Universal Hall

For a moment back in the ’80s, the Waterboys seemed poised to follow U2’s lead toward mainstream rock success. But where U2 happily engrossed themselves in arena rock’s pomp and splendor, the Waterboys’ Scottish frontman, Mike Scott, guided his band down a more eclectic, and ultimately less profitable, path. It’s led them to Universal Hall, an appealing, if relatively one-dimensional, album of quasi-mystical folk rock. The jangle-pop charms that produced the memorable late-’80s near-hit “Whole of the Moon” are rarely in evidence, but there’s something engaging about the breathless wonder with which Scott delivers songs like the gleeful, shambling opener, “This Light Is for the World,” and the mournful, fiddle-led epic “Peace of Iona.” He lays the spirituality on a bit thick with songs titles like “The Christ in You” and lyrical proclamations such as “You are an eternal being of love” (from “e.b.o.l.”). But as a guy who more or less took a pass when pop stardom came a-calling, Scott’s more than entitled to his peace of mind.