My Favorite Albums of 2012 (on vinyl) Part One

Due to time I am only listing three albums at a time.  And keep in mind that not all of these releases are new ones - but more what I listened to in the year 2012.  As  you can gather, I have very little interest in 'new' recordings.  But there are of course, exceptions.   All the albums are on vinyl.

As a kid, my family hung out with architects at their homes and it seems every one of them had this album.   For one, its not wild.  This is music that soothes but with a certain amount of sexual tension.  Miles is very much a sensual player and his trumpet sways like a dancer with the orchestration.  A perfect cocktail type of album where you sipping wine/martini and just floating with the haunted, but somewhat bitter melody.   I bought this at Rockaway, during their Black Friday promotion. Its a newly issued Mono version.  Really beautiful work.

There are records that you can just throw on the turntable and do something else.  Scott Walker's "Bish Bosch" is not such a record.   Once the needle hits the first track you are tied down to a chair or floor in front of the speakers, and you are not going to move an inch, because this is work that demands your full attention.   Hauntingly beautiful, this is music that takes you into today's world - all the ugliness, the bitterness, and a certain amount of beauty (or some version of it) mostly due to Scott Walker's still-incredible vocals.  Rarely do I hear new work that says 2012.   Probably the most un-bullshit album ever.  To say I love it, is like one needs water.  Without a doubt the most essential record released in the 21st Century so far.   The silence on this album is just as important as the music.

Hearing Sparks' "No 1 Song in Heaven"  on vinyl for the first time is a real 'wow' series of moments.  Released in the late 1970's this record is the shot that was heard around the world.  Without a doubt a major influence on future electro-duos like Soft Cell, Associates, Pet Shop Boys, etc.   I had this album on cassette, CD, and eventually MP3 - but the vinyl kicked me in the rear end so hard.  Its an aural masterpiece on the 12th degree.  And not one bad or weak moment.  Very rarely does one come upon such excellence.  Dreamy, hypnotic,  and sensual to the core.  A Ron and Russell masterpiece.  Do get it on vinyl!

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Scott Walker's "Bish Bosch" on Vinyl

It has been a long time since i have heard an album that says '21st Century' to me.  Scott Walker is an artist that is very much part of the world.  Unlike my other favorite obsession, Sparks, who are contained in a very private world surrounded by their obsessions, Walker is very much in tuned with the environment that is out there.

Sitting down in front of a pair of speakers and having the vinyl on the turntable is very much of a beautiful series of moments.  The moment lasts over a hour and within that time-frame one goes into the world according to Scott Walker.  The complex sounds that comes out of the speaker is multi-textured to the extreme.  Off-hand it reminds me of Public Image Ltd's "Flowers of Romance,' which is a terrific album, but Walker takes it on another level that is more humorous but in a very sick way.  I think of Lenny Bruce as being the the head concept man for 'sick humor,' and I think Scott is taking it on a musical level.

The album is brutal, funny, and in your face.  But it also has incredible moments of absolute beauty, but its mixed in with the horror.  There is nothing surface about this record, its a blues album that tears into a culture that needs to bleed or to cry out its blues.  Without a doubt its a masterpiece, and its amazing how artists like Sparks as well as Scott Walker just seems to get better and better as they get older.

And like Sparks, its kind of important to acknowledge their entire career.  Because a lot of people go on about old Scott material vs. the new Scott - and basically its the same road or highway.  The early material of the Walker Brothers and the iconic Scott solo albums clearly leads to "Bish Bosch."  Listen to this album on vinyl or on a good set-up - computer speakers don't give this record the proper setting - it needs to be in front of you and it needs your full attention.  Incredible work!

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The Walker Brothers "After The Lights Go Out" the best of 1965-1967" (Vinyl)

The roots of the avant-garde art pop songwriter Scott Walker.  And probably the greatest living figure in contemporary music.  A strong statement, but he's still a consistently remarkable figure who is still doing music.  But first let's go back a bit... into the Myst that's time.

