This was another noteworthy year for the best rock music. Some artists followed a debut with a stunning second LP and mainstays showed a return to form or evolved.
Mike Scott has created a musical vehicle that’s blindingly good at times, and it’s a singular addition to the Waterboys’ impressive canon.
The Waterboy’s songs are often deemed religious, neopagan, or spiritual. Mike Scott’s inspiration behind 2021’s All Souls Hill might be more earthy.
Seeds planted in the Reagan years continue to bear poison fruit. On Private Revolution, World Party presaged today’s “There is no planet B” slogan 35 years ago.
When coupled with punk in the late 1970s to create folk punk, folk music’s most enduring and endearing traits—DIY, inclusivity, and proud amateurism—shined bright.
