Album Review: The Waterboys, 1985 (box set)

The aptly-named 1985 boxset is a mammoth trawl through The Waterboys’ adventures in that calendar year. It includes 95 tracks (54 of them unreleased) spread over six CDs, remastered vinyl and a weighty hardback book, with the centrepiece the remastered version of their majestic This Is The Sea.

Along the way you get a melange of demos (‘Old England’), alt-versions (an instrumental ‘The Pan Within’), outtakes (lots), song sketches, and live takes from radio (‘Don’t Bang The Drum’) and TV (‘Medicine Bow’). For good measure, there are also intriguing covers and an insightful book. There are fun-filled surprises too, with the piano-bar wig-out on Kenny Rogers ‘Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town’ featuring the “keening” of Anto Thistlethwaite.

There’s more mischief, meanwhile, with the skittish adaptation of ‘Old McDonald Had A Farm’. But be warned, your wellness is unlikely to be enhanced by a thankfully-short, a capella run-through of Prince’s ‘Paisley Park.’

Gems include the “must hear” version of ‘This Is The Sea’, with Tom Verlaine’s searing guitar. Dylan completists will surely flock to hear ‘Meridian West’, a previously unreleased instrumental planned for an aborted Dylan-Dave Stewart project. Scott’s Dylan preoccupation also shows up elsewhere, with a noteworthy cover of ‘Sweetheart Like You’, while the rough and ready stab at ‘Death Is Not The End’ stands comparison with Nick Cave.

Bob features aplenty in the hardback, including his polite rejection of Scott’s song ‘Say You Will’, with a cool, “You can keep that one”. The final CD is the remastered This Is The Sea, with ‘The Whole Of The Moon’ sounding more glorious than ever. We can also marvel again at Steve Wickham’s fiddle input on ‘The Pan Within’, while the multi-layered ‘Be My Enemy’ is another standout.

That all of this happened in one year reflects Scott and his cohorts’ search for musical perfection. The book also offers interesting insights into his see-saw relationships with record companies and band members. But what is most obvious is Scott and the band’s commitment to their art, a major part of why this is such an endlessly fascinating collection.

9/10

Out now