Oh, wait, right. This isn't that Scott Walker. This is the former Walker Brothers Scott Walker who went on to record a series of records inspired by everyone from Jacques Brel to Phil Spector. His work -- especially the beloved late-'60s stuff -- has been rather accurately described as the Righteous Brothers meet Ingmar Bergman.
This is the Scott Walker that became an icon to a host of influential folks like Nick Cave and Julian Cope, to name a mere two examples.
Walker's overblown, melodramatic voice and expermental, cinematic pop classical songs provide the perfect bed for the extremely curious subject matter on "The Drift" (4AD Records), his first record in 11 years.
Is "Clara" a tribute to Mussolini paramour Clara Petacci or mere reportage of a woman's desire to die beside her lover? Another song is inspired by the fact that Elvis Presley, in times of need, often conversed with his stillborn twin, Jesse; here Elvis muses about Sept. 11.
The song "Jolsen + Jones" includes the line, "I'll punch a donkey in the streets of Galway." Admittedly, it's in quotation marks, suggesting is spoken by a character in the song, but what on earth is Walker on about?
You might work it out in some cases and not in others, but the music -- dark, brooding and exploratory -- ensures that it's fascinating to try.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
