Scott 3 [Original recording remastered]

Often strangely overlooked in favour of SCOTT 4, Walker's third solo album sees that amazing, haunting voice at it's most powerful and thought provoking. Unlike it's predecessors, SCOTT 3 really does begin to push the limits on what the "general" record buying public were willing to fork out money for, and it wouldn't be long until the Scott of the 60's WALKER BROTHERS would disappear altogether.

From the wonderful, complex arrangement of the album's stunning opener IT'S RAINING TODAY (written by Scott), which cleverly mixes a traditional 60's romantic melody with an undercurrent of disturbing strings that hints at disaster and heartache ahead, SCOTT 3 never fails to make the listener sit up and take note as the singer songwriter takes us on a journey drenched with darkened romanticism.

True, there are still lighter romantic tracks here, the seemingly jolly COPENHAGEN being a prime example, but as with even his WALKER BROTHERS output, the lyrics nearly always tell a darker story than the tune may have you believe (I mean, just listen to the lyrics to THE SUN AIN'T GONNA SHINE ANYMORE).

As with his previous albums, Scott delves into Jacques Brel territory, although it's to Scott's ever growing confidence as song writer that the album owes the majority of it's most impressive moments to his abilities alone. For example, the tear jerker BIG LOUISE is one of the saddest songs you'll ever hear, about a woman who realises how time has passed her by, boasting breathtaking lyrics such as.."she fills the bags, 'neath her eyes with the moonbeams, and cries 'cause the world's passed her by".

I could go on and on (but I won't, I promise!), and other stand out tracks would include the timeless TWO RAGGED SOLDIERS, WINTER NIGHT, and TWO WEEKS SINCE YOU'VE GONE (a man trying to get over a lover just departed, hoping he might relive that feeling of true love again someday). The masterpiece from SCOTT 3 though, does ultimately come from a Jacques Brel composition, called IF YOU GO AWAY. Beautifully arranged, it's a seemingly simple enough "love-lost" song, but with Scott's unique expressive voice that touches you in a way that no other can, it becomes something special. A tale of a man so in love that he can't bear to lose the woman he loves (she may even be dying), and feels that his life would be empty without her, it revisits the suicide tones of THE WALKER BROTHERS' most daring song, IN MY ROOM.

If SCOTT 3 isn't Walker's career best recording, then it must come mighty close. For me, his voice has never sounded better, and it just seems that every one of the thirteen engrossing tracks has got something to say. Something that upon first listen will make a lasting impression and stay with you for days, and in turn keep you returning to this album again and again.

A classic.

The album opens on a high, with one of Scott's all time classic ballads... It's Raining Today. The sound is typical of the chamber pop of this era, though, at the same time, sounds as otherworldly as anything you can imagine... even pre-empting Bowie's space-age crooner from records like Station to Station. It sets up a mood of nostalgia, loss, dislocation & heartache that will continue throughout the album, transporting us to a place that is shrouded in a misty sepia, (or subdued, like the Neil Jordan visualisation of Graham Greene's the End of the Affair... a film that continues such notions of loss and even alludes to Scott through the use of Michael Nyman's wilting string-based soundtrack). Next up is one of my very favourite Scott ballads, the ethereal and transporting Copenhagen, which, despite being exceedingly short has some wonderful piano work and harpsichord trail-off featured in those divine, closing moments. The lyrics are great throughout; much more confident and wordy than those few snippets of original material that turned up on previous efforts, with Walker not afraid to reference such diverse inspirations as Samuel Becket, William Blake and Wordsworth (whilst 30th Century Man even sounds like Scott's pop-contemporary, Bob Dylan).

Both Rosemary and Big Louise find Scott on top-form, both vocally and instrumentally as the singer picks away plaintively on an acoustic guitar as that orchestration builds in the background, whilst the lyrics drip poetry like melting glass ("my coat's too thin, my feet won't fly, and I watch the wind... see another dream blowing by" from Rosemary and "she's a haunted house and her windows are broken" from Big Louise are better than anything by romantics like Keats, Yates... you name 'um). Even better is We Came Through, which sounds almost like the theme tune to a Hollywood western, and certainly lays the groundwork for Scott IV's opening number the Seventh Seal... with lyrics that are possibly, better than Dylan ("we came through... like the gothic monsters perched on Notre Dame, we observe the naked souls of gutters pouring forth mankind" -- and people found Tilt shocking??). The next five tracks are impeccable, and show Scott at the height of his powers... crafting gorgeous ballads unlike anyone else, before or since. These songs lead us to those three excellent closing numbers, each of them translated covers of the songs of Jacques Brel... and each of them interpreted perfectly by Scott.

Sons Of remains one of my favourite songs of all time and demonstrates a more creative 'out-there' side of Scott, as he expertly crafts a giddy-carnival melody to complement what is essentially a gorgeous and haunting lullaby. Next is Funeral Tango, which is possibly the most bombastic thing Walker has ever done (& possibly the best... though it does have stiff competition from We Came Through, The Seventh Seal, Blanket Role Blues and Farmer in the City, etc), and certainly acts as a great diversion from all this lulled romanticism, with sniping lyrics that really suit Walker's cynical worldview. The album ends with Brel's If You Go Away, which mirrors the opening track, giving the album a definite cohesion, as well as offering us a prime example of that classic Scott Walker melancholy... which is great. Scott III remains one of my all time favourite Scott albums, alongside the later Tilt, and should be experienced by as many people as possible. Though, unlike the more popular Scott IV, it does take a few listens for the full effect of the album to sink in... though, when it does, you'll discover that there is simply nothing else like it.

Songs of such heart-wrenching beauty and melody as 'Copenhagen', 'Rosemary', 'Butterfly' and 'Two Ragged Soldiers' are rare enough finds on their own, but to find them grouped together on one album is a minor miracle.

An absolute essential to any serious record collection.