According to the folklore around his excellent new "Book of Lightning" disc, chief Waterboy Mike Scott turned to his binder of some 150 unused songs to create this new release. Can you imagine if that treasure got nicked in the studio and sold on eBay? What would it fetch? Based on the phenomenal songwriting on display in this Book of Lightning, bidding on his songbook would be high indeed.
Book of Lightning opens with "The Crash of Angels Wings," a sultry rocker that struts out of the speakers. "Here she comes/like rumbling drums/swinging her skirts and talking in spurts/sailing high in her ship of the sky/being found broken on the ground," sings Scott, punctuating his delivery with sighs and a raspy delivery that sounds downright lusty.
His raspiness sounds more like a kiss off to an old lover on the delicious rocker "Love Will Shoot You Down." "You believe you were The One/but it was only grace and when your hour is done/and somebody takes your place/time, old Time, King Time is moving back and forth/like a backlit dancer on a pale white horse."
There's powerful alternative rock energy on many of these tracks, provided in part by the Vancouver band Great Aunt Ida. Scott came to know their work after he fell in love with their take on his classic Fisherman's Blues, and he collaborated with them on the arrangement and performance of "Angel's Wings." Perhaps that experience accounts for the irreverent, youthful energy that punctuates this disc?
This wouldn't be a Waterboys album without a romantic piano based ballad that put a lump in your throat, and Book of Lightning is no exception. "You in the Sky" is the perfect example of how the traditional sounds of the fiddle can be employed to conjure up Celtic magic in a composition.
"You alone of all/you in the sky/I want to know why clouds/come in between You and I/let me know you/lover woo me/open up my heart and sing Your song right through me." It's further proof that the author of classics like "The Pan Within" still hasn't lost his knack for gauzy romantic imagery.
Book of Lightning is the ninth Waterboys studio album. According to the press release, it was recorded during autumn 2006 in London, with two additional songs recorded one each in Vancouver, Canada and Findhorn, Scotland.
The album was produced by Scott and Waterboys manager Philip Tennant. The main recording studio used for the sessions was Sarm West, close to London's Portobello Road. This was originally called Island Studios, and is where many classic albums of the 1970s were made.
Scott and Philip chose this studio because its large floor space and glassed isolation booths allowed the Tennant to play all together as an ensemble. This was how the band's classic Fisherman's Blues sessions were conducted, and Scott wanted to capture the chemistry and magic that happens when all the musicians play together.
The eight songs selected included from his song book are coupled with two brand new songs, two dating from 1986 ("Everybody Takes a Tumble" and "You in the Sky"); two written at the end of the 1990s but too late for inclusion on A Rock In The Weary Land and thematically unsuited for 2003s Universal Hall ("Strange Arrangement" and "It's Gonna Rain"), and two brand new songs created from song-fragments sketched 20 years earlier ("She Tried to Hold Me" and "Nobody's Baby Anymore").
The end result is a Waterboys greatest hits album full of songs you've never heard. Because of the references from Scott's history, there seems to be something for everyone in this Book for fans of the various incarnations of the band.
The Waterboys' trad heavy Fisherman's Blues period is a fan favorite, and it is referenced in spots like "Everybody Takes a Tumble." The song is eerily close to the title track of that classic album, with flirty fiddles dancing with the polka backbeat.
He may be ripping off his history here, but it sure beats hearing other Celtic rock outfits attempt a pale imitation of the Waterboys. "Old Van Morrison is moaning something about a copycat/and you just stumbled blind, babe, into my trap," he sings on the track.
"She Tried to Hold Me" finds rock meeting at a rootsy country crossroads, which is another element from their trad period that made Room to Roam shine.
I know there was a Fisherman's Blues 2 CD released a few years ago, and while this song doesn't exactly offer any original musical ideas, it makes you pine for a sequel of the sequel nonetheless.
Book of Lightning is Scott's strongest release in over a decade that has been peppered with many strong releases, including 2000's Rock in the Weary Land and 2003's Universal Hall. He proves that when writing great records, lightning can strike twice.
The Waterboys will play a short Book of Lightning tour of North America this November. These will be full band shows, featuring the same line-up as at all this year's European concerts - Scott, Steve Wickham, Richard Naiff, Mark Smith and Damon Wilson.
This will be the first Waterboys tour of North America since 2003, and their first full band shows since 2001. Clare Burson will open the shows at Glenside and New York. Great Aunt Ida (www. myspace.com/greatauntida), the Vancouver band who played on the song "Sustain on Book Of Lightning, "will open at Toronto, Seattle, Vancouver, Portland and San Francisco.
Tickets are not on sale yet, but the moment we have the box office details we'll let you know. Here is a listing of partial shows; for tour updates, log onto mikescottwaterboys.com.
November 1 - Berklee Theatre in Boston; 2, Webster Hall in New York; 3, Keswich Theatre in Philadelphia.