Scott is the debut 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. The album was produced by John Franz, who had previously worked with Walker's group the Walker Brothers, while its instrumental accompaniments were arranged and conducted by Angela Morley, Reg Guest and Peter Knight.

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 ("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". 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" (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.

Release and reception The album was released by Philips Records on 25 August 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 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

Release history Region Date Label Format Catalogue France Philips LP 844 202 BY United Kingdom Philips LP (Stereo) SBL 7816 UK Philips LP (Mono) BL 7816 United States Smash LP (Title: Aloner) 27099 UK Fontana CD 510 879-2 UK Fontana HDCD 510 879-2 US 4 Men With Beards LP 4M149 Charts +Weekly chart performance for Small FacesChart (1967–68)Peak positionFinnish Soumen virallinen Albums14UK Record Retailer LPs Chart3UK Disc and Music Echo Top Ten LPs3UK Melody Maker Top Ten LPs3UK New Musical Express Top 15 LPs3

References CitationsSources

Further reading