Fisherman's Blues

This one surprised me in a good way.

Its ok. Gets a bit samey.

Started strong, lots of toe tapping in the middle, but not sure this was a double album. Glad I learned about them before I died, sure, but maybe not 82 minutes of them.

It seems that Mike Scott made this sleeve himself, which, compared to the ones created by graphic designers, is very apparent. It's a generic route, ok but not great. After The Whole of the Moon and This is the Sea, Fisherman's Blue follows the same recipe but not as tasty. All of The Waterboys' music is very enjoyable and great to have spinning on the turntable; however, if we are voting for great albums this is an also-ran.

First two songs are so energetic and unique with amazing rhythm and strings. A super strong start to this album. 3 song reminds me of a Springsteen ballad. Another good song. 4 while it gets better is less special than the previous. Sweet thing is a nice cover but doesn't reach the hights of Van Morrison's version. The quotation from Blackbird is pretty cool though. 7 is lovely. My favorite so far. 9 is very cool and bouncy. 10 is so so beautiful. Another highlight. The stolen child is a very ambitious way to practically close out the album, before a quick rendition of This Land is Your Land. What a great one. Would surly come back to it. As with some other 90's albums, I think the medium of the disc tempted the artists to add  three or four extra songs that shouldn't be there. But overall its a very special album and should definitely be here. It's a 4

Entirely too long, but some of the songs were fun.

A romantic trip across many notions and ideas - dreams of Jimmy Rodgers (the singin' brakeman), memories of Fife Collieries, seafarers escaping from the misery of land, failed romances fondly recalled .... Mike Scott followed his own advice, and dreamed big! It does go on a bit, and some days that would annoy me, but on this cold, dark morning, with the pot of porridge gently bubbling and the coffee percolator going, too, this is a five star album. For the brave souls, there is a massively sprawling box set, 7 CDs of out-takes from the long journey of recordings, mainly in Ireland, as they chased their muse, trying on every style

I generally enjoyed this.

Album #156: Fisherman’s Blues - The Waterboys Genre (W): Folk rock Singles: Fisherman’s Blues, And a Bang on the Ear I have not listened to this album before. Thoughts?: This was such a long album that I was glad it was over. The music sounds nice but this album hugely overstays its welcome and drains pretty fast. Exhausting. Favorite tracks: We Will Not Be Lovers

I feel the call of Cape Breton

This was a fun change of pace

Never heard of this artist but enjoyed!

mt bom

It sounded a lot less dated than expected, i actually enjoyed it!

I loved the first half much more than the second, but still, this was a great surprise. Solid stuff.

kind of lame

A bunch of good jigs

This was surprisingly good. Those dudes have energy.

Ооооо ирландцы и фолк

I love both contemporary and traditional folk music, but I was not wowed by this, its fine, but somewhat drab. 2.5/5

Pretty entertaining album overall. The mix of the traditional folk style music mixed with modern sound was a good combo. We will not be lovers sounded so modern, and was the highlight song for me

Quite catchy Celtic vibes.

Solid Irish inspired folk-rock record with sing-along jams perfect for a bar and poetic, introspective cuts inspired by traditional Irish art. I enjoyed the emotional and expressive energy throughout the record, particularly the early cuts where the violin player absolutely trashes the instrument while the rest of the band goes into a frenzy. There need to be more records on this list with that sort of intensity. For that alone I place this album a bit higher than most so far.

Ok as background music

honestly liked it a lot but couldn't tell you why

i didn’t hate it but i did dislike it, all of the songs sounded the same to me

Didn’t think I’d dig this but alas I did.

Love the violins

The first two songs are perfect. Drops off a bit after that, but still a good listen

I hope you like violins and old fashioned time signatures

I respect it, but it’s not my thing.

Ok, i love Celtic music, but i couldn't wait till this 100 minute long double album was done. I was exhausted. If Dave Matthew's band was David McArthurs band, this was them. And yes you can hear the influences...even if there is no evidence of direct influences. I also get the BNL vibes here too. Most people will not like this as much as I do. But next time....how about only 45 minutes?

not my cup of tea

Riktigt bra skiva. Fina melodier och harmonier. This is the sea är min favorit av Waterboys men denna kommer strax efter. Titellåten, Strange boat och A Bang on the ear bäst.

