Some music scenes are over before you’ve had a chance to blink – one thinks here of “romo”, the early 90s attempt to revive 80s new romantic pop including such “stars” as Orlando and Plastic Fantastic, or even punk which lasted no more than 18 months in its purest, original form – while others are rather more enduring.
Certain pockets of the music press have, in the past, made hay from Mike Scott’s self-proclaimed pursuit of what he calls “big music”, an easy-to-mock and seemingly abstract concept of pop grandeur. On Out Of All This Blue, it would appear he’s truly found it, and it’s not just big – it’s enormous.
Mike Scott would argue that there is no distinction between himself and The Waterboys – but this isn’t really a Waterboys LP. What it is, perhaps unconsciously, is a completion of a trilogy of Mike Scott solo albums, started in the 90s with the hopeful acoustics of Bring ’Em All In and the steadfastly rock’n’roll Still…
Strange Boat was first published prior to The Waterboys’ most recent fully fledged studio album, 2007’s Book Of Lightning. This updated second edition, however, concludes with the band’s singular frontman Mike Scott informing author/RC scribe Ian Abrahams that he “has no sense of The Waterboys ending. Ever.”
To set the scene, it’s 23 January 1986; Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin. This Is The Sea has been released and acclaimed, the culmination of Mike Scott’s “Big Music” vision, positioning him on the cusp of mainstream success but leaving him frustrated with the demands placed upon him. He’s ready to open up a new set of mu…
Mike Scott’s interest in WB
Yeats’ work was first hinted at
in mid-80s Waterboys shows,
with Scott hollering the words of
The Four Ages Of Man as coda
to This Is The Sea’s Spirit. It
found form with The Waterboys’
dynamic interpretation of The
Stolen Child on Fisherman’s
Blues and has continued in
various…
In recent years EMI have
unleashed some exemplary
Waterboys reissues that have
illuminated the original albums
in many ways. For all the lavish
praise they’ve received,
however, the “definitive” epithet
eludes them – and that’s
because of the volume of
material that Mike Scott wrote,
evaluated, reconcep…
The Waterboys (essentially Mike
Scott and Steve Wickham) and
an assortment of talented
international musicians gave a
dedicated crowd, in an
institution W.B. Yeats helped
set up, an enthralling evening of
Yeats poems set to rock, pop
and folk, under the banner, An
Appointment With Mr. Yeats.
Scott has made several poems
his own a…
When EMI issued their
Collectors Edition of the first
Waterboys “Irish” album,
Fisherman’s Blues, they had
the benefit of a glorious archive of false starts, interesting by-ways
and curious “could-have-been”
possibilities to (excuse
the pun) trawl. The follow-up
album, Mike Scott’s deeper
examinati…
The music world is full of artists who hide behind masks, and Mike Scott is no exception. But the leader of The Waterboys and his ever-changing lineup of fellow troubadours take their masks very seriously – and very literally.
