“IT was a very deep immersion,” says Mike Scott, speaking to Uncut from his music room in Dublin, rockstar resplendent in denim togs and baggy hat. The chief Waterboy is revisiting the spell of intense creativity he fell under in 1984 and 1985. Living in a basement flat in west London, Scott was consumed by the process of dreaming up The Waterboys’ third album, This Is The Sea.
“It was all I did, really,” he says. “I lived on my own. I liked living alone, because I could be absorbed in my musical world 24/7. Sometimes I’d go out to shows, but I’d come back to my little place and straight back into my writing world.”
This world is fully mapped out on 1985 – a six-CD set which tells the story of the making of The Waterboys’ landmark album through nearly 100 recordings, two-thirds of them previously unreleased. Despite the title, the music spans early 1984 to late 1985. Following frustrations with The Waterboys’ eponymous 1983 debut album and its follow-up, A Pagan Place, Scott was determined to take full control of the next record.
The quality of focus produced an enduring masterpiece. Released in September 1985, This Is The Sea contains many of the band’s greatest songs, among them “Don’t Bang The Drum”, “The Pan Within”, “Medicine Bow”, “Old England” and the title track – songs which still form the spine of Waterboys live shows almost 40 years later. It also includes the euphoric “The Whole Of The Moon”, which barely troubled the Top 40 on its initial release, but became the hit it was always meant to be in 1991 when it was reissued.
contains embryonic and alternate versions of these songs alongside home demos, live takes, radio sessions and many superior outtakes, as well as an illuminating 220-page hardback book. There are nods to everyone from Prince to Kenny Rogers, a stunning cameo from Tom Verlaine, a running narrative involving besting U2, creative alchemy and personal discord with Karl Wallinger, a totemic witches’ book of spells, and an intriguing run-in with a “sweet” Bob Dylan. As