I’m familiar with this album, or at least the concept of its existence. Good ol’ Celtic rock. One of my close friends is proudly Celtic, and I’m always down for some folksy rock vibes. Lots of 7-ish minute songs here, which is annoying, but I’ve heard longer songs, and longer albums. As I understand it, this was a pretty major pivot to folk stuff for this band, which is interesting. The title track is obviously incredible, and so is the second track, two of the better songs in that vein that I’ve heard, and there are a couple of other really nice tracks too, such as “And A Bang On The Ear,” a LONG, bittersweet ode to each of the singer’s past lovers, “When Will We Be Married?,” a cheeky yet actually really pretty and well-composed song, and “When Ye Go Away,” another really pretty song. Sadly though, there is soooooo much filler on this album it kind of hurts. “Strange Boat,” “World Party,” “Sweet Thing,” and “The Stolen Child” aren’t too bad by any means, but the time adds up, and it just isn’t needed. It doesn’t add enough to the album to have them there. That being said, I think I’ll go back to this album plenty, what with its highs, and with its energy, and with its tunes. I like it a whole lot!!! 7.8/10 DOES IT BELONG ON THE LIST: YES WHY: great example of a high-quality Celtic-influenced album.

This was a pleasant surprise. The first half was really good, particularly the first two tracks; the second half tailed off a bit and became a little bit contrived at times. The spoken word track initially bemused me but it turns out that it is a traditional Irish vocal styling of a WB Yeats poem, so I forgave it.

Something about this really appealed to me. From the opening track with its mandolin (which I’m something of sucker for) and quite lovely melody I found d this an enjoyable album of folk influenced alternative rock tunes - can definitely hear a thread of this through to other acts like R.E.M. of there is a criticism it’s that the album itself is a little bloated, but on the whole a really pleasant experience and glad that I didn’t write The Waterboys off as only being ‘the ones that sang whole of the moon’.

This was a pleasant surprise. A pleasant mixture of folk, rock and country that had a decent amount of variety to it. We Will Not Be Lovers and World Party are both real catchy and replayable, while The Stolen Child is very ethereal and somewhat sad.

Never heard of this band but it was enjoyable to listen to. Never heard of any of their songs so they were obviously popular elsewhere outside the US? Anyway, wouldn’t listen again but good music

It really enjoyed this record and that the folk rock that surrounds it was very strong. The main thing that sticks to me is the instrumentation of the whole record with the whole soundscape being played perfectly throughout the record. Some of the songs go on a bit too long in my opinion and the record itself could be shortened but I feel like the songs I like from this LP are ones I’ll hold on to for a while. Fav tracks: fishermans blues, sweet thing, and a bang on the ear, and Has anybody seen Hank?

This is great. Love the instrumentation. Vocals are solid.

saur good

I don't know who felt the need to ask "What if we took U2, took away their Irish citizenship, and then made them more Irish?" but whoever asked that got the exact answer they were looking for. It's a pretty good album, although I can't help but feel like a UK band making an Irish album after The Troubles is a very strange choice. There are some incredible songs on here, though. I love the jam part at the end of We Will Not Be Lovers and some of the more standard folky songs are pretty nice. It's also just cool to see a band with a double-digit number of people in it.

It's fine.

Liked this more than I thought I would!

This was an alright background listen, totally fine jangly folk but nothing special to my ears

I like a bit of Celtic rock as much as the next guy. Probably more than the next guy actually, and there's some really good stuff in here like the title track but then there's also quite a lot of meandering fiddle de dee stuff. A mixed bag 4 me!

5/10

Okay this was much better than expected, I was living my woodland fairy fantasy

Genuinely surprised

Nice, raucous folk rock that drags just a little by the end.

Great fun. I love the version of sweet thing. There are a couple more really fun tracks. It's not a very consistent listen in my opinion though. I'd be interested to listen to some later stuff

What an opening song!!!

Not my music but enjoyed the listen

Celtic Springsteen.

When it started, I thought I was going to love it, but my enthusiasm dwindled as it went on. Maybe there's just a limit on how much I can enjoy this sort of thing - I only gave the Pogues three stars too.

