Burnt out by commercial rejection (he was commercially defeated anyway), Scott Walker surrendered his Brel-drenched muse for two country-flavored cover albums before he went MIA (1984's "Climate of Hunter" is worth a listen), only to crawl back as Pulp's final producer on "We Love Life". Titled after his nickname, 1973's- STRETCH bears out Walker’s then denial of cynical cash-in. He’d obviously noticed Gram Parsons, as it barely buries the tears, while counting back the years. Add that velvet cloaked voice to high-grade compositions like Mickey Newbury’s "Frisco Depot", Jimmy Webb’s "Where does brown begin" and Goffin and King’s "No Easy Way Down" and it’s a forgotten album of riches.
Less so 1974’s WE HAD IT ALL, which dips into country mainstream. The accepted pronouncement that Scott Walker could sing the telephone book and sound beautiful still stands, but he jarred against the hoedown jollity of Jimmy Reed’s "You’re young and you’ll forget", and BJ Shaver’s four contributions are terribly nauseating. Gordon Lightfoot’s "Sundown", although backed by dreamy strings, is more like it. Next stop, the reunited Walker Brothers go top 40 with The Jonas Brothers.. err...
30 Century Man - Scott Walker documentary>
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/22/DDKN15DOEM.DTL
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