The Waterboys - An Appointment With Mr. Yeats

Mike Scott & co return with a collection of WB Yeats' poems set to music. And it works too!

If anyone's qualified to turn such mystic and romantic poems into songs it's Mike Scott. It's not the first time he's set a Yeats poem to music; “The Stolen Child” was for my money at least, the stand out track on the 1988 Fisherman's Blues album. This time round there's a full album of such material, with titles including “A Full Moon In March”, “The Lake Isle Of Innisfree” and “An Irish Airman Forsees His Death”.

Click over the jump for more on An Appointment With Mr. Yeats.

These poems as songs have had a nicely organic gestation period of over 20 years, ever since Scott performed early versions of some of them at Yeats' beloved Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1991. As such the album acts as an alternative stylistic overview of both the Waterboys' and Mike Scott's solo career. There are echoes of the 'big music' of their early albums, plus the folksy fiddle driven roots of “Fisherman's Blues” and “Room To Roam”, the solo acoustic soul-searching of “Bring 'em All In” and the balls-out guitar rock of “Still Burning”.

As expected the lyrics on this album are faultless, and the band have shown a great understanding and terrific sympathy with setting them to music. If you're a fan of Yeats or the band you're in for a treat. If you're not familiar with them, this is as good an entry point as any.

Click here for Mike Scott & The Waterboys online.