Day two of catastrophic flooding and albums related to flooding or water. Still not amused by any of it. The Waterboys helped though. I’m still processing how enjoyable the album was, definitely a pleasant surprise.

very good

Honestly this would probably rate higher for me if I didn't have so much fatigue from this genre. This UK folk style music is allllll over this list.

The energy is great but not sure I remember the songs being as good the vibes. My recollection seems spot on still after these years

I see these guys compared to U2 but I’m not really getting it. This album feels stripped down, unpretentious, and earnest. “We Will Not Be Lovers” is a fun romp, the “Sweet Thing” cover fits their style well despite its unfortunate and needless interpolation of a different tune, and there’s a decent amount of enjoyable fiddlin’ folk sprinkled throughout. The production feels rich and warm, a nice counterpart to the sparser arrangements.

I liked this better than I thought I would. A standout was “Sweet Thing”, and it was a nice surprise to hear lyrics from The Beatles’ “Blackbird.” The title track and “We Will Not Be Lovers” are fun, country-ish songs that would be fun live. Didn’t really like the last 3-4 tracks, as they are more traditional folk from that part of the world and the energy sagged some.

I’d never heard of these guys- which given its proximity to my personal favorite genres is problematic. It says either “this doesn’t belong here” or “I’m not British” - or both. That said, the album definitely grew on me. And I’m glad to have learned about them. “We will not be Lovers” sounds very Dylan-esque. And I love the opener, Fisherman’s Blues. But the first half is way better than the second- fading out after Jimmy Hick’s waltz’s. And I can’t give a 4 to anything with side B fizzle…

Not heard this album for a long time, forgotten how bloody good it is, downloaded quite a few tracks too, I used to have the album, but years ago, whatever happened to all that vinyl?..

Very much enjoyed this one. Loved the fiddle

I’ll spare myself the effort to pin to the board notions of authenticity that passed during this record. It’s done in good faith, a handful of songs are strong - “We Will Not Be Lovers”, “World Party” and “And A Bang On The Ear” carry an intensity born of band rather than homage - while for much of the rest the instrument and form choices come off as twee. Mike Scott voice is clearly that of a bloke. The British blokes’s voice was ascendant in the eighties, suburban angst poured with lager. Mark Knopfler is a bloke, Chris de Burgh is a bloke. Peter Gabriel is, Phil Collins obviously, Bono is not, neither is Sting.

Tuneful but a bit of a cliche. The Van Morrison cover was ill-advised; a good time overall, though, fine musicians and a number of striking tunes with real atmosphere ("..Hank?" and "The Stolen Child" in particular). Reminds me now of various post-millennial trendy groups so you could probably say it was ahead of its time, despite being firmly retro in 1988.

Totally fine

To me, some of the vocals sound like a weaker blend of Bob Dylan and Van Morrison, while at other times they remind me of David Surkamp or Geddy Lee. The music recalls traditional Irish folk, only not nearly as good. If listening on Spotify, skip disc 2. The bonus tracks were left off the original release for a reason, they add nothing.

FUCK YEAH CELTIC ROCK LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOO

Mixed bag of an album. I had no idea what to expect when I saw Celtic rock in the tags. Different from the Pogues. Overall fun though!

Awww man, it really hooked me at the beginning and was headed for a 4-star, but lost me as it got deeper into trad Celtic territory. Fork found in kitchen and all, sure, but those first tracks of rock fusion really had me going! The second track in particular had some mind-blowing fiddle (?) solos that I would've loved to hear more of. Standouts: Fisherman's Blues • We Will Not Be Lovers • World Party • Carolan's Welcome

This album is one of those that make me glad I'm doing the album challenge, because there is no way I would've ever picked this up myself, but it's really solid. I could go for a little more variety in sound and I think a few of these songs are too long (A Bang on the Ear...come now)....but I think anyone could enjoy it.

Never heard of these guys but loved the folk vibes

Randomly listen to any 5 songs and you've basically heard the whole album, then invest your saved time into something else.

When We Will Be Married 🌟

The worst part of this record is that it was made in the 80s and you can tell by the production. A lot about this record is really cool, but that kind of clean and bass-heavy production doesn't do them many favors.

