was a real musical free spirit, producing some very interesting and exciting cutting edge rock music, perhaps ( and I don't know if this is the case) enabled by money he made from his more commercial records. Whatever, a really distinctive and special musical life.

One of my favourites , one of many great things he gave us.

#

I'll very much miss looking forward to hearing the next step on his musical journey.

[Richard Barrett]

In the latter part of his life , he was a real musical free spirit, producing some very interesting and exciting cutting edge rock music, perhaps ( and I don't know if this is the case) enabled by money he made from his more commercial records.

Indeed so. Some friends of mine in LA also played an ensemble composition of his a couple of years ago (in his "late" style). His soundtrack for Childhood of a Leader was impressive too, but my favourite among his later works is Bish Bosch which, apart from being some of the most viscerally angry music I've ever heard, shows a quite startlingly original ability with form and timbre that "serious" composers could learn a great deal from.

[Serial_Apologist]

Just been checking a number of recordings which included personalities from the British jazz, fusion and improv fraternities:

Bass guitarist Mo Foster (Ray Russell) on the Walker Brothers' "Nite Flights" (GTO - 1978), and Scott Walker's "Climate of Hunter" (Virgin - 1983)

Pianist and keyboardsman Dave MacRae (Nucleus, Matching Mole, Mike Gibbs Big Band) on the Walker Brothers' "Lines" (GTO - 1978), and "Nite Flights"

Saxophonist innovator Evan Parker (SME, MIC, BofB, LJCO, Globe Unity, himself!) on "Climate of Hunter".

[Stanfordian]

Sad news! Such a great voice and most distinctive too.

R-I-P

[DracoM]

Was he really worth all the OTT media coverage? Very surprised he should appear on For3!!

[teamsaint]

Was he really worth all the OTT media coverage? Very surprised he should appear on For3!!

OTT media coverage is what it is, and is in part a reflection of the interests of those in management positions, and to an extent a generational thing.

But to travel the musical journey that Scott Walker did, and to retain the good opinion of so many , from the pop music where he started , through the Brel interpretations and popularisations, to the highly individual Avant Garde rock ( if you can call it that), via his well respected film scores, and of course through the creative blips that inevitably accompany such a journey, is indeed pretty remarkable.
And his singing style (s) will continue to be very influential, IMO.

Edit: Actually, part of what I really love about him is that he produced an extraordinary body of work, and also that we can learn so much from his journey. There was a discussion on here recently about creativity in " later " years, and SW showed us clearly and brilliantly that even in the youth obsessed world of pop, where burnout is too frequent, that the life journey can inform great and ambitious creativity for many decades.

[Maclintick]

Was he really worth all the OTT media coverage?

Yes he was, for the reasons adduced by Teamsaint & RB, & considering that the Beeb often splashes out fawning obits on micro-celebrities, e.g. acres of adulatory coverage the other day for a session-drummer I at least had never heard of, the space given to SW today didn't strike me as excessive. He was a major figure in 60s pop, who chose to live and launch his solo career in England -- not mentioned in the lunchtime piece on Radio 4 WATO, incidentally -- & collaborated with the arranger Wally Stott ( latterly known as Angela Morley, of course ) who provided extraordinarily imaginative orchestral tapestries for his solo albums. RIP Scott. A unique voice who pursued an unusually brave career trajectory.

[muzzer]

He was so much more than his 60s pop career. Had an extraordinary artistic journey and was massively influential on more mainstream artists. Have a listen to Scott 4 if you don’t know it......

[antongould]

OTT media coverage is what it is, and is in part a reflection of the interests of those in management positions, and to an extent a generational thing.

But to travel the musical journey that Scott Walker did, and to retain the good opinion of so many , from the pop music where he started , through the Brel interpretations and popularisations, to the highly individual Avant Garde rock ( if you can call it that), via his well respected film scores, and of course through the creative blips that inevitably accompany such a journey, is indeed pretty remarkable.
And his singing style (s) will continue to be very influential, IMO.

Edit: Actually, part of what I really love about him is that he produced an extraordinary body of work, and also that we can learn so much from his journey. There was a discussion on here recently about creativity in " later " years, and SW showed us clearly and brilliantly that even in the youth obsessed world of pop, where burnout is too frequent, that the life journey can inform great and ambitious creativity for many decades.

Very well said, IMVVHO, ts .....

[johncorrigan]

Very surprised he should appear on For3!!

You might be right there, Draco. He was very popular on Late Junction and we know what's planned for it.

I thought he had a unique voice and though his stuff might be a bit far out at times, he was always interesting...and his version of Brel's 'Jackie' remains, for me, one of the most exciting pieces of pop music I have ever heard.

[DracoM]

OK, I take it all back.
Just didn't think his work was worth all that adulation.

[Conchis]

Was he really worth all the OTT media coverage? Very surprised he should appear on For3!!

He absolutely was. Personally, I think his death should have been the lead item on the British news, to give us a break from the ongoing disaster.