The handsome singer who had lent his velvety baritone to such hits as Make It Easy On Yourself and The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Any More set out to extend himself in his writing and his production, excited and inspired by the music of Belgian singer-songwriter Jacques Brel.
A string of solo albums took him further and further from the record-buying public, but closer and closer to his goal of being a genuinely original artist.
Scott 4, actually Walker's fifth solo album counting a 1969 LP of songs from his British TV series, marks the moment the maverick crooner stood tall in his new shoes.
While this first album of solely original compositions carries some of the schmaltzy intensity of the Walker Brothers era, and Walker's swooping vocals still grab at something deeply sensual, the melodies take surprising turns.
Ballads, country-gospel and rock tunes are overlaid with elements of jazz, his songs less ostentatiously decorated by orchestration than is the case with earlier solo efforts.
Lyrically, huge risks are taken. Album opener The Seventh Seal, based on an Ingmar Bergman film, documents a chess game between a knight and the spectre of Death. Hero Of The War poses uncomfortable questions about how a returned veteran is received. The Old Man's Back Again (Dedicated To The Neo-Stalinist Regime) evokes bleak and difficult times.
Unpopular themes, for sure, but explored with remarkable panache. And though Walker's starlight dimmed as a consequence of such single-mindedness, his influence on performers such as David Bowie and his standing among musicians has grown immeasurably. Says Brian Eno, "Scott Walker is a serious, conscious artist".
