The Waterboys – Freak Street
2020
209 Likes
Best comments
1.“The older Mike gets... the groovier he becomes.”
More comments
- 2.“I was in the same year as Mike Scott at Belmont Academy in Ayr in the '70s – same English class! He always wanted to be a rock star. Nice to see him get the success he deserves!”
The story
The Waterboys have been Mike Scott's band since 1983. More than 70 musicians have passed through it, and he's the one who never left. Freak Street comes from Good Luck, Seeker, the 14th Waterboys album, out in August 2020, and it sits with the record's beat-driven songs: a brash drum stomp, treated vocals, street noise, wailing backing singers. The story is a short, sour romance. A man goes from nobody to hero to villain in one woman's eyes, returns for more punishment anyway, and ends up abandoned in a thrift shop.
Scott made a run of psychedelic videos for the album, most of them shot and directed by him and cut by Duende Visions in Nashville, and rolled them out on Mondays that summer. Freak Street landed on August 24, billed as a high-speed blast of color and attitude. Not every critic was sold – one review called it the album's weakest moment. Under three minutes of sugar rush. Some songs aren't meant to be chewed.
