Yoko Ono,
Kate Bush, Laurie Anderson – barmy or genius?
Or both? Whatever, Scott Walker
fits into the same category. My opinion? A free thinker, a lone spirit, a true
original.
I was born
after the Walker Brothers had called it a day, but, somehow somewhere I latched
onto them. As a teenager I loved the
obvious tracks like Make It Easy and The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine, but, I also
adored Lights Of Cincinnati and Montague Terrace. I also came across Scott Walker again when my
appreciation of Marc Almond and Marc & The Mambas brought Jacques Brel to
my attention, an artist that Scott had also covered several times.
So what of
Bish Bosch? There have been many many
reviews citing its genius – some of them disappearing up their own arses with
their over zealous, long worded drivel.
The bottom line is – is it any good?
Well, that’s a subjective question.
My answer would be that if you’re open-minded about music, and love
music, and long for originality, and accept it for what it is, then the answer
is a resounding ‘Yes’.
How does
Scott Walker sleep at night? He clearly
doesn’t. From the opening looped
percussive repetitiveness of first track See You Don’t Bump His Head you know this
is an album that your Mother wouldn’t file next to No Regrets. “While plucking feathers from a swan song” is
the line that’s frequently recited. The
drum beat continues and continues up until the final beat when it almost
distorts in its own loudness.
Marvellous.
Corps De
Blah seems to comprise of multiple tracks.
It’s absolutely wild. The sound
of a sampled dog or a sampled chimp or a finger running down a steamy
window? Hissing. Breaking glass. Possibly even a fart. This is awesome stuff. Is it music, a collection of sounds, or,
recorded insanity? I don’t really
care. This is stretching music to the
extreme and is enthralling and amazing.
At times I’m not sure I can decipher everything Walker says in his
nightmare. Sweeping violins. The trademark voice. Sometimes a random jumble of phrases and
words, or poetry? There are as many
questions posed as there are answered. I
arrived at work as the track finished. I
sneezed. It could have been included on
the track.
A sweeping
machete, Sioux Indians – I can see how people would find this album difficult
to listen to, but, remain open-minded, and, take the album for what it is then
this is an artist who is incredibly original and recording everything he is
hearing and feeling and experiencing. If
you can do that, you’ll enjoy the album.
The bizarrely titled SDSS14+13 (Zercon, A
Flagpole Sitting) has a couple of lines of note – “If shit were music, you’d be
a brass band”, and, “If brains were rain, you’d surely be a desert”. You can’t argue with lyrics like that! I find it quite difficult to believe that a
track of almost 22 minutes, and, with as many different moments can be planned
or recorded in one take. I’m thinking
this was recorded and improvised as multiple tracks and then pieced and layered
together afterwards. Co-producer Peter
Walsh has had his hands full and deserves a medal. Is it fair to describe Bish Bosch as a modern
day reply to Nine Inch Nails’ The Downward Spiral for its originality?
Epizootics! has fanfares and jazz overtones and
is very cleverly put together. A racing
bassline gels the track and I’m sure there’s a very deep meaningful story to
the lyrics, but, I’d rather just immerse myself in the uniqueness of the track.
Never in a long time have I enjoyed an album
quite so much as Bish Bosch. Truely
original, and inventive. Possibly
recorded by a genius, possibly recorded by a man on the edge. Possibly both.
As the final line of Dimple exclaims – “There
but for the grace of God goes God”. I
rest my case.
Published on Louder Than War 31/12/12 - http://louderthanwar.com/scott-walker-bish-bosch-album-review/
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