Scott 2
Scott Walker
Released: March, 1968. Label: Philips
Scott 2 is the second solo album by Scott Walker. Released seven months after Scott’s debut, Scott, it opens with Jackie, released as a single the previous December.
Translated into English by American singer-songwriter Mort Shuman, Jackie is one of three Brel compositions on Scott 2, alongside Next, a song about a young soldier’s experiences in a military brothel, and The Girls And The Dogs. Walker also covers Tim Hardin’s Black Sheep Boy, Bacharach and David’s protest song The Windows Of The World, a 1967 hit for Dionne Warwick, and Don Black and Mark London’s Best Of Both Worlds, first recorded by Lulu for her 1967 album, To Sir With Love. An image featuring Lulu and Walker from the cover of Disc Magazine is included in the liner notes.
Two songs from films also feature: Lenny Adelson’s Come Next Spring, the theme song to a 1956 US drama about alcoholism, and Wait Until Dark, the title track of a 1967 Audrey Hepburn and Alan Arkin psychological thriller. Scott 2 also includes four originals, with Walker’s lyrics for these songs alone printed in full in the liner notes, written in running prose. “I find myself writing through the night ’til six or seven in the morning, then sleeping ’til about three in the afternoon,” he told Maureen O’Grady of Rave Magazine in July 1967. “What I’m singing is not for the masses.”
Produced by John Franz and engineered by Peter Olliff, with orchestral arrangements conducted by Angela Morley, Peter Knight and Reg Guest, Scott 2 got to no. 1 in May 1968, the same month that Joanna reached no 7 in the singles charts. The album spent 12 weeks in the UK top 10 and eighteen weeks in the top 40.
Track Listing
Jackie 3:23
Best of Both Worlds 3:14
Black Sheep Boy 2:39
The Amorous Humphrey Plugg 4:31
Next 2:50
The Girls from the Streets 4:11
Plastic Palace People 6:06
Wait Until Dark 2:59
The Girls and the Dogs 3:10
Windows of the World 4:25
The Bridge 2:50
Come Next Spring 3:24
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Arranged and conducted by Wally Stott (tracks: 1, 2 & 12)
Arranged and conducted by Reg Guest (tracks: 3,4 & 9)
Arranged and conducted by Peter Knight (tracks: 6 & 10)
Production John Franz
Engineer Peter J. Olliff
Written By - Scott Walker (tracks: 4, 6, 7, 11)
Written By - Jacques Brel, Gérard Jouannest and Mort Shuman (tracks: 1 & 9)
Written By - Mark London and Don Black (track: 2)
Written By - Tim Hardin (track: 3)
Written By - Jacques Brel and Mort Shuman (track: 5)
Written By - Henry Mancini, Jay Livingston and Ray Evans (track: 8)
Written By - Hal David and Burt Bacharach (track: 10)
Written By - Lenny Adelson (track: 12)
Interview
Rave, February 1968
by Maureen O'Grady
He is still misunderstood by many, and when he makes wild statements people still laugh at him — until they realise how serious he is.
“When I said I wanted to work in a factory in Copenhagen I wasn’t joking. I wanted to broaden my experience of life. To sing the kind of songs I like and do it convincingly I’ll have to experience more. That’s why I’ve been going over to Russia and Denmark a lot recently.
“I have lots of new fans now, more than ever before, and it’s for them that I sing. I’ve lost the fans that I didn’t want anyway. They hate me now. My present fans like what I’m doing. They have a strange eagerness to listen. They are really fanatics. Unlike some of my old fans, they respect my wishes and my privacy. I still can’t walk around in the streets though, but most pop stars have that problem. I’ve taken a long time learning to live with the fact that fans are always there. They’ve become part of my life. It’s very difficult for a person like me, but now for some reason I feel better — my outlook on life is calmer and I’m more relaxed. Everyone’s off my back and I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to. I’m very lazy really!” he laughed.
Scott was upset by the banning of his song ‘Jacky’, but he was aware of that risk when he recorded it. He went through with it all the same, because he believed the song was important to his fans.
“They didn’t buy it out of curiosity, just to gloat over the words.”
