First playlist

Mick Puck's Soundcloud

covers

Waterboys

best

Orchestral

Orquestra

water

My edit of a killer Bobby Keys track from his rare 1972 solo album, recorded in London.

Altar Rock

My edit of "Peter's Trip" from the soundtrack of mid 60s movie THE TRIP. Played by Electric Flag.

Peter's Trip (edit)

The first-ever run through of this song, from the album IN A SPECIAL PLACE just released on EMI. 


In a Special Place: The Piano Demos for This Is the Sea

The Pan Within

O'Neill's March by Sean O Riada and Ceoltoiri Chualann, from the 1969 album O Riada Sa Gaiety, running backwards and forwards simultaneously, and mashed with rock'n'roll elements.


Mighty March

This cover version of David Bowie's The Man Who Sold The World is one of the very few recordings by my pre-Waterboys band THE RED AND THE BLACK.  

Vocals and guitars: Mick Puck
Bass and sax: Steve Fraser
Drums: Martin Saunders

Recorded London, January 1982.

The Man Who Sold The World (1982)

Recorded at The Waterboys comeback UK show, Glastonbury Festival, June 2000. Mick Puck (electric guitar, voice, airships), Jeremy Stacey (fireworks), Sir Richard Naiff (waterhorns) and Livingstone Brown (earth resonator). Click the downward-pointing arrow to download.


Savage Earth Heart (Live At Glastonbury, 2000)

Mick Puck: stuff and voices
Steve Wicked: fuzz fiddle

Produced by Puck

Vigilante

A demo recorded in 2001 with string arrangement (and performances) by Steve Wickham.


Saints & Angels (demo with strings)

The intro and outro of "Is Trua nach bhfuil me in Eirinn", from the first Bothy Band album, edited together, then played both forwards and reversed at the same time, with the reverse band in the distance and to the right, behind the forwards band.  I know I should get out more, but I love the strange hazy pagan woodland orchestra this mash-up makes.

Bothy Band Both Ways

Recorded live at the Dean Crowe Theatre, Athlone, Ireland, 2004 by the Water-trio of:

Steve Wickham ~ fiddle
Sharon Shannon ~ accordion
Mike Scott ~ guitar, vocals

Midway through the final instrumental I shout "Aris!" - Irish for "again!"


When Ye Go Away (live with Sharon Shannon)

This is my solo piano demo of Don't Bang The Drum, recorded in March 1985 at Park Gates Studio, England.

The song had a complicated genesis.

I gave the original version of the lyric - written autumn 1984 - to keyboard player Karl Wallinger. Karl set it to music in a sassy 60s retro style, with most of the melodies that would end up in the final version ("Well, here we are..." etc), but with a different groove and some different chords. I built on this, removing some lyrics, adapting the melodies to suit my own voice, and changing/adding some chords. That's what you hear on this demo.

Three months later the album version was recorded, following the blueprint of the demo, but with full sound and a new intro, written by myself, featuring Roddy Lorimer's trumpet.

(I spent two days recording piano /vocal demos like this of most the songs I'd written for the album - around 25 of them, both finished and unfinished. All the demos have the same piano/vocal sound and intensity as this version of Don't Bang The Drum, and include Be My Enemy, Custer's Blues, Medicine Jack, Spirit, Winter Blows, The Waves, Sleek White Schooner, Beverly Penn, The Pan Within, The Whole Of The Moon and others that have never made it to an album in any form. Maybe one day I'll talk to EMI about putting them out as an album.)


Don't Bang The Drum (piano demo)

His Fiddling Lordship lets rip with two fuzz solos on this acoustic version of The Girl In The Swing, live at The Bloomsbury Theatre, London, April 2004.

Song title and concept inspired by Richard Adams' great book of (almost) the same name.  Original version on the first Waterboys album (1983).


The Girl In The Swing (live)

The Waterboys jamming on George Harrison's Isn't It A Pity during soundcheck, UK tour, May 2012.  First verse missing, unfortunately, though it gets sung again as a reprise a few minutes in.

Isn't It A Pity - soundcheck workout

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Big Bang 'Fantastic Baby' For Orchestra

More music at http://fororchestra.com/tagged/songs

Skyrim 'Dragonborn' For Orchestra

More at http://fororchestra.com/tagged/songs

Daft Punk 'One More Time' For Orchestra

mitch murder - terminator theme (free download)

When we played in Den Haag last week I met up afterwards with some friends, including Miranda who has followed The Waterboys since 1985. I always enjoy seeing Miranda and getting to hang out a little with her.  We were talking about a concert long ago at The Melkweg in Amsterdam when someone took our picture together, and we both remembered it as a great show. 

So specially for Miranda, here's the version of This Is The Sea from that night, played by the Still Burning band - James Hallawell (keyboards), Ian McNabb (bass), Gavin 'Fingers' Ralston (guitar) & Geoff Dugmore (drums).  I'm on lead guitar and vocals.



This Is The Sea (Amsterdam 1997)

The intro to the Rolling Stones 1969 track Gimme Shelter is one of the greatest moments in rock'n'roll. Its sonic architecture is based around Keith Richards' modal-tuned guitar figures and it conjures a mood of imminent danger or doom.  Yet it feels great.  Well...so does danger sometimes.


In the 1990s I came across an album of Stones music performed by The London Symphony Orchestra, and the version of Gimme Shelter was arranged by Jaz Coleman of Killing Joke.  He did a pretty good job too; the mood of imminent chaos was accurately rendered even with the sedate classical sound of a full orchestra.


Last year, while creating a mix mash of instrumental music to be played before Waterboys shows, I synched the two versions - Stones' original and LSO treatment - and this is the result.  I did the whole song, in fact, though I found the bulk of the song works better without orchestra, just as nature and Keef intended.


But the Stones-and-orchestra intro came out great.  Play it loud and feel the mood of impending danger close round you - in a virtual way, of course.


Gimme Shelter (orchestrated intro)

4 Non Blondes 'What's Up' (He Man 'What's Going On') For Orchestra

More music at http://fororchestra.com/music

Florence And The Machine 'Shake It Out' For Orchestra

Horror Piano Scary Theme - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtHWVXUG-Sk
Gothic Church Bell Sound Effect - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3rFSZJjJko

Type O Negative - Black No.1 [Alternative Intro] [GUITAR COVER]

To celebrate 25 years since the first day's recording of our Fisherman's Blues album, here's one of the tracks we cut that day, Hank Williams' great I'M SO LONESOME I COULD CRY. Anto blows horn, Wickham fiddles, Pete McKinney bashes the skins, The Handsomest Man In Ireland (Trevor Hutchinson) plays bass. And I sing and strum an old guitar.

Other songs recorded on Jan 23 1986 included Fisherman's Blues, Sweet Thing (as you hear them on the album), plus Dylan's Girl Of The North Country, gospel great Meet Me At The Station, country fave The Wayward Wind and several unreleased originals. It was a great day.


I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry - 1986 recording

These are songs and mash-ups from my home studio. Some feature The Waterboys, some just me, some are other stuff. 

You can upload any of the tracks to your own page (use the share option above the play button).

You're welcome to comment. I love to know what you think. And keep dropping by because new stuff is being added all the time.


Gimme Shelter (orchestrated intro)

TheWaterboys