In My Room: Drawing meaning from my record collection ... with artist commentary. (The first in an occasional series)

MIKE SCOTT AND THE WATERBOYS
Albums released: 9 (plus three compilations and three solo albums)
Latest: "Book of Lightning" (Decca)

Act’s CDs in my collection: 8 (includes two compilations and two solo albums)
Vinyl: 4
Digital Only:0
Overlap: 1
Favorite: "Fisherman's Blues" (1988).A top five favorite of that year and certainly in my top 20 for the decade.

In the liner notes to the expanded edition of the Waterboys' classic "Fisherman's Blues," Mike Scott explains how he had begun to explore the simplicity and purity of country, folk and old-time gospel music. By the time the album was finished, Scott figured all the Waterboys' music would be "built on the mighty foundation rock of the Celtic soul."
Inspiration also came from Bob Dylan and the Band's "Basement Tapes" and Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue tour in the mid-'70s.
"'Fisherman's Blues' was such as crucial time for me," Scott said during a recent visit to the East Coast for radio station visits and performances. "I’m a Celtic person. I came to realize that that affects me so much and that it had so much to do with making a very emotional record.
('Fisherman's Blues') has been the touchstone of my career ever since. Everything will be measured against that. I’d like to top it, but I haven’t within a body of work (i.e, an album). I wrote so many songs during that era. During  remastering we did a lot of work on it and I listened to everything we recorded then. I was impressed."
Last year, Scott returned to "Fisherman's" waters, recording the band as a single ensemble at Sarm West, the old Island Studios in London, as he had 20 years earlier. "I do my best vocals fronting a band," he says.
Some of the material for "Book of Lightning" had its roots in "Fisherman's" era as well - two of the songs were composed in 1986 and two of the tunes were created from fragments that had been written 20 years earlier.
The new album, though, represents a resurgence of Scott's energetic side: The guitars sound meaty, the melodies have a Beatles-esque catchiness and the fiddles and psychedelic elements mesh neatly.At the center are Scott's confident vocals and smart wordplay.
Lead-off track "The Crash of Angel Wings" is as solid a rocker as there in the Waterboys' canon and who can resist words like:
"On Sundays she walks on cut glass and rocks
On Monday she falls from the sheerest of walls
On Tuesday she screams black words in her dreams
On Friday she lies and part of her dies."
Due to logistics, Scott had to use several different combinations of musicians, but decided against calling it a solo disc.      
"There are three full-time members. But Waterboys records, as a concept, can be anything. This is in-between (Waterboys and a solo disc). I didn’t think in advance how it would work or what would make it constitute a Waterboys (album), but this felt right."
The Waterboys begin a nine city U.S. tour on Nov. 1 in Boston that ends in San Francisco on Nov. 13. Waterboys perform Nov. 2 at Webster Hall in New York but have no L.A. date on the docket.
Besides the new album, Scott has recorded a Norwegian single with One People, "In The Beginning Was Love." It is available as a free download from the Norwegian daily newspaper Dagbladet.

The Waterboys, whose "Book Of Lightning" was released last week on Decca, will be doing a nine-city tour in the first two weeks of November.
Using the same lineup as at all this year’s European concerts - Mike Scott, Steve Wickham, Richard Naiff, Mark Smith and Damon Wilson - these are the first full-band Waterboys shows since 2001.  On sale information is not yet available.

Nov 1: Berklee Theatre, Boston
Nov 2: Webster Hall, NYC
Nov 3: Keswick Theatre, Glenside, Pa.
Nov 5: The Music Hall, Toronto
Nov 6: Park West, Chicago
Nov 9: Moore Theatre, Seattle
Nov 10: Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver
Nov 11: Aladdin Theatre, Portland, Oregon
Nov 13: The Fillmore, San Francisco
Clare Burson will open the shows at Glenside and New York. Great Aunt Ida  will open in Toronto, Seattle, Vancouver, Portland and San Francisco. Both acts are playing at the personal invitation of Mike Scott. There will be no support act in Boston or Chicago.