SCOTT WALKER Debut Album

Original released on LP  Philips SBL 7816

(UK 1967, September 16)

Has anyone kick-started a solo career with as mind-raping a statement as Scott Engel's "Mathilde"? He used to be good for one of these fox-chase ravers per album. That fanfare! More importantly, Mr. Walker metamorphosed from teen idol to incandescent balladeer. He forsakes Sinatra's delicate emotional shading for anguish and chamber-existentialism. He and his arrangers (most notably Wally Stott) are completely aligned... a trick like the suddenly swelling orchestra, Bacharach moving over the face of the waters - Walker earns multiple cracks at this because his voice is a marvel, dignified even when doubled over. And surely he had a hand in their deployment - both "Montague Terrace" and "Such a Small Love" feature the swell, and both are his compositions. Walker is ravenous for territory here; "The Lady Came From Baltimore" presages his 70s country work. It's slight but has a great melody that wouldn't have been out of place in the studios of L.A.ten years later. "When Joanna Loved Me" hews closest to the crooner archetype. In fact, a cover of Brel's "Amsterdam" is the only unconvincing track on the record. "Always Coming Back to You" would've made a fine closer, but no matter. This is pop undreamt of by even the brightest lights of the century. And there were two more albums of the stuff to follow! (in RateYourMusic)