All Souls Hill

All Souls Hill
Studio album by The Waterboys
Released	April 6, 2022 (2022-04-06)
Studio	The Barn, Sussex The Bunker, Welwyn Crow's Nest, Thompson's Station, Tennessee, US Goyt Valley Sound Miracle Studios Nabby Road Studio, Liverpool, England, UK Ocean Soul Studios Puck Towers Rustic Souls Verlimont Studios, Hampstead, England, UK Wilbury Road Studios
Genre	folk rock
Length	40:50
Language	English
Label	Cooking Vinyl
Producer	Paul Brown Simon Dine James Hallawell Mike Scott
The Waterboys chronology
Good Luck, Seeker (2020) All Souls Hill (2022)

“In the old days, when I’d be in recording studios, I’d be trying to be at play, but there’d be time pressures, or I’d be working with an engineer, and I’d have to filter everything through their musical consciousness. But when I’m working on my own in my own studio, I’m at play. It’s great... [I collaborated with co-producer Simon Dine] strictly by correspondence. He would send me a zip file of twenty one-minute-long instrumentals, and I’d play them, and maybe two of them would suggest melodies or an idea to me, and I’d turn them into a song. Technology allows us to work like that.”

—Mike Scott on recording All Souls Hill

All Souls Hill is a 2022 studio album by British folk rock group The Waterboys, released by Cooking Vinyl. It has received positive reviews from critics.

Reception

At AnyDecentMusic?, editors scored this album a 6.5 out of 10, aggregating five reviews. According to the review aggregator Metacritic, All Souls Hill received "generally favorable reviews" based on a weighted average score of 75 out of 100 from seven critic scores.

Editors at AllMusic rated this album 3.5 out of 5 stars, with critic Mark Deming writing that "this is fun, thoughtful, expressive music from a man whose inspiration has yet to run dry". In American Songwriter, Hal Horowitz scored All Souls Hill 3 out of 5 stars, praising the lyrics and vocals: "[Mike Scott] has plenty to say and isn’t shy about spewing out a constant stream of verses to make his points: all in his distinctive Scottish brogue and with a propulsive attitude leaving subtlety for others". Writing for The Arts Desk, Joe Muggs rated this work 3 out of 5 stars, characterizing it a "mixed success" criticizing the production choices, but praising Mike Scott's songwriting. Classic Rock's Chris Roberts scored this album 4 out of 5 stars, stating that it "feels like a reset, a detour probing new directions, as befits an album written and produced mostly in collaboration with Simon Dine, who recharged Paul Weller’s career". In Glide Magazine, Jim Hynes called this "a bit of both sonic worlds" that mixes the band's classic sound with their hip hop and electronic music trio of studio albums released before this. In Hot Press, Lucy O'Toole wrote that this music finds the group "leaping between genres and ideas as if journeying through a fever dream".

Track listing

All songs written by Simon Dine and Mike Scott, except where noted.

1. "All Souls Hill" – 2:54
2. "The Liar" – 3:28
3. "The Southern Moon" – 4:23
4. "Blackberry Girl" – 2:36
5. "Hollywood Blues" (James Hallawell, Aongus Ralston, Ralph Salmins, and Scott) – 5:26
6. "In My Dreams" – 3:19
7. "Once Were Brothers" (Robbie Robertson) – 5:30
8. "Here We Go Again" – 4:02
9. "Passing Through" (Dick Blakeslee) – 9:16

Bonus edition tracks

1. "Jumpin’ Jack Flash" (Jagger–Richards) – 3:52
2. "Painting America White" (Scott) – 2:36
3. "Glastonbury Fayre" (Scott) – 4:33
4. "The Liar" (Mashup) – 3:28
5. "Blackberry Girl" (Mashup) – 2:16
6. "In My Dreams" (Mashup) – 3:05
7. "Once Were Brothers" (Mashup) (Robertson) – 5:34

Personnel

The Waterboys

• Mike Scott – lead guitar, rhythm guitar, sound effects, soundscaping, vocals, production

Additional personnel

• Charlotte Annand – photography
• Ciaron Bell – engineering at Nabby Road
• Paul "Brother Paul" Brown – keyboards, synthesizer, sound effects, guitar on "The Liar", mixing on "Passing Through" at Ocean Soul Studios, production on "Passing Through"
• Mike Brignardello – bass guitar
• Niki Conley – choir vocals on "Passing Through"
• Rob D. Cureton – choir vocals on "Passing Through", choir arrangement on "Passing Through"
• Simon Dine – sound effects; lead guitar on "The Liar"; production on "All Souls Hill", "The Liar", "The Southern Moon", "Blackberry Girl", "In My Dreams", and "Here We Go Again"
• Melvin Duffy – pedal steel guitar on "All Souls Hill"
• Pee Wee Ellis – saxophone on "Hollywood Blues"
• Jason Eskridge – choir vocals on "Passing Through", engineering at Rustic Souls, production on "Passing Through"
• Barny Fletcher – backing vocals on "Here We Go Again"
• James Hallawell – piano, organ, Mellotron, guitar, Marxophone, backing vocals, sound effects on "Once Were Brothers", production on "Hollywood Blues" and "Once Were Brothers"
• Don Jackson – mastering
• Kahn & Selesnik – photography
• Ian McNabb – backing vocals on "Blackberry Girl"
• Greg Morrow – drums
• Kiley Phillips – choir vocals on "Passing Through"
• Aongus Ralston – bass guitar
• Howard Rankin – photography
• Ian James Ross – design
• Ralph Salmins – drums

Chart performance

All Souls Hill reached tenth place on the Scottish Singles and Albums Charts and was number 94 in its sole week on the UK Albums Chart.

See also

• 2022 in British music
• List of 2022 albums

External links

• All Souls Hill at Discogs (list of releases)
• All Souls Hill at MusicBrainz (list of releases)