#171
Artist: Scott Walker
Album: Scott 4
Year: 1969
Length: 32:28
Genre: Baroque Pop / Avant-Garde
“Anybody hear of plague in this town
The town I’ve left behind was burned to the ground
A young girl on a stake her face framed in flames cried
I’m not a witch God knows my nameThe knight he watched with fear
He needed to know
He ran where he might feel God’s breath
And in the misty church
He knelt to confess
The face within the booth was Mr. Death”
Back in my hometown of Montreal, we have an amusement park. Not just any amusement but an official Six Flags amusement park, right off the island on it’s own smaller island. It’s a big staple of Montreal and everyone absolutely adores it. I have very fond memories of summers visiting it with a season pass and going on all the rides for an entire day of thrill seeking and fun. The park isn’t without it’s great rides, with something for everyone and a good host of great Roller Coasters for all you thrill seekers out there. Out of all the roller coasters in the park, two stand out for me in their own ways.
The first, and by far my favourite, is The Monster. This is your classic wooden roller coaster. It’s old, shaky and fast, everything you’d want from a classic roller coaster. There’s enough twists and turns and dips to keep your adrenaline up the entire ride and never fails. And if that wasn’t enough, The Monster actually has two tracks for you to enjoy. TWO! So if you liked the first go around then you can jump on a second time to see which track you like best. I think I’ve always been a fan of track 1. It’s the best coaster in the park but general consensus seems to feel otherwise…
The second stand out is our monster (not the same monster as I mentioned above) of a roller coaster. Everyone knows this type, probably one in every six flags, probably every amusement park. The BIG one, The massive steel coaster that towers over every ride, shadows the whole park. The big Kahuna of surfing waves. We all know this coaster. It’s large and in charge, zooms at break-necking speeds and has drops that throw your stomach into your throat. For every thrill-seeker this is the one they love to run too. It’s the general consensus that this is the “best” ride of the park, almost no debate to be had. It’s simplistic design of just hill after hill serves it’s purpose for the thrills these seekers seek and remains a fan favourite years after it was dropped into the park.
Here’s the thing… I don’t think it’s that great of a ride. Is it fun? For sure. Will i ride it every time I visit the park? You fucking know it! Is it the best? Not even close. I’ve ridden these goliath coasters before (funnily enough the name of the ride is The Goliath) and I wouldn’t even put this one in the top ten of this style of coaster I’ve ridden. I tried the Superman at the six flags in Massachussets (masachusets? Massachusetts? Maassaacchhuusseettss?) and Apollo’s Chariot at Busch Gardens which were 2 million times more intense than the Goliath. The Goliath is practically a baby coaster compared to it’s brethren at other parks. I can understand why people love it, but the problem is it’s not a good coaster. Everyone talks about how great the first drop is and the first drop is a fantastic drop! It’s super steep, super fast and anything you’d want in a drop. Problem is, after that initial drop… the rest of the coaster is boring, just hills you go up and down on that never quite hit the high of that first drop. I can honestly nap on the coaster after that first drop because it just feels boring in comparison. You see, the Monster has all these twists and turns that keep you on the edge of your seat the entire time. It’s a thrill from start to finish and to layer on top of that, it rattles and shakes the whole way through giving you the impression it might break at any second. The Goliath has none of that and everyone seems so stuck by that first drop that they forget that the rest of the ride is mediocre at best.
Why am I babbling on about coasters at a theme park you’ve probably never heard of if you don’t live in Montreal? Well, my feelings towards these two coasters is how I kind of feel about this Scott Walker album. On this list so far he’s had two albums, the creatively and brilliantly named Scott 2 and Scott 4 (which is actually his fifth studio album just to confuse us). If I was to make the analogy, Scott 2 would be the Monster for me and Scott 4 the Goliath. Let me explain. I definitely enjoyed Scott 2 more than I enjoyed Scott 4. I found it an enjoyable experience from start to finish, filled with humour and and a layered backing band. Scott 4 on the other hand, didn’t feel as exciting to me, despite lyrically being very epic and probably Scott 4 at his most mature, being completely original and taking away any humour, musically it was stripped down for a more simplistic arrangement compared to Scott 2. Scott 4 opens with a high, The Seventh Seal, and like The Goliath, the rest of the album just never hit that high again for me. It was like going down that massive drop on the coaster only to kind of be disinterested in the rest of the experience. A lot of people claim this album to be Scott’s best, and I can see where they are coming from, but for me I found Scott 2 to be better, more thrilling and exciting for this thrill seeker here. I understand thrills is not what Scott Walker (he credited as Scott Engel, which apparently did NOT help with album sales) was going for, but I feel my analogy still stands.
I wish I could say I enjoyed this more than I actually did, but after Seventh Seal I found myself a little disappointed, constantly trying to get that high again from this album, and I, personally, felt it never came for me. I found myself slowly getting more and more disengaged with each song to the point I almost stopped really caring about the album, which is a shame because I do kind of enjoy Scott Walker, especially after listening to Scott 2 eons ago. Maybe further listens would help with this and I was stuck in comparison mode (which they say to never compare things anyway). So who knows. But just like The Goliath, you can definitely still see me standing in line and enjoying the experience for what it is, even if I have the other ride on the brain while it’s happening.
Favourite Song: The Seventh Seal
-Bosco
P.s. Other notable Coasters at the park: The Vampire (one of those sit under the track ones, super fast and a ton of fun for massive thrill seekers), The Cobra (Not the greatest, but it’s a standing roller coaster (you stand instead of sit)), La Super Manege (A fun coaster for those who want to do roller coasters but don’t like crazy, intense ones).
DO NOT DO THE ENDOR!
Bosco's Modern Life 