Scott has turned into a full-time night owl. Instead of taking sleeping pills to combat his insomnia, he works through the night, song-writing, and then sleeps during the day.
“It’s turning life round the other way really. I find myself writing through the night ‘till six or seven in the morning, then sleeping ‘till about three in the afternoon. I’m not lazy in that I lie in bed all day. I just rearrange the day and work and sleep to suit myself.”
When asked about Japan, he warily replied, “What about Japan? Working with John and Gary again under the heading of the Walker Brothers was just a one-time happening. The money Japan offered for that tour was just too much to refuse. I don’t need much to live on. I’m not an extravagant person and the money they paid I can live on for a very long time, say a couple of years. The old Scott wouldn’t have considered such an offer, but I’ve gone through a great transformation. I’m more logical now.
“John and I are talking to each other at last, and Gary and I spend a lot of time emptying a few bottles together!”
Talking more about Gary, Scott called him a person with a good ear for music and a great imagination.
“I keep saying to him, ‘Gary, what are you doing?’ and I never really get an answer. I’ll help him form a group if he wants me to. I think he’s got some great ideas. He should be all right.”
I couldn’t help noticing a large key hanging from Scott’s waist.
“Ah! Now that’s the key to my new flat, but don’t print the address ‘cos I’d really like to stay in this one for a while!” he pleaded jokingly.
Drinking his tea, he looked at himself in the mirror and exclaimed, “I look older! I like that. People have said to me, ‘I’ve heard you singing Jacques Brel songs. You sing them well, but you look too young to have experienced what you sing about. The songs, therefore, are hard to believe in’. Ever since then I’ve been trying to get some lines and wrinkles! My eyes now have more expression and character. My face as well as my voice must convince my listeners.”
It’s clear that Jacques Brel is the light of Scott’s life, but Scott never wants to meet him.
“Nope! I never do,” he said. “I don’t know why, but I just don’t want to be disillusioned. I think of him as being a certain type of person and I want to keep all the illusions I have about him. Some people listen to him and he makes them cringe. He can do that to people. He nails them on the head and they don’t like it one bit.
“When I record any of his songs I have to get his permission.” Was that usual, I asked. “No, but that’s Jacques Brel! He’s forty, retired from singing, and I think he’s making a film now. He’s a god on the Continent, a true example of a living legend.”
Has he ever commented on Scott’s singing of his songs?
“Well, Mort Shuman, who’s done a fine job of translating his songs into English, was told by Brel to give me all I want, and that I’m doing a very fine job, which to me is the greatest compliment I could ever hope for, a great honour. He doesn’t give his songs to just anyone!”
To Scott, Brel is the most perfect performer, “But,” he said, “translating his songs from French into English is like taking a Picasso and changing it around a bit. He’s risqué; he describes people in bars and streets and gives his songs atmosphere. He’s so perceptive.”
Scott then proceeded to inspect his face again, but not out of vanity.
“I’d call myself tubercular and weedy. I’m not good-looking. I don’t know why people put me on the covers of magazines. I suppose I’m easy to associate with. But I really don’t think I’m good-looking.” Scott did admit to a small bit of vanity. He bleached his hair. “It was for a work reason though. I was doing a tour with the Walkers, and I asked my hairdresser what I should do because I didn’t want to wash my hair every day. He told me to have it lightened to give it body, and it worked.”
Scott has an LP out this month, which is going to be completely different from the last, but generally Scott is taking it easy.
“I spend most of my time recording these days, with a few dates on the Continent. My EP is selling very well there — two Brel numbers and two of my own, and they’re accepting it, which is great! I was all ready for them to compare and criticise.
“I’m finding more and more that the English music scene is not for me. The English are too wary of a clever person and clever lyrics. They’re a little too ‘tally-ho’ for Brel. They don’t want to sit down and get involved. What I’m singing is not for the masses.
“Brel has found a new breed of fans, and in his songs he gives them the truth, hard and honest. I’d like to give my fans that.
“I’m singing a lot better now than I ever have, but the funny thing is I can’t stand listening to my own voice. A lot of singers take their demo discs home and play them over and over again, but with me it’s over when I finish at the studio.
