Picking a favourite album is almost as hard as picking a favourite song. I’m not entirely sure if this really is my favourite album, but it’s certainly up there near the top. But the reason I’ve picked this is because it gives me an excuse to include a song that nearly, nearly got chosen as my all-time favourite song back in day one, could equally have been a song which makes me happy, is very much a spirit of place song and probably fits several other categories as well.

It comes from one of those rare albums which doesn’t seem to have any weak songs on it, and showcases Mike Scott’s extraordinary lyric-writing ability – this is the only song I’ve ever hear where the bridge consists of nothing more than a bullet point list set to music, and does so utterly brilliantly (Facebook users will see this as one of my favourite quotes if you check my profile). From the album This is the Sea, this is The Waterboys with The Whole of the Moon:

Direct link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4NoZtmxf6o