SCOTT WALKER – SCOTT 2 LP – Nr MINT UK 1968 ORIG WITH INSERT

Scott Walker – Scott 2
(Philips Records  1968  SBL7840)
Matrix No’s: 1Y1/2Y1 – UK Pressing

Sleeve in Nr MINT condition
– some slight wear
Photo Insert in Nr MINT condition

Vinyl in Nr MINT- condition
(there are some light surface marks visible on the vinyl when held up to the light but they don’t affect the sound quality – Side 2 has a couple of light marks that give the odd light crackle)

Noel Scott Engel (January 9, 1943 – March 22, 2019) better known by the stage name Scott Walker, was a British-American singer-songwriter, composer and record producer who resided in England. Walker was known for his baritone voice and an unorthodox career path which took him from 1960s teen pop icon to 21st-century avant-garde musician. Walker’s success was largely in the United Kingdom, where his first four solo albums reached the top ten. He lived in the UK from 1965 and became a UK citizen in 1970.

Rising to fame in the mid-1960s as frontman of the pop music trio the Walker Brothers, he began a solo career with 1967’s Scott, moving toward an increasingly challenging style on late-1960s baroque pop albums such as Scott 3 and Scott 4 (both 1969). After sales of his solo work started to decrease, he reunited with the Walker Brothers in the mid-1970s. From the mid-1980s onward, Walker revived his solo career while moving in an increasingly avant-garde direction; of this period in his career, The Guardian said “imagine Andy Williams reinventing himself as Stockhausen”. Walker’s 1960s recordings were highly regarded by the 1980s UK underground music scene, and gained a cult following.

Walker continued to record until 2018. He was described by the BBC upon his death as “one of the most enigmatic and influential figures in rock history”.

Scott 2 is the second solo album by Scott Walker.

Scott 2 follows the formula of Walker’s début release, with a mixture of contemporary covers (“Black Sheep Boy”, “The Windows of the World”) Jacques Brel interpretations (“Jackie”, “Next”, “The Girls and the Dogs”), film songs (“Wait Until Dark”, “Come Next Spring”) and his own original compositions (“The Amorous Humphrey Plugg”, “The Girls from the Streets”, “Plastic Palace People”, “The Bridge”). The content of his own and Brel’s material was markedly more risqué than on Scott, with “Jackie”, “Next” and “The Girls from the Streets” standing out with themes of sexual tribulations and decadent lifestyles.

According to Jonathan King writing in the liner notes to Scott 2, not long after the album had been completed, Walker described it as the “work of a lazy, self-indulgent man.” He added, “Now the nonsense must stop, and the serious business must begin.” King continues about Walker: “I have no doubt that many years from now, over a space age dinner of vitamins, […] he will say: ‘Well, the last fifty years have been great fun, but now we must get down to doing something worthwhile.’ And he’ll mean it.”

Track listing

Personnel

• Wally Stott – arrangements and conductor (Tracks 1, 2, 12)
• Reg Guest – arrangements and conductor (Tracks 3, 4, 9)
• Peter Knight – arrangements and conductor (Tracks 6, 4)
• Peter Olliff – engineer