The Waterboys have been through many changes, from the early struggles common to most bands, through an anthemic era known as their "Big Music" stage to a more folkier "raggle-taggle" middle age and now languish in a state of laid back spirituality where quantity is far less important that quality. Always based around Mike Scott, band has always remained fluid and the coming and going of band members must have influenced the changes in style.
Mike Scott, the founder and only permanent member of The Waterboys, made a number of solo recordings in late 1981 and early 1982 while in a band named Another Pretty Face These sessions at Redshop Studio are the earliest recordings that would be released under the The Waterboys name. During the same period, Scott formed the short-lived band The Red and the Black, with saxophone player Anthony Thistlethwaite, after hearing him play on Waiting on Egypt, a Nikki Sudden album. The Red and the Black performed nine concerts in London during which time Thistlethwaite introduced Scott to drummer Kevin Wilkinson, who joined The Red and the Black. During 1982, Scott made a number of recordings, both solo and with Thistlethwaite and Wilkinson. These recording sessions, both of Scott's solo work and the group performances would later be divided between The Waterboys' first and second albums. In 1983, even though Scott's record label, Ensign Records, expected his first album to be a solo effort, Scott decided to start a new band. He chose The Waterboys as its name from a line in the Lou Reed song "The Kids" on the album Berlin.
The eponymous first album, and the band itself, was compared to U2 for the cinematic and anthem like sweep of their music, but in many peoples opinion, mine included, the band really found their feet on this their second album "A Pagan Place". By now Karl Wallinger, later to form World Party, was on board to play bass and keyboards and Scott found himself at the head of a talented bunch of journeyman musicians. The scene was set for "the difficult second album."
"Church Not Made With Hands" opens the album, a strummed twelve string guitar leading the way to be joined first by the drums and then by a keyboard riff that is vaguely reminiscent of the theme from Dallas, a bit of a worry but soon eclipsed by Scotts voice. This very positive sounding and up beat music is a testament to the outdoors, the imagery in the lyrics emphasising that the sun above us is the centre of our existence and the earth the temple from which we worship it. A bit hippy? Maybe. A bit Pagan? Certainly. But then Scott always had an environmental soul and a spirituality running through his music. Here it combines into a happy opening track of reverence and celebration. From here there is a change for the time being and a trilogy of numbers explores more human themes.
The big issues are put away for a moment and he examines the failure of relationships in "All the Things She Gave Me", a more moderate, slightly darker mid paced guitar led number. Here he is still managing to combine the big choruses with the sharp interplays of piano, guitar, saxophone and keyboards, but managing to deliver a more introspective and moody song. Scott has some interesting turns of phrase in his writing. Wandering the nighttime city looking to burn all the memorabilia of his last relationship he describes his surroundings:
"Its dark as hell here, this cities grown cold,
The devils in drag, playing poker with souls,
The lots are all empty; the last man is out,
The moons made of cheese and god is a boy scout"
Relationships are continued on "The Thrill is Gone", even more downbeat, a mournful violin backs up his weary singing. The realisation that things are over drips from his voice and a the bass and piano hammer home the basic root notes, leaving lots of space in the song for the other instruments to comment and disappears again. The song fades away to just that violin and the emotional lows and musical highs drifts off to be replaced by something more determined. "Rags" is the last act of the piece, but here the beat is up, a cutting guitar chops through the wallowing and the song explodes into a pounding brass accompanied driving number. Even though we are still in the post-mortem of a fail relationship, the music, especially the occasional brass stabbing through, returns us to the positive start to the song. Two worlds, never meant to collide, move on and rebuild their life, remembering only good things. The song breaks into a punchy finally, drums accentuating the words. Remember that this was recorded in the age of vinyl and this would have been the big finish to side one. It rounds off the sub plot of emotions nicely in a big, positive style allowing Scott, and us to return to a better place.
Thistlethwaite opens this song, not on the saxophone, his instrument of choice, but on the mandolin, backed with Scott's bouzouki, an interesting combination of sounds. The piano creates the building blocks of "Somebody Might Wave Back" a song of great optimism. And just when you were becoming accustomed to the weave of eastern European sounds, the fast strings and the rhythmic style, its gone to be replaced by one of the better known songs of this period of the band.
"The Big Music" a term that came to define this period when the band were touring the large stadiums and filling it wall to wall with their musical creations, is a slow and powerful song peppered with a jazz-blues flavour, but retaining that big Waterboys sound. Here the words match the essence of Scotts writing, that moment of realisation when music changes your life, it's a rebirth of the soul put into song.
"I have drowned in the big sea
Now I find I'm still alive
And I'm coming up forever
Shadows all behind me
Ecstasy to come"
More reminiscent of the first album, "Red Army Blues" is the tale of a young Russian soldier and his experiences in World War Two, how he did his duty to his land and still ended up in a prison camp on the orders of his own leader, Stalin, for fear that the army had had too much contact with the west. Again the Eastern strings are brought to the fore and a folk tune with haunting vocals lays down a backdrop for the saxophone to cut through with cold precision. The song rises and falls with the fortunes of the narrator returning to Thistlethwaites dulcet tones to raise the dynamic as required. Part emotional story telling and part stadium rock this song seems to be at odds with most of the album but is a glorious penultimate song.
Leaving the album in the style that we came in, the title track is an acoustic guitar led pop-ballad, given the Waterboys treatment. Almost a solo piece by Scott to begin with, the rest of the musicians slowly and gentle creep in almost unnoticed until you realise that the song is playing out in a big style. For all of their U2 comparisons, this is the only song that seems to come close and that is mainly due to the way Scott sings it.
This is the album that set the band up for many successful years, it was the stepping stone to their two biggest albums, "This Is The Sea" and "Fisherman's Blues" that were to follow, it is also the album that seemed to forge their identity as a band.
"Come into my Parlour, Sail in at my shore,
Drink my soul dry; there is always more,
Now fly on my carpet, look into my face,
See the heart of man, in a pagan place"