Steve Scott - Emotional Tourist: A Steve Scott Retrospective

Published Monday 28th January 2013
Steve Scott - Emotional Tourist: A Steve Scott Retrospective
Steve Scott - Emotional Tourist: A Steve Scott Retrospective

STYLE: Rock
RATING 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9
OUR PRODUCT CODE: 127396-19347
LABEL: Independent
FORMAT: CD Album
ITEMS: 1

Reviewed by Tony Cummings

A British-born, America-based renaissance man, Steve Scott is best known as a poet and hugely respected teacher on the arts while fans of Larry Norman, the 77s and Charlie Peacock will know of Scott's contributions to some highly creative recordings released in the '80s. Throughout Steve's occasional sortes into the recording studio he produced some fine music overcoming the limitations of his voice by the sheer illuminating insight of his lyrics and the excellence of his accompanying musicians. Often the resulting recordings weren't released at the time but turned up years later on obscure releases of dredges through the archives. This collection takes a batch of tracks and brings them into the light of day, some for the first time. Particular standouts are "Different Kind Of Light", a Larry Norman production and a joyfully rocking track every bit as good as the 77s offered on their 'Ping Pong Over The Abyss' debut; "Not A Pretty Picture" complete with some biting guitar from Mike Roe; the eerie electronic instrumental "Empty Orchestra" and the Charlie Peacock produced "Sound Of Waves". Those with less adventurous tastes may find the spoken word poetry of "No Memory Of You" solemnly recited over samples of conversation recorded in Bali a bit difficult. Bit I found it truly moving as were all the poetry and music tracks that take up the tale end of the album. For me this whole album is an extraordinary glimpse into the dazzling diversity and creative vision of a . . ., of a . . . Pete Banks of After The Fire once wrote about Scott as "a uniquely gifted musical poet. One thing you cannot do with Steve Scott is categorise him."

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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Reader Comments

Posted by Gord Wilson in US @ 11:41 on Jul 8 2012

London-born musician, poet, and song-writer Steve Scott is too-little known outside his native land. This collection, which draws from his entire career, may change that. "Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly," quipped Chesterton. Steve also takes himself lightly, but as shown here, is by turns thoughtful, profound, whimsical, searching, and always experimental. Larry Norman called Steve the most creative artist he ever worked with. Peter Banks of UK band After the Fire (ATF) said, "An unusually gifted musical poet? One thing you cannot do with Steve Scott is categorise him." This CD/ MP3 collection is a good introduction to this unique artist.



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