Music with Eddie Rowley
THE Waterboys’ latest album, Out Of All This Blue, is a gem that will feature on ‘The best of 2017’ lists at the end of the year.
“It’s two-thirds love and romance, one-third stories and observations,” singer and songwriter Mike Scott says of the double album.
Fans will get the chance to hear songs from Scott’s latest masterpiece performed live at the 3Arena on Thursday.
“Can you live with a man without becoming his mother?” Scott asks on the album.
“Do we chose who we love?” he questions on a song of the same title.
There are other standout lines among the tracks, including: “The man is a monument to himself.”
American singer and songwriter Kinky Friedman also gets a history lesson from Scott in a deadly put-down. Brilliant stuff. I can’t wait for Kinky’s comeback. The album’s sound is absolutely intoxicating with its heady mix of pop, classic R&B, country, soul and funk, underpinned by modern hip-hop production and rhythms.
Formed in 1983, The Waterboys were top of the world in 1985 with their smash hit, ‘The Whole Of The Moon’.
Bob Dylan sang Mike Scott’s praises in Rolling Stone magazine, calling him “the new poet laureate of rock ’n’ roll”.
However, Scott ran away from the big time in rock ’n’ roll and went for an acoustic sound filled with jigs, folk, blues, gospel and country music.
The Waterboys have been ever-changing on their albums, from This Is The Sea to Fisherman’s Blues to An Appointment With Mr Yeats and Modern Blues.
And Scott’s work has been influential: Ellie Goulding had a top three hit with ‘How Long Will I Love You’, and the late legend, Prince, sang ‘The Whole Of The Moon’ live on stage.
“The songs just kept on coming,” Scott says of his latest album.