The Waterboys ‎This Is The Sea Reissue

The Waterboys This Is The Sea Reissue

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Released on September 16th 1985, This Is the Sea is indeed The Waterboys’ ultimate musical masterpiece, especially if Scott’s grand vision is to be considered—intricate arrangements, extensive instrumentation, a balance between Folk and Rock influences, and rich literary and traditional references. All the ingredients of The Waterboys’ legacy sound are all there in the mix. The Pan is certainly at the helm.This Is the Sea begins with the dramatic solo saxophone call of “Don’t Bang the Drum,” which slowly builds up into a proper Folk Rock stomper. “Well, here we are in a special place,” sings Scott. Indeed. Just into the first song and he is already fulfilling his promise of taking the listener to that special place of musical pleasure. Sweet and wild with the promise of pleasure.Following immediately is the band’s most iconic song, “The Whole of the Moon,” the epitome of The Waterboys’ so-called big music, summing up everything that is great about the band—poetic lyrics, catchy choruses, a horn section, string orchestration, a rainbow, unicorns, cannonballs, scimitars, and scarves…underneath the stars.In the structural simplicity of the upbeat piano song “Spirit,” Scott was able to channel his mysticism and spirituality in full frenetic glory; short but galloping with enchanting energy. Then there comes “The Pan Within,” the album’s dark and romantic moment, where the fiddle takes center stage. “Close your eyes, breathe slow, and we will begin,” urges Scott. Yes, the journey of the Pan and his Waterboys is just beginning. ”Medicine Bow” is where the listener is taken to next; rhythmically the same as “The Pan Within,” melodically similar, but certainly a more portentous affair: “There’s a black wind blowing / A typhoon on the rise / Pummeling rain / Murderous skies!”The mood becomes nostalgic and the tempo slows down as the next song plays—”Old England,” a beautiful ballad made even more alluring by the interplay of bells and horns and Scott’s unrestrained tenor-range voice, which is akin to that of The Cure’s Robert Smith, yet is more Bluesy and has a stronger tone of urgency. “Be My Enemy” exudes the same piano-led sentiment as in “Spirit,” yet it is when everything gears up—tempo, rhythm, vocals, and the clanging chimes of doom…cymbals crashing everywhere. The first song written for the album, according to Scott himself, “Trumpets” is an onomatopoeic ballad. Your love feels like trumpets. Simple yet majestic. Finally, the album closes aptly with the second-longest track that further indulges the listener to delight in the pleasure which is The Waterboys’ music; “Once you were tethered / Well, now you are free / That was the river / This is the sea!”Over the years, The Waterboys with its music remains to be a big influence on many of its contemporaries as well as on a slew of relatively younger bands operating in similar planes of sounds. Scott and his ensemble may have given all their best in This Is the Sea, but the Pan himself is not yet done with whatever musical vision left in him that he wants to share to the world at large. He is still out there writing songs and making music, most likely staring at the whole of the moon as reflectively as ever. If comfort and nostalgia painted with timeless relevance is what you are after, then This Is the Sea is the perfect soundtrack for such musical indulgence.

