Book review: STRANGE BOAT: MIKE SCOTT AND THE WATERBOYS by Ian Abrahams

Gonzo Multimedia www.gonzomultimedia.co.uk [Published 23.06.14]

This is a comprehensive overview of the career of Mike Scott from his early days in bands like Another Pretty Face through to the Waterboys and his various solo work, although to be fair the Waterboys is Mike Scott! Sadly the author did not get to interview Mike despite repeated requests to his management, instead he is represented by archive interview quotes. There are interviews with key former members like Colin Blakey and Anthony Thistlethwaite, in fact the Waterboys have got through over forty members since the early 1980′s.

Lots of trivia including the fact Terraplane’s bass player Nick Linden helped out on early sessions. There are no real rock ‘n’ roll tales of excess as Mike Scott has a lot of literary influences, in fact the last Waterbpys album was based on the poetry of W.B. Yeats. He is interested more in creating music that encompasses his poetic nature and forever exploring new music. He comes across as a thoroughly nice person, although his focus is always on the music and how he wants it to appear.

He certainly eschewed the mainstream as even when ‘Whole Of The Moon’ was a hit single they used a video rather than trawl around the musical TV shows of that time.

Fans of the band and Mike Scott will enjoy this I am sure, the only downside is no new interviews with the man himself which would have really provided a deeper insight to his lyrics and ways of creating music.

Review by Jason Ritchie

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