If there's a break, then I guess I'll be able to join in for the next trade.
I'll try to review the first album now, and maybe review the one sent by Abdullah later this week.
Rickenbacker sent me:
Very soothing music, reminded me a lot of the smooth jazz albums I used to listen to some years ago.
Scott Walker's bassy voice is the first thing that hits you. He's got the most cordial voice, it just overwhelms you with its warmth. Then of course, come the arrangements. The strings play a big role in the whole orchestration. They plunge us in this Disney-esque universe, with their exaggerated presence, the rhythmic bowing and the dramatic pizzicato. The harp that concludes some of the passages, adds to the whole magic, so does the shy xylophone. Then suddenly, comes a very strong drumming that hides the strings and brake the whole atmosphere, in songs like
Came through that immerse us in the drum rolling military.... and back to our mysterious world. One song I know I'll never cease to listen to, is
Rosemary. What a sublime song, that one, truly breathtaking.
On another note, I must talk about the two Brel covers that conclude the album (
Funeral Tango/Le tango funèbre and
If you go away/Ne me quitte pas). As a long-time Brel fan, I'm used to the English covers butchering this man's songs, however, I found these covers in specific, very well done. They sound like a part of this album's atmosphere, as the arrangements carry on with the military drumming in
Funeral Tango, and the overwhelming strings in
If you go away. Which adds to the album's consistency, and gives the covers a kind of identity. We somehow know, that these two songs, belong to this album, and to this atmosphere. I don't think I'll listen to these covers instead of listening to the originals sang by Brel, but it's good to listen to a whole album, and not be annoyed by its ending.
The covers work well as a conclusion, and the album is very well built and structured. It feels like a concept, like there's some story behind it, as we dive in this mysterious underworld, that we strive to uncover from song to song. Very nice album, I finally got introduced to the great Scott Walker, and discovered what the tag "Baroque Rock" stands for .... so thank you Chris for this album.