For any fans of Scott Walker (like myself), you should definitely check out the new tribute album out through Lakeshore Records on amazon and itunes now and in stores now.

There's a representation of both Scott's sixties solo work and his later avant-garde leider songs by artists including Nicole Atkins, Saint Etienne, Laurie Anderson, Bee and Flower and Dot Allison.

One of the real marvels is seeing a female take on Scott's work. Many of his songs sound quite threatening and morbid, but the female voices seem to soothe the evil soul of these songs, particularly on Manhattan from 95's Tilt which takes a dramatic change into quite a pretty little song in the hands of Saint Etienne.

That's not to say that there aren't people embracing the dark side of N.S Engel- Nicole Atkins teams up with her jersey friends The Parlor Mob and rock the shit out of Scott 4's "The Seventh Seal" with dirty, evil synths and electric guitars taking the lead, Laurie Anderson makes "The Electrician" even weirder than it was in the first place, but maybe misses the point of the contrast between the dissonance of the opening and the beauty of the chorus- going for weird the whole way through... the chorus isn't quite the joyful musical orgasm it was in Scott's hands and i personally think the song is weaker for it.

Bee and Flower put in a strong effort with more of a straight, grandiose take on "The Bridge", Jarboe captures the spirit of "The Drift" in "A Lover Loves" with some agressive guitar playing that really fits in well and some nice pssts as well! Meanwhile, Little Annie's version of Scott's "Such A Small Love"- it sounds a bit like a waitress from a diner singing outside in the dark with an ethereal orchestra accompanying her and the interesting guitar playing- oddly pretty

One of the more interesting takes on the album is Ulrich Schnauss' version of "It's Raining Today" which is an electro-instrumental version except for some processed vocals- not really my thing but not awful by any means.

Overall, it's interesting to see everyone's different takes on Scott Walker- and this tribute spans the range of genres from acapella/barber shop, hard rock, shoegaze and more...

Well worth taking a look for any fan of Scott Walker

4/5

TRACKS TO LISTEN TO:

The Seventh Seal- Nicole Atkins

The Bridge- Bee And Flower

A Lover Loves- Jarboe

Out Now on itunes and amazon/amazon mp3- in stores from the 28th

Notes: You can only get the whole album on online shops so you can't pick and choose the songs you want, which might take it off the shopping lists of some.

Also, Sally Norvell changes one of Scott's most famous lyrics "Fire Escape in the sky" to "fire escape in times square" which is an interesting decision i think