Disco de The Waterboys: “Dream Harder”

It is now several years since I first purchased this disk - and with the perspective of histroy it is easier to put into some kind of context.

It was a few years between "Room-to-Roam" and this album and thus when it first appeared it was grabbed at with some delight -Mike Scott had actually put out another album! The first few listens were hugely disappointing - after his definitive "Big Music" and journey into fun "Irish Folk/Pop" this turn in the road was, at first, a disappointment. It was relegated to the unlistened to pile for a few weeks. Then out of curiosity I put it on again one day - suddenly it grabbed me and I really began to like it. Skip track one - and just relax into the rest of it - it is simply fun tuneful pop - don't even bother thinking about it! Who wants to get intellectual about the Waterboys anyhow!

A stand-alone Waterboys' album - but certainly one that should be in the collection.

"Dream Harder" simply put,is a metaphysical masterpeice of soaring highs juxtaposed to an often pensive,thoughtful lyrical bank.The first time I heard the waterboys(song"The hole of the moon")they sounded superficially like a New Wave Simon and Garfunkel,an interesting marriage to say the least.So I went out and purchased"This is the Sea",more than just plesantly suprised I loved the bands unity of Irish folk rock set to intelligent well written verse.That's exactly what you get hear,this time the vacilating subject matter involves anything from Jimi Hendrix to the ancient Celtic pagan god(I presume)Pan.Hey,these guys even did a song sung to one of W.B.Y old poems!

Pop music: what a fickle, bizarre universe. Just think of all the beautiful songs you have loved and forgotten. They lived for a moment in your excited consciousness, and then faded away.

How many bands must come and go before the perfect song is written? Well, we all have a few candidates.

I think Mike Scott captured it in "The Return Of Pan." It is elemental, rambunctious, Druidic, Bacchanalian, headbanging, and just plain cool. How many rock songs compare Greek legend with Christianity? Yeah, go ahead, start counting.

I am reluctant to put on this music. "The Return Of Pan" always gets me amped up and dancing like some stupid hippie. Okay, maybe I am a stupid hippie.

Thank you, Mike, for reminding me of what I knew before.

The Waterboys are among my favorite bands, so my review is biased, take that into account when you read this!

On this, the final album of The Waterboys, Mike Scott delivers some amazing songs. Critics have heaped a lot of flak on this album, very unjustly in my opinion. By this time, The Waterboys were essentially Mike Scott and session musicians. So much so that Scott dropped the group name and went solo for his next album. But back to Dream Harder: I have always felt Mike Scott's lyrics. They always describe the world with wide-eyed wonder and are very heartfelt. I bought this album when it was first released; I was a grad student going through some very hard times. I still cry when _The New Life_ plays through my speakers, especially the part that says: "I've burned my bridges and I'm free at last. All my pains are in the past." The best song about moving forward, not looking back. _The Return Of Pan_ is one of those wide-eyed wonder songs that contains one of the most soul-wrenching guitar solos I know of. _Glastonbury Song_ is very spiritual and _Good News_ is a tremendous closer. These four songs are all of 10 star, stratospheric quality. Too bad that the rest is mediocre at best. But these four songs are so good that words just cannot describe them.

It took the waterboys a long time to create something new but it was well worth the wait. The excitement when this album was released was intense at my home. I tried to explain it to my wife before the album came out-she'd only listened to the vinyl records a few times. They caught her imagination and now she too is hooked.