AIRBORNE WATERBOYS

If you didn’t like someone with the authority of Bob Dylan telling you that you’ve “Gotta Serve Somebody,” then you’re not likely to buy it from an upstart like the Waterboys’ Mike Scott--even if the band’s version of Dylan’s born-again blues Saturday at the Roxy did hit with more force than the original. But if you’re in the market for a sweet-faced rocker with a spiritual bent, Scott may be your guy.

Scott and company made a stronger case on stage than they do on record. With fiddle, sax and trumpet stirring up the standard bass-drums-guitar-keyboards format, the Waterboys gave a real rock kick to Scott’s folk-rooted songs and made some of them sound better than they are.

The Scotsman’s songs often strike a Dylan/Van Morrison mood and range from romantically evocative to self-consciously precious as he contemplates his place in the cosmos and offers inspirational guidance to seeker types. It can get a little sticky, but some colorful imagery and his stringy but surprisingly tough voice kept things airborne at the Roxy. Until he suggested, “Come with me / On a journey beneath the skin.” You’re on your own there, Mike.