Climate of Hunter
Encyclopedia
Climate of Hunter is the eleventh studio album by the American solo artist Scott Walker
. It was released in March 1984 and reached number 60 on the UK Albums Chart
. It includes the single "Track Three". It was also to be his only album of the 1980s.
Walker wrote the songs for the album between August and September 1983. The album was recorded between October and December 1983 in the UK at The Town House, EMI and Sarm West Studios. Receiving positive reviews the album was released as an LP
in March 1984 before it was released on CD in the mid-1980s. The album was reissued on CD in January 2006, with new revised artwork and having been remastered. The original artwork for the album was designed by C.More.Tone with photography by Bob Carlos Clarke
.
, Walker reformed The Walker Brothers
and signed to GTO Records
. The reunited group recorded three albums together, 1975's No Regrets
, 1976's Lines
and 1978's Nite Flights
. No Regrets and Lines had continued the musical vein of MOR County Pop cover versions that Walker had followed on his previous two solo albums. The title track of No Regrets had become a hit single in early 1976, but critically and commercially both albums were unsuccessful.
The group began recording Nite Flights aware that GTO was soon to collapse. The decision was made to produce an album of their own compositions without compromise. The resulting album emphasised an art rock and disco sound utilising harder drum sounds, synthesizers, and electric guitars. The brothers each wrote and sang their own compositions. The opening four songs were Scott's, the final four John's, while the middle pair were by Gary. Scott's four songs – "Shut Out", "Fat Mama Kick", "Nite Flights", and "The Electrician" – were his first original compositions since 1970's 'Til the Band Comes In
. Walker's song-writing displayed remarkable growth from his 1960s work and owed more in common with the music of David Bowie
, Brian Eno
and Lou Reed
. The extremely dark and discomforting sound of Scott's songs, particularly "The Electrician", were to prove a forerunner to the direction of his future solo work.
Nite Flights, was released in 1978 to poor sales figures but warm critical opinion, especially Scott's contributions. In the period after the album Walker was without a record deal he remarked in an interview with the journalist Alan Bangs that he has lived on "not a lot" between Nite Flights and Climate of Hunter and comparing himself to Orson Welles, a great man everyone wants to meet, but for whom nobody will finance their next project. Out of his now good critical standing a trio of compilations were released in the early 1980s and a long term deal with Virgin Records
was made. Ardent fan Julian Cope
assembled a collection of Walker originals titled Fire Escape in the Sky: The Godlike Genius of Scott Walker
in 1981, quickly followed by Scott Walker Sings Jacques Brel
and The Best of Scott Walker. In spite of signing a new deal, Walker was slow to begin writing his first album for the label.
on their break-through album, 1982's New Gold Dream (81–82–83–84). Together with Walsh, Walker assembled a band of seasoned session players and luminaries such as free-improvising
saxophone
player Evan Parker
, Dire Straits
' Mark Knopfler
on guitar and the R&B
singer Billy Ocean
.
Discussing the recording of the album for the documentary Scott Walker: 30 Century Man
(2006), Walsh explained that the musicians were expected to record their parts without knowing the melody to any of the songs, in part owing to the fact that Walker had not recorded any demos and simply because the melody was "a closely guarded secret". Walker explains that if the melody was known it would take the song away from the "concentrated place" he intended. The intention was to to "keep everything a little disjointed" so there is "no chance of everyone swinging together".
The resulting songs are driven and founded around Peter Van Hooke's drums, Mo Foster's Bass and Walker's vocals. Guitars, Synthesizers, Brass and Strings are each used sparingly with abstract results. An orchestra is prominent on "Rawhide" and is the lone accompaniment on "Sleepwalkers Woman", while guitars come to the fore on "Track Three", "Track Seven" and "Blanket Roll Blues".
Walker made the unusual choice to give half of the tracks on Climate of Hunter numerical titles. He explained in a TV interview on music programme The Tube
that the songs were complete and that titles might 'lopside' them of 'overload' them, presumably giving artificially undue weight to one line of the lyric over the others. The songs have since been attributed the informal titles "Delayed" ("Track Three"), "It's a Starving" ("Track Five"), "Say It" ("Track Six"), and "Stump of a Drowner" ("Track Seven").
. Walker conducted interviews for radio and TV stations. He had intended to put together a group to tour the release but opted not to upon the poor commercial performance of the album and it's lone single, "Track Three". A music video was produced for the single, and the 7" single was backed with the album's lone cover "Blanket Roll Blues".
