![Boy Child: The Best of Scott Walker 1967-1970 [Original recording remastered] [Import]](http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00004TREG.01.TZZZZZZZ.jpg)
| 1. Montague Terrace (In Blue) |
| 2. Such a Small Love |
| 3. Plague |
| 4. Amorous Humphrey Plugg |
| 5. Girls from the Streets |
| 6. Plastic Palace People |
| 7. Bridge |
| 8. It's Raining Today |
| 9. Copenhagen |
| 10. Big Louise |
| 11. We Came Through |
| 12. Seventh Seal |
| 13. On Your Own Again |
| 14. Boy Child |
| 15. Old Man's Back Again (Dedicated to the Neo-Stalinist Regime) |
| 16. Angels of Ashes |
| 17. Prologue |
| 18. Little Things (That Keep Us Together) |
| 19. Time Operator |
| 20. Epilogue, the War Is over (Sleepers) |
Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Mid-priced reissue of 'best of' for the former teen idol & ex-Walker Brother. Focusing on the enigmatic, avant-garde vocalist's hugely successful early solo career. 20 tracks including the rare B-side 'The Plague'. Liner notes by Neil Hannon (Divine Comedy). 2000.
And if this is all too much for you, there are other reasons to buy this CD. Because you like Pulp/Jarvis Cocker/Richard Hawley, Divine Comedy (Neil Hannon pens the introduction in the liner notes), Nick Cave, Serge Gainsbourg, and the like. Because you want an art-tinged credibility to your existing music collection. Because you're tired of predictable pop tarts and mommy-rock and you need something more gourmet and less burger bar. Do yourself a favor--put down the boy band and give the boy child a respectable listen.
The "Walker mystique," if I may dare lay claim to understanding it, is a world-weary voice that sparkles with experience and cynicism and yet suprises you with moments of beauty that seem almost naive. Walker appears never to have forgotten the wonder of the young child and this is best expressed in his song "Plastic Palace People." I suppose you could argue that song is the embodiment of the "Walker mystique." By turns magisterial in vocal, sweeping in imagery and dark in undertone, the song propels forward a vision at once many things: there is Walker the child who knows the freshness of beauty in the world and manages, mysteriously, to apprehend it, once more, for the first time. There is Walker the cynic who knows there are people in the world who are just "plastic" and conceal themselves. There is Walker the sage who has heard, one too many times, the line, "Billy/ come down from there." He won't come down from there and that is why you need to hear him.
I single out this song because it is signature Walker but is also indebted to his Brell covers. There is nothing plagiaristic here, one need simply to note that these themes are all Brell's too and Walker recasts them in a voice so characteristically his own; original and so devious. Walker can sing ugliness like it is beauty and make the delicate and ethereal seem seedy and adulterated. Brell did this too but Walker's gentleness and meat-cleaver fist can offer a double-fisted assault unique among English language performers.
Having said all of this, I wonder how songs like "It's Raining Today," The Girls From The Streets" and "Big Louise" can be heard without having first listened to Walker sing Brell's "Mathilde," "Jackie," "If You Go Away," "Next" and "Funeral Tango." I am not suggesting Walker is merely a derivative of Brell, not at all. I am only proposing that he has distilled the better angels of Brell's material and let it infuse the very best in his own songwriting. Buy this record as an addendum to the four "Scott" albums. I think you will see what I mean.
Four stars. It almost makes it there and this under-reach is hardly the fault of Scott himself.
Vocally, he comes across like a reluctant Vegas crooner with the heart of Ingmar Bergman sliding off his sleeve. Sinatra or Bobby Darrin with a serious case of literary pretention. If you ever thought The Seventh Seal needed a theme song, you'll find it here. The Plague takes Albert Camus' novel & sets it to a moody dance groove. The results are more winning that you think.
