Scott Walker - Drift
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CD Details
Artist: Scott WalkerEdition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language)
CD Release Date: 2006-06-06
Music Label: 4AD
Soundtracks:
- Cossacks Are
- Clara
- Jesse
- Jolson and Jones
- Cue
- Hand Me Ups
- Buzzers
- Psoriatic
- The Escape
- A Lover Loves
Music reviews of Drift
Music Review: Definitely an Album that you'll either LOVE or HATE....!!!
Rating: 5 Stars
Considering he started in the music business in the late 50 and early 60's, as a teen idol, with the sort of original tunes and covers, which also features sweeping, bloated orchestral arrangements. His steady progression from teen crooner, and subsequent metamorphosis into an Avant-garde, Experimental, unrelenting singer/ songwriter of some the bleakest, and downright disturbing arrangements in his whole career, is one of the strangest career choices in recent memory. Hints of this drastic musical shift were gleamed on "Climate of Hunter", but it's real purpose and potential came to bear on the astonishing "Tilt". Now, considering that there is a 11 years gap between "Tilt" and "The Drift", what would be eventually (given Scott's erratic career) be released, was anyone's guess?? But in the end, this is continuation, or evolution of the broad themes, arrangements and loosely orchestrated compositions of "Tilt". But it is worth noting that this is a darker, more sprawling, claustrophobic, distraught and less arranged, alternately suffocatingly dense piece of work, and ultimately resembling something more akin to avant-garde horror film or possibly a harrowing modernist opera.
If you haven't had the opportunity to hear either this album or "Tilt", it's strongly advised that if you do decide to buy this, that you hold onto your receipt, just in case. Do you like songs that are tightly composed arrangements?, tracks that have a strong melody or Chorus?, strong songwriting with catchy or memorable lyrics?....then unfortunately you're in the wrong album, my friend. Because, this album, is most definitely not a user-friendly album. Instrumentation is a combination of improvised sounds, mixed with traditional instruments, that clatter and bang relentlessly one minute, and then ebb and flow the next, without much consideration for structure or melody, and guitar/drums frequently burst in and out of songs, without much warning. It's jarring and occasionally insular and impenetrable, and yet frequently thrilling. Scott's vocals....still just as amazingly atmospheric and deep and cavernous at is has always been, is truly breathtaking in that it's still as potent and expansive after all these years. With Scott one minute singing in a slow register, at an almost funeral-paced dirge, and then just as capably bursting forth with a intense wailing, probably more suited to operatic stage performances, than on a album.
It's not easy listening that's for sure....and if you want an album, to clear everyone out of a party, this is probably the record to do it. Reviewing this album objectively...on one hand it's shamelessly overblown, and probably incredibly self-important and pretentious. With a manifesto to laugh-in-the-face, of anything approaching regular song structure, and performance. It's an album that revels in its nightmarish imagery, it's unrelenting indulgent, with a level of songwriting that on paper, is largely incompressible and impenetrable (I've still yet to truly understand the meaning behind the songs). And the jutting and jarring shifts in volume/mood/singing are complex, multilayered, densely plotted, wordy, and wholly inaccessible to all but the most adventurous or determined listeners. So why am I giving it 5 stars??.....well, on the flip side, it's frequently challenging listen, unquestionably unlike any similarly released album, uniquely different, and when was the last time you listened to an album that actually had you on the edge of your seat?? For all it's perceived pretensions, its still an album full of emotional power, that is a fractured collection of a labyrinth of sounds and imagery, that leaves an indelible impression whether you like it or not, and even those that cant get into this album, cannot deny that Scott's vocals are still a thing of wonder...powerfully booming one minute, and then as delicate and considered the next, it's his voice that is the central axis, on which this all balances, and without his exceptional ability to manipulate sounds and expression, this album would have fallen flat on it's face.
"The Drift" is an album, that you'll either Love or Hate....this seems to be one of those albums, where there is no middle-ground. For every person (such as myself), that is enthralled by it, they'll be two people that think it's the most shamelessly portentous piece of garbage, to have been released in recent years. If you have fond memories of Scott's adult-pop work in the 60's, and you thought you'd give this a try, then your in for a rude-awakening, (and a trip back to the record store, to get your money back) If you loved Scott's "Tilt" album, than this is whole-hearted recommend, as it takes the premise of Tilt, and darkens the moods, warps the arrangements every more, and feels a little more abstract, and leftfield than before. Although I personally think Tilt, just has the edge over this (Tilt felt more groundbreaking, and slightly more cohesive, overall)...this is easily one of the most memorable things I've had in the last year or so. And I'll admit that isn't an album that I regularly listen to....more, one of the albums to bring out every so often and get immersed in, but this is worth the extensive wait we've had to wait for new Scott Walker material, let's hope the wait for another album isn't quite so long.
Description of Drift
It's been nine years since Walker's last album. "An increasingly revered figure, Scott Walker is a singular craftsman, one of rock's few individuals to demonstrate a willingness to both embrace elements of the unfashionable and ignore prevailing trends, yet also display an acute awareness of contemporary sound" - Pitchfork.Alternative Rock CDs
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