Scott 2

If Scott Walker’s first solo album, 1967’s Scott, had been about wilfully laying waste to the pretty-boy pop star image he had established with the Walker Brothers, Scott 2 found him relaxing into the role somewhat, and is probably the better record for it.

The basic modus operandi remained the same – epic, string-drenched ballads, written by a combination of Walker and his heroes Jacques Brel and Tim Hardin – but a more playful spirit was directing matters. The difference is reflected in the choice of Brel songs alone. On Scott, Walker had picked such grim room clearers as Mathilde and My Death. Here, he kicks off with an exuberant romp through Jackie, Brel’s sketch of a cheerfully dissolute rock and roll wastrel (Marc Almond released a barely distinguishable version a couple of decades later).

Later, he camps up Brel’s hilarious military reminiscence Next, and contributes a composition of his own called The Amorous Humphrey Plugg – it seems reasonable to suspect that Walker had been listening to a fair bit of Anthony Newley around this time.