Elsewhere, Walker corners the market on manic-depressive waltzes. Bedsit rainy sundays, carosels & after-hours boulevard ennui are some of Walker's tradmark fare. Among the most effective are Montague Terrace, Copenhagen & It's raining Today.Girls From The Streets takes its cue from Jaques Brel and on Time Operator he comes off like an existential Sinatra.
Most of what Walker's cult status is based on is here. There's always room to quibble, but this is truely a "best of" in my book. Granted, Walker's lyrics can can be a bit too pretentious for their own good. His brand of purple prose isn't for everyone & combined with decidedly dated production values, some songs come off as unintentionally hilarious. Plastic Plalace People being a case in point. But when all is said & done, it's Walker's rich, eerie baritone that lures you in. You could shell out for the poorly packaged Mercury box set, or pick this up. Truth be told, outside of buying Scott's I-IV, this is all you need of his classic years. Though, if you like this, I'd also heartily recommend his album of Jacques Brel covers. All of which may prepare you for the bizarre heights of Climate Of Hunter, Tilt & The Drift. But that's another story.
This compilation takes many highlights from his 4 eponymous LPs, as well as rescuing prize cuts from ''Til the Band Comes In'. The perfect place to start before becoming immersed in Scott-dom, almost all of the best cuts are here (from 'It's Raining Today' and 'War Is Over' to 'The Plague' and 'Montague Terrace...and 'On Your Own Again'...and 'Angels Of Ashes'... in fact, i could spend forever listing the highlights, as there is barely a dud track. Just one problem- where's 'Rosemary' form 'Scott 3'?
An acknowledged influence on acts from Pulp and Radiohead to Julian Cope and The Divine Comedy, Scott Walker made some of the most original and touching music of the 60's. THIS is the place to start.
Mid-priced reissue of 'best of' for the former teen idol & ex-Walker Brother. Focusing on the enigmatic, avant-garde vocalist's hugely successful early solo career. 20 tracks including the rare B-side 'The Plague'. Liner notes by Neil Hannon (Divine Comedy). 2000.
Boy Child: The Best of Scott Walker 1967-1970,Scott Walker,Universal Int'l,Baroque Pop,Experimental Rock,Pop,Rock,Rock/Pop,Soft Rock
Boy Child: The Best of Scott Walker 1967-1970 [Original recording remastered] [Import]
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Boy Child: The Best of Scott Walker 1967-1970
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ASIN: B00004TREG Release Date: 2002-11-12 |
Tracks:
- Montague Terrace (In Blue)
- Such A Small Love
- The Plague
- The Amorous Humphrey Plugg
- The Girls From The Streets
- Plastic Palace People
- The Bridge
- It's Raining Today
- Copenhagen
- Big Louise
- We Came Through
- The Seventh Seal
- On Your Own Again
- Boy Child
- The Old Man's Back Again (Dedicated To The Neo-Stalinist Regime)
- Angels Of Ashes
- Prologue
- Little Things (That Keep Us Together)
- Time Operator
- The War Is Over (Sleepers - Epilogue)
Album Description
Mid-priced reissue of 'best of' for the former teen idol & ex-Walker Brother. Focusing on the enigmatic, avant-garde vocalist's hugely successful early solo career. 20 tracks including the rare B-side 'The Plague'. Liner notes by Neil Hannon (Divine Comedy). 2000.Album Details
Digitally Remastered Collection from the Godfather of Dark Dirge Rock.Customer Reviews:
THE STERLING MAESTRO THAT IS SCOTT WALKER.......2006-08-03
And if this is all too much for you, there are other reasons to buy this CD. Because you like Pulp/Jarvis Cocker/Richard Hawley, Divine Comedy (Neil Hannon pens the introduction in the liner notes), Nick Cave, Serge Gainsbourg, and the like. Because you want an art-tinged credibility to your existing music collection. Because you're tired of predictable pop tarts and mommy-rock and you need something more gourmet and less burger bar. Do yourself a favor--put down the boy band and give the boy child a respectable listen.
