Scott Walker - Bish Bosch Review (Experimental)

I have always been a fan of Walker's work, whether it be his 60's crooning stint with the Walker Brothers or his last 30 plus year journey into the nether-regions of soundscaping that started with the Walker Brothers' Night Flights. Bish Bosch completes a trilogy that began with Tilt (1995) and Drift (2006). This is the most fully realized of the trilogy and is, in my opinion, the best of the three. Instead of going through each song, which is the all too cliched way of reviewing music, I'd rather critique this music on what I feel the artist's intent was and if he was successful in conveying that intent. Walker has been working in the medium of music and poetry like no one else really has over the last 30 years. His lyrics are rich in ambiguity and imagery.
I consider Walker to be a poet of considerable heft and these words represent his almost academic approach in including a sense of world history (of time and of place) in his lyrics. He also uses humor in a very creative way and in the most startling places. Since Bish Bosch is really a very significant poetic creation set against a series of sound collages, or sheets of sound, it really combines the mediums of musical composition, spoken word, and pure poetry. There is always a tip of the hat to fine art in Walker's work, although it is usually abstract in approach. There are melodies on Bish Bosch, but they are contructed as if the words themselves are struggling to find notes that they can occupy or live with. They sort of "Slide" into their final destination. To that point, this is where Scott's work has failed, in my opinion, over the course of the Tilt/Drift/Bish Bosch Trilogy. Too often the "melodies" sung are the same... I mean THE EXACT SAME... from song to song. In my mind, that diltues the astounding impact and imagery that his words deliver to the overall end product. That being said, Bisch Bosch is his most accessible work since 1984's "Climate of Hunter."

Again, the listener has to participate with music like this. It is best listened to in its entirety and then go back after a few days and listen again. One can never get into an artist's head and really know what their intent was in the creation of their work. As a singer/songwriter and instrumentalist myself, I know what I am creating and why. However, I am sure that most people have no idea where it's coming from and, more importantly to them, they don't really care. In my mind, an artist works and creates within the realm of fine art because they are interested in making something happen. The best fine art does that... makes something happen to those exposed to it. It is lyrically astounding. These are perfect words and they require exceptional music to accompany them. In this case, the "Music" does not do the lyrics justice. This kind of soundscaping is getting old in terms of what Walker is creating and I see very little movement in that direction since Tilt, some 17 years ago. With that in mind, this is still an exceptional piece of art that needs to be listened to.    

Verdict: 70/100