Music lovers would be hard pushed to find a body of work as impressive as Scott Walker's late 60's album output. This batch of reissues and remasters is largely unnecessary considering they are already available from any self-respecting music store but they coincide rather handily with the recent Walker-organised Meltdown festival.

Scott 3, released in the year after its predecessor, sees Walker growing in confidence as a writer as well as a singer with only the last 3 of the 13 tracks not credited to him. All but one of the tracks is also credited to Wally Stott as conductor and arranger and not once do these two perfect musical partners ever get in the way of each other. If one must cherrypick then the best place to concentrate on would be the album's mid-section where the subtle strings and the genuinely affecting narrative of 'Two Ragged Soldiers' ("There were knights on park benches. Stale bread for the pigeons. Good mornings to faces who just turned away" is just a sample of the poetic sentiments in the lyrics) gives way to the acoustic, all-too-brief '30 Century Man'; it's difficult to find such contrasting brilliance on any other album. 'It's Raining Today' and 'Copenhagen' are tinged with beautiful melancholia accompanied by uncluttered arrangements.