I wish they included his Brell covers on this album........2005-05-28
The "Walker mystique," if I may dare lay claim to understanding it, is a world-weary voice that sparkles with experience and cynicism and yet suprises you with moments of beauty that seem almost naive. Walker appears never to have forgotten the wonder of the young child and this is best expressed in his song "Plastic Palace People." I suppose you could argue that song is the embodiment of the "Walker mystique." By turns magisterial in vocal, sweeping in imagery and dark in undertone, the song propels forward a vision at once many things: there is Walker the child who knows the freshness of beauty in the world and manages, mysteriously, to apprehend it, once more, for the first time. There is Walker the cynic who knows there are people in the world who are just "plastic" and conceal themselves. There is Walker the sage who has heard, one too many times, the line, "Billy/ come down from there." He won't come down from there and that is why you need to hear him.
I single out this song because it is signature Walker but is also indebted to his Brell covers. There is nothing plagiaristic here, one need simply to note that these themes are all Brell's too and Walker recasts them in a voice so characteristically his own; original and so devious. Walker can sing ugliness like it is beauty and make the delicate and ethereal seem seedy and adulterated. Brell did this too but Walker's gentleness and meat-cleaver fist can offer a double-fisted assault unique among English language performers.
Having said all of this, I wonder how songs like "It's Raining Today," The Girls From The Streets" and "Big Louise" can be heard without having first listened to Walker sing Brell's "Mathilde," "Jackie," "If You Go Away," "Next" and "Funeral Tango." I am not suggesting Walker is merely a derivative of Brell, not at all. I am only proposing that he has distilled the better angels of Brell's material and let it infuse the very best in his own songwriting. Buy this record as an addendum to the four "Scott" albums. I think you will see what I mean.
Four stars. It almost makes it there and this under-reach is hardly the fault of Scott himself.
Bergman in Vegas.......2005-03-31
Vocally, he comes across like a reluctant Vegas crooner with the heart of Ingmar Bergman sliding off his sleeve. Sinatra or Bobby Darrin with a serious case of literary pretention. If you ever thought The Seventh Seal needed a theme song, you'll find it here. The Plague takes Albert Camus' novel & sets it to a moody dance groove. The results are more winning that you think.
Elsewhere, Walker corners the market on manic-depressive waltzes. Bedsit rainy sundays, carosels & after-hours boulevard ennui are some of Walker's tradmark fare. Among the most effective are Montague Terrace, Copenhagen & It's raining Today.Girls From The Streets takes its cue from Jaques Brel and on Time Operator he comes off like an existential Sinatra.
Most of what Walker's cult status is based on is here. There's always room to quibble, but this is truely a "best of" in my book. Granted, Walker's lyrics can can be a bit too pretentious for their own good. His brand of purple prose isn't for everyone & combined with decidedly dated production values, some songs come off as unintentionally hilarious. Plastic Plalace People being a case in point. But when all is said & done, it's Walker's rich, eerie baritone that lures you in. You could shell out for the poorly packaged Mercury box set, or pick this up. Truth be told, outside of buying Scott's I-IV, this is all you need of his classic years. Though, if you like this, I'd also heartily recommend his album of Jacques Brel covers. All of which may prepare you for the bizarre heights of Climate Of Hunter, Tilt & The Drift. But that's another story.
This is the place to start.......2004-10-20
Long Lost Summers.......2004-08-19
This compilation takes many highlights from his 4 eponymous LPs, as well as rescuing prize cuts from ''Til the Band Comes In'. The perfect place to start before becoming immersed in Scott-dom, almost all of the best cuts are here (from 'It's Raining Today' and 'War Is Over' to 'The Plague' and 'Montague Terrace...and 'On Your Own Again'...and 'Angels Of Ashes'... in fact, i could spend forever listing the highlights, as there is barely a dud track. Just one problem- where's 'Rosemary' form 'Scott 3'?
An acknowledged influence on acts from Pulp and Radiohead to Julian Cope and The Divine Comedy, Scott Walker made some of the most original and touching music of the 60's. THIS is the place to start.
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