Yearly Update? + Scott Walker
I don't know how it's happened that I've come to make like only one post a year in here - no wait, I do know: My comp was breaking down for years so I could do less and less on it, and now that I finally have a new one, I can't afford yet to get a printer or scanner or other accessories to go with it and basically I'm obsessed with playing with images so if I can't do that wtf and there's no point in saying anything personal here since my life is pretty boring right now anyway...
But - I did see a documentary about the great Scott Walker the other night ("Scott Walker: 30 Century Man") so I went looking for some of the old clips that were in the doc and came up with the links below.
I wonder if anyone reading this (is anyone? lol My f-list is pretty small) loves Scott Walker like I do? If you like 1960s singer/songwriter type stuff that's composed/interpreted by a melancholic, fame-hating, Jacques Brel-loving former teen idol, coupled with melodramatic, string-heavy orchestral arrangements where even the first piercing note can slice through your heart like a razor sharp knife, then Scott's your man!
The thing about Walker that makes me overlook any lyrical pretention/cheezyness (ie: the "lady" who will take him "deep within" in "Boy Child" LOL), or the hint, maybe not so subtle at times, of misogyny that he shares with his idol Brel, is that he's so amazing in his vocal interpretations. (This powerful range of expressiveness is also why I like DoTsuyo's songs <3 whose lyrics I don't even understand half the time, but you can always feel the force of emotion behind them.)
Walker's current work is more experimental, and though it's apparently considered akin to blasphemy amongst Walker fans to admit that you don't like it as much, I'm not crazy about it, myself. I mean, the music is creative and interesting and all, but I rarely listen to it. The pretentious element of the lyrics that was masked by the aural impact of the older work stands out more in the newer material, plus the vocals are different as well - his voice can be a bit hard on the ears lately. lol
Here's the trailer for the documentary. Actually, I didn't think the movie was that well made, and it randomly includes these boring, pseudo-abstract graphics that are way too reminiscent of Windows Media Player "visualizations" (you know those annoying, new-agey swirly patterns?) BUT it still has some great clips and interviews:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBMJ79ly3B4
*Update* The complete doc is on YT now:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB8NKS17U98
Since he didn't like being filmed all that much, and a lot of old footage has been destroyed, it's harder to find performance clips of his solo album work from the Scott 1-4 era, so I ripped some MP3s from those. (I hope the volume's not too low. I forgot to fiddle with the sound controls before converting - sorry!) It's almost impossible for me to pare down the tracks, but here's a small selction. Though Walker covered enough Jacques Brel to compile an album's worth of material, I only included one Brel song here, "Sons Of".
Also to note, "You're Gonna Hear From Me" is actually an a number by Andre and Dory Previn, also covered by the likes of Frank Sinatra and Barbara Streisand, which is the kind of thing that Walker purists denigrate but I love it. It was also sung by Natalie Wood in the 1965 Hollywood film "Inside Daisy Clover" (notable - to me, anyway - for the scene in which Natalie's starlet character has a screaming nervous breakdown in the recording studio while repeatedly trying to overdub a song - Oh yeah, and IIRC Robert Redford plays her dreamboat moviestar gay husband lol) OK, I'm starting to sound like one of those annoying people who write on their blog like they think they're some professional journalist with a huge audience so I'll just shut up now!
I zipped the songs into one file for easier DL:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BPH9P8TG
Here are some clips. The first one is a video of a Walker Brothers hit. According to legend, at the height of their fame they were so huge that their shows sometimes only lasted one song before being shut down due to the mass hysteria of the audience. Gotta love the insane fangirls! XD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9wV7QWyXf8
A couple TV performance clips of Walker doing English translated versions of Jacques Brel songs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dfqtyL_9-4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbhGyD4ZZzY
Yikes! A big thunderstorm just started - why does that still scare me? I mean, I kind of love thunderstorms actually, but it's also like bombs dropping T_T
And why doesn't the #@$%^&*%%^&* phone stop ringing!!!?
But - I did see a documentary about the great Scott Walker the other night ("Scott Walker: 30 Century Man") so I went looking for some of the old clips that were in the doc and came up with the links below.
I wonder if anyone reading this (is anyone? lol My f-list is pretty small) loves Scott Walker like I do? If you like 1960s singer/songwriter type stuff that's composed/interpreted by a melancholic, fame-hating, Jacques Brel-loving former teen idol, coupled with melodramatic, string-heavy orchestral arrangements where even the first piercing note can slice through your heart like a razor sharp knife, then Scott's your man!
The thing about Walker that makes me overlook any lyrical pretention/cheezyness (ie: the "lady" who will take him "deep within" in "Boy Child" LOL), or the hint, maybe not so subtle at times, of misogyny that he shares with his idol Brel, is that he's so amazing in his vocal interpretations. (This powerful range of expressiveness is also why I like DoTsuyo's songs <3 whose lyrics I don't even understand half the time, but you can always feel the force of emotion behind them.)
Walker's current work is more experimental, and though it's apparently considered akin to blasphemy amongst Walker fans to admit that you don't like it as much, I'm not crazy about it, myself. I mean, the music is creative and interesting and all, but I rarely listen to it. The pretentious element of the lyrics that was masked by the aural impact of the older work stands out more in the newer material, plus the vocals are different as well - his voice can be a bit hard on the ears lately. lol
Here's the trailer for the documentary. Actually, I didn't think the movie was that well made, and it randomly includes these boring, pseudo-abstract graphics that are way too reminiscent of Windows Media Player "visualizations" (you know those annoying, new-agey swirly patterns?) BUT it still has some great clips and interviews:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBMJ79ly3B4
*Update* The complete doc is on YT now:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB8NKS17U98
Since he didn't like being filmed all that much, and a lot of old footage has been destroyed, it's harder to find performance clips of his solo album work from the Scott 1-4 era, so I ripped some MP3s from those. (I hope the volume's not too low. I forgot to fiddle with the sound controls before converting - sorry!) It's almost impossible for me to pare down the tracks, but here's a small selction. Though Walker covered enough Jacques Brel to compile an album's worth of material, I only included one Brel song here, "Sons Of".
Also to note, "You're Gonna Hear From Me" is actually an a number by Andre and Dory Previn, also covered by the likes of Frank Sinatra and Barbara Streisand, which is the kind of thing that Walker purists denigrate but I love it. It was also sung by Natalie Wood in the 1965 Hollywood film "Inside Daisy Clover" (notable - to me, anyway - for the scene in which Natalie's starlet character has a screaming nervous breakdown in the recording studio while repeatedly trying to overdub a song - Oh yeah, and IIRC Robert Redford plays her dreamboat moviestar gay husband lol) OK, I'm starting to sound like one of those annoying people who write on their blog like they think they're some professional journalist with a huge audience so I'll just shut up now!
I zipped the songs into one file for easier DL:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BPH9P8TG
Here are some clips. The first one is a video of a Walker Brothers hit. According to legend, at the height of their fame they were so huge that their shows sometimes only lasted one song before being shut down due to the mass hysteria of the audience. Gotta love the insane fangirls! XD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9wV7QWyXf8
A couple TV performance clips of Walker doing English translated versions of Jacques Brel songs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dfqtyL_9-4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbhGyD4ZZzY
Yikes! A big thunderstorm just started - why does that still scare me? I mean, I kind of love thunderstorms actually, but it's also like bombs dropping T_T
And why doesn't the #@$%^&*%%^&* phone stop ringing!!!?