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"…Sailors
Dance And Lust…"
Swinging door
cemeteries, witches at night, rabid dogs, blackish shadows cowering and if she
should go away, moons that stand still, sailors that die, sailors swallowing
moons, chaps in crisis playing Amsterdam accordions, fishheads and tails, sad
tears and nightmare fears, muggy hot mornings, songs sung by handsome fellows,
Spanish bums with borrowed guitars getting drunk every night, gonorrhea, naked
as sin, Jackie's opium dens, sons of saints, children with no complaints held
by old women too old to give a damn - and NEXT! NEXT! NEXT! Yes folks, its
laugh-a-minute Scott Walker meets the drop-your-trousers hilarity of Jacques
Brel...
You'd have to say
that the ludicrously over-the-top melodrama Scott Walker (along with Producer
John Franz and Orchestral Arranger Wally Stott) brought in the late 60ts to
already overwrought Jacques Brel brothel hymns and tunes about death and misery
guts would be – ahem – an acquired taste. Whiskey and mud and Mathilde’s come
back to me once more. Here are the bible truths at the funeral of his youth
from an unlit mind (nice)…
UK released
Friday, 31 January 2020 (14 February 2020 in the USA) - "Scott Walker Meets Jacques Brel" by SCOTT
WALKER and JACQUES BREL on Ace Records CDTOP 1565 (Barcode 029667097420) is a
19-Track CD Compilation with 9 Tracks to SW (Tracks 1 to 9) and 10 to JB
(Tracks 10 to 19) that plays out as follows (63:21 minutes):
1. Mathilde (from
the September 1967 UK debut solo album "Scott" on Philips SBL 7816 in
Stereo)
2. My Death (from
the September 1967 UK debut solo album "Scott" on Philips SBL 7816 in
Stereo)
3. Amsterdam
(from the September 1967 UK debut solo album "Scott" on Philips SBL
7816 in Stereo)
4. Jackie (from
the March 1968 UK second solo album "Scott 2" on Philips SBL 7840 in
Stereo)
5. Next (from the
March 1968 UK second solo album "Scott 2" on Philips SBL 7840 in
Stereo)
6. The Girls And
The Dogs (from the March 1968 UK second solo album "Scott 2" on
Philips SBL 7840 in Stereo)
7. Sons Of (from
the March 1969 UK third solo album "Scott 3" on Philips SBL 7882 in
Stereo)
8. Funeral Tango
(from the March 1969 UK third solo album "Scott 3" on Philips SBL
7882 in Stereo)
9. If You Go Away
(from the March 1969 UK third solo album "Scott 3" on Philips SBL
7882 in Stereo)
Tracks 1 to 9 by
SCOTT WALKER
10. Mathilde
(from the 1964 French LP "Jacques Brel" on Barclay 80 222)
11. La Mort (from
the 1959 French LP "Jacques Brel No. 4" on Philips B 76.483 R)
12. Amsterdam
[Live] (from the 1964 French LP "Olympia 64" on Barclay 80 243)
13. Le Chanson De
Jacky (from the 1965 French LP "Jacques Brel" on Barclay 80 284)
14. Au Suivant
(from the 1964 French LP "Jacques Brel" on Barclay 80 222)
15. Les Files Et
Les Chiens (from the 1963 French LP "Jacques Brel" on Barclay 80 186)
16. Fils de...
(from the 1967 French LP "Jacques Brel 67" on Barclay 80 334)
17. Tango Funebre
(from the 1964 French LP "Jacques Brel" on Barclay 80 222)
18. Ne Me Quitte
Pas (from the 1959 French LP "Jacques Brel No. 4" on Philips B 76.483
R)
BONUS TRACK:
19. Seul (from
the 1959 French LP "Jacque Brel No. 4" on {Philips B 76.483 R)
Tracks 10 to 19
by JACQUES BREL
It's become sort
of the norm to praise booklets in Ace releases, but even by their high
standards, the 24-page word and photo-fest presented here is densely gorgeous.
Written with affection and a veritable barrage of info - IAN JOHNSTON and KRIS
NEEDS compliment the text by pouring on original artwork for both cult figures.
You get album after rare album cover art including hugely hip Japanese picture
sleeve single issues (Page 4) and song-by-song dissertations on the reams of
morbid lyrics and those harsh even uncomfortable themes that have so intrigued
British Artists over the years (famously including David Bowie and Alex
Harvey).
NICK ROBBINS -
Ace's long-standing Audio Engineer has done the mastering honours and while the
Walker material has been remastered well before - I've never heard the Brel
tracks sound so good. These transfers are clean and full of that string-laden
melodrama for Walker while Brel has those Baroque and Lounge Room arrangements
brought up front - nicely done.
The baritone
melodrama and brass blasts kick in immediately with "Mathilde" where
our hero smolders through lyrics that will either make you laugh out loud or
reach for the Thesaurus for praise-adjectives no one's yet used. While he sings
of slightly dodgy subject matters like "...go ask the maid if she heard
what I said, change the sheets on the bed..." - you listen with admiration
as you realize good-looking Scott was actually Avant Garde in a Euro thrash
kind of way long before most UK lads went anywhere near it. "My
Death" and "Amsterdam" both feature extraordinary lyrics that
seem to occupy a universe all to their own – brave narrative streams on
funerals and bible truths and witches at night and passing time and death
waiting amongst the falling leaves (the audio is fabulous too). And speaking of
exceptional human beings, you can so hear what attracted literate songwriters
like Bowie to "Amsterdam" which was apparently originally set in
Antwerp (wouldn't have worked would it) and The Sensational Alex Harvey Band to
the giddy-up-a-ding-dong debauchery of "Next".
Interestingly too
is that Brel didn't see "If You Go Away" as a love song, but a
mournful and melancholic hymn to the cowardice of men when it comes to
commitment to women, especially when they needed their love the most. It's
probably Brel's most famous and liked tune and was made a hit by another
peddler of soul-searching melodrama – America's Rod McKuen. Although it's hard
not to just giggle at the comical seaside organ on "Les Files Et Les
Chiens", overall the Jacques Brel originals are a clever addition.
"Amsterdam" is live (he crowd loving its risqué words), "Fils
De..." is shockingly lovely and the final inclusion "Seul
(Alone)" is featured as a Bonus Track because although Scott never
recorded it, the dapper gent sang it in his live shows.
Sails
of oblivion at my head, talking to trees and worshiping the wind – well now
their collective English/French histrionics are nestled nauseous-like in my CD
player instead of being on my Garrard SP25 (with Dustbuster).
Loosely
tied-in with their Singer-Songwriter Series of CD Reissues
(see photo of the inside inlay I've provided above) - "Scott Walker Meets
Jacques Brel" is absolutely an acquired taste for sure. But nonetheless,
its emotional cesspit and mushy cauldron of human misery is beautifully done,
and once again Ace Records of the UK gives us fans of la souffrance what we really,
really want (and with tasty audio too).
Go forth Scotty W and Jackie B - you big old whinge bags...
