Scott 4 also features slightly less ornate orchestral arrangements than its predecessors, opting instead for a more skeletal, folk-inspired sound with greater emphasis on the rhythm section.

The quote "a man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened" (credited to the writer Albert Camus) appears on the back of the album sleeve.

Mark Lager, in a retrospective review, wrote that it is "arguably the best album of his career, you can hear from the first notes of the opening track that he was ambitiously and boldly pushing both his lyrics and soundscapes into a stronger terrain.

David Bowie was heavily influenced and inspired by Scott Walker not only in his deep, baritone vocals but also in his own Cold War contemplations in the instrumentals of Low.

On 'Get Behind Me', the soaring gospel choir and sublime orchestrations joined with his own soulful and stunning vocals make this a magnificent masterpiece.