Scott Walker Series, #14: The Walker Brothers- Nite Flights (1978) MP3 & FLAC

"We will be gods on nite flights, with only one promise, only one way to fall."

The album cover of The Walker Brothers' mid-seventies album, No Regrets, paints an apt portrait of the band's direction at the time: Gary and John looking perfectly at home in the era's regalia of bare chests, jean jackets, and sun-bleached smiles, while Scott, tan, shirtless, and holding a beer, looks away with hand held up to block the camera's view as if to say, "I'm only here for the party; I don't want to be held responsible for all this." After two lackluster "comeback" albums, the band was contractually required to deliver a third; however, the record label to which they owed the recording was on the verge of folding, thus creating an artistic "perfect storm" in which Scott Walker's genius was to re-awaken after eight long years of ceaseless slumber. In relation to its two predecessors, Nite Flights (at least Scott's part) is a spectacular artistic whiplash of an album that not only laid the groundwork for Scott Walker's still-continuing intermittent forays into unexplored regions of musical dissonance, but also played a major role in funneling Kraut-Rock and experimental electronic music into the UK music scene, and in the process, heavily influencing the fledgling Post-Punk movement. While Scott only contributes four songs to Nite Flights, they are all stunners, but none more so than "The Electrician." It is clear that Scott had been listening to David Bowie's work with Brian Eno, but he uses this only as a port of entry, after which he takes the song into regions entirely unknown. Grand, epic, lush and terrifying, "The Electrician" is one of the great avant-garde rock songs of the seventies. Unfortunately, (though predictably), the songs written by the other Walker Brothers are utterly forgettable, making the album a strangely conflicted creature indeed, but Scott's contributions are as essential as it gets.

Scott Walker Series, #12: Scott Walker- Scott 4 (1969) MP3 & FLAC

"What can it cost to give a boy child back his sight?"

I've always seen Scott Walker as an artist out to deconstruct his own chosen art-form. What I mean by this is that his best work actively seeks to play with, and occasionally undermine, not only the conventions determining what a pop-song can do, but also the conventional attitudes and expectations brought to the listening experience by an audience. While Walker was no stranger to experimenting with the formal structure of a song, Scott 4 marks the place where he began to rethink the aesthetic ambitions of his music. The music he had become identified with through his contributions to The Walker Brothers and his early solo work tended to embrace the romanticized image of a beautiful, world-weary despair; however, by the time of Scott 4, Walker began to introduce dissonance into the musical mix. On songs such as "The Old Man's Back Again," one can hear subtle hints of this in Walker's vocal phrasings, beautiful to be sure, but also refusing to allow the listener to identify completely with the melody. This approach is something Walker would revisit to more startling effect 25 years later with his second masterpiece, Tilt. With Scott 4, Walker tumbled out of the commercial spotlight (although this might have had something to do with originally releasing the album under his given name Noel Scott Engel) and toward his present status as mercurial genius with a cult following; all this aside, it is undeniably the uncompromising masterpiece of his early solo career.

Scott Walker Series, #9: Scott Walker- Scott 3 (1969) MP3 & FLAC

"She fills the bags 'neath her eyes with the moonbeams and cries 'cause the world's passed her by."

Comprised entirely of original material and a few Brel covers, Scott 3 was a significant step away from the expectations of the mainstream audience Scott Walker had found through his work with The Walker Brothers, and though the album did still manage to garner him a final brush with commercial success, it clearly signaled the more mercurial creative path he would travel for the next 40 years. For many, Scott 3 stands as a flawed masterpiece due to Wally Stott's occasionally saccharin arrangements, which seem, at times, utterly at odds with the brooding existential impressionism of Walker's lyrics, and while there are moments when the arrangements do distract from Walker's performance, overall, they tend to lend the album a sense of irony that serves it well. And then, of course, there is "30th Century Man," a brief, ultra-cool acoustic guitar ditty that leaves one fantasizing about what an entire album of such material from Walker might have sounded like. We can only dream.

Scott Walker Series, #6: The Walker Brothers- Portrait (1966) MP3 & FLAC

"I don't look for her, I find her in the shadow of my mind. For she's just a girl whose memory will be wiped away with time."

As with all Walker Brothers albums, Portrait, the band's second and most commercially successful long-player, is a mix of jaw-dropping brilliance and WTF moments; however, unlike their other two sixties albums, Take It Easy with the Walker Brothers and  Images, Portrait seems more of a piece because it is consistently dark. Songs such as "In My Room" and "No Sad Songs for Me," both with Scott Walker taking the vocal lead, represent some of their best and most desolate work, and even some of the covers, such as "Hurting Each Other" and "Summertime," hit their mark. Nevertheless, what really makes this an essential listen are the bonus tracks included with this edition, among which are several transcendent moments, such as "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" and "After the Lights Go Out." For those with ears to hear, one of the best albums of the sixties can be found scattered somewhere in these 24 tracks.

Scott Walker Series, #5: Scott Walker- Stretch (1973)/ We Had It All (1974) MP3 & FLAC

"If I find you've been creepin' round my back stairs, sundown, you better take care."

