CD: 831201
RELEASED: 1994
LABEL: Ensign

01. Medicine Bow (BBC Session)
02. That Was the River (Previously Unreleased)
03. A Pagan Place (Remixed Version)
04. Billy Sparks (Previously Unreleased)
05. Savage Earth Heart (Live 1984)
06. Don't Bang the Drum (BBC Session)
07. Ways of Men (B-side of Medicine Bow)
08. Rags (Second Amendment Version)
09. Earth Only Endures (B-side of The Big Music)
10. Somebody Might Wave Back (Demo)
11. Going to Paris (Demo)
12. Three Day Man (BBC Session)
13. Bury My Heart (Previously Unreleased)
14. Out of Control (Previously Unreleased)
15. Love That Kills (Previously Unreleased)

'The Secret Life of the Waterboys 81-85' collects 15 outtakes, live tracks, demos and lost b-sides from the time when Mike Scott was fervently pursuing his concept of 'Big Music'. These alternate versions & unreleased songs are generally a little more modest than the released takes, which, of course, makes this compilation very interesting for all Waterboys fans. Includes 12-page booklet with track by track commentary & credits. 1994. 'The Secret Life Of The Waterboys' belongs to a time priot to Mike Scott's move to Dublin and, subsequently, the famous upping of sticks to Galway. In the years 1981-'85, Mike Scott, Karl Wallinger and Anthony Thistlethewaite patented The Big Music, a mind-blowing compound of trumpets, guitars, mythology and echo. The first three Waterboys albums told the official story, but here comes a further 75 minutes to prove that even the rejected material could be dynamite: live tracks, alternate versions (notably Rags), BBC sessions and, possibly its trump card, the fast version of This Is The Sea, entitled That Was The River, featuring the snarling lead guitar of Tom Verlaine. The earliest song, from 1981, is Out Of Control, by Scott's former band Another Pretty Face, a perfectly judged apocalypse song that explodes into guitar cacophony. The latest, including a brilliant Medicine Bow from 1985, introduce violinist Steve Wickham, whose presence and musicality inspired the big move to Ireland.