Albums to watch

Life, Death, & Dennis Hopper

The Waterboys

Life, Death, & Dennis Hopper

Album number sixteen from the Edinburgh-born Mike Scott covers the life of the cult actor includes contributions from Bruce Springsteen, Fiona Apple and Steve Earle

ADM rating[?]

6.8

Label
Primary Wave
UK Release date
04/04/2025
US Release date
04/04/2025
  1. 8.0 |   The Irish Times

    Mike Scott isn’t telling us the story of the Hollywood bad boy’s life so much as allowing us to experience it for ourselves
    Read Review

  2. 8.0 |   Mojo

    The hit rate is high, and Mike Scott is clearly having fun cutting himself free from The Waterboys' past, and playing fast and loose - much like the mercurial subject of this album. Print edition only

  3. 8.0 |   Uncut

    In the end, it comes down to little moments of bliss, and those seven or eight words. "I don't know how I made it" Scott sings, as Taylor Goldsmith essays an angelic harmony. "but I made it". As a funeral march, it's a humdinger. Print edition only

  4. 7.5 |   Under The Radar

    Experience Life, Death and Dennis Hopper and step into the bloody boots of a lesser-recognized American legend—and who better to guide you than The Waterboys, whose tendency toward eccentricity, excess, and defiant experimentalism render them luminescent mutant offspring of their subject?
    Read Review

  5. 7.0 |   Clash

    There is so much to unpack here across a myriad of styles from jazz to folk and blues but it all seems to fit the subject at its heart, Dennis Hopper. It may not all work but when it does it is mesmerising
    Read Review

  6. 6.0 |   The Arts Desk

    It's sometimes entertaining, sometimes preposterous, and sometimes pure cringe
    Read Review

  7. 5.0 |   musicOMH

    Mike Scott has made a 25-track album covering the cult actor’s life, and there’s even a song for each of his five wives. You may want to keep his Wiki open
    Read Review


blog comments powered by Disqus

Watch it

Roll over video for more options

Hear it

Latest Reviews

More reviews