Mike Scott

Although ex-Waterboys singer/songwriter Mike Scott didn't make his proper solo debut until 1995's Bring 'Em All In, he'd actually already made a solo album of sorts on the final release to bear the Waterboys billing, 1993's Dream Harder, which Scott recorded in New York with session musicians. Following the release of Dream Harder, Scott decided to leave New York (where he had been based for much of the 1990s) and relocated to Scotland, where he embarked on a lengthy stay at the Findhorn Foundation spiritual community. Bring 'Em All In was directly inspired by his experiences there, and in fact was recorded (with the help of Niko Bolas) at a 24-track studio that Scott set up beneath the community's theater. Marking a return to Celtic folk influences after the much harder-rocking Dream Harder, Scott played all of the instruments on the acoustic-dominated album, which may rank as his most nakedly personal work. Still Burning followed in 1997. ~ Richie Unterberger