Scott Walker - Fire Escape In The Sky: The Godlike Genius Of Scott Walker
It's difficult to imagine just how obscure Scott Walker was in 1981, when this came out. You couldn't buy any of his records. Julian Cope put this together, which seemed like an extraordinarily generous act. The sleeve was just grey, it looked like it was made of felt, and it had very simple green text at the top. It came out on Zoo, Bill Drummond's label. It's unthinkable now. The major labels had such little regard for their catalogues back then - even with Dusty Springfield, you'd get a greatest hits album and that was it. Anyway, this was quite life-changing for me, Wally Stott's arrangements have never been beaten, the lyrics were so filmic, and Scott's voice was beautiful, of course. Hearing songs like 'Montague Terrace' and 'Angels Of Ashes' for the first time, imagine that.