Big, big, big! Big drums, buzzy guitars and thick production fuel the Waterboys' third record, their attempt at spreading the word as far as possible. While their most-dated...
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Expanding the epic, multi-layered sound of A Pagan Place, This is the Sea is a more ambitious yet a more successful record, since it finds Mike Scott at his melodic peak....
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Still smitten with Ireland, Scott delivers Roam, a pleasant, comfy effort, with tender sentimentality ("A Man Is In Love," "How Long Will I Love You?") and tunes most...
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With Room to Roam, Mike Scott essentially expands the traditional folk of Fisherman's Blues by relying heavily on his Celtic leanings, but the record isn't quite as...
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Less esoteric that their debut and better produced. A Pagan Place is plenty over-the-top ("The Thrill Is Gone") and occasionally misguided (the 8-minute, quasi-historical...
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On their second album, A Pagan Place, the Waterboys turn Celtic folk-rock into a monumental fusion of Van Morrison's poetry, arena rock, and Phil Spector's monolithic wall...
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In a last ditch effort to keep the Waterboys afloat, Scott shuns his recent folksy ways, reverting back to guitar rock. But it doesn't rock, and his frequent lyrical ...
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After two albums of neo-traditional Irish music, Mike Scott brings The Waterboys back to the big rock sound of earlier albums like This is the Sea. Coming after the...
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With their feet firmly entrenched in old Ireland, the Waterboys break out the acoustic instruments but remember that they are a rock band first. From the rambling rhythms of...
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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...
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The Waterboys' eponymous debut album finds Mike Scott essaying his vision of "big music." Part Van Morrison, part U2, it was sweeping and romantic, with nearly every song...
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The Secret Life of the Waterboys 81-85 collects 14 outtakes, live tracks and demos from the time when Mike Scott was fervently pursuing his concept of "Big Music." These...
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This two-disc set of live recordings from throughout 1986 no doubt captures the Waterboys at their peak as a live band. It also offers a rare glimpse of leader Mike Scott in...
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Mike Scott is one of those impossibly pompous SOBs who walks the line between greatness and garbage so carelessly that he's landed in both camps frequently and without...
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Through the years, the Waterboys have adopted whatever persona or fancy Mike Scott held at a given point in time. Hence, this band has fluctuated from the pop/rock of the...
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What separates The Waterboys' music from other bands of the same Celtic, folk-rock sound is the intricacies that lead singer Mike Scott puts into his work. His lyrics are...
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The 2002 reissues of The Waterboys (1983) and A Pagan Place (1984), the Waterboys' first two albums, serve to reveal the extent of bandleader Mike Scott's ruminative musical...
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Released in October 1985, This Is the Sea was the first Waterboys album to fully capture the "big music" that Mike Scott had been cultivating on the band's two previous...
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Expectant fans anticipating more of the roots sound found on the Fisherman's Blues album may be disappointed that this collection doesn't capture the magic of that classic...
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For anyone who loved the Waterboys' stripped-down approach on Fisherman's Blues, the release of another album of material from these same sessions is quite an event. In a...
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