Scott Engel

Noel Scott Engel, better known by his stage name Scott Walker, transformed from a teen idol in the 1960s to a virtuoso, baroque-pop singer. “The Old Man’s Back Again (Dedicated To The Neo-Stalinist Regime)” tells the mournful tale of the Soviet Union invading Czechoslovakia and “undoing” the gains they’d made toward liberation and reform in the Prague Spring. Not exactly a typical theme for a pop song, but without knowing it (and it’s easy to miss), it plays as a funky, orchestral pop song with a deceptively complex arrangement. (C.J. 15 May 2023)

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