Sunday, July 18, 2010

Scott Walker: The Amorous Humphrey Plugg



Young, innocent and exposed to the wiles of old Europe, Scott Walker resembled a Henry James hero.

He first came to prominence as a member of the Walker Brothers, a band manufactured in America (they were not brothers and none of them was originally called Walker) to succeed on the other side of the Atlantic.

He later emerged as a considerable artist in his own right. He was known for popularising the songs of Jacques Brel to the English-speaking world (we heard him singing Jackie in one of my first Sunday music choices), but he also composed many songs of his own.

This, which blends his wonderful voice and a lovely melody with difficult, elliptical words, is a good example of his own work from the 1960s.

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