The Waterboys
Where The Action Is
Cooking Vinyl
Mike Scott and The Waterboys first unleashed their “big music” in 1983 with their self-titled debut, and now, thirteen albums later, Where The Action Is shows Scott’s boundless enthusiasm for life, love, and rock and roll. The opening title cut updates the Robert Parker 1960s hit (with a bit of the great Lord Buckley in a voiceover) in driving fashion. “London Mick” is Scott’s tip of the hat to the Clash guitarist Mick Jones. Generally rock singers going on about other rock singers have a bit of “fanboy” about them, but Scott is so damned rev’d up, the song succeeds where others could fail.
Scott is joined as always by the maniac fiddler Steve Wickham, along with Paul Brown on keyboards, Aongus Ralston on bass and drummer Ralph Salmins, but as he says, “Mike Scott is the Waterboys, and the Waterboys are Mike Scott”, with Wickham being one of the few left from the glory days of Fisherman’s Blues and This is the Sea.
Scott has been known for his literary references – 2011’s album An Appointment with Mr. Yeats cast the Irish poet to song – and the newest record continues this with “Then She Made The Lasses O”, which is Robert Burns verse set to a subtle beat, and “Piper at the Gates of Dawn” from Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows, which concludes the album in a reflective, subtle mood. The “big music” is alive and well on Where the Action Is and Mike Scott and the Waterboys show no signs of slowing down. Good on ya sir. Keep it up.
