By the time Scott Walker released Scott 4, he'd been both a sixties pop star and then a solo artist who initially managed to retain a portion of his teenage audience as he headed off into new territory. Not many artists have made this transition. Scott, his first solo album mixed his own songs, Brel covers and other covers. Scott 2 was a similar mix, however by the time he released Scott 3 he was combining the Brel material with his own exceptional songwriting talent. Scott 4 was the first record that was made up of his own compositions only. It is regarded as his best work, with good reason. It starts with 'The Seventh Seal' an homage to the film of the same name. Using horns, acoustic guitars, orchestration and a chorus he conjures up an epic scene. Rather different to the other records released at the time! He moves on through some familar Walker territory on 'On Your Own Again' then slips into 'The World's Strongest Man' with it's beautiful soaring chorus. 'The Angels Of Ashes' is beautifully sung, and 'Boy Child' sounds truly amazing. This is a classic album and it doesn't have a bad song on it. It is short and concise too-Scott goes anti-war andpolitical on 'Hero of The War' and the 'Old Man's Back Again' respectively. 'The Old Man's Back Again' features a stunning bass line-did Scott play this bass line? The record is rounded off by the country tinged 'Duchess', a contempory sounding (for him) 'Get Behind Me' and 'The Rhymes of Goodbye'. All in all a great record, beautifully sung- Scott is a truly talented singer. A shame then, that the record was unsuccessful at the time of it's release. However, time has been kind to Scott 4 and it is now well regarded and deservedly so! A truly uncompromising effort-just like 'Tilt' possibly his best (and most recent) work.