Scott Walker not only told Joe Jackson during the triple set of in-depth interviews they did in 1995 - one for radio, one for a rock magazine and the other for The Irish Times newspaper - that he remembered and really liked to review Jackson did of walkers album Climate of Hunter in 1984. He said it helped him redefine for himself how his music could best be described at that point. Then, in 2003, Jackson was informed that Scott Walker wanted to use as the booklet notes in the forthcoming box set Scott Walker in 5 Easy Pieces, a critique of Walker's life and work Jackson had written in 1990.
That critique formed the basis of Scott Walker The Fugitive Kind, Jackson's previous book about Walker which also contained its backstory and a personal appreciation of walkers music from the author's perspective as a lifelong fan. This book, Scott Walker The Joe Jackson interviews, is a companion piece to the first and it also includes a backstory focusing on aspects of the late Scott Walker's life that have never been discussed in public.
One of these interviews, when first published, instantly became legendary among fans of The Walker Brothers and Scott Walker, particularly those who read Walkerpeople, the newsletter of The Walker Brothers Appreciation Society, in which Jackson gave permission for it to be included for fans.
In its preface, Lynne Goodall wrote, ‘From all the press interviews given by Scott this time round the definitive, in-depth interviews surely has to be that which appeared in over two consecutive issues in a music paper. Well-deserved congratulations to interviewer Joe Jackson (and his ever-inquiring mind ) for this ‘epic’ volume.’ Jan de Rooij, from Holland, wrote, ‘The 2-part Joe Jackson interview with Scott is the best I have ever read.’ Patrick Rodgers, from Surrey, wrote, ‘The Joe Jackson interview was remarkable- the sort of open-minded, appreciative approach to Scott’s music and thinking that has been lacking for so long.’ Pauline Armstrong, from Chester, wrote, ‘What a masterful interview. Throw away the thumbscrews and send for Joe Jackson! What a shame that Mr Jackson didn't write Scott’s biography - that would have been a real eye-opener.’
The latter comment, as Jackson says in this book, “had a sting in its tail.” in 1990 he suggested to his literary agent that he would love to write a biography of Scott. She said, “ I don't think there would be much interest right now in a biography of Scott Walker.” However, 30 years later, Joe Jackson suggests that “both these books, particularly Scott Walker The Joe Jackson Interviews, which I subtitle ‘looking back through mirrors dark and blessed with cracks ‘ - a quote from a seminal song Boychild - could legitimately be described as the autobiography that Scott Walker never wrote.”
