Always Dancing, Never Getting Tired

While I still get excited about new bands and the magnetic pull that a solid single* can have, I find much more fulfillment from the steady output of musicians in for the long haul. This morning the focus is on Mike Scott and his band The Waterboys. Over the course of 20+ years I really cannot think of another contemporary band that has produced such a satisfying back catalog. The clunkers are a song here or a song there, but never an entire album which is a quite impressive accomplishment when looked in the context of the music industry in the 80s & early 90s (hell Lou Reed can't even say that.) Mike never jumped on a bandwagon or tweaked his sound to match the radio friendly needs of the moment. This is not what corporate rock sounds like, but nor is it an atonally challenging. Mike Scott embraces the strength of the powerchord and the rumble of a marshall stack as much as the quiet, whispered breath of a single voice and an acoustic guitar. In his lyrics we're constantly reminded of his Scottish gaelic roots and the power of place as well as the power of love, compassion, the willingness to change and the desire to learn.

The Waterboys are currently on tour supporting the new album, Book Of Lightning and have just performed at the always excellent Cambridge Folk Festival. BBC has a wonderful video from the festival of The Waterboys performing the Raggle Taggle Gypsy. Check it out here.
The BBC also has some audio tracks from the same concert here.

The Waterboys performing You In The Sky off the new album in Tilburg, Holland. March 2007

What an endearing version of Whole Of The Moon. Performed for a group of Irish schoolchildren in 1987

The Waterboys

*recent singles that shake my bones include Arctic Monkeys, "When the sun goes down", Voxtrot "Ghost", The National "Fake Empire" and countless dancehall & one drop reggae tracks.