opinion, especially Scott's contributions. In the period after the album Walker was without a record deal, and remarked in an interview with the journalist Alan Bangs that he had lived on "not a lot" between Nite Flights and Climate of Hunter. Walker compared himself to Orson Welles, a great man everyone wants to meet, but for whom nobody will finance their next project. Out of his now good critical standing a trio of compilations was released in the early 1980s and a long-term deal with Virgin Records was made. Ardent fan Julian Cope assembled a collection of Walker originals titled Fire Escape in the Sky: The Godlike Genius of Scott Walker in 1981, quickly followed by Scott Walker Sings Jacques Brel and The Best of Scott Walker. In spite of signing a new deal, Walker was slow to begin writing his first album for the label. Recording and music Although Walker was slow to begin writing, the seven songs composed for the album were completed and recorded quickly in the last six months of 1983. The album was produced with Peter Walsh who had recently worked with Simple Minds on their break-through album, 1982's New Gold Dream (81–82–83–84). Together with Walsh, Walker assembled a band of seasoned session players such as free-improvising saxophone player Evan Parker, Dire Straits' Mark Knopfler on guitar and the R&B singer Billy Ocean. Discussing the recording of the album for the documentary Scott Walker: 30 Century Man (2006), Walsh explained that the musicians were expected to record their parts without knowing the melody to any of the songs, in part because Walker had not recorded any demos and also because the melody was "a closely guarded secret". Walker explained that if the melody was known it would take the song away from the "concentrated place" he intended. The intention was to "keep everything a little disjointed" so there is "no chance of everyone swinging together". The resulting songs are driven by and founded on Peter Van Hooke's drums, Mo Foster's bass and Walker's vocals. Guitars, synthesizers, brass and strings are each used sparingly with abstract results. An orchestra is prominent on "Rawhide" and is the lone accompaniment on "Sleepwalkers Woman", while guitars come to the fore on "Track Three", "Track Seven" and "Blanket Roll Blues". Walker made the unusual choice of giving half of the tracks on Climate of Hunter numerical titles. He explained in