The 1985 Listening Post - The Waterboys - This is the Sea

The Waterboys - This is the Sea

#341/977

September 16 1985

The Waterboys

This is the Sea

Genre: Alternative

4.5 out of 5

Highlights:

Don’t Bang the Drum

The Whole of the Moon

The Pan Within

Medicine Bow

Be My Enemy

So, The Waterboys get…better and more obscure with each release? Is that how it works? Why was I so anti-Mike Scott? Who gave me the impression that I should avoid them? Was it the press? Friends? Like I’ve said before I have a vague recollection of Mike Scott having contempt for U2 but I wasn’t really much of a U2 fan to begin with so that wouldn’t have set me off. 

Sigh…

The track “Whole of the Moon” could be released in 2010 and bloggers would have eaten it up.  It’s the sound if I’m From Barcelona and a dozen other indie bands who had big ideas and no real venues to let them shine. And is Mike Scott the true heir to Dylan? He sure sounds like it on “Be My Enemy”.

I’m all in on The Waterboys at this point. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/this-is-the-sea-deluxe-version/1142874172

The 1984 Listening Post - The Waterboys - A Pagan Place

The Waterboys - A Pagan Place

#138

June 1 1984

The Waterboys

A Pagan Place

4.5 out of 5

Highlights:

A Church Not Made with Hands

Rags

Somebody Might Wave Back

Well this is more like it. 

I didn’t love the first Waterboys record, save one song, but this one washes over like a band with a purpose that also wants to entertain you. Mike Scott is ready to play stadiums with this one. Imagine the lighters in MSG during “The Thrill is Gone”, then the audience exploding into “Rags”. This is a ready-made concert album answering U2’s challenge. 

The eight minute “Red Army Blues”, while an admirable attempt at military/societal commentary, is terribly long winded. I get it for the concert but it should be 3 minutes shorter. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/a-pagan-place/1143438875

The 1983 Listening Post - The Waterboys - The Waterboys

The Waterboys - The Waterboys

July 1983
The Waterboys
The Waterboys
3 out of 5

Highlights:
December
It Should Have Been You
The Girl in the Swing

I’ve never heard any other Waterboys songs except the one mentioned below. I recall reading that they didn’t care for the comparisons to U2 (that might be apocryphal) but some of their songs seemed to be named to live in contrast with that megaband. So, this is really the first listen.

The trouble I have here is that, since I’ve read that much of this was recorded by Scott with a guitar, piano and drum machine, there’s little to reign in his impulses. Short of an editor, he does tend to not know when to stop. “The Three Day Man” is an example of this. Followed by the laborious 9 minute gala, “Gala”.

This album contains one of my absolute favorite songs of the era, “It Should Have Been You”. For some reason, when I heard it, I couldn’t stop thinking about a friend with whom I lost touch but who was very important to me. One whom I believed was going to set the world on fire with their talent and, although this person has had a spectacularly interesting life ever since, at the time, I thought…I’m pursuing this dream in the golden land of entertainment and I’m beginning to find some modicum of success…but…it should’ve been you…