The Waterboys’ Mike Scott sharing unreleased songs, rarities, new tracks, mash-ups online

Fans waiting for a new album from The Waterboys have a little something to tide themselves over: Band mastermind Mike Scott is opening up his archives online, posting a series of “exclusive Waterboys songs plus various mysterious and wonderful tracks and mash-ups” recorded at his home studio.

Since late April, Scott has posted 27 tracks to his SoundCloud page, a number of which also can be downloaded. Yesterday he added seven more, including “High Jinks at Puck Fair,” an unheard Fisherman’s Blues-era jam; “Run of the Dove,” a 1981 single by Liverpool band The Last Chant that he co-produced and sang on; and “When He Comes,” a mash-up of The Waterboys and a poem read by Sir George Trevelyan (hear tracks below).

Scott writes of the project:

“These are songs and mash-ups from my home studio. Some items feature The Waterboys, some just me, while some are other stuff altogether. Nothing here has been issued on an album — at least not in this form. And none of it is from current Waterboys projects… though that’s not to say I won’t post material arising from those at some stage.”

The current projects Scott refers to include both an all-new Waterboys album — the first since 2007’s Book of Lightning — and the band’s new stage show “An Appointment With Mr. Yeats,” for which Scott put 20 William Butler Yeats poems to music.

An expanded version of The Waterboys debuted the show over five nights in Dublin in March, and will reprise it in November with four more Irish performances. Scott and a five-piece version of The Waterboys also are playing festival dates in Norway, The Netherlands and Ireland this summer (see full tour dates below).

Hear some of Mike Scott’s Waterboys uploads after the jump…

AUDIO: Hear Mike Scott’s full Waterboys uploads here.

High Jinks At Puck Fair by mickpuck

Run Of The Dove by mickpuck

When He Comes by mickpuck

Mike Scott’s SoundCloud uploads, 5/7/10:

1. “In the Beginning Was Love” — A newly finished solo version of this song previously only issued as a collaborative single in Norway.
2. “She Tried to Hold Me” — A souped up, extended version of this highlight from 2007’s Book Of Lightning.
3. “When He Comes” — A mash-up of The Waterboys and a poem read by the late Sir George Trevelyan.
4. “High Jinks at Puck Fair” — An unheard Fisherman’s Blues-era track, edited and souped up for SoundCloud.
5. “Punks on 45” — A pastiche of “Stars On 45”, recorded by Mike and friends in 1981 but never released.
6. “Kondo/Kerouac” — An extract of Kerouac reading from “On The Road” mashed with an exquisite musical fragment by J-rocker Kondo Tomohiro.
7. “Run of the Dove” — Single from 1981 by long-gone cult Liverpudlians The Last Chant, co-produced and with backing vocals by Mike.

The Waterboys tour dates:

July 15: Rootsfestivalen, Tørrfeskbrygga, Bronnoysund, Norway
July 28: W.B. Yeats Summer School, Hawks Well Theatre, Sligo, Ireland (Mike Scott solo)
Aug. 28: LOTS Festival, Evenemententerrein Walibi World, Biddinghuizen, The Netherlands
Sept. 3: Electric Picnic, Stradbally, County Laois, Ireland
Nov. 3: Royal Theatre, Castlebar, Ireland (“An Appointment With Mr. Yeats”)
Nov. 4: INEC, Killarney, Ireland (“An Appointment With Mr. Yeats”)
Nov. 5: Opera House, Wexford, Ireland (“An Appointment With Mr. Yeats”)
Nov. 7: Grand Canal Theatre, Dublin, Ireland (“An Appointment With Mr. Yeats”)