I turn off. My voice is now very coarse, which I like. It’s getting very ‘whisky’ sounding, which is something I’ve been working on!”
Future plans for Scott include cabaret appearances at London’s Talk Of The Town in May, where he will have a line-up of Continental musicians.
“The Talk Of The Town is a tremendous place. I’m going there to entertain people over their steaks or whatever they eat there, but I’m also going to make them listen, and put their knives and forks down when I sing!”
If anyone can do that I’m sure Scott can!
Interview
Melody Maker - 18 May 1968
by Chris Welch
“When success first came with the Walker Brothers there were a lot of things I didn’t understand. It was a big shock to me to discover the great deal of hypocrisy that goes on in the business. I used to think everybody was obnoxious and phoney. Not in the pop scene, but the business. I’ve learnt to live with the people and understand the business.
“I used to be regarded as the kiss of death to pop shows because of the thing people built up in their minds that I was moody and generally speaking — obnoxious.
“I suppose I was! I can still be obnoxious if people go too far with me. But I feel better now than I have ever felt in my life.
“’Joanna’ being a hit is really amazing. I’ve had a run of good luck. I would have bet my voice that wouldn’t get into the chart.”
How did Scott appraise his last album Scott 2? “ I didn’t like it all that much. I don’t feel it worked. The continuity didn’t come across because I did it in spasmodic sessions over a long period. It’s very heavy listening — I know this. It’s going to take time for this kind of thing to get across. The mood was all a bit too heavy.”
Was Scott still involved in the work of Belgian composer Jacques Brel? “I’m not as enthusiastic as I was. I have been analysing his material and he writes good and bad things. He is certainly the most significant singer-writer in the world today, because there isn’t anybody else.
“Before — he could do no wrong for me. He’s never been musically a marvellous writer. His lyrics are the thing. I think I could use my own standards of morality and philosophy, in my own writing to explain hypocrisy. I felt a self-identification with Brel, which was bad, but it was a thing I had to go through.”
“Well, I’m going to Japan, by train. I won’t fly ever again. As I’ll be pretty much on my own, I will be able to write my new album on the train, on the Trans-Siberian railway through Russia. I also want to spend some time in Leningrad with friends I have there.
“Musically, I’ve gone completely classical. I listen to stereo tapes all the time, which is a luxury I can barely afford. I haven’t listened to jazz for months. Shostakovitch is my first love, and a very underrated Danish composer Carl Neilson.”
The conversation fell to discussing Italian composer Sammartini.
“Just a second. I’ll check him out.” Scott picked up a telephone and dialled a friend’s number.
“Hello? We’re talking about Sammartini. What do you know about him? A 17th century Italian composer? What style? Vivaldi, flowery and ornate. Lots of strings and not much brass. Okay, thanks.”
Scott explained the identity of his musical guru. “He’s Terry Collins — a very close friend. He’s a fantastic guy and knows all the composers.
Scott Walker appearing on ITV’s Mr and Mrs Music 1968
Interview
New Musical Express, May 1968
by Keith Altham
SCOTT WALKER is dead - long life to Scott Engel - only the name remains the same to protect the image. The new Scott Walker with the wonder ingredient “confidence” swept into a London pub to meet me last week in broad daylight, without so much as a pair of dark glasses to conceal “the face face” with a stereotape pack of Sibelius’ Symphony No. 4 tucked underneath his arm and what looked suspiciously like a large happy grin over his usually anguished features.
Among the more obvious reasons for this happier and relaxed state of mind are the considerable accomplishments of having what must be one of the finest quality singles, “Joanna” ever to make the NME Top Ten and an album “Scott II” rocketing toward the number one spot in our best selling album charts and within my opinion his most professional and nerveless TV performance on a recent “Dusty Springfield” show behind him.
Also moving out of mind if not out of sight goes his interests in jazz “which is in danger of becoming unmusical” in Scott’s opinion. He is working on a “Tenement Suite” which he hopes to introduce on the next album and there is still a shadow of his former self which induces him to make morose statements like, “All the do-gooders in the World are motivated by self-drive and the only person who could really do no evil is the Devil!
