Format: CD Condition: New Year of Release: 2011 Cat. No.: 0292 Label: Domino (USA)
Recorded at Park Gates Studios, near Hastings, in March 1985, 'In a Special Place' collects fifteen demos from Mike Scott's third full-length album under the Waterboys moniker.
'This is the Sea' represented a unified vision for the band. Scott's inward and outward search for what he liked to call 'The Big Music' had finally reached its apex with songs like Whole of the Moon , Medicine Bow and the glorious, epic title track, and this collection, though geared primarily towards longtime fans, offers up a spirited snapshot of that period.
Whittled down from a scant forty or fifty song ideas, 'This is the Sea's nine tracks felt indispensable, and even in demo form (some with alternate lyrics) songs like Old England , Whole of the Moon , Don't Bang the Drum , Be My Enemy , The Pan Within and Trumpets , the latter of which appears as a 2011 remix by London-based electronic producer Don Jackson, their sense of hopeful cynicism, youthful altruism and righteous indignation ring true.
The remaining tracks, none of which made it onto the studio album, are cut from the same vivacious cloth, and whether it s just Scott on piano trying to lock up with a drum machine, or Scott solo, it s hard not to get swept up in all the potential grandeur.
Review by James Christopher Monger, Rovi
TRACKLISTING*:
1 Darken Her Horse 2 Lose It 3 The Future 4 Beat And The Pulse 5 Spellwork 6 The Choke 7 Hate Crime 8 The Villain 9 Shoot The Water 10 The Noise 11 The Beast