I have to confess that I like these albums more than I want to, especially We Had It All. This was Scott Walker's brief foray in Country music, and though it really has no right to be mentioned in the same breath as his iconic earlier solo work, it does have its perverted attractions. While the earlier album, Stretch, suffers from too much schmaltz, there are some nice moments, including "Someone Who Cared," which finds Walker's baritone positively dripping with despair. Things are a bit more consistent on We Had It All, which seems a little more committed to the Country theme. Walker's baritone adopts a tearful creakiness on songs such as "Black Rose" and "Sundown," which makes them pretty irresistible even though they probably shouldn't be. This period of Walker's career feels like a big "fuck you" to the fans and critics who had rejected the direction he had taken on  Scott 3 and  Scott 4, projects that were comprise primarily of his own compositions. As for proof, look no further than his cover of "Delta Dawn." I wonder if he was able to keep a straight face while singing this chestnut. Anyway, enjoy!

Scott Walker Series, #4: Scott Walker- Scott 2 (1968) MP3 & FLAC

"Cascading tears for every heartbeat, tonight we'll sleep with the girls from the streets."

With Scott 2, Scott Walker reached the peak of his (fleeting) commercial success by essentially repeating the recipe of his solo debut (a mix of originals, Brel interpretations, and cover songs), but doing so to even greater effect the second time around. Walker himself famously called Scott 2 the "work of a lazy, self-indulgent man," but self-penned songs such as "Plastic Palace People" and "The Girls from the Streets" suggest a songwriter who has learned a thing or two from Brel in the sense of crafting distinctive existential odes to the outcast and the marginalized. Walker's bewitching voice is in fine form throughout, and it's interesting to hear how his vocals turn some of the more conventional material inside-out; for example, in the hands of most singers, the album's final song, "Come Next Spring," would run no deeper than syrupy romanticism, but Walker's baritone forces the song into much darker, melancholic waters, peeling away its sentiment to reveal the ambiguity beneath. As with all the "Scott" albums, this deserves a place in any serious music collection.

Scott Walker Series, #3: Scott Walker- 'Til the Band Comes In (1970) MP3 & FLAC

"You've been beyond the boundaries, understood it all, and thought of nothing."

Universally panned at the time of its release, the ensuing 40 years have been somewhat redemptive for 'Til the Band Comes In.  What was once considered a sell out (and what wouldn't after a record like Scott 4?) now sounds like an album that lacks a clear conceptual focus but still manages to contribute a number of worthy additions to the Scott Walker canon. Songs such as "Thanks for Chicago Mr. James," "Jean the Machine," and "Cowbells Shakin'" would have fit seamlessly on one of the iconic earlier albums and deserve much better than the relative obscurity they have been relegated to for much of their existence. Where the album falters, and what has unfairly determined its reputation for many, is the series of covers finishing the album, all dressed in too much "saccharin," and thus quite at odds with the existential darkness of the original material. Nevertheless, this is essential listening for anyone with more than a passing interest in Scott Walker's early solo career.

Scott Walker Series, #2: Scott Walker- Scott (1967) MP3 & FLAC

"The girl across the hall makes love, her thoughts lay cold like shattered stone. Her thighs are full of tales to tell, of all the nights she's known."

I've always gotten a kick out of imagining British teenyboppers in 1967 seizing on this album as the latest fix for their Walker Brothers obsession and playing "Montague Terrace (In Blue)" for the first time (sometimes I include pink record players and slumber parties to further develop this theatrical scene of the absurd). While Images, the final Walker Brothers album of the 60s, occasionally hinted at the direction Scott Walker's solo career would take, nothing could have prepared his listeners for this unprecedented leap into Brel and existentialism backed by Wally Stott's gloomy orchestral arrangements. As such, Scott represents the juncture at which Scott Walker began his metamorphosis from teen idol to cult hero, and while often cited as the least consistent of his initial run of solo albums, this is only relative to the genius that would unfold over the next few years.

Scott Walker Series, #1: The Walker Brothers- Images (1967) MP3 & FLAC

"You had a loveless week, and the world's let you down. But I'll make it up somehow, there are ways Mrs. Brown."

Images would turn out to be The Walker Brothers' final album of the 1960s and bears the unmistakable marks of a band in the process of fragmentation. While John and Scott Walker both contribute some memorable material here, they rarely occupy the same space on the album, instead sounding more preoccupied with their impending solo careers than with anything else. While Scott offers up a glimpse of the greatness to come with songs such as "Orpheus" and "Genevieve," John's mournful "I Can't Let It Happen to You" is probably his finest moment on record. Despite the many high points, you can't have a Walker Brothers album without a generous dose of filler, and Images certainly has its filler. For example, the ill-advised cover of  "Blueberry Hill" is simply cringe-inducing. While not their best album, Images contains some of their most mature, forward-looking work, making it well worth putting up with the clunkers.

The Walker Brothers- "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" Video (1965)

Probably in my top five song-wise. Sublime candy-sweet despair...