The Moviegoer (album)

The Moviegoer is the seventh solo studio album by the American singer Scott Walker. It was released in October 1972 but failed to chart. No singles were released from the album, though "This Way Mary" was later released as a b-side to Walker's 1973 single "The Me I Never Knew". The album consists solely of renditions of film theme songs originally performed by other artists.

The album was the first of six consecutive studio albums (the last two as The Walker Brothers) in which Walker did not contribute original material. Having lost creative control of his music after the commercial failures of his previous two studio albums Scott 4 and 'Til the Band Comes In, Walker was tasked with recording "inoffensive, middle-of-the-road material that could be easily processed, marketed and sold". By way of compromise Walker had some say in the song selection and drew together a selection of themes from some of his favourite films.

The album was recorded quickly in the summer of 1972 with Walker's usual studio team consisting of producer Johnny Franz and engineer Peter J. Olliff. In a change from previous work, Robert Cornford was brought-in to produce the orchestral arrangements. Despite a push for commercial viability the album received negative reviews when released as an LP in October 1972. The album was re-issued in 1975 by Contour record label with new sleeve art. The album has since been deleted and has not been reissued.

In Japan, the album was released under the title The Impossible Dream (The Moviegoer) with a different sleeve, an altered running order and the inclusion of "The Impossible Dream" in place of "Easy Come Easy Go".

Availability
The continued unavailability of The Moviegoer is believed to be due to Walker's dissatisfaction with his albums from the early to mid-1970s, as well as the 1969 Scott: Scott Walker Sings Songs from his T.V. Series album, all of which were made up entirely of cover versions and which he describes in the documentary Scott Walker: 30 Century Man as his "wilderness years". Walker blocked CD re-releases of T.V Series, The Moviegoer and Any Day Now (1973), while Stretch (1973) and We Had It All (1974) were re-released on CD in 1997 by an independent label without Walker's own approval.

In spite of the album's deletion, the majority of the songs were released on Scott Walker compilation CDs during the 2000s. Glory Road", "The Summer Knows", and "The Ballad of Sacco and Vanzetti" are included on the 2003 5 Easy Pieces box set, while "Loss Of Love", "Come Saturday Morning", "That Night", "This Way Mary", "A Face In The Crowd", "Speak Softly Love" and "Easy Come Easy Go" can be found on 2005's Classics & Collectibles. Only "Joe Hill" and "All His Children" remain unavailable.

Reception
In common with Walker's 1970s output, The Moviegoer was poorly received by critics but has been reassessed since Walker was critically reappraised in the decades following The Walker Brothers' 1978 album Nite Flights. In their Walker biography A Deep Shade of Blue, Mike Watkinson and Pete Anderson recommend the album to only the most die-hard of Scott Walker fans, but cite "The Ballad of Sacco and Vanzetti" as the album's undoubted highlight for its Spaghetti-Western feel vaguely reminiscent of "The Seventh Seal" from Scott 4.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine writing retrospectively for Allmusic summarises The Moviegoer as a "harmless mainstream pop album [delivered] without much care".

Track listing

 * Japan track listing

Personnel

 * Scott Walker – Vocals
 * Johnny Franz – Producer
 * Peter J. Olliff – Engineering
 * Robert Cornford – Orchestra director