The album was re-released on LP and CD as part of Virgin records 'compact price' range in the mid 1980s. A remaster
ed edition of the album was released in the UK by Virgin and EMI on 30 January 2006. It included revised artwork and new liner notes by Bob Stanley
of Saint Etienne
.
, music by Kenyon Hopkins
). Orchestral arrangements
by Brian Gascoigne.
Scott Walker (singer)
Scott Walker, born Noel Scott Engel on January 9, 1943 is an American singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, and the former lead singer of The Walker Brothers. Despite being American born, Walker's chart success has largely come in the United Kingdom, where his first four solo albums...
. It was released in March 1984 and reached number 60 on the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
. It includes the single "Track Three". It was also to be his only album of the 1980s.
Walker wrote the songs for the album between August and September 1983. The album was recorded between October and December 1983 in the UK at The Town House, EMI and Sarm West Studios. Receiving positive reviews the album was released as an LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
in March 1984 before it was released on CD in the mid-1980s. The album was reissued on CD in January 2006, with new revised artwork and having been remastered. The original artwork for the album was designed by C.More.Tone with photography by Bob Carlos Clarke
Bob Carlos Clarke
Robert Carlos Clarke was an Irish photographer, known for his highly stylised erotic imagery....
.
Background
Following the poor reception of Walker's tenth solo album, 1974's We Had It AllWe Had It All
-Release details:...
, Walker reformed The Walker Brothers
The Walker Brothers
The Walker Brothers were an American 1960s and 1970s pop group, comprising Scott Engel , John Walker , and Gary Leeds...
and signed to GTO Records
GTO Records
GTO Records is a British Record label which released many hits during the 1970s. It ran from 1974 to 1981 and mainly concentrated on pop music and disco.-Background:...
. The reunited group recorded three albums together, 1975's No Regrets
No Regrets (The Walker Brothers album)
- Personnel :* Acoustic Guitar - John Walker, Judd Procter, Len Walker, Scott Walker* Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar - Alan Parker* Backing Vocals - Suzanne Lynch, Bones* Bass - Darryl Runswick* Conductor - Steve Grey* Drums - Barry Morgan...
, 1976's Lines
Lines (The Walker Brothers album)
-Personnel:* Backing Vocals - Bones, The Charles Young Choral* Electric Bass - Alan Jones* Conductor - Steve Grey* Drums - Barry Morgan, Brian Bennett, Simon Phillips* Acoustic, Electric, Mandolin, High Strung Guitar, and Slide Guitar - Alan Parker...
and 1978's Nite Flights
Nite Flights (album)
Nite Flights is the sixth studio album by the American pop group The Walker Brothers. It was released in 1978. It includes the single "The Electrician". The album was to be the group's last together....
. No Regrets and Lines had continued the musical vein of MOR County Pop cover versions that Walker had followed on his previous two solo albums. The title track of No Regrets had become a hit single in early 1976, but critically and commercially both albums were unsuccessful.
The group began recording Nite Flights aware that GTO was soon to collapse. The decision was made to produce an album of their own compositions without compromise. The resulting album emphasised an art rock and disco sound utilising harder drum sounds, synthesizers, and electric guitars. The brothers each wrote and sang their own compositions. The opening four songs were Scott's, the final four John's, while the middle pair were by Gary. Scott's four songs – "Shut Out", "Fat Mama Kick", "Nite Flights", and "The Electrician" – were his first original compositions since 1970's 'Til the Band Comes In
'Til The Band Comes In
'Til The Band Comes In is a Scott Walker album, released in 1970. As a compromise with his record company, the first 10 tracks are self-penned, the remainder are cover versions.- Track listing :- Personnel :* Alan Clayson – liner notes...
. Walker's song-writing displayed remarkable growth from his 1960s work and owed more in common with the music of David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
, Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
and Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
. The extremely dark and discomforting sound of Scott's songs, particularly "The Electrician", were to prove a forerunner to the direction of his future solo work.
