Tilt

Having said that, this is a work of such genius and beauty that, to me, it is like opera. Here is a man who can sing anything - and proves it on this album.

My advice to everyone who wants to know about this album and wonders if there is anything similar to it, is to ignore all his early albums. I listened earlier to "Boy Child" - the compilation of Scott's music from 67 to 70. It's a magnificent collection from his first six albums, but this is nothing like that - the music on "Boy Child" and "Tilt" could not be further away from each other, they're light years apart.

To have any clue about what to expect musically and lyrically here, you might listen to the last Walker Brothers album - "Nite Flights" - and Scott's previous release "Climate Of Hunter". Even then, you'll put this on your stereo and listen in wonderment and disbelief.

You can't categorise this music, you can't sing along to it - you just listen to it and marvel at it's originality and it's brilliance. The musicianship is magnificent and simple and the strings, in all of this albums oddness, stand out beautifully.

A distubing work of genius. As others have said, you can't accuse of Scott Walker of selling out, of writing to get hit records.

The bad news is that there has been nothing from Scott since this album - 9 years of nothing, although I am ever optimistic that there is another album in him. The further bad news (for other writers, that is) is that most of them could not write material of this massive quality even in their dreams (or their nightmares).

This is immense in the extreme. A strange but glorious masterpiece.

Admittedly, "Tilt" is not for everyone, not even for all fans of Scott Walker's earlier, idiosyncratic chamber pop. But it's one of the few albums released in the last ten years that makes me want to do what I used to do when I was a kid - put a record on the stereo, turn down the lights, and sit back with my eyes closed and listen.

I have two comments for the previous reviewer: 1) If you thought Walker's vocals were indistinguishable, clean out your ears or get a better stereo; and 2) You heard this on the radio?!? Sorry, but I have a hard time believing that one. I'd venture that there are maybe two or three independent radio stations in the entire country adventurous enough to play even the most "accessible" cuts from "Tilt," and if you were a listener of one of those stations you'd probably have a better understanding of music. When and on what station did you hear "Tilt?"