Welcome to the Dream Harder Page.
This Page
contains some light background on the creation of the album, a round-up of various vinyl, CD pressings, promos, cassettes and memorabilia
relating to the Dream Harder album.
Thank you to Dag Reinert Johansen, Inge Rieger and Andy Pritchatt for contributing items to this web page.
* If you have a release or promo that is not shown here, please send photos on and they shall be added. *
Worldwide releases and promo releases.
A selection of worldwide releases and a promo.
Worldwide and promos releases.
Two vinyl releases.
A selection of original worldwide cassette singles and promos.
Two vinyl releases.
A selection original Dream Harder memorabilia.
Mike writes: "Patreon is a way for us to share with fans the music that might not make it onto the records: jams, demos, strange songs, experiments. We also have a lot of great live recordings that have never been made public. We'll be posting these too. I also have ideas for video content and other stuff. It's gonna be a lot of fun."
A Treasure trove of gems and delights await within! To join and peruse this ever-growing hoard at leisure please...
Click Here - The
Waterboys - Patreon Page
Mike initially recorded some demos in Ringsend, Dublin in 1991 before he left Ireland for New York and some of these (re-recorded) track titles did end up of the record.
But the main recording sessions took place in various studios around New York, plus at a studio in London and another studio in Los Angeles.
Mike debuted a few of the album songs at a solo show in New York in 1991 and at two more solo shows in late 1992, he also played a few more on his solo tours in 1994-96 and we heard blistering full band versions of the songs for the first time on the Still Burning tour.The Dream Harder album, with colourful artwork by Pal Shazar, was released in Ireland and elsewhere on May 25th 1993.
*To read some wonderful indepth stories about the writing and recording of the Dream Harder album, please see Mike's Patreon posts on 23rd and 24th May 2022*
One of the promo shots that appeared in various publications for the album.
A Dream Harder press release and photo from the USA.
A 40 cm x 40 cm standee used for promotion in some music shops. How many of these survive today is not known but it cannot be many! Thank you Dag.
Dream Harder vinyl LP with striking cover artwork by Pal Shazar.
An unusual double press promotion from Germany for both the The Return of Pan single release and the Dream Harder album release. Thank you Inge.
Two full page press promotions from various music magazines of the day.
Standard album release from Europe.
A promo album from the USA.
A striking A3 size poster used for promotion in Japan music shops.
A CD of Dream Harder with Lyric booklet and OBI strip included.
A scarce Japanese sample promo of Dream Harder with sample stamp, Lyric booklet and OBI strip.
Another companion piece to the album is this Mike Scott Intervew CD from the USA.
Another of the promo shots that appeared in various publications for the album.
Limited to only 250 copies the Sunflowers contains demo versions of some songs from the Dream Harder album, including a number of cuts and different versions that did not make the record release. Originally only available to members of The Waterboys Information Society this very scarce CD now commands a sky-high price. This album release is a perfect companion to the released CD and it is an essential must-have!
Cover of the first issue of Waves magazine featuring Learning To Fly themed artwork. This beautifully produced and very informative magazine was only available to members of The Waterboys Information Society. The Sunflowers CD was issued with this first issue and it also included an A2 colour poster with all of the Dream Harder song lyrics printed in gold.
Detail of the beautiful A2 sized lyric poster that was included with the first issue of Waves magazine which was only available to members of The Waterboys Information Society.
This is a four-page Spanish Press Release Pack with english song lyrics included housed in a colour cover folder.
An A4 sized window decal sticker for Dream Harder used for promotion in music shops.
A Dream Harder promotional cassette in a grey card sleeve.
A promotional four-track one-sided cassette from the USA.
An advance promotional cassette album from the USA.
A budget release from Denmark, for sale in Europe and Japan.
Official European release in a foldout sleeve.
Two Polish cassettes with different artwork.
An officially released Saudi Arabia cassette, under licence from BMG International / Geffen, put out on Stallions Records for the Expatriates. Uniquely, it is the only known release in a portrait foldout sleeve, as opposed to the normal landscape artwork used on the Dream Harder cassette releases from other countries.
Another of the promo shots that appeared in various publications for the album. Thank you Dag.
A US five-track E.P with four non album tracks.
A UK one-track promo in a plain sleeve. Thank you Andy.
A US one-track promo with full colour artwork. Thank you Andy.
A one-track promo CD of Preparing To Fly in a jewel case with full colour artwork.
A scarce Ferret & Spanner Plugging Company Limited CDr promo of The Return of Pan sent out to radio stations in the UK with a May 3rd [1993] release date sticker.
A CD single of The Return of Pan, backed with Karma and Mister Powers.
A three-track CD of The Return of Pan from Australia in a card sleeve.
A one-track promo CD of The Return of Pan in a green jewel case with font printed in gold on front.
The Return of Pan is the first and only Japanese single release KNOWN to be released by The Waterboys.
A CD single of The Return of Pan, backed with Karma and Mister Powers with OBI strip included.
A scarce promotional sample CD single of The Return of Pan with Promo Tag, OBI and Sample printed on disc.
*** Is The Return of Pan the ONLY Japanese single release by The Waterboys? ***
Originally released in 1994 Penny for Your Thoughts appears on the 'There's A Wild Thing In The House' album by Pal Shazar. This song features Mike on shared vocals and on guitar. This is the CD single and it it is well worth seeking out.
Mike appears on the cover of TOP Magazine which was published by Tower Records.
The first single release from the album.
The second single release from the album.
Promo Mike Scott photo for Dream Harder.
Glastonbury Song Cassingle.
Cassette single of The Return of Pan.
Cassette single of The Return of Pan from Australia with a variation in the artwork.
A promo one-track cassette of The Return of Pan from the US in text-based red sleeve.
A promo one-track cassette of Preparing To Fly from the US in text-based blue sleeve.
A promo one-track cassette of The Return of Pan from the US. Thank you Dag.
Two promo Mike Scott photos. Thank you Dag.
The first single release from the album.
The second single release from the album.
A full-size promotional Dream Harder hammock for relaxing in, on those long hot summer afternoons. This hammock is surely one of the most unusual (and largest) promotional items for any Waterboys release and it must be a very rare item.
Supreme Waterboys Collector Dag holds a Glastonbury Song shop display promotional poster.
A promo poster measuring 60 cm x 60 cm, from the USA.
A grey promo tee shirt from the USA with album title printed in gold.
This book contains song lyrics with piano, voice and guitar arrangements for the album songs.