The Waterboys "Dream Harder" 1993***

I recently saw The Waterboys at Paard van Troje in Den Haag. The band's new moto (or at least the subtitle of their new album) apparently is "an entertainment in sound", and aptly so as they once more put out a great show. Mike Scott of course at center stage, alternating between electric guitar and acoustic 12-string, singing and engaging in just enough between-song banter to make a connection with the audience but not too much as to appear self-centered or vain. He's not just a great songwriter, but also a great band leader and entertainer. Steve Wickham on violin is, of course, his trusted sidekick (no, let's be fair, he's more than that - a minor partner perhaps?) while the band seems to have found an equally important member in organist Brother Paul Brown: his Hammond is vital to the band's new R&B direction, and he's a natural showman to boot! The two lovely backing vocalists were also a nice touch, enhancing the band's performance with their voices and stage presence. Now, Scott may be currently living in Dublin, and half of his band may be Irish, but sound-wise his last 3 albums (since Modern Blues) derive inspiration from the American music tradition, just like Dream Harder did.

Scott has had quite a few stylistic changes over the last 35 years: from the new wave of his debut to the so-called Big Music of A Pagan Place, Celtic folk of Fisherman's Blues and Room To Roam to the more mainstream American rock sound of this album. And, although stylistic changes rarely go well with fans, this album was especially disparaged by critics and fans alike. It certainly marks a turning point for the band - or, to be literal, for Mike Scott, since he was the only original Waterboy left at that point. He had left the rest of the band back in Ireland to move to New York, where he recorded this album with the help of session musicians. Gone are the fiddles and mandolins, in comes screeching electric guitar. To be honest, Scott turns out to be really good at it - as if he really was visited by the ghost of Jimi Hendrix just like he sings about here, and it bestowed some of its powers to him. If the music is often more grounded than usual, the same isn't true for the lyrics which are more than ever pre-occupied by the mystical. Case in point "The Return of Pan", a sort of sequel to 1985's "The Pan Within". It successfully combines his newlyfound hard rock tendencies with paganistic elements evident in the tribal drumming and clarinet solo: the latter, played by the (obviously Greek) George Stathos, wouldn't sound out of place in a village festival of modern-day Arcadia. Before that, the album opens with "The New Life", a rollicking alternative rocker in tune with the grunge sounds that were so in vogue in the 90's. Next up, we have the "Glastonbury Song", an upbeat tune with exuberant lyrics about "finding God" (presumeably not the God of any established religion, though). "Preparing to Fly" and "Corn Circles" are country-ish folk rock with more mystical lyrics, while "Suffer" is a welcome return to earth: with its funky rhythm and lyrics about relationships, it sounds like a precursor to his current style. "Spiritual City" features sitar and a guest vocal by British singer/comic Billy Connolly. I like the goofy chorus and 60's psychedelic aura lent by the sitar, but honestly I've had enough with the Western nonsense notion of India as a "spiritual" place when it's a real country with everyday people mostly suffering from huge inequality and poverty. "Winter Winter" is a half-minute acoustic snippet, while "The Return of Jimi Hendrix" is the weirdest track here, if not the weirdest in all of The Waterboys' discography. It's a delirious spoken word piece with psychedelic ambient guitar, all about Hendrix's ghost visiting the writer and taking him on a tour of its New York haunts. Well, at least it seems to have given him a few tips on the use of guitar fuzz, sustain and distortion. There are tributes to Scott's literary idols, to C.S. Lewis (the quasi-mystical Christian writer of "Narnia") on the short atmospheric "Wonders of Lewis", and to Irish poet W.B.Yeats whose "Love and Death" poem he turned into a nice ballad. Closer "Good News" is a mid-tempo song with a sax solo that somehow reminds me of Chris Rea. Its (and the whole album's) good vibes did not convince everyone though and, despite good sales, Scott decided to temporarily put The Waterboy's name to rest. The name of the band was resurrected in 2000, with violinist Wickham from their 80's lineup rejoining a couple of years later. I've seen them perform in various incarnations quite a few times post-2000 and they've always been great, while what I've heard from their recent albums is also consistently good. So what if they never made another This Is The Sea or Fisherman's Blues? Few bands can sustain that kind of quality for long. Seen from a 25-year distance, Dream Harder is not the disappointment it initially seemed to be, rather just another station in a beautiful journey through music.

**** for The New Life, Glastonbury Song, Preparing to Fly, The Return of Pan, Suffer

*** for Corn Circles, Winter Winter, Love and Death, The Return of Jimi Hendrix, Spiritual City, Wonders of Lewis, Good News