But the sun is shining through I am here to tell you people, and no one is more aware of the changing face as the man himself who put to me his case for what he feels has been a “misrepresentation of Scott Walker” and what has been to a large extent responsible for his reluctance to talk to the Press.
“The impression that the papers gave of me when I was a member of Walker Brothers was fair enough because it was a reflection of my state of mind at the time. But I’ve changed and some of the reports about me have not,” said Scott.
“This is my first time back in the Top Twenty since Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore’ so I felt that until I was back in the charts-of which the trade papers are a reflection - I had nothing significant to say.
“I stopped reading the trade press some months ago when I started getting a lot of schnide’ remarks and petty things written about me which bore. no relation to what I am doing. I have got to get on with the business in hand and I don’t have time for someone writing in about my colour of bloomers!
“I don’t have time to waste with people who come up to me when I am having a very heavy day and say ‘Do you know what they wrote about you in such and such a column last week? I can’t afford for people to get in my way. I am trying to do something,” he added with a drawled emphasis that would have done credit to James Cagney delivering the death sentence in one of his old gangster, movies.
Scott’s idea of a perfect interview seemed to be that which is almost a straightforward selection of questions and verbatim quotes but I put to him the position that a writer is essentially a writer because of his impressions and opinions of the person and what is said.
We warmed to the argument as Bill Haley’s “Shake Rattle and Roll“ blared out of the “muzak” speakers and Eric Burdon provided an interlude by breezing into the bar in cheesecutter and jeans straight from his long run in San Francisco. Hand-shakes all round and cries of “See you later.” Meanwhile, back at the Brains Trust!
“I have nothing against you personally,” said Scott. “I found your articles interesting and you have never criticised me unfairly, besides which you are not anti-Scott Walker yet!
“But there are things in the papers which are petty and bigoted. Now a mass public can be swayed by pettiness. Now if you really believe that I’m the same person I was back in the Walker Brothers doing the same things you must print it but if you believe as I know, that I have changed direction, you must print that.”
Was Scott against the whole idea of a personality publicising himself with pin-up pictures and fan appeal material?
“I am selling what I hope is a talent,” said Scott, but I’m quite prepared to sell the personality if it will help a public to the product. I don’t do photo sessions now - there are a number of magazines who have colour pictures of me on file and I don’t object to them being used if it means someone is going to notice my face and go to my records but that is what I want them to evaluate.”
Does it please Scott more read a dishonest piece of flattery rather than an honest piece of adverse criticism?
“It pleases me to read the truth,” said Scott. “There was a guy called Nick Conn in Queen Magazine who wrote some unfavourable things about me and my first album. He said I was self indulgent and self pitying and this stood in the way of my talent.’ I carry that feature about with me because it was well written. He also wrote that my music bored him - but the feature was artfully written and I would be delighted to do an interview with him.”
“On the other hand there was a reporter from a national paper who came to see me and was friendly and charming and went away and wrote the most incredible nonsense. There is a general impression of what someone is trying to get over in an interview and if you miss that you miss everything.”
We progressed to other less pressing matters and I said that I was surprised to see he was doing concerts with the Herd which were likely to bring in a scream-age audience which he has tried to avoid.
“I’m getting a lot of money for those concerts,” smiled Scott. “And as I do not like to work a lot this will sustain me in order to concentrate on other things.”
At this Scott juncture called lightheartedly for his dinner to be sent over and a bed for the night as the “interview looked like being a long one.” The recipient of this order was his new road manager “Mike” who looks more like a pop star than Scott.
In fact he went to Talk of the Town to see Lulu the other evening and the doorman said, “Right this way Mr. Proby. You’re late. We were expecting you.” “I think Proby got refused admission. Then we both went to pick up some award I had won the other day and they let him in and kept me out. People who are stars never look like what they are supposed to,” said Scott soberly.
And so with a few more pleasantries Scott Walker exited out into the sunlight. Sometime when I pass his apartment - which I must not even allude to by a compass direction - I must look to see if the curtains have been drawn back. It would be nice to think they had.
