Scott: Scott Walker Sings Songs from his T.V. Series is the fourth solo album by American artist Scott Walker. It was released in June 1969 and reached number seven on the UK Albums Chart, his last album to make the top 20. No singles were released from the album, though in some countries outside the UK, Walker's top 20 non-album single "Lights of Cincinnati", which was issued the same month, was included. The album does not include original compositions by Walker and consists of performances of ballads and big band standards. Walker himself hated the album, calling it "useless". It was deleted by the late 1970s and has never been reissued.

The album is an accompaniment to his BBC TV series Scott. It features studio re-recordings of a selection of music performed on the show and does not feature any original live recordings from the TV show itself.

Availability The continued unavailability of Scott Walker Sings Songs from his T.V. Series is due to Walker's dissatisfaction with the album and his four albums from 1972's The Moviegoer to 1974's We Had It All, all of which were made up entirely of cover versions and which he describes in the documentary Scott Walker: 30 Century Man as his "wilderness years". Walker later blocked ...T.V. Series, The Moviegoer and Any Day Now (1973) from being released on CD, while Stretch (1973) and We Had It All were released on CD in 1997 by an independent label without Walker's own approval.

In spite of the album's deletion, most of the tracks were included on two Scott Walker compilation CDs issued in the 2000s, the budget-priced The Collection in 2004 and Classics & Collectibles in 2005. "I Have Dreamed," "Country Girl," "When the World Was Young," "Someone to Light Up My Life," "The Impossible Dream," "If She Walked Into My Life," "Who (Will Take My Place)" and "Lost in the Stars" are included on Classics & Collectibles, while "The Look of Love" is included on The Collection. "Will You Still Be Mine," "The Song Is You" and "Only the Young" remain unavailable.

Reception

Gordon Coxhill of New Musical Express wrote, "This LP, totally different from anything he's ever done before, is just as creative, just as professional and perhaps more entertaining than his previous works." A less positive review from the staff of Melody Maker stated that Walker "lacks the magic of the big league male singers" and that "he cannot be faulted on his choice of material — he handles some magnificent modern songs — but his slightly nasal singing palls before the record is over.""New Pop Albums". Melody Maker. June 28, 1969. 20.

Michael Beale, reviewing the album for the Evening-Mail, called it a "clever collection" on which Walker sings standards, singling out Peter Knight's accompaniment for full praise and adding that the record would sell impressively. A reviewer for the Sunday Mirror believed the title was description enough for the album, adding that Walker "never turns out a dud performance or chooses a shoddy song", and that readers should buy the album.

Richie Unterberger, writing retrospectively for AllMusic, reviewed the album positively, remarking that Walker sings the heavily orchestrated and middle of the road material extremely well throughout. Despite this, he felt the album was not very representative of what Walker was usually recording at the time, and was certainly not his best work of the period. He concluded that the album was a curiosity that's far less enduring than Walker's other albums of the late '60s and early '70s, only recommended to completist fans of the singer.

Track listing

Personnel Scott Walker – vocals Peter Knight – accompaniment director John Franz – producer Peter Olliff – engineer Peter Rand – photography Linda Glover – design

Release history Region Date Label Format Catalogue Notes United Kingdom Philips LP SBL 7900 South Africa Philips LP PST 5125 Released under the title: The Lights Of Cincinnati Netherlands Philips LP 844 244 BY Released under the title: The Impossible Dream

Charts Chart PositionUK Albums Chart 7

References

External links