Mike Scott: Adventures of a Waterboy Paperback – August 1, 2012

I don’t remember exactly when or by whom I was turned onto the Waterboys but I think that my first experience with them in around the mid- to late-eighties was listening to their self-titled first CD. Man, “December” really struck a chord in me and I was hooked. The Big Music, whatever mighty mystical thing that was, they had me as a believer and I’ve followed them since enjoying most of what Mike Scott & co. have put out on the table (I am still digesting “Out of All This Blue” but that one’s leaving a rather bad taste in my mouth currently). I was delighted to find Mike Scott’s autobiography “Adventures Of A Waterboy” and perhaps even more delighted to read through it as I have been going back and revisiting their entire catalog during my scannings and also due to how Scott can spit out phrases and is particularly jocular in his descriptive abilities. If the man isn’t filling in a lot of blanks then he has a great memory and is specifically good at describing things! Take, for example, the following image he delivers that drips with anticipation: “Suddenly a small, fragile voice calls my name. Twice. A white-cold wave of anticipation rushes through me. I rise from my seat and walk towards the voice, through an arched doorway, to the foot of the stairs. I look up and there, sitting on the top couple of steps in a white nightdress, is my New York rock’n’roll heroine Patti Smith. Her face is thin, her black hair a magnificent crow’s nest, her arms spindly, all elbows and long fingers.” Scott’s penchant for a bit of sharply drawn pizzazz almost comes out like verbal ejaculations and for some Waterboys fans they’ll no doubt almost hear his voice speaking to them in some of his sing-song spitting phrasing. I had that type of experience many a time as I immersed myself in his detailings and it was all the more delicious a read for it but I daresay that many readers would probably find a decent amount of enjoyment from reading this autobiography even if they knew nothing about the main Waterboy.The book (and kudos to reviewer Gord Wilson who was dead on about the beauty of the physical book—an electronic edition just isn’t going to have the feel or beauty of the paperback) is a large print wonder and if it’s lacking something it’s lacking more photographs (the few that are included are all up in the front). Scott wastes no time into getting to his musical business and gives short shrift to his early childhood. He launches to his early punk rocker days in one of his earliest bands, Another Pretty Face, and talks up the wonder of the new world of music that he was trying to muscle into. Fans of the first three Waterboys releases will be disappointed to know that he hardly covers them though “This Is the Sea” is referenced quite a bit as he takes up the talk about the longest musical period, and the longest period covered in this book, of his life that was devoted to “Fisherman’s Blues”. That album was a travail! But the journey he went on was mixed with fond memories, frightful recalls, heady days, and long explorations. Scott takes quite a bit of time to review his spiritual quests and how they had influenced his songs, about his time taking up within the Findhorn community and his experiences in that community’s universal hall. Some fans have been attracted to his pseudo-Christian lyrics (I have been) while others have been wary because of them but herein you’ll learn that the only things that he seems to be attuned to in Christendom are its relational history to the United Kingdom and its musical connections and soul found in blues and old, old gospel music and hymns. While he often co-opts Christian language and terms he’s decidedly a spiritualist who is closest to a god is all and is in all and all is one sort of mystic; I think that he’d be very quick to agree that he’s no Christian. The mystic drops any and all pretense as he reviews the relative failings of his solo career and the book ends short at and around the time of his return to and release of the Waterboys’ “A Rock In A Weary Land”. For those of us who have followed well past that pretty excellent album this book ended too soon but there is a “Remastered” edition of this book that apparently has more to share, approx. 30 more pages than the original. Either/ or this is simply a great read and I highly recommend it to not only fellow Waterboy travelers but to any who enjoy good autobiographies.

I'd like to make clear I am reviewing the physical paperback from Jawbone Press. Why? Because it's beautiful, oversize, with twelve color plates, like books used to be. Jawbone Press seems to be a UK rock press, with some autobiographies like this one, reprinted from Lilliput Press, Dublin. I read the three free chapters online on Amazon, and then ordered the paperback.I've not read all the rock books in the world, but Mike Scott, the main Waterboy in his changing band line-ups, is very literate in his music and writing, and that comes across in the book. At the same time, he's able to tell engaging stories.I remember the day in Champagne, Illinois I got cassettes of John Hiatt's "Waking Up to the Ice Age" and Waterboys' "A Pagan Place", two artists I would follow for some time. Both fresh and different from what was present-day fare. I probably played "Church Not Made With Hands" adopted from a line from St. Paul, about a million times.The best rock book I've read remains one by Levon Helm from The Band  This Wheel's on Fire: Levon Helm and the Story of the Band , but I've read bits of books by Dylan and Neil Young that were also quite well-written. The writing on a later Waterboys album like "A Rock in the Weary Land" is consciously literate, rather than accidentally so. There's an ongoing story as well as the stories in the songs that unfolds or unrolls like a novel. Many people have stories, and publishers find some writer for them to tell them to in order for that writer to craft a book. These books have the famous person listed as the author and then "with" or "as told to" the actual writer. Not Mike Scott, who here tells his own story in his own words by his own pen, filling 300 pages and two appendices. For me, knowing these stories only enhances listening to the music of Mike Scott and the Waterboys.

