a pagan place

The Waterboys saw the heart of man and defined their big music with this jazz manna from sweet, sweet chariots.  The band began working on 'A Pagan Place' before their eponymous debut was even released.  The album features Mike Scott on vocals, guitar, piano, bass, and bellzouki;    Anthony Thistlethwaite on saxophone, bass, and mandolin;   Kevin Wilkinson on drums;   and Karl Wallinger on piano, organ, percussion, and backing vocals;    with Roddy Lorimer and Barbara Snow on trumpet;  Tim Blanthorn on violin;  Nick Linden adding some bass;  and Eddi Reader, T.V. Smith, and Ingrid Schroeder singing backing vocals.    The first sessions took place in November of 1982 at Redshop Studio with the trio of Scott, Thistlethwaite, and Wilkinson.  The next round of recording came in September of 1983 at Rockfield Studio with newly recruited Wallinger.  It was all produced and composed by Mike Scott.   

Scott says:   "I think the recording technology of the day fostered the 'big sound', This was the era of big snare sounds, and newly developed reverbs and echoes that added depth and space to records. And after the primal return to Punk of several years earlier, people – record-makers and listeners alike – were ready to have a more sophisticated sonic experience again...When I made the first Waterboys album – which began as demos – I would try playing two 12 string rhythm guitars.  I found that when I played the second one immediately after the first, I could still remember every nuance of the playing on the first one, and so as I played the second I could exactly match those nuances or – and this was important – play subtly different to the first, with little rhythmic comments and echoes.  When these two performances were then split into wide stereo - one in each speaker - it made a wonderful sound. It was like two musicians incredibly in tune with each other weaving a kind of aural tapestry. And with 24 strings it was huge. When I added a piano, played in my own self-taught idiosyncratic way with a kind of rolling duddle-uddle-uddle groove, I suddenly had a wall of sound...One of my earliest memories is of standing in the back garden of a hotel in Norfolk, age of four probably, on holiday with my family, and noticing where the garden gave way to wild woodland. I walked up to the cusp of the woodland and felt a strong emotion and atmosphere – full of an almost tactile loving desire – that even today I can still conjure and feel again. I said to myself there and then, 'This is my kingdom'."

 'A Pagan Place' found its way to number one hundred in the UK and number forty in New Zealand.  

http://www.mikescottwaterboys.com/







"Church Not Made With Hands" – 6:05






"Somebody Might Wave Back" – 2:43
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VO2fKyQd9I




"The Big Music" 

I have heard the big music
And I'll never be the same
Something so pure
Just called my name

I have drowned in the big sea
Now I find I'm still alive
And I'm coming up forever
Shadows all behind me
Ecstasy to come

I have climbed the big tree
Touched the big sky
I just stuck my hand up in the air
And everything came into color
Like Jazz Manna from sweet chariots

I have seen the big mountain
And I swear I'm halfway there
You'll never get there
You'll never get there
You'll never get there but I will

I will always climb the mountain
Because I have heard the big music
And I'll never be the same
Something so pure has called my name

"Red Army Blues" – 8:06
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aupn-91BNwU




"A Pagan Place" – 5:13
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OxqY2kIkSk









'A Pagan Place' 
full album: