Waterboys fans are accustomed to drastic changes in musical stripe by main man Mike Scott from album to album. The band's previous Rock in a Hard Place was heralded as a powerful return to form; in its way, so is this minimalist effort. On Universal Hall, Scott's passion for Scottish and Irish folk sounds reemerges. Prodigal violin wizard Steve Wickham is even back in the fold, which is a boon for fans of the band's earthy, Irish-influenced material on Fisherman's Blues and Room to Roam. The album's lone Scottish reel, "The Dance at the Crossroads," gives Wickham his place directly in the spotlight. Much of Universal Hall reflects Scott's experience in the Findhorn Foundation's spiritual seeker community; "E.B.O.L." offers a hymn to "an eternal being of love" and "the light of the world."
Other coverage for this album
The Phantom Tollbooth 2003Reviewed by Steve StockmanLike his hero Bob Dylan, whose Rolling Thunder Revue gave him the muse for his finest moment, Fisherman's Blues' Mike Scott has a wonderfully limited attention span. His records flit around from loud to quiet, from city to the rural and seaside. Where 2000's A Rock in the Weary Land bounced off the skyscrapers of London's mad clamor and clatter, where Scott saw a world dumbing down and needed a…Similar sounding releases
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