Fisherman's Blues

The Waterboys | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Capitol
• ASIN: B000008M54
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #23,662 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #31 in Music > World Music > Celtic > Rock
  • #39 in Music > World Music > Europe > British Isles > Scotland

Track Listings

1. Fisherman's Blues

2. We Will Not Be Lovers

3. Strange Boat

4. World Party

5. Sweet Thing

6. Jimmy Hickey's Waltz

7. And A Bang On The Ear

8. Has Anybody Here Seen Hank?

9. When Will We Be Married?

10. When Ye Go Away

11. Dunford's Fancy

12. The Stolen Child

13. Bonus Track 1

Editorial Reviews

The Waterboys were formed in London in 1981 and led by the singer/songwriter Mike Scott, the group's only constant member - with the supporting musicians ever changing around him. 1988's Fisherman's Blues is the Waterboys's 4th album for which the band were joined by traditional Irish players like fiddler Steve Wickham, drummer Dave Ruffy, keyboardist Guy Chambers and bassist Marco Weissman, resulting in a stripped-down, folky sound which was a marked step away from the "big music" he founded and pursued in previous albums. It has been called their 'warmest and most rewarding record'. Complete with a bonus disc of previously unreleased tracks and packaged in a digipack with pvc slipcase - it follows on from the successful re-issues of the first 3 Waterboys's albums 'The Waterboys', 'A Pagan Place' and 'This Is The Sea'. EMI. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best recordings of the 1980's, November 30, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Fisherman's Blues (Audio CD)

You could turn off the heat in your house in the middle of winter--just play this CD and you'll warm the place up. This album might not have the Waterboys' strongest singles, like "Church Not Made With Hands", "The Whole of the Moon" or "Life of Sundays" which are found on other albums, but this is perhaps their strongest, most cohesive effort. There is so much musical, lyrical and emotional depth and range in these songs, and they all fit together so well. Like all great artists, although you can detect the influences (folk, punk, rock, Irish Traditional, soul), the Waterboys don't slavishly imitate any of them--this is a really strong, unique, original interpretation, and the whole is much greater than the sum of the parts. There's a dark edge to tracks like "We Will Not be Lovers", "World Party", and "When Will We Be Married?", a vibrant celebration of life in "Fisherman's Blues", a melancholy wistfulness in "When Ye Go Away" and "The Stolen Child", and a "having a few pints in the pub" sense of nostalgia and humor in "Has Anybody Here Seen Hank?" and "A Bang on the Ear". This album is just so rich--one of my all-time favorites.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unreal, November 11, 2006

By 

jammin63 (CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fisherman's Blues (Coll) (Audio CD)

I loved the original Fisherman's Blues. That album is one of my favorites from the eighties. I will not even classify it as an eighties album since it is timeless. This extended release is such a surprise, I am in awe. I believe the second disc alone is as good or even better than the original. It does not feel like outtakes or demos, it feels like a stand alone disc. The Waterboys need to release the disc that needs to be released.... The Fisherman's Blues Sessions. A four disc release consisting of all of the seesions recorded in the eighties for the Fisherman's Blues recordings. These recordings represent all that is right with music; The love of music, for music sake. There are no producers, music executives, cookie cutter money making agendas involved. We need more personal music produced today. This is so refreshing it is unbelievable. Buy this and discover music of the soul.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Irish Folk-Rock Classic, March 31, 2005

By 

B. Niedt (Cherry Hill, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fisherman's Blues (Audio CD)

I don't know how I overlooked this gem when I compiled my Amazon list of the 25 best albums of the 1980's, because it was definitely one of my favorites of the decade, and it remains one of the favorites of my personal collection. It's the best album from Mike Scott and company, nearly perfect in every way, with an often bombastically big sound (one of the band's trademarks). Yet it's a very organic record, relying primarily on acoustic instruments, including some very capable fiddle work from Steve Wickham (especially on the hard-driving "We Will Not Be Lovers"). And it wears its Irishness on its sleeve. The engaging title track may be familiar, as it has been used more than once in movie soundtracks. And there's an awful lot more to like here, from a masterful cover of countryman Van Morrison's "Sweet Thing", to more traditional-sounding tunes like "When Will We Be Married?", to a heartbreakingly beautiful musical treatment of the Yeats poem, "The Stolen Child". This is one of those albums I revisit every once in a while to remind myself how wonderful it was. And it still is.