The Waterboys

★★★★ All Souls Hill COOKING VINYL. CD/DL/LP

The ever-prolific Mike Scott returns to peak creativity. There’s been a playfulness and openness to latter-day Waterboys records that comes into

full bloom on All Souls Hill, not least since six of its nine tracks involve a collaboration with former Paul Weller cowriter/producer Simon Dine. The Southern Moon sails a beautifully wistful melody over heavy soul beats and In My Dreams reveals Mike Scott’s nocturnal anxieties (“Playing a concert with no equipment/Or making a record with no songs”). That’s not to say that Scott’s inherent spirituality is missing (see the mythical title track), but there’s a mood of creative freedom best illustrated by his tweaking of the lyric of Once Were Brothers, Robbie Robertson’s moving 2019 lament for The Band (done with Robertson’s consent). Altogether, it makes for a multifaceted and in turns amusing and affecting album.