A really good collection to get is "After The Lights Go Out" because it covers all the great Walker Brothers hits.  They came back in the 70's, but that's another narrative.  My favorite (among favorites) is "Deadlier Than The Male" which sounds so much like a James Bond song, but it belongs to another film with that title.   But its classy, and so classic and the orchestration just cuts with the silky melody.  And if you do close your eyes while listening to this song, one does see a Saul Bass title being projected in your brain.

Also I would argue that Walker Brothers clearly leads to the 'new' Scott.  This is pop that's majestic,  with overtures to the great Phil Spector (Jack Nitzsche arranged "Love Her") but there is a hint that The Walker Brothers will go beyond this type of music.  The great thing about Scott, John, and Gary is that they really didn't look back.  It is no coincidence that there is a song called "Orpheus" on this collection.  Don't look back and go ahead.  And basically Scott Walker just did that.

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Scott Walker's "Epizootics!"

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Scott Walker "Bish Bosch" (Album Trailer)

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Scott Walker Live in Japan 1970 (audio only)

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"No Regrets: Writings on Scott Walker" edited by Rob Young

Personally, my life would be kind of empty without the sounds of Sparks and Scott Walker.  Both are on this world, yet they seemed kind of removed from the world as well.   And both have huge cultural baggage of sorts, but cannot be put in a box or simply explained.  They have to be experienced - and "No Regrets: Writings on Scott Walker" is a super enjoyable read (i.e. experience) that goes through out the career of Scott.  

The book is put together by Rob Young via the great British music magazine 'The Wire.'   And this is the perfect publication to do an anthology all on the subject of Scott Walker's music.  Included are late interviews with the composer/songwriter/singer, but more interesting to me are the essays on certain aspects of Scott Walker's albums.

To give one who isn't exposed to the world of Scott Waler, it is best that I give him and his music a brief introduction.  Scott Walker was a member of the Walker Brothers (none were actual  brothers), from America but went to London during the British invasion.  Unlike the Beat groups of that time, The Walker Brothers specialize in Phil Spector style big production ballads - with Scott as lead vocalist.  An incredible voice who knew how to relay a lyric like it was a simple act of putting butter on a hot piece of toast.  Over a short period of time they became teen idols of sorts, and for Scott this was a sign of total despair.   A man of humor, but a sort of humor that laughs with Ingmar Bergman films than say the Carry on films.



In the mid-60's to late 60's he made a series of solo albums that are now considered to be classics.  And they were very odd albums compared to the swinging 60's of London.  Huge orchestrations, beautiful voice singing Jacques Brel songs as well as his own material - which at the time were very much influenced by Brel and the whole French style of singing about personal and earthy narratives.  While everyone in the world of pop was tuning in- or dropping out - Scott was sort of a hipper version of Jack Jones (a singer he admired at the time) or a throw back to the pop crooner.   So that alone made him stand out with respect to the Pop explosion of the 1960's.



In the 70's he lost the pilot of sorts (and reading this book now I have second thoughts on this period)  and sort of sang for his supper - till the late 1980's where he made a series of albums every 10 to 12 years that are totally unique, odd, beautiful, disturbing, and well, fantastic art.   This book covers all different aspects of Scott Walkers very long but fascinating career.



The longest piece is by Ian Penman, focusing on the albums that no no really cares about - including Scott!  But here you can see how this 'dead' period gave fuel for him to make his future masterpieces - and therefore cannot be denied!  The beauty of Walker's life in music is that they are all pieces of a puzzle - and you have to spend the time going over those pieces or putting them together to see the whole picture, which of course is a masterpiece.  And this book helps the listener put the pieces together.   Pennman with great wit, writes about the down years of Scott that to me are not wasted, but career wise must have been a downer for him.



And there is not really a downer of an essay in this book.  Young did a remarkable job in giving an intriguing picture of Scott Walker.  I am so happy that this book exists.

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