Hard dreams of a Waterboy

It's been years and years since rock music was still important and had great relevance. Artists were not pop bunnies who sang with computer voices, but stars with guitars, poets, explainers of the world.

Yesterday it was loud, today it will be nice. Because we're listening to "Dream Harder" by the fabulous Waterboys.

The sometimes slightly eccentric, sophisticated folk of days gone by only came through in droplets on the Waterboys' new album 30 years ago. What is unmistakable, however, is the attempt by pioneer Mike Scott to build bridges towards guitar rock again. With epic dream tirades like "The Return Of Jimi Hendrix" he flies speaking-singing over psychedelic, blurring webs of strings.

But immediately afterwards, the Waterboy conjures up the mystical homeland in “Glastonbury Song”, the hymn to a place that, as Scott emphasizes, is sacred to him and to the place of worship where peace-loving hippie festivities were once celebrated. So it’s a complex one Tension between mysticism and awareness of reality, which makes “Dream Harder” so appealing.

In order to capture this atmosphere during the recordings, Mike Scott invited musicians of all stripes to the studio (including the idiosyncratic female duo Wendy & Lisa). With them, he ironically attacks the mysterious circles in English cornfields to the tune of country pop or conjures up the return of the Greek shepherd god Pan. The Scot, who lives in New York, always shone with intense images and powerful melodies.