Jump to content

The Waterboys


tangy

Recommended Posts

Any fans out there?

 

Hopefully I can get some backup on this group from Madra and some of other friends from Ireland and England.

 

I love The Waterboys and highly recommend them. I recently got the new live disc Karma to Burn and it set me off on a Waterboys binge.

 

Heres a few samplers if anyone is interested.

 

The Whole of The Moon

 

Fishermans Blues

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very nice. I agree great disc, great song, great lyrics. I am blown away by all the old videos I am watching on Youtube. I'm listening to a killer live version of A Pagan Place. Earlier I was watching Mike Scott on the piano banging out The Whole of The Moon to a room of school children accompanied only by someone playing a tin whistle.

 

I saw The Waterboys on the Room to Roam tour in Boulder CO.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know how else to describe The Waterboys lack of popular success, but I think Mike Scott is too intelligent for his own good. I think the man borders on lyrical genius. Very cathartic and visceral. I haven't listen to his work in years. Thanks.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for the replies and I agree completely with your last statement in terms of lack of sucess and Mike Scotts abilities. I think they are or used to be fairly poplular in the 80's in Europe. Completely different here in the states though. I just read that a studio disc in the works and a tour starting in Ireland begins in March. I hope they tour the states this time around.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think Karl Wallinger said to himself, "Hey, this guy is too smart for his own good. I'll quit the band and take his ideas and start my own band!" I really think World Party filled the void meant for The Waterboys. Anyway, I now know what I'll be listening to on my commute to work tomorrow.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (tangdog @ Nov 16 2006, 05:04 AM)
Any fans out there?

Hopefully I can get some backup on this group from Madra and some of other friends from Ireland and England.

Absolutely Tangdog - I saw them first in Cardiff in 1989 on the 'This Is The Sea' tour. Brilliant set.

 

The only disappointment was that for the encore, they did 'A Girl Called Johnny' instead of 'Red Army Blues', but a corking gig nonetheless.

 

Interestingly, two months later I was in Leicster Square in London and witnessed a busker being arrested - He was singing 'Old England' at the time.

 

The last time I saw them was 2002 in Derry (NI), but the best was the previous year at the Witnness festival. The played a Saturday afternoon set in the rain, a stunning version of 'This Is The Sea' reverberating as the heavens opened.

 

My only dsiappointment was they didn't do my personal 'This Is The Sea' favourite - Be My Enemy.

 

Later that night, the Frames were playing one of the tents, and for the encore they brought on Scott and Wickham, Scott reaches over to a mike, mumbles "This is an old Scottish folk song", and we were practically bludgeoned to within an inch of our lives by the punkiest, most kick-ass version of Be My Enemy you can imagine.

 

Bliss!!!.

 

Finally, a question for fans, which is better Fisherman's Blues or Room to Roam?.

 

RTR is my favourite of the two, but I may be in the minority I suspect.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I never really got them, to be honest, yet I've seen them live twice. Go figure.

My wife loves them. (Always a bad sign) biggrin.gif

"Whole of The Moon" turns me into a raving lunatic. wacko.gif

It was played at every teenage disco I was ever at. Boys in overcoats, not-dancing dancing, if you know what I mean, "picturing rainbows" movements, and all that. 653.gif

Everyone in school raved about "This Is The Sea" and "A Pagan Place". I never understood what the fuss was all about. I was too busy converting the unfaithful to Zep and Floyd.

Then, the whole "Raggle-Taggle Gypsy-o" chic of "Fisherman's Blues", which I abhorred. 062802puke_prv.gif

However, I did enjoy, and buy "Dream Harder".

So, yeah, not really my cupan tae.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (Hatchetaxe&saw @ Nov 16 2006, 12:18 PM)
I never really got them, to be honest, yet I've seen them live twice. Go figure.
My wife loves them. (Always a bad sign) biggrin.gif
"Whole of The Moon" turns me into a raving lunatic.  wacko.gif
It was played at every teenage disco I was ever at. Boys in overcoats, not-dancing dancing, if you know what I mean, "picturing rainbows" movements, and all that. 653.gif
Everyone in school raved about "This Is The Sea" and "A Pagan Place". I never understood what the fuss was all about. I was too busy converting the unfaithful to Zep and Floyd.
Then, the whole "Raggle-Taggle Gypsy-o" chic of "Fisherman's Blues", which I abhorred. 062802puke_prv.gif
However, I did enjoy, and buy "Dream Harder".
So, yeah, not really my cupan tae.