Mike Scott has been on the top of my list since I heard the Waterboys and him. He is articulate and musically gifted. He gives a run for their money to anyone making music these days. Talent oozes from his every pore. Love the albums where he goes more folk, but overall can not say enough good things about Mike Scott. His book is a revelation worth reading, and I was amazed at his command of the english language, his humor and insights in general. Very happy with the quality of the book, pages are kind of glossy, and even though I have not finished this book as of yet, I have no doubt it is a masterpiece. Dylan, Cohen, Scott, that is the kind of songwriter this talented musician is. 5 Shinning Stars!

If you love the Waterboys as I do, you will love this book. Fascinating insight into the making of one of the greatest albums ever made, "Fisherman's Blues" as well as interesting stories on how the band evolved and Mike's influences. Must read for any Waterboys fan.

My, my, my. Honest, endearing, sincere, informative. I read it simultaneously with Strange Boat by Ian Abrahams. Mike Scott overwhelms me, overshadows any other artist I find supreme. He's an enchanted charmer with scads of insight and talent.

I read the whole of the book. If you love Waterboys, you’ll enjoy every page of it.

My husband is a long-time Waterboys fan, so I bought this for him. He read it from cover to cover in a few days. He kept saying that he "learned" from Mike's writing. Sometimes, he would read excerpts from the book to me because they were so interesting. I highly recommend the book to anyone who likes to read a good biography and/or is a Waterboys fan.

The book came quickly and was in great condition. It was a gift and my friend enjoyed the read. We are going to see the Waterboys in concert during their US tour!!!! Thanks so much.

Mike Scott has taken his poetic songwriting skills and transferred them to paper.You get a good glimpse into his mind set trying to create his musical vision while at the same time seeing the ups & downs of the music recording industry in the 80's & 90's.An entertaining read for Waterboys' fans and music history buffs.

As one might expect, Mike Scott is a great writer. It's an honest look at a man who wanted to be a rockstar and ended up being someone true to his own inner spirit guide.

I'm not in the habit of buying books about, but especially by, musicians (though there are always exceptions) because they usually aren't very well written and most so-called autobiographies are ghost-written. Scott, however, is an exception because he happens to be very literate and an good writer. He's also, I believe, quite honest about himself (mostly).Scott is, of course, a Scot who was given an acoustic guitar and a Rolling Stones album for his tenth birthday by his father who didn't see him again for over thirty years. From a young age, Scott has been making music in his head and this book really is all about him trying to get it out of there and into the world. He became a punk, started a fanzine and wrote a letter to Patti Smith asking for an interview. Smith invited him to London, paid for his hotel room (in her hotel), gave him the interview, and, either in person or with another band member, looked after him there and at the theatre, an act of completely unexpected kindness from her to a 19 year old kid.Time passed, Scott formed the Waterboys and what happened next takes up the bulk of the book from thunderous rock in to rootsy Celtic folk style and out again and... He's generally honest about himself, telling stories which don't show him in too good a light, and also about other people. He's also the first to give praise to the musicians and other people he's met and worked with where it's due and criticism where it isn't.Perhaps he may be a little coy about his relationships with various girlfriends but then this isn't a kiss and tell story. He does go into detail about his traumatic relationship with a needy decade-older alpha New York woman, but is more tactful about his first wife. The story of how he met his second wife is rather sweet and it happened when he retreated to the humanist mystical community of Findhorn which he portrays as a fascinating and open place. To me, Findhorn sounds like a place for those, too intelligent to be suckered in by traditional religions, but who seek varying paths to uncover some form of transcendent truth though I have to say that what Scott discovers is rather appealing even while the cynical side of me thinks it's mystical bullshoot for intellectuals. Be nice if they were right though. Anyway, he finds himself attracted to a young dance teacher and after some deep thinking decides she is the love of his life and invites her out. She accepts but doesn't realise it was for a date and confesses she hadn't really thought of him in that way. A little while later, she asks to go out with him again and admits to doing some deep thinking of her own and has decided that she does like him in that way and over twenty years later it looks as if all the deep thinking arrived at the correct conclusion. Nice.Scott is a good writer, he's an interesting person, and I really enjoyed reading this book. My only grumble is that it stops around the time of the millennium thereby omitting the next ten years of his life.

I absolutely loved this book. In the last 6 months I have read autobiographies by Keef , Eric , Ozzy, Mark E Smith and Peter Hook. Mike Scott's is the only one which is a fantastic piece of writing as well as a rock piece. The really interesting aspect of the book is Scott's spiritual journey as a man as well as the trials and tribulations of a muso. Having watched them deliver a brilliant performance on Jools last year, I was really looking forward to the section leading up to the present, but alas the book finishes at about the turn of the century. I really hope that the next volume is in process.

Nothing more nothing less.As others have posted, it is a shame that the post 2000 years are missed out. These include the protracted acoustic shows with Richard and Steve, the Universal Hall, Book of Lightning, Mr. Yeats eras etc.Mike and the band have probably been the main musical influence to me through my adult life after discovering them around the This Is The Sea time. Reading the last chapter of the book made me blast out 'A Rock' as I'm typing this.Certainly a good read, although probably only for those already into the band. But as one of them I'm now tempted to get Ian McNabb's book.