Next up for me will be Pete Townshend's book, but first, just finished reading Mike Scott's book "Adventures of a Waterboy." Mike is the front-man, the leader, and sometimes the last and only Waterboy left standing. The book is a wonderful read. It is beautifully written. Scott is a heart-felt poet, and a man in love with, and driven by, music.
There are some haunting, beautiful and soul-stirring passages in this book. Scott really is a r&r gypsy. And a great writer. He has followed his own muse and flitted from grandly different visions for the Waterboys, sometimes from one record to the next. At times, he was striving for a Big Rock and Roll sound, and then other times he was going for a rootsy, organic Celtic sound. Probably his greatest achievement is "Fisherman's Blues," a dash back to that old Celtic sound, melding rock, folk and traditional music. Scott is a "Scot," who fell in love with Ireland, and the old music, and then put together an amazing band of traditional players to bring music alive.
There are also some other great albums by the Waterboys, especially the grandly rocking "This is the Sea." And I just discovered "A Rock in the Weary Land." It's a a really powerful record, and another vision fully-realized. Influenced by Radio-Head's denser electronic sound!
Scott is sort of a baffling figure too. He comes across as a very willful, intuitive person, with a grand spiritual vision. He also comes across as "difficult" never settling on a single musical approach, never quite satisfied with the work, not comfortable playing the rock star role, unable to hold a band of musicians together.
You do think lots of things are left out of his version of his adventures. But the Mike Scott you meet is a charismatic r&r poet. And an amiable spiritual gypsy. And his great poetic gift and his deep spiritualism drives some great, soul-full music. Recommended!
