I watched two documentaries over the weekend: Werner Herzog's Encounters at the End of the World, about the wonders of Antarctica and the people who choose to go there, and the Scott Walker documentary 30 Century Man. In a weird way they were perfect complements to each other. Throughout his film, Herzog is most interested in what kind of people wind up at the bottom of the world; none of his subjects could really answer him with any clarity, but more than one noted that arriving to Antarctia, they finally met an entire group of people who were "like them." These were all people who seemed destined to make their home in the most extreme place on Earth.
Over the ninety minutes of interviews and clips taking you across Walker's nearly fifty-year career, you sort of get that same feeling from him. It's impossible to get him to explain how he arrived at the music he makes now--a far cry from his days as a pop star in 1965 England. It truly seems as mysterious to him as to anyone else who might hear his music. Yet the trajectory from his early days with the Walker Brothers to his more avant-garde output of the last ten or fifteen years seems positively natural when laid out as the filmmakers did. I wasn't really familiar with Walker's material past Scott 4, so to watch this film illuminate his work in the 70s (though it does glide right past a number of albums from that decade which Walker stubbornly keeps out of print), 80s (yikes), and 90s-00s (out there), is absolutely fascinating. I can't say I'm running out the door to pick up his more recent material--it strikes me as being terribly interesting but not exactly pleasant to listen to--but seeing him get from point A to Z is engrossing. I recommend the documentary if it screens in your town or comes out on DVD. In the meantime, here's a sort of cliff's notes.
- The Walker Brothers: Make It Easy On Yourself (from Take It Easy with the Walker Brothers, 1965)
The Walker Brothers: The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Any More (1966)
Scott Walker: Mathilde (from Scott, 1967)
Scott Walker: Jackie (from Scott 2, 1968)
- Scott Walker: 30 Century Man (from Scott 3, 1969)
- Scott Walker: On Your Own Again (from Scott 4, 1969)
The Walker Brothers: Nite Flights (from Nite Flights, 1978)
Scott Walker: Track 3 (from Climate of the Hunter, 1984)
Scott Walker: The Cockfighter (from Tilt, 1995)
Scott Walker: A Lover Loves (from The Drift, 2006)
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