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 ("Montague Terrace (In Blue)", "Such a Small Love", "Always Coming Back to You"), contemporary covers ("The Lady Came from Baltimore", "Angelica"), movie songs ("You're Gonna Hear From Me", "Through a Long and Sleepless Night") and significantly, English-translated versions of the songs of the Belgian singer and songwriter Jacques Brel ("Mathilde", "My Death", "Amsterdam"). 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".[4] 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.[citation needed]
Since the album's release, three complete outtakes, likely recorded during the Scott album sessions, have circulated in bootlegged form. These are "Free Again" (Basile/Canfora/Colby/Jourdan), "I Get Along Without You Very Well" (Hoagy Carmichael) and "I Think I'm Getting Over You" (Roger Cook/Roger Greenaway), the latter of which was recorded for potential single release.[5]
Release and reception
edit
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.[6] It was released the following year in the US on Smash Records under the title Aloner.
- Scott Walker – vocals
- Wally Stott – arranger, conductor (1, 2, 5, 7, 8)
- Reg Guest – arranger, conductor (3, 4, 6, 11)
- Peter Knight – arranger, conductor (9, 10)
- John Franz – producer
- Peter J. Olliff – engineer
- Keith Altham – liner notes
Region
|
Date
|
Label
|
Format
|
Catalogue
|
France
|
1967 (1967)
|
Philips
|
LP
|
844 202 BY
|
United Kingdom
|
September 1967 (1967-09)[1]
|
Philips
|
LP (Stereo)
|
SBL 7816
|
UK
|
September 1967 (1967-09)[1]
|
Philips
|
LP (Mono)
|
BL 7816
|
United States
|
1968 (1968)[7]
|
Smash
|
LP (Title: Aloner)
|
27099
|
UK
|
March 16, 1992 (1992-03-16)[1]
|
Fontana
|
CD
|
510 879-2
|
UK
|
June 5, 2000 (2000-06-05)[1]
|
Fontana
|
HDCD
|
510 879-2
|
US
|
February 15, 2008 (2008-02-15)[8]
|
4 Men With Beards
|
LP
|
4M149
|