Scott Walker 30 Century Man

A percussionist slams his fists into a slab of raw meat; Scott Walker records the sounds from the control booth. The thumps will overlay his strangled vocals and menacing strings on his long awaited 2006 album, THE DRIFT. This scene from the documentary 30 CENTURY MAN highlights both the grimly primordial thrust of Walker's music and also how far he's strayed from his days as a 1960s heartthrob. As the frontman of the English sensation the Walker Brothers, the American-born singer swaggered before screaming teens belting such classic pop melancholia as "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore." But when he embarked on a solo career and incorporated the bleak librettos of Jacques Brel, Walker's music took a far more experimental turn: magnifying the psychic unease only suggested in the echo-laden backdrops of Phil Spector. Walker's old fans abandoned him and the singer went into seclusion, but a whole new generation of musicians eventually discovered his enigmatic, boundary-pushing songs--among them David Bowie, Brian Eno, Jarvis Cocker, and Radiohead (all of whom appear in the documentary).

Known for masking himself in sunglasses and a ballcap, Walker comes across in the film's rare interviews as thoughtful and frank--if less than effusive. Rapid editing and performance footage propel viewers through Walker's life, but the film's greatest value is its portrait of an artist's evolution--resculpting his own sensibilities and discovering new pathways for expression without deference to the culture at large.