The Waterboys The Secret Life Of The Waterboys 81-85

The Waterboys The Secret Life Of The Waterboys 81-85

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The Secret Life of The Waterboys is a collection of previously unreleased studio recordings, radio sessions, live tracks and lost "B-sides" from the years 1981-1985. A 1985 BBC radio version of "Medicine Bow" opens proceedings with an extra verse and extended instrumental section to differentiate it from the familiar This is the Sea album recording. "That Was the River" is a wildly different, fast version of that album's title track, with Television's Tom Verlaine (no less) supplying some typically inventive, jagged lead guitar. "A Pagan Place" is a remix of the original master tape and consequently doesn't provide any real surprises. "Billy Sparks" is described by Scott as a raggle-taggle folk rock romp from the Pagan Place sessions presaging the Fisherman's Blues sound by about five years. While there's some validity in that claim (he wrote it after all, so should know what he's talking about!), the song is a slighter thing than any of the tracks on Fisherman's Blues. Rhythmically it's got more in common with the early '80s Ska revival than Irish or British folk music, and the tune is in the same vein as Katrina and the Waves' "Walking on Sunshine." It's equally toe-tapping however, and is the kind of thing that you find yourself humming round the house in spite of yourself. "Savage Earth Heart" has, as Scott notes, been played in hundreds of different versions. This one was recorded on The Waterboys ' first U.S. tour (in 1984) and features some stupendous drumming from Chris Whitten. The following version of "Don't Bang the Drum" is definitely something special. Here's the booklet notes: "This rearrangement was recorded live in one take for a radio session at the BBC's Golders Green studio, a converted and very atmospheric old theatre. Roddy Lorimer (trumpet) and Anthony Thistlethwaite (saxophone) played in two theatre boxes, high above Mike Scott (piano, vocals) and Steve Wickham (violin.) The lights were turned way down low and this is what happened." It's every bit as magical as you might hope. "The Ways of Men" is a fine big music Waterboys song, written too late for A Pagan Place and just too early for This Is the Sea. Thistlethwaite blows up the proverbial storm through this one. "Rags" (Second Amendment) is an earlier version with a different, bleaker lyric. "The Earth Only Endures" is a traditional Sioux lyric set to music and sung by Scott, to the accompaniment of an acoustic guitar and a thunderstorm. "Somebody Might Wave Back" is the original, solo demo of the song, recorded by Scott with his acoustic guitar in 1982. Interestingly (for me) this was the first Waterboys song that I heard performed by a busker (who I remember only as Peter). He'd learnt the song from the full band, album version, but unknowingly nailed the song's original form right on the head! "Going to Paris" is the oldest song on this collection, and it shows. Its interest lies mainly in being an example of the writer's early efforts, in the same way as some of The Beatles Anthology 1. "The Three Day Man" is a storming rocker from another BBC session featuring guest drummer Preston Hayman, who was working with Kate Bush at the time. "Bury My Heart" was written in an all night burst after reading Dee Brown's book Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee in late 1981. Having completed the song, Scott recorded the whole thing himself (vocals, guitars, piano, and drums), then inexplicably didn't include it on the first Waterboys album. "Out of Control" is an absolute treasure. The track is credited to Another Pretty Face, Scott's main band before using the name The Waterboys . This recording was played on a BBC radio show by John Peel (legendary and much-loved champion of obscure music and undiscovered talent). Nigel Grainge (of Ensign records) heard this on his car radio and vowed to sign the unknown musicians responsible. Three months later he did. The closing song, "Love That Kills," was recorded in 1983 under the influence of the writings of W.B. Yeats and Dion Fortune. The vocal performance finds Scott occasionally over-reaching himself (this was recorded during a mammoth session), but is nonetheless a lost Waterboys classic, and provides an insight into just where Scott's muse was already leading him.

The Waterboys Fisherman's Blues Collectors Edition

The Waterboys Fisherman's Blues 

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Mike Scott had been pursuing his grandiose "big music" since he founded the Waterboys, so it came as a shock when he scaled back the group's sound for the Irish and English folk of Fisherman's Blues. Although the arena-rock influences have been toned down, Scott's vision is no less sweeping or romantic, making even the simplest songs on Fisherman's Blues feel like epics. Nevertheless, the album is the Waterboys' warmest and most rewarding record, boasting a handful of fine songs ("And a Bang on the Ear," the ominous "We Will Not Be Lovers," "Has Anybody Here Seen Hank?," and the title track), as well as a surprisingly successful cover of Van Morrison's breathtaking "Sweet Thing." [Fisherman's Blues was reissued in 2006 with a bonus disc containing fourteen outtakes, alternate versions and late-night studio jams. The re-mastered original included extended versions of "And a Bang on the Ear" and "World Party.