Scott Walker: 30 Century Man

After his 1960s success with the U.K.-based band Walker Brothers ran its course, Ohio-born front man Scott Walker released several solo albums, but then disappeared. Sort of: every few years, a new record would materialize, but the former teen idol stayed off the media map, calling a halt to all interviews, tours, and television appearances. Filmmaker Stephen Kijak earned the reclusive Walker‘s trust through years of phone calls, faxes, and e-mail messages, eventually convincing the man with the bottomless baritone to finally agree to sit down for a conversation in front of the camera in the studio during the making of 2006's haunting The Drift. Along with executive producer David Bowie, who credits Walker as an influence on his own theatrically-oriented work, other musicians/artists appearing here include Brian Eno, Lulu, Sting, and Radiohead. Friends and relatives are conspicuously absent, but that's because the sixtysomething Walker doesn't talk about his personal life, except for a brief mention of too much “imbibing” in the past. As Kijak states in the press notes, “The plan was to try and shine a black-light on the enigma—not to penetrate it, but to respect it, and to let the music tell its own story.” Consequently, Scott Walker: 30 Century Man focuses on the albums, songs, and lyrics comprising Walker's impressive body of work, rather than the artist's earthbound life, successfully dodging the hagiography bullet while effectively tracing Walker's considerable impact on popular music. Highly recommended. (K. Fennessy)