Thats interesting, you did not care for the material they recorded in your neck of the woods, meaning I thought some of that material was recorded around the Galway area. Did you find not to be authentic or an attempt to rip off the local music there?

 

I agree that Dream Harder was a big change from the sounds of Fishermans blue or Room to Road. I like Dream Harder too, in particular the last song "good news".

 

I've heard that criticism of The Whole of the moon before and respect that viewpoint, however I do like the song.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (madra sneachta @ Nov 16 2006, 09:13 AM)
Finally, a question for fans, which is better Fisherman's Blues or Room to Roam?.

RTR is my favourite of the two, but I may be in the minority I suspect.

Tough question, I like them both but will agree with you on Room To Roam. Thats based mostly on my love of "A Life of Sundays" and "Further up, Further In".

 

Ask me after a few beers and I may go the other way though..........

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (tangdog @ Nov 16 2006, 05:29 PM)
QUOTE (Hatchetaxe&saw @ Nov 16 2006, 12:18 PM)
I never really got them, to be honest, yet I've seen them live twice. Go figure.
My wife loves them. (Always a bad sign) biggrin.gif
"Whole of The Moon" turns me into a raving lunatic.  wacko.gif
It was played at every teenage disco I was ever at. Boys in overcoats, not-dancing dancing, if you know what I mean, "picturing rainbows" movements, and all that. 653.gif
Everyone in school raved about "This Is The Sea" and "A Pagan Place". I never understood what the fuss was all about. I was too busy converting the unfaithful to Zep and Floyd.
Then, the whole "Raggle-Taggle Gypsy-o" chic of "Fisherman's Blues", which I abhorred. 062802puke_prv.gif
However, I did enjoy, and buy "Dream Harder".
So, yeah, not really my cupan tae.

Thats interesting, you did not care for the material they recorded in your neck of the woods, meaning I thought some of that material was recorded around the Galway area. Did you find not to be authentic or an attempt to rip off the local music there?

 

I agree that Dream Harder was a big change from the sounds of Fishermans blue or Room to Road. I like Dream Harder too, in particular the last song "good news".

 

I've heard that criticism of The Whole of the moon before and respect that viewpoint, however I do like the song.

You have a point. Whilst Scott was putting a fresh lick of paint on a very tired genre, it just sounded lame to my ears, being a Fairport/Pentangle/Sweeney's Men/Planxty snob!!

It also gave birth to the "Crusty" movement, which they can never be forgiven for.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (Hatchetaxe&saw @ Nov 17 2006, 04:33 AM)
QUOTE (tangdog @ Nov 16 2006, 05:29 PM)
QUOTE (Hatchetaxe&saw @ Nov 16 2006, 12:18 PM)
I never really got them, to be honest, yet I've seen them live twice. Go figure.
My wife loves them. (Always a bad sign) biggrin.gif
"Whole of The Moon" turns me into a raving lunatic.  wacko.gif
It was played at every teenage disco I was ever at. Boys in overcoats, not-dancing dancing, if you know what I mean, "picturing rainbows" movements, and all that. 653.gif
Everyone in school raved about "This Is The Sea" and "A Pagan Place". I never understood what the fuss was all about. I was too busy converting the unfaithful to Zep and Floyd.
Then, the whole "Raggle-Taggle Gypsy-o" chic of "Fisherman's Blues", which I abhorred. 062802puke_prv.gif
However, I did enjoy, and buy "Dream Harder".
So, yeah, not really my cupan tae.

Thats interesting, you did not care for the material they recorded in your neck of the woods, meaning I thought some of that material was recorded around the Galway area. Did you find not to be authentic or an attempt to rip off the local music there?

 

I agree that Dream Harder was a big change from the sounds of Fishermans blue or Room to Road. I like Dream Harder too, in particular the last song "good news".

 

I've heard that criticism of The Whole of the moon before and respect that viewpoint, however I do like the song.