It had its moments, We Will Not Be Lovers was stellar

If Dylan was Irish…

good

Such a lovely concept/sound/musical dynamics in the band but somehow the song outputs are all missing something

I haven’t heard this before. It’s standard folk music with Irish influences and instruments on most of the songs. Nothing particularly stands out and nothing is bad, but it becomes a chore to listen to it for over an hour. Streaming only has this as a double disc set and I was relieved to find out this is a deluxe reissue and I didn't need to hear another hour of it because it would have been offensive at that point.

An interesting blend of Irish/Scottish/country/folk/rock (with a pinch of Beatles thrown in - literally, just a few bars of “Blackbird” in the middle of a song?). As you might expect, it doesn’t always work; while it got off to a strong start, it wasn’t able to maintain its charm to the same level throughout. Regardless, I love the fiddle on “We Will Not Be Lovers.” Seriously, can’t get enough of that. Give me a whole album of just frantic fiddling. Also, as always, credit where credit’s due for at least being something different. Favorites: We Will Not Be Lovers; When Will Be Married 3.5

Svaag trea. Inte dåligt men jag lite längtade lite efter att byta till annan musik.

Festligt, folkligt, trivsamt. Stark trea!

Blev rätt fragmentarisk lyssning idag, men gillade detta. Landar i rätt stark 3a!

Hade rätt svårt med det här. Inte dåligt, men ah, nää inte för mig!

jag blev charmad!

Gillar ju fiol. River inte till som Pogues direkt. Kan rekommendera senaste plattan Life and death of Dennis Hopper.

Pakko nyt myöntää että irish folk ei ole mun juttu. 2/5. Albumi atm kesken ja tämä niin kammottavan pitkä että en tiedä pääsenkö loppuun asti.

Folksy British-English done well; catchy, deep, & soulful.

A warmly welcome surprise.

These boys like it wet

fine, pleasant to have on in the background but not really something i'll ever seek out again

I really enjoyed the opening track of this record, and it set my exepectations high. Unfortunately I didn't feel the rest of the record lived up to it unfortunately. There's some good tracks on here, but also many forgettable ones. Still, some decent layered folk instrumentation.

I think I own this album on CD somewhere. Always liked the title track and the closing track, Carolans Welcome is really good. Its a decent modern take on Scottish and Irish folk and has brilliant musicians on it. You don't get much Celtic trad in this list so nice to see it included. Not everyone's cup of tea, I understand, but 4/5 for ambition and brilliant trad musicianship.

3. Liked some of it a lot. The “big music” stuff is fun and a full sound with tons of different instruments. A lot of the album is a little too traditional and the spoken word stuff isn’t really my thing.

Was okay, not really my style, but certainly wouldn't complain if someone put it on.

There were some solid songs on the album but it also seemed to struggle on others. The vocals and instruments seemed off at times.

It felt somewhat cohesive however at the same time vocals were bringing it down

fine, parts sounded pretty good. too long. Kinda unremarkable tbh

Really enjoyed the music & blend of sounds/instruments. Traditional fiddle w guitar-excellent. Vocals, however, were rough & detracted from album.

I like "The Whole of The Moon", so expected to like this despite being on a different album. It's a bit too folky for my taste, but it's okay.

good album, but it drags a bit. does really cool stuff on some tracks but most of it isn't really something im into. i would've never listened to this if it wasn't on this list type album

No me desagrado un buen álbum para empezar el día

Why do all the geographically-challenged Americans in the reviews here think The Waterboys are British/Scottish? Honestly, if your demented president ever feels disrespected by a potato, please tell him to bomb Ireland and NOT the UK, thanks. We are different countries! And the same people complaining about the album being too long when they've been listening to all the throwaway tracks on Spotify's so-called "Disc 2" and wondering why the quality drops off significantly 🙄. Just stop at the end of "Disc 1"! That was the actual album! If you see the words "Alternative Version", that's a big clue! Stop before the alternatives start! Anyway, I remember hearing The Waterboys at Glastonbury in the late 80s. Hearing, not seeing, because we couldn't be arsed to enter the actual arena they were playing in. Just sat on the side of a hill glugging Thunderbird. They were worthy and dull then, and I've not changed my mind about them since. This is my generation, but not my music.

