Seven, unless you happen to be in a serial killer movie, or have just broken a mirror, usually bodes nothing but good.
Whether Mike Scott, a man whose music is steeped in folklore and spirituality, waited that number of years to revive the Waterboys moniker in hope of a positive omen, we don't know. Whatever, 'A Rock In The Weary Land' easily breaks the curse of disappointing albums - two solo after two as The Waterboys - which have dogged him over the last decade.
Once more including original member Anthony Thistlewaite, this is the sound of a band returning to their roots, to the dramatic Celtic infused epics of their early records. 'My Love Is My Rock In The Weary Land' (which deserves an arrest from the Pretentious New Age Title Police) is a magnificent, arm-waving anthem, all momentous piano and gospel choir, that recalls both Tom Petty and The Beatles.
'Is She Conscious', while having misleadingly lower key verses, builds up to the sort of chorus which threatens to overwhelm you bodily, while the enchanting, Scott Walker-tinged 'The Wind In The Wires' has a less flamboyant majesty.
Sadly there are some clangers here too - on 'Dumbing Down The World' Scott has clearly listened to too many Fall records and sounds like he's singing through a tea cosy. But that's nothing next to the execrable 'We Are Jonah' which comes complete with a "Grandma we are Jonah" refrain and seems to have walked in off a terrible seventies musical.
So, 'A Rock In The Weary Land' isn't perfect. But as comebacks go, it's pretty close.
