“An Appointment with Mr Yeats” allows the poems of W B Yeats, one of Ireland's most significant literary sons, to shine in a new light when combined with the music of the Waterboys, one of the greatest rock bands in Britain and Ireland.
The album features an expanded Waterboys lineup with fiddle maestro Steve Wickham, new Irish singer Katie Kim, multi-instrumentalist Kate St. John, Flook flutist Sarah Allen, and Catalan trombonist Blaise Margail. “An Appointment with Mr Yeats” interprets fourteen Yeats poems, including well-known and lesser-known works, ranging from the ironic to the romantic, from the political to the mythological Yeats, all strengthened by the energy and exuberance of the Waterboys.
The project has long been the great passion of Waterboys singer Mike Scott, who first delivered a new dimension to Yeats’ poems in 1988 when he wrote a musical accompaniment for the classic “The Stolen Child” during the production of the groundbreaking Waterboys album “Fisherman’s Blues.” Five years later, he set another Yeats poem to music, Love and Death, which appeared on their ‘Dream Harder’ album. Over the years, Scott gradually created a wealth of material based on Yeats' writings. Several of these were performed by Scott at the Abbey Theatre during the “Yeats International Festival 1991,” but most remained in Scott's private songbook—waiting for the right opportunity for realization. “An Appointment with Mr. Yeats” is now that long-awaited context.
Scott's love for literature has always influenced the work of the Waterboys. He has also set the poems of Robert Burns, James Stephens, Kenneth Grahame, and George MacDonald to music. When Scott speaks of his literary influences and loves, he describes it as follows: “I grew up in a house full of books, so literature and language have always been important to me. Working with the words of other people is something that feels as natural to me as working with my own words. On one hand, it’s even more direct. I have always found the process of writing music to be easier than writing lyrics, and transforming words with the quality of Yeats into music is an enormous privilege and special pleasure.”
An Appointment with Mr. Yeats is a unique and unforgettable opportunity for lovers of great music and significant literature to enjoy a union of songs and words in a spectacular recording.
Tracklisting:
01. The Hosting Of The Shee
02. Song Of The Wandering Aengus
03. News For The Delphic Oracle
04. A Full Moon In March
05. Sweet Dancer
06. White Birds
07. The Lake Isle Of Innisfree
08. Mad As The Mist And Snow
09. Before The World Was Made
10. September 1913
11. An Irish Airman Forsees His Death
12. Politics
13. Let The Earth Bear Witness
14. The Faery's Last Song
Web:
www.mikescottwaterboys.com/2010-mr-yeats.php
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www.facebook.com/pages/The-Waterboys-Official/104142622987359
Video:
Documentary about The Waterboys "An Appointment With Mr. Yeats":
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