Never heard of this band or album, and but it seems like it could be interesting just from the song names. Not unenjoyable at all, I think the instrumentals are beautiful. I’ve liked almost none of the folk rock I’ve been handed so far, so this is very nice. Might be better if it was just a little shorter.

A very good album—it was fun to listen to—but it was a bit too long; all those different versions could have been left out.

This one was part of my childhood and so impossible for me to review impartially. I do think The Waterboys are hugely underrated and Mike Scott was a great, soulful songwriter. I appreciate that they have a sound peculiar to them, and some of the choices here won’t appeal to everyone, but I love it. Fisherman’s Blues, We Will Not Be Lovers, When Ye Go Away and the cover of Sweet Thing are clear highlights. Oh, and it should be noted that the link is to the extended edition - the proper album isn’t nearly as long

I'm kind of a sucker for this kind of thing, but this is also a very sold, fun record with some depth.

same song in different fonts for almost 2 hours i mean at least the song is mildly pleasant

5/10 Muy largo, no es malo pero hubo un punto en el que quería que termine. Tiene canciones medievales no me copo mucho eso

Folk rokkia. Alku oli kova ja 2 ekaa biisiä loistavia, sitten levy putosi perus hyvälle tasolle. Eli ei siis huonoa silloinkaan. Irkkufolkki vaikutteiset kappaleet myös kovia. Sen verran kivaa kummiskin, että kuuntelin myös deluxe kappaleet. Parhaat: Fisherman's Blues, We Will Not Be Lovers, The Stolen Child

Fisherman's Blues 3.4 We Will Not Be Lovers 3.5 Strange Boat 3.3 World Party 3.5 Sweet Thing 3.3 Jimmy's Hickey's Waltz 3 And a Ban on the Ear 3.3 Has Anybody Here Seen Hank? 3.1 When Will We Be Married? 3 When Ye Go Away 3 Dunford's Fancy 3 The Stolen Child 3.2 This Land Is Your Land 3 Score: 3.2

I just listened to an entire genre get destroyed because someone thought Irish folk music wasn't modern and bland enough

Number: 190 Familiarity: Well-versed (4) Rating: 4 I am very familiar with The Waterboys though I don't think this is my favorite album by them. That would probably be This Is The Sea. Also, I think the original version instead of the collectors edition would have been plenty for this list. I think they did a great job covering Van Morrison's "Sweet Thing".

When it leans into Irish tinged folk it's good, the rest not so much for me.

Awesome album. I've been trashing covers on here lately, but they absolutely make the covers their own. The non covers are just as great.

It was a nice album to listen to as I drove through the Scottish Highlands today

Banger

Objectively, it's hard to find a flaw with this album. It sets out to do this sort of well produced, Folky sea shanty album and it succeeds at that. Reminds me most of the Cowboy Junkies, including a cover of a Velvet Underground song. I don't really click with it though. It had enough pleasant moments, but the entire album also brings a kind of boringness with it. It's a tad monotone and the production quality means it lacks a sort of rawness that I enjoy in Folk music.

This meanders along with interesting percussion and thematic vocals. However the overall feeling is one of stodge

This is most certainly not one of the best albums ever, no double album should be, but I did expand my musical horizons and find a song I really liked. So a worthwhile endeavor and a nice reminder of why I'm doing this.

This was quite good.

First time hearing this one. First go and I wasn’t feeling it but a couple more listens and it’s grown on me. Under all the folk stuff I hear Dylan, Springsteen and even some Replacements. I’ll probably revisit this one.

I mean look, its alright. I personally feel they did amazing with the instruments on this album, and really made it feel alive. However I might not be the biggest fan of Scottish music?? or something idek, its like rocky but also Scottishy on some parts. I love when they just super randomly covered blackbird lmao really cool album but it was extremely long and that's a big problem for me with mediocre albums. Especially like a 12 minute song idk its just not for me unless its completely mind blowing like Pink Floyd.

Really enjoyed this

This was long but pretty good

Solid album with a unique sound.

I enjoyed this as something different than most of what comes up on this list. Certainly not the first or only ones to combine Scottish folk , rock and county sounds together but they do a great job of it. Fisherman's Blues is a jam, the rest of the album does loose a bit of speed after that first track. I did like this one though and happy to add it to my listening catalog.

