ALBUMS OF THE YEAR 2011 No.3 - THE WATERBOYS, An Appointment With Mr. Yeats

I wonder if Mike Scott of the Waterboys sees a little of himself in this famous line from the W.B. Yeats poem 'The Second Coming'; "the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of a passionate intensity". Scott has perpetually warn his 'difficult to work with' badge on his sleeve, never one to knowingly pander to, co-operate with or compromise to the slick machinations of the music industry. A monumental singer-songwriter who has left a trail of Bob Dylan or Neil Young levels of single mindedness in his determination to not be one of the good guys controlled like a corporate puppet. For 30 years now he has taken the unpredictable career decision at every turn. That is until now, there's something wholly inevitable about this album. For starters the progress has been charted for a few years now with updates and reports on The Waterboys website. That's not all however, right back in 1988 on the bands 'Fisherman's Blues' album a Yeats poem, 'The Stolen Child', was set to music helping to produce a heavy duty ending to a classic record. In 1993 too Yeats' words appeared on a stand-out album track 'Love And Death'. So the masters work is clearly no new obsession for Mike Scott. For this then, a whole song cycle built around the work of Yeats he's, possibly for the last time if past form is anything to go by, pulled out an archetypal Waterboys sounding album. In much the same way as Dylan went for his most commercial sound ever on 'Slow Train Coming' in order to get the new Christian message over un-impeded, it's as if Mike Scott wants to ensure that this project stands as one of the most important works in his catalogue. All those musical signatures instantly recognisable as Waterboys are here; the Steve Wickham fiddles, the energetic Celtic-Soul informed Folk-Rock, that rootsy electric keyboard sound and Scott riding these waves and reaching for the stars. When the album came out in the Autumn Mike did the interview rounds telling people his band were bucking the trend of acts playing entire records from their back catalogue in concert by taking a whole new album on the road. What he really tried to do was mask the fact that he'd put more promotional push behind this record than ever before. This record, it seems, is pretty important to Mike Scott and that alone warrants paying it some attention. His ability to marry these poems to an aural setting is remarkable, there's absolutely no question mark as to whether turning them into songs is a good idea. You try reading 'September 1913' without the music after hearing the song version and it can't be done; the tune is playing in your head because it's now a vital missing element and the words can no longer pan out in any other way. So just as he enters a fourth decade in music making (the point when Dylan commenced a brilliant creative renaissance incidentally) Mike Scott has created one of his greatest works. Follow the links below for a listen:

Free music - An Appointment with Mr Yeats