Tilt (Half-Speed Master) (RSD 24)

With original vinyl copies fetching at least £100 second hand, Scott Walker’s 1995 avant-garde masterpiece ‘Tilt’ gets a welcome reissue for Record Store Day 2024 on 140gram vinyl. Originally conceived as the first in a trilogy that went on to include ‘The Drift’ (2006) and ‘Bish Bosch’ (2012), ‘Tilt’s atmospheric soundscapes and trance-like percussion combined with influences from as far afield as industrial music and traditional classical ‘lieder’ works. Throughout, Scott’s unmistakable baritone enhances an overall work of haunting beauty. In a recent reappraisal of the album’s charms, Pitchfork wrote: “Scarily, maddeningly good. It is like an old mansion full of haunted arcana: revolving bookcases, secret rooms, a golden pouf to perch on sipping ancient ‘eau de vie’. Even the easiest pleasures, like the stained-glass daybreak in “Bouncer See Bouncer,” arise from such obscure surroundings their beauty is always sudden, a second too quick for your defences.” For this 2024 Record Store Day limited edition release, UMR have worked with the full consent of Scott’s estate and the album’s original producer, Peter Walsh. For an enhanced listening experience, it has been mastered for 140 gram vinyl by Frank Arkwright at Abbey Road Studios and cut by Miles Showell to play at 45rpm.