Mike Scott had been pursuing his grandiose "big music" since he founded the Waterboys, so it came as a shock when he scaled back the group's sound for the Irish and English folk of Fisherman's Blues. Although the arena-rock influences have been toned down, Scott's vision is no less sweeping or romantic, making even the simplest songs on Fisherman's Blues feel like epics. Nevertheless, the album is the Waterboys' warmest and most rewarding record, boasting a handful of fine songs ({&"And a    [ read more ]

CD $11.38

This is the first American compilation to select most of the Waterboys' most memorable tracks and the first compilation to combine Waterboys tracks with songs from Mike Scott's solo albums. Combining all of the group's British chart singles except "And a Bang on the Ear" as well as live tracks, B-sides not previously on an album, and even one previously unreleased studio track, "Higher in Time," from 1991, it is in effect a "the best and the rest" selection of the work of Mike Scott from 1   [ read more ]

CD $16.13

Expanding the epic, multi-layered sound of A Pagan Place, This is the Sea is a more ambitious yet a more successful record, since it finds Mike Scott at his melodic peak. Consequently, the album has enough strong, accessible moments to make his indulgences forgivable. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

CD $11.38

Mike Scott begins his eighth proper Waterboys record with the kind of laid-back intensity that fueled the group's 1990 Celtic rock classic Room to Roam. "This Light Is for the World" is the inspirational headlight on a devotional train hauling 12 tunes through the heart of northeast Scotland. The album was named after Universal Hall, a theater run by the Findhorn Foundation, a spiritual community that Scott joined in 1992 and where he has continued to visit, write, and perform. The recorde   [ read more ]

CD $15.18

Mike Scott had been pursuing his grandiose "big music" since he founded the Waterboys, so it came as a shock when he scaled back the group's sound for the Irish and English folk of Fisherman's Blues. Although the arena-rock influences have been toned down, Scott's vision is no less sweeping or romantic, making even the simplest songs on Fisherman's Blues feel like epics. Nevertheless, the album is the Waterboys' warmest and most rewarding record, boasting a handful of fine songs ({&"And a    [ read more ]

CD $25.63

Released in October 1985, This Is the Sea was the first Waterboys album to fully capture the "big music" that Mike Scott had been cultivating on the band's two previous recordings. Like A Pagan Place, the shimmering 12-string guitars, rolling piano, and arena-style horn sections serve as the backdrop for Scott's political, spiritual, and inspirational lyrics, but this time around the results are downright mythical. Inspired by the Velvet Underground's mastery of the two-chord song, as well   [ read more ]

CD $23.73

The Secret Life of the Waterboys 81-85 collects 14 outtakes, live tracks and demos from the time when Mike Scott was fervently pursuing his concept of "Big Music." These alternate versions and unreleased songs are generally a little more modest than the released takes, which, of course, makes The Secret Life very interesting for diehard fans, but there aren't enough revelations to make it worthwhile for the curious. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide

CD $12.33

The Waterboys' departure from the self-described "big music" of the early to mid-'80s into the more pastoral Celtic folk-rock landscapes of Fisherman's Blues frustrated many longtime fans who thought that the group belonged in the same arenas as contemporaries like U2 or the Alarm, but it also brought in a new set of listeners who were looking for a young Fairport Convention or Steeleye Span. Taking its name from a passage in Scottish author, poet, and minister George MacDonald' fantasy   [ read more ]

CD $17.08

CD $20.88

In 2001, Mike Scott decided to return to recording and performing under the Waterboys moniker. He released his first new-era Waterboys studio record, A Rock in the Weary Land, a good seven years after 1993's Dream Harder -- with some small contributions of some the more permanent Waterboys of the '80s and '90s. In between those records, Scott had recorded and performed solo in two different incarnations: one as an acoustic singer/songwriter (Bring 'Em All In), and one as a bandleader   [ read more ]

CD $35.13

Expectant fans anticipating more of the roots sound found on the Fisherman's Blues album may be disappointed that this collection doesn't capture the magic of that classic album as much as it recalls the band's earlier big sound. That doesn't necessarily make this hard-to-find import set any less amazing. It's captivating to hear the band's transformation from punk bombast to subtle, visionary brilliance. On these ten inspired tunes, bandleader Mike Scott followed his spiritual muse as far as it wo   [ read more ]

CD $11.38

After two albums of neo-traditional Irish music, Mike Scott brings The Waterboys back to the big rock sound of earlier albums like This is the Sea. Coming after the remarkably accomplished Fishermen's Blues and Room to Roam, Dream Harder is a bit of a disappointment. Its best material doesn't carry the same weight as compositions from Blues -- compare the simple beauty of Fishermen's Blues' "Has Anyone Hear Seen Hank" to Dream Harder's overblown "The Return of Jimi Hendrix." {$   [ read more ]

CD $14.23