Scott (album)


Scott was the début solo album by Scott Walker, originally released in the United Kingdom on Philips Records in 1967. The album received both strong commercial success as well as critical praise, hitting No. 3 on the UK Albums Chart.
This album, alongside Scott 2, features Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" recording technique.

Overview

Scott was released only six months after Walker's third album with The Walker Brothers, Images. Its mixture of Walker's original compositions and selection of cover versions established Walker as a more serious and sombre artist; gone were the Beat group and Blue-eyed soul material of his former group. The choice of material generally fell into four main categories: his own work, contemporary covers, movie songs and significantly, English-translated versions of the songs of the Belgian singer and songwriter Jacques Brel. Brel was a major influence on Walker's own compositions, and Walker included three of his songs on each of his next two solo albums, Scott 2 and Scott 3. Walker described Brel without qualification as 'the most significant singer-songwriter in the world'. The real coup for Walker was his luck in acquiring and recording the new Mort Shuman-translated versions of Brel's material before anyone else.
Since the album's release, three complete outtakes, likely recorded during the Scott album sessions, have circulated in bootlegged form. These are "Free Again", "I Get Along Without You Very Well" and "I Think I'm Getting Over You", the latter of which was recorded for potential single release.

Release and reception

The album was released by Philips Records in September 1967 in the UK. It reached No. 3 on the UK Albums Chart, and stayed on the chart for seventeen weeks. It was released the following year in the US on Smash Records under the title Aloner.

Track listing

Personnel

Charts