Scottish luminariesTHE WATERBOYS scored their best known song (almost 200,000
million streams on Spotify) and biggest hit with THE WHOLE OF THE MOON. It was
released ss a single today 40 years ago, on 14 October 1985. It featured on their
3rd full-length This Is The Sea.
It was composed by songsmith/frontman Mike Scott. It’s a tribute to an inspirational
figure or figures. In each line, the singer describes his own perspective and immediately contrasts it with that of the song’s subject, summarizing the difference with the line “I saw the crescent / You saw the whole of the moon”.
The song wasn’t a huge hit right away. It peaked at #26 in the UK.
Only on its re-release in 1991 the masses embraced it. It went to #3
that time.
“You were there in the turnstiles
with the wind at your heels
you stretched for the stars
and you know how it feels
to reach too high
too far too soon
you saw the whole of the moon”
Scottish rockers THE WATERBOYS, the brainchild of singer-songwriterMike Scott
released their splendid 3th LP THIS IS THE SEA today 40 years ago, on 16 September 1985.
It’s considered by critics to be the finest album of the band’s early
rock-oriented sound described as “epic” and “a defining moment”.
Themes of the LP include spirituality (Spirit, The Pan Within), romantic love (Trumpets),
and English politics (Old England), while the album’s eponymous single This Is The Sea utilizes the allusion of the flowing river as a life affirming recognition of constant
renewal and regeneration.
It peaked at #37 on the UK Charts.
Kerrang said: “A veritable shoal of musical ideas, held firm by a ballast of keyboard horizons and string tugs. Several songs thrive with life in the fullest sense of the term. This isn’t merely aural wallpaper but a strident, confident attempt at eliciting response; the art of texture and dynamics has rarely been better illustrated.”
A concept one, glorifying the late, notorious, and fascinating actor (1936-2010).
Press info: Inspired entirely by the life and mythos of actor Dennis Hopper, Mike Scott and The Waterboys created this expansive album as tribute to one of American popular culture’s most compelling public figures. Deeply conceptual, this album of all original songs brings together high-profile featured artists like Bruce Springsteen, Fiona Apple, and Steve Earle to musically weave through Hopper’s life, including a song for each of Hopper’s wives.
Mojo Magazine: “The hit rate is high, and Mike Scott is clearly having fun cutting himself free from The Waterboys’ past, and playing fast and loose – much like the mercurial subject of this album.”
TUTV: This an amazing piece of work. A soundtrack for a yet to be made Dennis Hopper documentary. Hats off to Mike Scott for his boldness, imaginativeness, and ingenuity to score this musical movie, constructed marvellously with its sonically cinematic versatility.
Pop, rock, blues, country, bar-room jazz, and musing balladry take turns and puzzle
a most coherent and highly entertaining whole together, spiced with magnificent vocal contributions by Fiona Apple, Steve Earle and others. Never a dull moment with its varied stream of top-tier songs and Scott‘s awe-inspiring vocality throughout.
Movie shots from Hopper‘s parts in doom and gloom films such as Blue Velvet, Apocalypse Now, True Romance, Speed and, of course, counterculture classic Easy Rider pop up on the screen in your head. He was at his best when he played psychotic characters. And Scott is here at its best too. Can’t stopping listening to it and discover new things with every spin I know it’s only April but this pièce de résistance is, unquestionably, a contender for album of the year.
Singles/clips: I Don’t Know How I Made It / Hoppers’ On Top / Andy (A Guy Like You)
Scottish pop-rock-folk band THE WATERBOYS orchestrated
by Mike Scott told us at the start of 2025, that they canned
their 16th longplayer.
A sort of concept one, glorifying the late notorious actorDennis Hopper.
It is named Life, Death and Dennis Hopper and features guests Bruce
Springsteen, Steve Earle, Fiona Apple and Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes.
It features American songstress Fiona Apple, who covered The Waterboys‘ signature
tune ‘The Whole Of The Moon’ in 2019 for TV Show The Affair, in a stupendous vocal duet with Scott. Wowzers. What a stupefying performance.
Scottish pop-rock-folk band THE WATERBOYS fronted by orchestrated Mike Scott told us at the start of 2025, that they bagged their full length
number 16.
A sort of concept one glorifying the late notorious actorDennis Hopper.
It is named Life, Death and Dennis Hopper and features guests Bruce
Springsteen, Steve Earle, Fiona Apple and Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes.
Release date: 4 April.
Scott: “It’s the story of Dennis Hopper’s life
in songs, and the story of his and our times.”
A melancholic musing in which Scott wonders
how he came to what he is now. Enchanting.
In the accompanying video clip he sing and plays in the New Mexico desert
intercut with black and white photographs shot by Dennis Hopper in the 1960s.
Scottish pop-rockers THE WATERBOYS led by maestro Mike Scott just
announced the birth of their 16th album. A sort of concept one glorifying
the late notorious actorDennis Hopper. It’s named LIFE, DEATH AND DENNIS
HOPPER and features guests Bruce Springsteen, Steve Earle, Fiona Apple and
Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes. Release date: 4 April.
Scott: “It’s the story of Dennis Hopper’s life
in songs, and the story of his and our times.”
The first single HOPPER’S ON TOP is a frolicsome and fun showtime
tune with a honky-tonk piano catchiness and a frisky Scott chorus.
Scottish folk rockers MIKE SCOTT and THE WATERBOYS are on roll the past few years, releasing three albums between 2015 and 2019. And the group’s 14th album, entitled GOOD LUCK, SEEKER comes our way on 21st August. Our ears already absorbed the tremendously catchy lead-single, a seven-minute mash-up manifesto entitled LOW
DOWN IN THE BROOM and steamy soul stroke THE SOUL SINGER.
Here’s another new piece called MY WANDERINGS IN THE WEARY LAND.
A tense and passion-driven stunner. Discover the glow here…