You have a point. Whilst Scott was putting a fresh lick of paint on a very tired genre, it just sounded lame to my ears, being a Fairport/Pentangle/Sweeney's Men/Planxty snob!!

It also gave birth to the "Crusty" movement, which they can never be forgiven for.

Can I assume that "Fairport/Pentangle/Sweeney's Men/Planxty" are local groups from the area that you like? If so I will try to check them out.

 

As you can tell by my signature I am an Ozric Tentacles fan and I had read that they were associated with the "crusty" movement. I had read further that the crusties were a bunch of european hippies. Is that right and if so are there alot of crusties/hippies in Europe that are into the Waterboys?

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (ReRushed @ Nov 15 2006, 11:46 PM)
I think Karl Wallinger said to himself, "Hey, this guy is too smart for his own good. I'll quit the band and take his ideas and start my own band!" I really think World Party filled the void meant for The Waterboys. Anyway, I now know what I'll be listening to on my commute to work tomorrow.

I never really got into World Party myself. It is kinda funny that he would the name the group after a Waterboys song. Maybe he named the song but the song credits list Scott and Hutchinson along with Wallinger.

 

There have been alot of great muscians that have floated in and out of the group. The amazing fiddler Steve Wickham plays on the newest live release and i hope he rejoins the group on a full time basis.

 

A little trivia, Steve Wickham is the guy who played the fiddle for U2's War disc on Sunday Bloody Sunday and Drowning Man.

 

There was another amazing player, Anthony Thistlewaite who played numerous instruments on the earlier Waterboys discs. I have solo disc by him thats pretty good. I think he now plays in a group called the Saw Doctors, but not entirely sure about that. Been meaning to check those guys out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (D-13 @ Nov 17 2006, 03:53 PM)
Checked out the vids...this band sounds cool! I have never heard of them...but I like them!
biggrin.gif

Thanks for checking them out! I just watched both of those videos again while you were posting. They are all over the place musically and while those two songs are a good representation of their material some of it much more mellow and like Madra eluded earlier, some it is much more heavy or punk rock like. Too me thats the best kind of music-unique and ever changing.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fairport Convention and Pentangle were 2 English folk bands formed in the late 60's. In fact, Fairport are still going, albeit with very few founding members. Richard Thompson and the late Sandy Denny were both members of Fairport. They took classic English folk tunes and "electrified" them. Their own songs were also fantastic, tunes like "Meet On The Ledge, Now Be Thankful, Who Knows Where The Time Goes" are well worth checking out. Their best album is "Liege & Lief", recently voted best folk album of all time. Buy it!!

Pentangle had Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Danny Thompson as members, serious musicians, took a more purist route than Fairport, but really worth investigating, there's a compilation called "Night Flight", which has around 40 tracks on it.

 

Sweeney's Men were an Irish Folk Band from the late sixties, very influential, again taking Irish and English folk standards and making them their own. Members were Johnny Moynihan(credited with bringing the bouzouki into Ireland), Terry Woods and Joe Dolan. One of them left (Terry Woods I think)and was replaced by my avatar, the legendary Andy Irvine.

 

Planxty, were and still are Ireland's folk supergroup. Andy Irvine, Donal Lunny, Liam O' Flynn and Christy Moore were it's members. Very influential, taking old Irish tunes, airs, jigs and reels and turning them upside down. In fact, a term I used earlier in this thread "Raggle-Taggle-Gypsy-O" is a tune of theirs from their amazing debut, "Planxty", or "The Black Album" as it's unofficially called. At the end of Gypsy, they break into an old Irish air called "Tabhair Dom Do Lamh" (Give Me Your Hand), and in all honesty, it still takes my breath away every time I hear it . That particular piece changed Irish MUSIC forever. Matt Molloy, Johnny Moynihan and Paul Brady were also members at one time or another.

 

Planxty were big into strange time signatures(9/16, 13/8) and using things like dulcimers, bouzoukis, mandolas and Uilleann pipes. They were untouchable. Big Eastern European influence, Irvine having spent a considerable amount of time there.

 

Hope this helps.

 

I'll tackle the Crusty thing another time!!! But yeah, I would have lumped Ozrics (and ther Crusty fans) in that category too!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (Hatchetaxe&saw @ Nov 17 2006, 06:41 PM)
Fairport Convention and Pentangle were 2 English folk bands who both formed in the late 60's. In fact, Fairport are still going, albeit with very few founding members. Richard Thompson and the late Sandy Denny were both members of Fairport. They took classic English folk tunes and "electrified" them. Their own songs were also fantastic, tunes like "Meet On The Ledge, Now Be Thankful, Who Knows Where The Time Goes" are well worth checking out. Their best album is "Liege & Lief", recently voted best folk album of all time. Buy it!!
Pentangle had Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Danny Thompson as members, serious musicians, took a more purist route than Fairport, but really worth investigating, there's a compilation called "Night Flight", which has around 40 tracks on it.

Sweeney's Men were an Irish Folk Band from the late sixties, very influential, again taking Irish and English folk standards and making them their own. Members were Johnny Moynihan(credited with bringing the bouzouki into Irealnd), Terry Woods and Joe Dolan. One of them left (Terry Woods I think)and was replaced by my avatar, the legendary Andy Irvine.

Planxty, were and still are Ireland's folk supergroup. Andy Irvine, Donal Lunny, Liam O' Flynn and Christy Moore were it's members. Very influential, taking old Irish tunes, airs, jigs and reels and turning them upside down. In fact, a term I used earlier in this thread "Raggle-Taggle-Gypsy-O" is a tune of theirs from their amazing debut, "Planxty", or "The Black Album" as it's unofficially called. At the end of Gypsy, they break into an old Irish air called "Tabhair Dom Do Lamh" (Give Me Your Hand), and in all honesty, it still takes my breath away every time I hear it . That particular piece changed Irish MUSIC forever. Matt Molloy, Johnny Moynihan and Paul Brady were also members at one time or another.

Planxty were big into strange time signatures(9/16, 13/8) and using things like dulcimers, bouzoukis, mandolas and Uilleann pipes. They were untouchable.

Hope this helps.

I'll tackle the Crusty thing another time!!! But yeah, I would have lumped Ozrics (and ther Crusty fans) in that category too!!

Thanks for the reply.

 

I am always looking to broaden my musical horizons and I appreciate the recommendations.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (madra sneachta @ Mar 25 2007, 07:27 PM)
I saw The Waterboys last night here in Letterkenny, it was the biggest gig to be held in the town for quite some time.

Review Here

Great review Madra! Sounds like a great show and a great selist. I have only caught them once, on the "room to roam" tour.

 

I hope I get a chance to see them again sometime.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (ReRushed @ Nov 15 2006, 11:46 PM)
I think Karl Wallinger said to himself, "Hey, this guy is too smart for his own good.  I'll quit the band and take his ideas and start my own band!"  I really think World Party filled the void meant for The Waterboys.  Anyway, I now know what I'll be listening to on my commute to work tomorrow.

Always loved The Whole of the Moon ,Waterboys I got is Fisherman blues thought it was ok, nothing great confused13.gif

I do have World Party" Good Bye Jumbo" great album ,Way down smokes!! 1022.gif

Another band that came out around the same time as World Party and similar genre was Hot House Flowers really soulful Irish group excellent stuff. Many of these back to roots folk type bands came out of the wood work in brief popularity after the U2 explosion.

Black Velvet band? Another Irish group like the others mentioned.

Cactus World News or as they were called U3

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

QUOTE (softfilter @ Mar 27 2007, 04:52 AM)
Cactus World News or as they were called U3

"Going up and over under the briiiiiiiidge"....or was it under and over?.

 

Yep, CWN were the next big think for a while, other bands of that era included Les Enfants, Blue In Heaven (who were excellent), A House and Something Happens.

 

The Black Velvet band didn;t last long, but singer Kieran Kennedy still releases solo stuff, and he married his female vocalist Maria Doyle Kennedy, who had played in the first incarnation of Hothouse Flowers and then played one of the girls in The Commitments.

 

There was a "raggle taggle" explosion for a while, but interestingly, one of the bands that were initially influenced by it but quickly developed their own style was The Frames, regarded by many as the best 'internal' band in the country at the moment.

 

Moral - Whatever your influences, find you own niche and your own sound.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...