Scott 4 is Scott Walker's fifth solo album. It was released in late 1969 under his birth name, Scott Engel, and failed to chart. Reissues have been released under his stage name. It has since received praise as one of Walker's best works.
Content
Scott 4 was the first Walker album to consist solely of self-penned songs. The preceding Scott, Scott 2 and Scott 3 albums had each featured a mixture of originals and covers, including several translations of Jacques Brel songs, which were later collected to form the album Scott Walker Sings Jacques Brel. Scott 4 also features slightly less ornate orchestral arrangements than its predecessors, opting instead for a more skeletal, folk-inspired sound with greater emphasis on the rhythm section.
The quote "a man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened" (credited to the writer Albert Camus) appears on the back of the album sleeve.
Release
The album failed to chart and was deleted soon after. It has been speculated that Walker's decision to release the album under his birth name of Scott Engel contributed to its chart failure. All subsequent re-issues of the album have been released under his stage name.
Mark Lager, in a retrospective review, wrote that it is "arguably the best album of his career, you can hear from the first notes of the opening track that he was ambitiously and boldly pushing both his lyrics and soundscapes into a stronger terrain. “Seventh Seal” is an Ennio Morriconesque epic. His lyrics in “Angels of Ashes” are spiritual and share similarities with Rainer Maria Rilke’s Duino Elegies. “Boy Child” contains celestial, ghostly orchestration. “Old Man’s Back Again” is arguably Scott Walker’s most powerful song. David Bowie was heavily influenced and inspired by Scott Walker not only in his deep, baritone vocals but also in his own Cold War contemplations in the instrumentals of Low. On “Get Behind Me”, the soaring gospel choir and sublime orchestrations joined with his own soulful and stunning vocals make this a magnificent masterpiece."[7]
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