A Rock in the Weary Land was an album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 released in 2000 (see 2000 in music

2000 in music

See also:* 2000 in music Record labels established in 2000-Events:*January – Gary Glitter is released from jail, two months before his sentence for sexual offences ends.*January 1**John Tavener is knighted in the New Year's Honours List....

) by The Waterboys

The Waterboys

The Waterboys are a band formed in 1983 by Mike Scott. The band's membership, past and present, has been composed mainly of musicians from Scotland, Ireland and England. Edinburgh, London, Dublin, Spiddal, New York, and Findhorn have all served as homes for the group. The band has played in a...

. It was their first album after a seven year break. The album cover photography is by Steve Gullick.

Critic John Mulvey, writing for NME

NME

The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

, describes the album as "largely excellent" except for "We Are Jonah", which he describes as "appallingly cheery Christian rock

Christian rock

Christian rock is a form of rock music played by individuals and bands whose members are Christians and who often focus the lyrics on matters concerned with the Christian faith. The extent to which their lyrics are explicitly Christian varies between bands...

".

Track listing

All songs written by Mike Scott

Mike Scott (musician)

Michael 'Mike' Scott is the founding member, lead singer and chief songwriter of rock band The Waterboys. He has also produced two solo albums, Bring 'em All In and Still Burning...

, unless otherwise noted.

1. "Let It Happen" – 6:20
2. "My Love Is My Rock in the Weary Land" – 8:16
3. "It's All Gone" – 2:15
4. "Is She Conscious?" – 4:41
5. "We Are Jonah" – 5:08
6. "Malediction" – 4:16
7. "Dumbing Down the World" – 3:06
8. "His Word Is Not His Bond" – 3:59
9. "Night Falls on London" – 0:48
10. "The Charalatan's Lament" – 6:52
11. "The Wind in the Wires" – 5:33
12. "Crown" – 7:04

Extra tracks release

A North American version of the album with two extra tracks was released August 21, 2001.

1. "Let It Happen" – 6:20
2. "The Charalatan's Lament" – 6:52
3. "Is She Conscious?" – 4:41
4. "We Are Jonah" – 5:08
5. "It's All Gone" – 2:15
6. "My Love Is My Rock in the Weary Land" – 8:16
7. "Lucky Day/Bad Advice" (Grant, Scott) – 3:06
8. "His Word Is Not His Bond" – 3:59
9. "Malediction" – 4:16
10. "Dumbing Down the World" – 3:06
11. "The Wind in the Wires" – 5:33
12. "Night Falls on London" – 0:48
13. "Crown" – 7:04
14. "My Lord What a Morning" (Harry Belafonte
    Harry Belafonte
    Harold George "Harry" Belafonte, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, actor and social activist. He was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s...
    
    , Cormun, Okun) – 2:27

Japanese Editions

The standard Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese release of the album contains the songs "Time, Space and the Bride's Bed", "Trouble Down Yonder" and "Send Him Down to Waco", but not "My Lord What a Morning".

A limited two-disc edition was also issued in Japan by BMG International. The track list of the first disc is identical to the standard tracklist, above. The track list of the second disc, which is entitled "The Weary Land EP", is as follows:

1. "Lucky Day/Bad Advice" – 3:14
2. "Time, Space, and the Bride's Bed" – 5:38
3. "Trouble Down Yonder" – 1:05
4. "Send Him Down to Waco" – 7:34

Singles

Prior to the album's release, BMG issued a six-track EP containing the single "Is She Conscious?". The single also contained a video for the song.

1. "Is She Conscious?" – 4:51
2. "Sad Procession" – 7:22
3. "The Faeries' Prisoner" – 2:10
4. "Is She Conscious?" (Acoustic) – 4:31
5. "Savage Earth Heart" (Sound-Desk Recording) – 16:01
6. "My Lord, What A Morning" – 2:27

BMG also issued and almost immediately recalled two singles each (separately packaged) for "A Rock in the Weary Land" and "We Are Jonah". These are considered collector's items by some Waterboys fans and command high resale prices.

Personnel

• Gilad Atzmon
  Gilad Atzmon
  Gilad Atzmon is an Israeli-born British jazz saxophonist, novelist, political activist and writer.Atzmon's album Exile was BBC jazz album of the year in 2003. Playing over 100 dates a year, he has been called "surely the hardest-gigging man in British jazz." His albums, of which he has recorded...
  
   – saxophone
  Saxophone
  The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
  
  
• Paul Beavis – drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  
• Jody Linscott
  Jody Linscott
  Jody Linscott is an American session musician and percussionist who resides in England and maintains an extended discography. She has two daughters and has written two children's books which were published by Doubleday, both edited by Jackie Onassis...
  
   – drums
• The London Community Gospel Choir
• Cameron Miller – bass guitar
• Richard Naiff
  Richard Naiff
  Richard Naiff is a pianist and flautist from London, England who has performed with the bands Soulsec, The Catacoustics, The Waterboys and The Icicle Works. Naiff is a classically trained musician, having joined the Guildhall School of Music at age ten...
  
   – piano
• Dave Ruffy – tambourine
  Tambourine
  The tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....
  
  , drum programming
  Drum machine
  A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums or other percussion instruments. They are used in a variety of musical genres, not just purely electronic music...
  
  
• Mike Scott
  Mike Scott (musician)
  Michael 'Mike' Scott is the founding member, lead singer and chief songwriter of rock band The Waterboys. He has also produced two solo albums, Bring 'em All In and Still Burning...
  
   – organ
  Organ (music)
  The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
  
  , synthesizer
  Synthesizer
  A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
  
  , acoustic guitar, piano
  Piano
  The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
  
  , electric guitar
  Electric guitar
  An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
  
  , vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  , bellzouki
• Robin Scott – vocals, background vocals
• Mark Smith – bass guitar
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Jeremy Stacey – drums
• Rowan Stigner – drum programming
• Thighpaulsandra
  Thighpaulsandra
  Thighpaulsandra is a Welsh experimental musician and multi-instrumentalist known mostly for performing on synthesizers and keyboards. As Tim Lewis, he began his career working with Julian Cope. A collaboration with Cope in 1993 followed, as the experimental duo Queen Elizabeth...
  
   – synthesizer, trumpet
  Trumpet
  The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
  
  , keyboards, mellotron
  Mellotron
  The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...
  
  
• Anthony Thistlethwaite
  Anthony Thistlethwaite
  Anthony "Anto" Thistlethwaite is a British multi-instrumentalist best known as a founder member of the folk-rock group The Waterboys and later as a long-standing member of Irish rock band The Saw Doctors.After a year busking in Paris, playing tenor saxophone around the streets of the Latin...
  
   – mandolin
  Mandolin
  A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
  
  , slide mandolin
• Kevin Wilkinson
  Kevin Wilkinson
  Kevin Wilkinson was a musician based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England.- Career :Born Kevin Michael Wilkinson in Stoke-on-Trent, he is credited as a former official member of several successful British pop groups, including The League of Gentlemen , The Waterboys , China Crisis and Squeeze...
  
   – drums

External links

• Lyrics to the first half of A Rock in the Weary Land at the official Waterboys webpage
• Lyrics to the second half of A Rock in the Weary Land at the official Waterboys webpage
• Official forum Chord requests are often fulfilled at "Musician's Corner"