Great Scott! Emotional Tourist: A Steve Scott Retrospective: A Review

This collection, released in early 2012, is new in at least three ways. 1. It's the first time Steve Scott's music has appeared on MP3s. 2. It's the first collection to span 3. Steve's entire career to date. The limited edition CD includes notes on each song by Steve. Those asking, at this juncture, "Who's Steve Scott?" are invited to listen to the samples, and then rejoin the discussion. Completists may be saying, "I have scoured the earth to find and collect everything by Steve Scott. Why do I need this collection?" Answer: you don't. But without it, you won't have all the Steve Scott, will you? And there's never been an easier way for fans to turn their friends on to Steve.


That said, this collection is hardly typical. Steve's mid-80s album, "Love in the Western World", was nearly perfect, with all the songs nestling together in the vinyl grooves. That album is well represented in this collection. Sort of. The best-known songs are here presented in alt-versions, perhaps as a nod to the above collectors. Songs here are not presented chronologically, but they couldn't be, as alt versions usually come sometime after the standard versions. If you get the CD, you may think about song or track order, but with MP3 singles, of course, it doesn't matter. And the MP3 album is usually just a lower priced way to get all the singles. So I'll just give my brief impressions of each track.


1. Different Kind of Light. This is a crowd pleaser, here presented garage band fashion. The 77s covered it on their first album, "Ping Pong Over the Abyss", and I heard them, Vector, and Northbound play it as their finale live (one of the high points in my concert-going experience).


2. Emotional Tourist. The perfect marriage of Steve music and lyrics. Radio-friendly exploration of one of Steve's favorite topics: traveling. Somewhat a theme of the album.


3. Ghost Train. The other well-known and oft-requested standard. Covered by other bands live, many know it from long jams at the Cornerstone festival.


4. Not a Pretty Picture. Steve's Psychedelic Furs influence.


5. Love in the Western World. Faster, alt version of the title track of Steve's '80s album.


6. Sound of Waves. Sort of a pop song. Here in an alt version from a sampler that circulated in the UK (remember disco singles?).


7. Shadowplay. Another perfect song in the vein of the title track, with Asian musical influences, and a motif drawn from Steve's time in Bali.


8. Farthest Star. Steve unplugged (or almost so), in his haunting ballad mode. Covered live by Larry Norman in Europe.


9.  Come Back Soon. Originally appeared on a multi-artist compilation from Sangre Records in the early '80s. One of many versions.


10. Empty Orchestra track. The only instrumental track included. From a mid '90s instrumental album. "Empty Orchestra" is the literal meaning of Karaoke. Listeners were encouraged to read Steve's poems from the enclosed lyric sheet, so as to become "Steve Scott for a day". Some of the poems were drawn from Steve's continuing series of sometime poetry/ travelogue chapbooks collectively called The Boundaries. The title of this poem is "Passages of the Heart". 


11. This Sad Music. This was the centerpiece of Love in the Western World. It's a spoken word over music poem made by juxtaposing two different channels on American TV: a TV evangelist and a newscast about dying whales. 


12. No Memory of You. This long spoken word over music piece clocks in at over twelve minutes. It was originally released on Steve's early '90s album, "The Butterfly Effect" on Mike Knott's Blonde Vinyl label. The album's lyrics were partly drawn from The Boundaries, and musically included on-location recording in Asia and Eastern Europe, ambient and found sounds, emulators, tape loops, sampling and many other techniques exotic for the time, but in common use today.


13. Beneath the Skin. The poem is from the first volume of The Boundaries, but the recording dates from the mid '90s. 


14. Slow Motion Reflections. This and the last track are both spoken word over music, and come from "Crossing the Boundaries", a traveling art installation mounted by Steve with painter Gaylen Stewart. Recorded bird calls on the musical track echo the visual multi-media bird paintings by Stewart.


15.  The Resurrection of the Body. "Crossing the Boundaries" originally included color pictures of Stewart's art the listener could look at while playing the tracks. My suggestion for listening to Steve's spoken pieces is to lie on the rug or sofa, close your eyes, and enjoy. 


http://www.emotionaltourist.com

Second post of the day, in which we learn that we ought to check the spelling before posting, and make the links live. More good stuff to listen to: ATF/ Bill Mason Band, Dann Gunn (some Dann good music). CDs and MP3 albums in A Listening Dog in the Living Dog Store. Bone up on tunes at http://www.alivingdog.com

Emotional Tourist: A Steve Scott Retrospective

24 Jan, 2012. The first day of the rest of your life. Also the first time Steve Scott's music has been available on MP3. Also the first day the same 15 tracks made their way out into the world in a limited edition CD. A big beginning for a big year. Sample tracks free at http://www.emotionaltourist.com. Or click the Steve Scott bone at http://www.alivingdog.com. This is the first collection to sample from all of Steve's stuff from the '80s and '90s. Is it a "Best of" collection? Not really, because the best-known songs are represented by alt. versions, and his spoken word over ambient sound loops experimental tracks are also represented. About his music and art, RadRockers.com said:

"British new wave dominates. Alternative classic rock with similarities to David Bowie, Roxy Music, the Police, and the 77s. A brilliant avant garde masterpiece with vocal inflections similar to Lou Reed."

"Steve Scott's expansive, evocative lyrics are supported by music that's alternately rocking and dreamily atmospheric, venturing successfully into exotic stylistic territory. This remarkable collection, drawn from recordings made between 1983 and 1998, makes a persuasive case for Steve Scott's status as a true original." -Scott Shinder.

"Been there, done that, or doing it tomorrow, British poet/ musician Steve Scott plays havoc with the three Ps of oietry, prose, and performance, juxtaposing them in new and exciting ways." -Counter Culture.

"A uniquely gifted musical poet? One thing you cannot do with Steve Scott is categorise him. " -Peter Banks, After the Fire.