Scott Walker of Walker brothers fame released this greatly overlooked album in 1984 and it saw him shedding his skin in favour of a more pop oriented style. For many people the 80's is seen as the dark ages of music in terms of quality and artistic integrity. For me this is complete nonsense since my thesis is that a lot of the acts who where good in the 70's got a lot better in the 80's. Personally i believe it to be the big untapped decade of great records since no one is looking for them there. Proof: Scott Walker Climate of hunter.
What he did with Climate of hunter was an anti-pop album of sorts. This is done by using the surface of a mellow pop album and tricking you to go deeper and deeper with him into the rabbit hole. And oh how deep the rabbit hole goes, straight into the heart and mind of Scott Walker. Going with the album, you won't notice how increasingly weird and wonderful it gets, and that is a sign of a true master who has ''perfected'' his craft. What I am trying to say is that you really shouldn't be fooled by the ''dated'' drum sound or eerie pads for this is not some commercial super production, but instead a highly personal expression.
The marvel Walker produces exists, or more importantly coexists within the given framework of pop. The deconstruction of pop is in itself is absolutely essential because it shows us how fragile a genre can be and what happens when you're more interested in art than commodity. By seemingly combining drone notes, 80's pink floyd guitar solos and symphonic arrangements it all melts into a very unique and loveable voice.
Choosing specific tracks or even commenting on parts of the album is hard since i don't really know what is what. You are probably scratching your wondering how I can sit here and recommend it as a forgotten masterpiece without knowing it inside out. It is easy you see, the album is 31min long which is really not that long, and When an album is of this let us call it thoughtful length, there can in no way be any excuse not to sit it through from start until finish. Especially since it is about as complete an experience as you will ever get. That is what happened to me anyway. I can't remember just listening to one song of it.
All the truly good albums can very much be likened to a journey (in many ways much reminiscent of cinema). What makes this particular album unique is how easy it actually is. As long as you just take the time to sit down with it, it will do the job for you. Sure it is experimental, sure it has weird tendencies but it eases you into it so well that if you're not paying a good amount of attention you won't even notice the transition.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZCx5HRwDkY
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