Scott Walker's largely-overlooked (and hopelessly rare) soundtrack to the 1999 movie Pola X, directed by Leos Carax and starring Guillaume Depardieu, Yekaterina Golubeva, Catherine Deneuve.
The music on Pola X verges from utter discordancy to fragile
beauty. As a result, this CD perhaps represents the most accessible route to understanding and appreciating the music on Scott Walker's latter-period albums.
Pola X was released in Japan and France only. The album was not in print for long; it soon became a collector's item.
All of the tracks composed by Scott Walker on Pola X were compiled in the 2003 box set Scott Walker In 5 Easy Pieces. However, they were presented in a different order to the original album, and interspersed with other examples of his film songs and compositions.
At the time of writing, both Pola X and the box set In 5 Easy Pieces are out-of-print, and command high prices on the collector's market.
Meanwhile, I am not aware of any other available lossless download of the CD Pola X anywhere on the internet.
In 1999
Universal Music scheduled three Scott Walker albums for re-release. These
albums, originally recorded for the Philips label, were:
Any Day
Now
‘Til The
Band Comes In
Scott On
Screen
The albums
were remastered for CD, promotional CDR discs were circulated to the media, but
due to intervention from Mr Engel himself; the reissues were cancelled. The CDs – due for release on the Fontana label
- did not appear in the shops.
Any Day Now
was Scott’s last album for Philips. It
has yet to receive a full official CD reissue. The withdrawn 1990 CD contained two bonus
tracks – I Still See You & My Way Home, originally A & B sides of a 1971
Philips single.
‘Til The
Band Comes In reappeared on the BGO label in 1996 – this issue was soon
withdrawn. The album has since received
an official release as part of the CD set The Collection 1967-1970. This collection was repackaged as a bargain-priced
5-disc collection on the Spectrum label[i]. There is
also an unofficial reissue of the album on the Water label in the United States. The 1990 CD included bonus tracks (Lights Of Cincinnati & The Rope & The Colt).
Scott On
Screen was to have been a 2-on-1 disc that combined the LPs Sings Songs from
his TV Series (1969) with The Moviegoer (1972).
It is not to be confused with the fifth disc in the 2003 box set
compilation, In 5 Easy Pieces (also known as Scott On Screen). Meanwhile, for some unfathomable reason, the
last track on The Moviegoer (Easy Come Easy Go) was omitted from the Fontana
collection.
Although
these records are not quite in the same league as Scott 1-4, they are
nonetheless wonderful albums. They absolutely
belong in your collection.
Here are
lossless downloads of the withdrawn compact disc versions of Any Day Now &
Scott On Screen. I have added back the
missing track (Easy Come, Easy Go).
As
discussed, ‘Til The Band Comes In is now available on CD. The album has also been reissued on vinyl (Back
To Black / Mercury 602537323647). Thus, I have not included the album as a download here.
[i] The
box set 5 Classic Albums (Universal / Spectrum)
contains the albums Scott 1-4 and ‘Til The Band Comes In. At the time of writing, it sells for under
£10.
Thanks largely
to their near-perfect debut album and single, The Dream Academy attained a cult
following in America, Japan and The United Kingdom. The band displayed lyrical intellect over
fresh and memorable melodies, combined with sophisticated (and largely
acoustic) musical arrangements.
Signed
to Geoff Travis’[i] &
Mike Alway’s[ii] Blanco
y Negro label, the band combined the spirit of early 80s Pillows & Prayers indie-innocence with late 60s hippy sensibility.
With the multi-national financial clout of The Warner Music Group, the
band should have realised considerable global success.
Regrettably, only the debut album and single
made any real impression on the charts. Nonetheless,
the music of The Dream Academy has matured, rather than aged - especially when
compared to much of the music released by other contemporary and indie acts in
the 1980s and early 90s.
Several
non-album tracks, demo recordings and extended versions of LP tracks can be found, scattered across the six UK 12” singles.
Certainly, the 12” mixes of Indian Summer and Love may be considered
definitive, over the album versions. In
addition, there are “Easter Eggs” to be found on several of the 12” singles. These are mostly snippets of other tracks, as
often as not played backwards.
Here now are
both sides of all six 12” singles, ripped from the original UK vinyl pressings. If you don’t already possess the band’s three
albums, make it a priority to add them to your collection.
Most of all,
enjoy these stunning maxi-singles, all of which can be downloaded here
In the UK,
The Dream Academy released three LPs and six singles.
The Dream
Academy (1985)
Remembrance
Days (1987)
A Different
Kind Of Weather (1990)
Life in a
Northern Town (1985)
The Love
Parade (1985)
Please,
Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want (1985)
Indian
Summer (1987)
Love (1990)
Angel of
Mercy (aka Twelve-Eight Angel) (1990)
The super-rare US radio CD of Indian Summer
Further LP
tracks were released as 45s in the US, some as promotional-only items: -
The Edge Of
Forever (1985) (promo)
This World
(1985) (promo)
The Lesson
Of Love (1987)
Everybody's
Gotta Learn Sometime (1987)
The American
CD and 12” singles of Love contain further mixes that were unavailable in the UK.
A non-album
single (In The Heart) was released in Japan
In The
Heart/Power To Believe (1988)
A promotional
video was prepared for the LP track This World.
Compilation
albums: -
Somewhere In
The Sun (Japan only, 1999)
The Morning
Lasted All Day (2014)
A
promotional album mixing interviews with tracks from the debut LP was issued to
American radio stations in 1985.
Their music
has appeared in two major films: -
The Edge Of
Forever & Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want feature in the
movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
Both vocal
and instrumental versions of Power To Believe feature in Planes, Trains &
Automobiles.
The single
Life In A Northern Town has appeared on countless various-artist compilation
albums, it has been sampled on at least three dance/pop records: -
Sunchyme by
Dario G
Never Let
You Go by Jakaranda
Walk on By
by Picco
Life In A
Northern Town has been covered by at least five different acts: -
Chris
Collingswood
Voice Male
The Coats
Rick
Springfield
Sexton Blake
Thanks to
Rick Springfield’s 2005 version, the song appears in a lullaby arrangement on
the children’s album Twinkle Twinkle Little Rock Star.
