Tony Cornwell – “Scott Walker: A Remarkable Album by a Serious Musician” (2002)
This article about the 1995 album Tilt comes from the World Socialist Web Site, dated June 4, 2002…
Corporate mergers in television, radio and record industries have resulted in the coordination of “play lists” around demographics. “Pop” or “Popular” music therefore has become overwhelmingly self-referential, genre specific and backwards looking.
In this atmosphere it is unsurprising that a remarkable album released in 1995—Tilt—written, arranged and sung by the notoriously reclusive Scott Walker should have slipped by like a ship in the night. While Walker has only recorded three albums in the last 20 years and is barely known to the wider public, he is praised and imitated by many musicians including David Bowie, Brian Eno, Nick Cave, Marc Almond and others.
Tilt, is original, confronting and evocative and anyone interested in music—classical, modern or whatever—should take the time to listen. By itself the level of musicianship is never less than stunning. Instrumentation ranges from the London Sinfonia strings, Central Methodist Hall Pipe Organ, electric guitar bass, drums, chitarrones and hand cymbals, to name a few, with outstanding orchestrations and organ playing by Brian Gascoyne.
Even more remarkable, the album was recorded without sampling, click Read the rest of this entry »
The Beat Patrol 