Scott 3

Ethereal, exceptional, beautifully orchestrated pop music from one of the late 20th century's most idiosyncratic artists, SCOTT 3 contains a series of lush, mesmerizing songs that typify the free-spirited, experimental late 1960s. Scott Walker also gives free rein to his more epic impulses on songs like the careening "We Came Through," a prime example of the kind of marvelously over-the-top pieces that made him a byword for eccentricity, while "30th Century Man" is almost the exact opposite, featuring only the mellow-voiced singer and an acoustic guitar. There's also an alternately tense and serene version of "If You Go Away" that marks the artist as one of Jacques Brel's finest English interpreters.