''Universal Hall'' is the eighth studio album by The Waterboys, released in 2003. It is named after the theatre and performance hall at the
Findhorn Foundation
The Findhorn Foundation is a Scottish charitable trust registered in 1972, formed by the spiritual community at the Findhorn Ecovillage, one of the largest intentional communities in Britain.''The Dictionary of Alternatives: Utopianism and Org ...
, which is pictured on the album cover. The album shows much more influence from
folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
than its predecessor, ''
A Rock in the Weary Land
''A Rock in the Weary Land'' is the seventh studio album by the Waterboys, released in 2000 by BMG International. It was their first album after a seven-year break, but mostly continues the hard rock vein of the previous album ''Dream Harder'' (1 ...
''. It is the first Waterboys album to feature
Steve Wickham
Steve Wickham is an Irish musician. Originally from Marino, Dublin, but calling Sligo home,Room to Roam
''Room to Roam'' is the fifth studio album by The Waterboys; it continued the folk rock sound of 1988's ''Fisherman's Blues'', but was less of a commercial success, reaching #180 on the ''Billboard'' Top 200 after its release in September 1990. C ...
'', and therefore the first Waterboys album with all three core members of the post-reunion band.
Mike Scott describes the album as a "record containing one Irish reel and eleven spiritual songs that articulate - to the best of my ability - the vision that drives, challenges, sustains and transforms me". The cover was designed by art director Steve Manson.
James Christopher Monger, writing for
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
, describes "Every Breath Is Yours" as "simplified", and "
Nick Drake
Nicholas Rodney Drake (19 June 1948 – 25 November 1974) was an English singer-songwriter known for his acoustic guitar-based songs. He did not find a wide audience during his lifetime, but his work gradually achieved wider notice and recognit ...
-cloned". Scott thanks Liebe Pugh for the song.
"Seek the Light" is unique amongst Waterboys recordings for borrowing heavily from contemporary
dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded danc ...
, specifically
electronica
Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...
. It includes part of the song "Etheric Currents" from the album ''Cosmic Breath'', by May East and Craig Gibsone, both of whom also appear on "Seek the Light". East plays an instrument, the sandawa, which the album's recording notes claims "reproduces the frequency of the speed of light".
"The Dance at the Crossroads" is the "one Irish reel" mentioned by Scott. It is a short instrumental written by Wickham, who performs the song on
fiddle
A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
and
flute
The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...
.
Track listing
Tracks written by Mike Scott, except as noted.
# "This Light Is for the World" – 3:31
# "The Christ in You" – 3:18
# "Silent Fellowship" – 4:59
# "Every Breath Is Yours" – 4:28
# "Peace of Iona" – 6:13
# "Ain't No Words for the Things I'm Feeling" – 2:32
# "Seek the Light" (May East, Craig Gibsone, Scott) – 2:37
# "I've Lived Here Before" ( Liam Ó Maonlaí, Scott) – 3:08
# "Always Dancing, Never Getting Tired" – 3:16
# "The Dance at the Crossroads" (Instrumental,
Steve Wickham
Steve Wickham is an Irish musician. Originally from Marino, Dublin, but calling Sligo home,
Personnel
*
May East
May East (also known as Maria Elisa Capparelli Pinheiro),PhD is a British/Brazilian urbanist, educator, singer and songwriter. Over the years she has alternated voices of advocacy with voices of inspiration and considered herself an artivist.
Ea ...
djembe
A djembe or jembe ( ; from Maninka language, Malinke ''jembe'' , N'Ko script, N'Ko: ) is a rope-tuned skin-covered goblet drum played with bare hands, originally from West Africa.
According to the Bambara people in Mali, the name of the djembe ...
,
hand drum A hand drum is any type of drum that is typically played with the bare hand rather than a stick, mallet, hammer, or other type of beater.
Types
The following descriptions allude to traditional versions of the drums. Modern synthetic versions are ...
s, djouak
*Craig Gibsone -
didjeridu
The didgeridoo (; also spelt didjeridu, among other variants) is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgeridoo was developed by ...
*Findlay Grant -
drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
*Chris Madden -
tambourine
The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though ...
, loops, engineer, mixing
*
Richard Naiff
Richard Naiff is a British pianist and flautist from London who has performed with the bands Soulsec, The Catacoustics, The Waterboys and The Icicle Works. Naiff is a classically trained musician, having joined the Guildhall School of Music at ...
-
flute
The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...
,
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
organ
Organ may refer to:
Biology
* Organ (biology), a part of an organism
Musical instruments
* Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone
** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument
** Hammond ...
,
synthesizer
A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...
,
acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
,
percussion instrument
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...
s, piano, tambourine,
twelve-string guitar
A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in o ...
*
Steve Wickham
Steve Wickham is an Irish musician. Originally from Marino, Dublin, but calling Sligo home,fiddle
A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...
Ballet music
In 2007 British choreographer
Christopher Bruce
Christopher Bruce (born 3 October 1945 in Leicester) is a British choreographer and performer. He was the Artistic Director of the Rambert Dance Company until 2002.
He has choreographed many pieces from Andrew Lloyd-Webber/ Alan Ayckbourn m ...
created a new work for the ballettmainz of the German
Staatstheater Mainz
The Staatstheater Mainz (Mainz State Theatre) is a theatre in Mainz, Germany, which is owned and operated by the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Situated on the Gutenbergplatz, the complex comprises two theatres which are connected by an undergrou ...
using six songs from this album. The ballet premiered on 8 November 2007 in
Mainz
Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...
.
Order of the songs:
# I've Lived Here Before
# Always Dancing, Never Getting Tired
# Peace of Iona
# Seek the Light
# The Christ in You
# The Dance at the Crossroads