The Waterboys are often mistaken for an Irish group but none of their original members were Irish. Lead singer and main driving force Mike Scott was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. The other original members included Anthony Thistlethwaite, born in Lutterworth England, Karl Wallinger, Prestatyn Wales and Kevin Wilkinson, Stoke-on-Trent, England.
Mike Scott went to Ireland in January 1986 to visit Steve Wickham for a week long trip that turned into a six-year stay. Karl Wallinger had left the band and started his own, World Party. This left the way for a change in direction amid the influence of Steve Wickham and Ireland. Mike Scott has said of this time, "Between April and July 1986, the fellow who fiddles, the human saxophone, Trevor Hutchison, Dave Ruffian and myself were the greatest band in the world." Make up your own mind while listening to this storming performance.
Mike Scott and the other members of the Waterboys have never received royalties or any money from the pre-FM source of this Glastonbury 1986 show and he has excluded it from their official discography, and regards it as nothing more than a bootleg. Which is good news for us meaning it can be posted here as one of the greatest bootlegs.
Three of the tracks missing from that release have been broadcast on FM and all are included here. Only the opening track, a cover of “The Wayward Wind” (and also covered by Neil Young on 'Old Ways' in 1985), “Fisherman’s Blues and “Meet Me At The Station” are missing.
Those familiar with the album 'An Appointment with Mr Yeats' (2011) will notice the early influence of WB Yeats in the music of Mike Scott. The 1986 live performances of ‘This is The Sea’ and ‘Spirit’ incorporated the lyric of ‘The Four Ages Of Man’ and 'Savage Earth Heart' includes quotations from "Dirt" by Iggy Pop and 'Jerusalem' by William Blake.
The Waterboys
Pyramid Stage, Glastonbury Festival, England
20 June, 1986
01. Medicine Bow
02. Be My Enemy
03. Maggie's Farm (Bob Dylan cover)
04. Old England
05. The Thrill Is Gone / And the Healing Has Begun
06. The Pan Within (incl. Because the Night)
07. The Whole of the Moon
08. Spirit / The 4 Ages of Man / Endless Store
09. Savage Earth Heart / Dirt / Jerusalem
10. This Is the Sea
encore:
11. Saints and Angels
tracks 1 & 3 from FM 1 source, tracks 2, 4-9 & 13 from pre-FM, track 10 is from the second FM source
The complete set was:
01. The Wayward Wind (Gogi Grant cover) x
02. Medicine Bow
03. Be My Enemy
04. Fisherman's Blues x
05. Maggie's Farm (Dylan cover)
06. Old England
07. The Thrill Is Gone / And the Healing Has Begun
08. Meet Me at the Station x
09. The Pan Within (incl. Because the Night)
10. The Whole of the Moon
11. Spirit / The 4 Ages of Man / Endless Store
12. Savage Earth Heart / Dirt / Jerusalem
13. This Is the Sea
encore:
14. Saints and Angels
Tracks marked x are those missing, there is an audience recording of the whole show in circulation
LINK
Lineages:
Pre-FM: CDr rip > WAV > TLH > Flac 8
FM 1: BBC Radio 1 FM -> Roof Aerial -> Marantz ST151L Tuner -> Aiwa ADF770 3-Head Cassette Deck -> TDK-SA (Type II) cassette tape (Master FM recording from the original 1986 BBC In Concert broadcast, by Chris Poor)
FM 2: FM - Cassette (master) - Audacity - xACT
The Band:
Mike Scott: vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, electric piano
Anthony Thistlethwaite: sax, mandolin, electric mandolin, piano, backing vocals
Steve Wickham: fiddle, backing vocals
Trevor Hutchinson: bass
Dave Ruffy: drums, backing vocals (ex The Ruts)
Additional work:
Fade, edits plus volume boost on FM tracks to match the louder pre-FM source
WAV > TLH > Flac 8
tb67 - January 2021
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BLOG UPDATE:
Looking at the stats , most blog users are based in the US, with the UK and France in 2nd and 3rd place. Since January 2012 there have been 2.88 million views of the blog with over a thousand comments! The blog hit a monthly high with 55,459 views in April 2016 and declined rapidly, after the links were lost that month due to the enforced closure of hosting sites. Exactly 3 years later the monthly views had shrunk to just over 10,000, Google’s new algorithm didn’t help much either. Since then we have climbed back upwards and are now hitting 32,000 per month. The all-time most popular posts are listed below:
1. PRINCE - Small Club 1988 #51
2. RADIOHEAD - In Rainbows: Live from the Basement 2008 #52
3. BLACK SABBATH - Asbury Park, NJ. 1975 #87
4. Bootlegs of the Year 2015-2020
5. NEW ORDER - Reading Festival 1993 #93
6. JIMI HENDRIX - Berkeley 1st show, May 30, 1970 #96
7. JIMI HENDRIX - The LA Forum 1970 #136
8. DAVID BOWIE – Toy #27
9. BROADCAST - BBC Radio & TV Sessions 1996-2000 #102
10. TOM WAITS - Postaula, Bremen, Germany 1977 #98
11. LED ZEPPELIN - Earl's Court, London 1975 #91
12. BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN - Max's Kansas City Night 1973 #134
Thanks to all who have supported the blog, a surprise to see the number 4 position. Usually the most popular posts are those by legendary artists, so it’s amazing to see how highly regarded UK band, Broadcast have become.
As promised an extra 50 posts have now been added. What now? The ongoing pandemic has answered that question for me and we continue onwards with a selection of special posts with guest links (these will be available for a short time).
Further posts include some of my FM recordings, celebrating some of the greatest disc jockeys that the UK has produced. Expect to see some shows and sessions from radio programmes by John Peel, Bob Harris, Andy Kershaw and David Rodigan.
I also have some recordings from artists involved in
the Americana scene, these include sessions and interviews and will be
exclusive to this site.
