The Waterboys - An Appointment With Mr. Yeats

While last year’s successful live shows formed the basis of the recordings that appear on An Appointment With Mr. Yeats, the album’s true beginnings lie back in the ‘80s when Mike Scott and The Waterboys recorded an arrangement of Yeats’ poem The Stolen Child for their 1988 album Fisherman’s Blues. Once Scott was confident he could successfully set Yeats’ mellifluous words to music he composed four more arrangements of Yeats’ words in 1991 for a Yeats tribute at The Abbey Theatre in Dublin (which Yeats himself co-founded in 1904). From this show Scott mused on the concept of a concert consisting entirely of Yeats’ material: “That was the first glimmer of the idea, though I didn’t realise then I’d end up doing it with my own band.” From this simple premise Scott embarked on the intimidating endeavour of trawling through Yeats’ vast poetic canon and seeing which poems suggested melodies. During this near double-decade labour he encountered Irish singer Katie Kim at a gig in Dublin, whose joyous vocals feature extensively on An Appointment With Mr. Yeats. The next day Scott found Kim’s band on Myspace and invited her to get involved with the project: “I knew she was the female voice I'd imagined for Mr Yeats; no doubt whatsoever.” These collaborative efforts spawned the An Appointment With Mr. Yeats shows and finally this album.

The variety of interpretations of Yeats’ works here is impressive. Hosting of the Shee kicks off the album with a spirited race through an ethereal Irish countryside with a similar energy to The Return of Pan from 1993’s Dream Harder. Meanwhile, Mad As The Mist And Snow is a relentless rambling song with heaps of dramatic psychedelia which builds into an orchestral climax centred around Scott’s preaching vocals and a manic violin solo. September 1913 has a straightforward rock approach turning Yeats’ “Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone” refrain into a yelled chorus, while An Irish Airmen Foresees His Death becomes a sombre, otherworldly funeral song which finishes on a mournful violin solo. These generically eclectic renditions can make the album feel a tad schizophrenic at times, but they accurately reflect Yeats’ many personalities from natural romantic to Irish patriot and symbol-obsessed mystic.

Throughout the album the band’s arrangements of Yeats’ poems are handled skilfully and successfully transpose his work into traditional song form. For instance, Politics is a short 12 line poem which in the hands of Scott and crew becomes a four minute sinister anthem complete with horn embellishments and traded vocals between Scott and Kim. Similarly News For The Delphic Oracle is a poem with three sections, so the song too has three distinct sections. The first section conjures images of a staged performance with Scott’s dramatic vocal flourishes mirroring that of a Chorus in classical Greek theatre, before launching into the energetic second section filled with thundering drums and violin harmonies. The middle section finishes abruptly as the third starts, and settles back into the dramatic style of the first section.

Generally when artists decide to use the words of a celebrated wordsmith the result is either a triumphant labour of love or a contrived effort where borrowing has clearly replaced inspiration. The passion and careful deliberation evident in the songs on the album firmly place An Appointment With Mr. Yeats in the former category.

JM