Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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21 of 21 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
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.
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Irish Folk-Rock Classic, March 31, 2005
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.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good combination of Celtic music, rock and soul, April 1, 2000
I first discovered this album in 1990 while I was in college and it is still a mainstay in my regular CD rotation. The Waterboys are one of the most underrated bands of the 1980's, and they produced some of the decade's most eclectic, interesting music. Fisherman's Blues is unlike any other album you will own. It has a little rock, a little soul and a little traditional Irish music. How many albums can you say have that combination? The album was recorded in Ireland and is chock full of top notch Irish instrumentalists. The band's main man, Mike Scott, is actually Scottish, but it is hard to believe it here. Songs like the title cut, When Ye Go Away and an almost note-perfect interpretation of Van Morrison's Sweet Thing are unforgettable. The album isn't totally flawless, but it has a special place in my heart, and if I get in my Irish music mood, I dig it out, mainly because a little Irish music goes a long way and there is just enough here.
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