I recently saw The Waterboys perform here in Wrexham, and I made a mental note to acquire the new album that represented around 50% of the set-list.

UNIVERSAL HALL was recorded in five short weeks in the basement studio of Findhorn Community’s wonderful, earthy, self-build Universal Hall performance space in Scotland. The Findhorn Community ethic is a spiritual one, and as the album name suggests, it is full of simple spiritual messages. And since simplicity is the essence here, the album is a largely acoustic recording featuring Mike Scott on vocals, keyboards, guitar, and other instruments (earth resonator, harmonium, micro-synth and tambron). The album also celebrates a recording reunion between Scott and the wonderful rock fiddler Steve Wickham. The other key player here is piano player/flautist Richard Naiff who impressed me greatly during the recent concert.

The album opens with a melodic and rousing gospel song, This Light Is For The World. It’s perhaps appropriate that the song proclaims the purpose of the Findhorn Community and the hall very clearly from the onset with lyrics like, “send out from this wooden frame, a beacon made of holy flame, like a bridge across the morning sky, from candle to the hills of high.” But the first major impact for me is created by the second song, Christ In You. Strongly melodic, it possesses just three lines of lyric and a fine, expressive vocal. The lyrics while brief can accommodate a number of interpretations: “I’m gonna look twice at you, until I see Christ in you, when I’m looking through the eyes of love.” Steve Wickham’s shady fiddling adds to the beauty and depth of the song. Superb. But the recorded version made an even greater impression on me than the live rendition.

Track three, Silent Fellowship, is another three-line lyric song and proves the point that less is definitely more. Percussive sounds dominate a song that includes another sincere and committed Scott vocal. Quite beautiful. Every Breath Is Yours starts with Naiff’s enchanting and simple piano notes, and again I’m taken more with this recording than the live rendition. I wonder whether ‘place’ has played a hand in this expressive superiority? Whatever the reason, this song’s deeply emotional, introspective message is stunningly beautiful, and very moving.

Peace Of Iona sees Wickham weaving his magic again in a song with a strong Celt ambience. A single drum note beats out relentlessly as Scott performs another sincere and contemplative performance where you feel his heart seems to be dictating the direction of his meandering vocal. Pure magic. A slightly harder tone is encountered with Ain’t No Words For The Things I’m Feeling in both the vocal style and the harshly plucked guitar. The piano has a more jazzy, freestyle feel as it concludes another short and simple song.

Seek The Light enters more rocky territory with its fuzzy guitar and raw drum beat. The short set of lyrics also hits the mark, “seek the light, find the light, feel the light, be the light.” I’ve Lived Here Before is firmly in folk territory with Scott’s voice dominating a sparsely instrumented song. Now if Kate Rusby wants to hear how it should be done, she needs to check out this simple beauty…..

The tempo and mood of this album continues to plough its wonderfully diverse passage with the jagged tones of Always Dancing, Never Getting Tired and the bouncing instrumental jig The Dance At The Crossroads with its gorgeous wandering flute. e.b.o.l. is a two liner (”you are an eternal being of love, you are the light of the world”) with darker instrumental tones softened only by Scott’s emotion-laden vocal. The epic Universal Hall concludes the album on a rousing and lyrically stunning note (”in this library I could lose myself, transports, gateways on every shelf, dark words, bright words of ice and fire, as if an angel did descend and use the writer as a pen….”).

There’s something very special about this album that didn’t quite manage to manifest itself at the recent live performance I witnessed. I think the reason is that the performance was too polished in comparison to the quite raw and more expressive feel of this wonderful record. It’s rare for an album to achieve its aims in such a dramatically effective way, and for this reason and more, I can provide the strongest possible recommendation that you buy this record. Most certainly one of the finest albums heard so far in 2003 and one that should appeal to a wide audience.

4.5/5