SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: THE WATERBOYS – GOOD LUCK, SEEKER

The Waterboys
Good Luck, Seeker
Cooking Vinyl

The Waterboys’ Good Luck, Seeker comes one full year since their last album, Where The Action Is. Once again Mike Scott and company’s music defies categorization. Actually, that sums up the entire Waterboys catalogue. Since their debut eponymous 1983 album, this band has made it impossible to put them into one genre. They have made albums that could be classified as folk, Celtic, rock, dance, poetry, and hip hop, and this release basically ticks off all of those styles.

Scott does not care about being pigeonholed. He is extremely happy being eclectic, and we are all the better for it. He turns our attention to music, art, and topics that go undiscussed in the larger popular music world. How many artists quote a British occultist? Here, he recites writings by Dion Fortune in the title track “Good Luck, Seeker”.  He covers an obscure Kate Bush song which is an emotional version of “Why Should I Love You”, and he writes a tribute to the actor in “Dennis Hopper”.  In the end, it looks like a hodgepodge album thrown together, but it is not. It is a well-thought-out album full of original and exciting sounds.

“(You’ve Got To) Kiss A Frog Or Two” features some fine recitation from Scott. And just like that, the listener shifts to traditional Scottish  folk music with “Low Down In The Broom”, Scott’s incredible take on this classic song and his arrangement is astounding. By the time the album comes to a close with the otherworldly “The Land Of Sunset”, you know you have been on a wild trip.

This is an incredible album, one that grows on you with every spin on the turntable. Scott continues to demonstrate why he is one of the most talented artists of the past 40 years. He, along with his band, just keeps getting better. Good Luck, Seeker demonstrates that a great many genres of music can coexist together on one release, and it is a pity that radio cannot see this as well. Scott doesn’t care about labels, as far as he is concerned there are two kinds of music, great and not great. This album falls into the great category, but in actuality it is the work of a bloody genius.

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