Nite Flights, was released in 1978 to poor sales figures but warm critical opinion, especially Scott's contributions. In the period after the album Walker was without a record deal he remarked in an interview with the journalist Alan Bangs that he has lived on "not a lot" between Nite Flights and Climate of Hunter and comparing himself to Orson Welles, a great man everyone wants to meet, but for whom nobody will finance their next project. Out of his now good critical standing a trio of compilations were released in the early 1980s and a long term deal with Virgin Records
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...
was made. Ardent fan Julian Cope
Julian Cope
Julian Cope is a British rock musician, author, antiquary, musicologist, poet and cultural commentator...
assembled a collection of Walker originals titled Fire Escape in the Sky: The Godlike Genius of Scott Walker
Fire Escape in the Sky: The Godlike Genius of Scott Walker
Fire Escape in the Sky: The Godlike Genius of Scott Walker is a compilation album of previously released Scott Walker material. Compiled by Julian Cope in 1981 and released by Zoo Records...
in 1981, quickly followed by Scott Walker Sings Jacques Brel
Scott Walker Sings Jacques Brel
-1990 CD Re-release:-Release details:...
and The Best of Scott Walker. In spite of signing a new deal, Walker was slow to begin writing his first album for the label.
Recording and music
While Walker was slow to begin writing, the seven songs composed for the album were completed and recorded quickly in the second last six months of 1983. The album was produced with Peter Walsh who had recently worked with Simple MindsSimple Minds
Simple Minds are a Scottish rock band who achieved worldwide popularity from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. The band produced a handful of critically acclaimed albums in the early 1980s and best known for their #1 US, Canada and Netherlands hit single "Don't You ", from the soundtrack of the...
on their break-through album, 1982's New Gold Dream (81–82–83–84). Together with Walsh, Walker assembled a band of seasoned session players and luminaries such as free-improvising
Free improvisation
Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the logic or inclination of the musician involved. The term can refer to both a technique and as a recognizable genre in its own right....
saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
player Evan Parker
Evan Parker
Evan Shaw Parker is a British free-improvising saxophone player from the European free jazz scene.Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free jazz and free improvisation, and has pioneered or substantially expanded...
, Dire Straits
Dire Straits
Dire Straits were a British rock band active from 1977 to 1995, composed of Mark Knopfler , his younger brother David Knopfler , John Illsley , and Pick Withers .Dire Straits' sound drew from a variety of musical influences, including jazz, folk, blues, and came closest...
' Mark Knopfler
Mark Knopfler
Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE is a Scottish-born British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977...
on guitar and the R&B
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
singer Billy Ocean
Billy Ocean
Billy Ocean is a Trinidad-born English Grammy Award winning popular music performer who had a string of rhythm and blues international pop hits in the 1970s and 1980s. He was the most popular British-based R&B singer / songwriter of the early to mid-1980s...
.
Discussing the recording of the album for the documentary Scott Walker: 30 Century Man
Scott Walker: 30 Century Man
Scott Walker: 30 Century Man is a 2006 documentary film about Scott Walker. The film gets its title from the Scott 3 song "30 Century Man". It is directed and co-produced by Stephen Kijak, with Grant Gee serving as director of photography...
(2006), Walsh explained that the musicians were expected to record their parts without knowing the melody to any of the songs, in part owing to the fact that Walker had not recorded any demos and simply because the melody was "a closely guarded secret". Walker explains that if the melody was known it would take the song away from the "concentrated place" he intended. The intention was to to "keep everything a little disjointed" so there is "no chance of everyone swinging together".
The resulting songs are driven and founded around Peter Van Hooke's drums, Mo Foster's Bass and Walker's vocals. Guitars, Synthesizers, Brass and Strings are each used sparingly with abstract results. An orchestra is prominent on "Rawhide" and is the lone accompaniment on "Sleepwalkers Woman", while guitars come to the fore on "Track Three", "Track Seven" and "Blanket Roll Blues".
Walker made the unusual choice to give half of the tracks on Climate of Hunter numerical titles. He explained in a TV interview on music programme The Tube
The Tube (TV series)
The Tube was an innovative United Kingdom pop/rock music television programme, which ran for five seasons, from 5 November 1982 until 1987...
that the songs were complete and that titles might 'lopside' them of 'overload' them, presumably giving artificially undue weight to one line of the lyric over the others. The songs have since been attributed the informal titles "Delayed" ("Track Three"), "It's a Starving" ("Track Five"), "Say It" ("Track Six"), and "Stump of a Drowner" ("Track Seven").
Releases
Climate of Hunter was first released in March 1984 as an LP in the UK by Virgin RecordsVirgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...
. Walker conducted interviews for radio and TV stations. He had intended to put together a group to tour the release but opted not to upon the poor commercial performance of the album and it's lone single, "Track Three". A music video was produced for the single, and the 7" single was backed with the album's lone cover "Blanket Roll Blues".
The album was re-released on LP and CD as part of Virgin records 'compact price' range in the mid 1980s. A remaster
Remaster
Remaster is a word marketed mostly in the digital audio age, although the remastering process has existed since recording began...
ed edition of the album was released in the UK by Virgin and EMI on 30 January 2006. It included revised artwork and new liner notes by Bob Stanley
Bob Stanley (Saint Etienne)
Bob Stanley is a UK musician, film producer and journalist.-Saint Etienne:Stanley is best known as a member of the pop/dance group Saint Etienne for which he co-writes songs and produces...
of Saint Etienne
Saint Etienne (band)
Saint Etienne are an English Pop group comprising Sarah Cracknell, Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs. They are named after the French football team AS Saint-Étienne.-History:Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs were childhood friends and former music journalists...
.
Reception
Climate of Hunter received mixed to positive reviews by the majority of critics.Track listing
All tracks composed by Scott Walker, August–September 1983, except "Blanket Roll Blues" (words by Tennessee WilliamsTennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
, music by Kenyon Hopkins
Kenyon Hopkins
Kenyon Hopkins was an American composer who composed many film scores in a jazz idiom. Although he has been neglected in recent years, he was once called "one of jazz's great composers and arrangers"....
). Orchestral arrangements
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
by Brian Gascoigne.
Personnel
- Mo FosterMo FosterMo Foster is a British session musician, playing primarily jazz, jazz-fusion and rock bass guitar. He is also a music producer and songwriter/composer. In over 40 years as a musician Foster has played on and produced countless albums, singles, and film soundtracks...
- bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
(except tracks 4 & 8) - Brian Gascoigne - keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
(on tracks 2, 3 & 5) - Peter Van HookePeter Van HookePeter Van Hooke was drummer in the English band Mike + The Mechanics as well as having drummed for Cliff Richard, Van Morrison's band, Headstone, and Ezio. During the 1980s he successfully co-produced many of Tanita Tikaram's hits.Van Hooke grew up in Stanmore, Middlesex and attended Mill Hill...
- drumDrumThe drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
s (except tracks 4 & 8) - Mark IshamMark IshamMark Isham is an American trumpeter, synthesist, and film composer. He works in a variety of genres, including jazz, electronic, and film.-Life and career:...
- trumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
(on tracks 2 & 3) - Gary Kettel - percussion (on tracks 5 & 7)
- Billy OceanBilly OceanBilly Ocean is a Trinidad-born English Grammy Award winning popular music performer who had a string of rhythm and blues international pop hits in the 1970s and 1980s. He was the most popular British-based R&B singer / songwriter of the early to mid-1980s...
- harmonyHarmonyIn music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
vocal (on track 3) - Phil PalmerPhil PalmerPhilip 'Phil' John Palmer is a sideman and session guitarist in jazz and rock who has toured, recorded, and worked with numerous famous artists...
- lead & background guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
s (on track 3) - Evan ParkerEvan ParkerEvan Shaw Parker is a British free-improvising saxophone player from the European free jazz scene.Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free jazz and free improvisation, and has pioneered or substantially expanded...
- tenorTenor saxophoneThe tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor, with the alto, are the two most common types of saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B, and written as a transposing instrument in the treble...
& sopranoSoprano saxophoneThe soprano saxophone is a variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument, invented in 1840. The soprano is the third smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists of the soprillo, sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass, contrabass and tubax.A transposing instrument pitched in...
saxSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
(on tracks 2 & 6) - Ray RussellRay Russell (musician)Raymond 'Ray' Russell is an English session musician who is primarily a guitarist. He is also renowned as a record producer, composer and session musician....
- lead & background guitars (on tracks 3 & 7) - Mark KnopflerMark KnopflerMark Freuder Knopfler, OBE is a Scottish-born British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977...
- guitars (on track 8) - Cover photo by Bob Carlos ClarkeBob Carlos ClarkeRobert Carlos Clarke was an Irish photographer, known for his highly stylised erotic imagery....
Release history
| Region | Date | Label | Format | Catalogue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... |
Virgin Virgin Records Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny... |
LP | V 2303 | |
| UK | Virgin | CD ('Compact Price') | CDV 2303 | |
| UK | Virgin | CD | CDVR 2303 |