I had never heard of these guys, but this was a great time! I’m generally a fan of folk rock and the traditional Scottish/Irish folk elements really worked well.

hehe

This album makes me feel like I'm at a local folk festival. It's got that honest twang and country fiddle. The songs kinda all sounded the same to me. I probalby would enjoy this live rather than in my living room.

Listened to this over 2 days and was wondering the whole time... where is Bobby Boucher?

i love ireland. this was nice! and irish!

The music itself is pretty good, but it is needlessly long. I hardly if ever feel that an album needs to be 2 discs

This was a varied and diverse set of styles on this album. I really liked the switching from Rock to Celtic to English Folk back to Rock. This is 3 1/2 star so had to decide which way to go on this and finally decided to bump it up.

Titular song is a banger

Not sure what I expected here. I listened to the whole expanded version and didn’t mind, so yeah it’s a good one.

Not familiar with these guys but enjoyed this. Easy going indie/alt rock. Need to give them a deeper dive.

This is just Irish Dave Matthews.

Very vanilla.

This really wasn't my genre, so I predictably, I wasn't really moved by it. It was good musically, but just didn't catch my ear very much. I found myself longing for the album to be over. Three stars.

Hmmm, I made it to 8, Has anybody seen Hank? I didn't - and I didn't listen to this whole 1 hour and 42 minutes. 8 was enough.

I was feeling it and then I wasn't. Hmm. 2.7.

Personal enjoyment: 3/5 Relevance to this list: 4/5

Didn’t mind this overall. At times leans too far into low grade Irish folk (When Will We Be Married), but at other times it soars, with great contributions from guitar, fiddle and vocals alike. It’s probably overly long and the cover of ‘This Land Is Your Land’ could have been left on the shelf, but worth a listen overall.

I don't know what it is about the music from this era, late 80s / early 90s, but it really rubs me the wrong way, I just strongly dislike it. I guess it is something to do with the instruments used and maybe the drumming, but I can't define it or point to a certain reason or reasons in the same way that I can't say why I like what I really like. All this to say, I disliked this album from track one for reasons I can't define, a visceral reaction. The later tracks with more folk influence I enjoyed a lot more (although not the mawkish The Stolen Child), but as my enjoyment was previously at rock bottom that's not saying much. Finally, some of these tracks are way too long. The singles from this are 7 and 9 minutes long. Can you imagine hearing that on the radio?

There were moments when I liked the atmospheric Irish/Scottish folk rock, but then it started to get annoying.

Trying to overlook that the album felt about 15minutes too long. I always give bonus points to albums that adopt additional strings and brass and even more points when it's done in an engaging way. The concept of the album of being an optimistic yet heartbroken fisherman finding solace far from land is one I hadn't previously considered but now find it to my fancy.

Does this album contain the best song about being a domestic abuser immediately followed by a song in which one glosses over the fact that one's idol may be a domestic abuser and you don't care? Yes, yes it does.

This is a good band. It would be 5 stars if the vocalist wasn't trying to imitate drunk Dylan.

I really enjoyed this album. The playing is great, the song choices are great, and it manages to feel quite unique despite drawing heavily on its source material in traditional Irish folk music and rock. I especially loved that cover of “Sweet Thing”

I think I heard a couple of tracks off of this album back in the 80’s, and what a shame I didn’t hear more. Really great alternative rock with a Scottish twist. I’ll be adding this to my rotation.

Outstanding album

Honestly I was a little distracted. Will probably need to listen again. I really liked what I paid attention to though, so it gets a 4.

A very good album of this genre. 4 stars or B.

Amazing listen here. Love the telltales in the lyrics of the songs and i specially value the celtic songs. Amazing!

3.5

Bit fey

Honestly a fun record

I wanted to like this but it’s kinda bad.

This has been quite revealing for me. To start with I thought The Waterboys were a plastic American band with a singer who sounded a bit like Bob Dylan, and so I wrote this here: "Not really memorable. Back in the day I'd probably have changed the radio station to find something better to listen to if any of these tracks came on." Then I listened more closely, and read a bit about them, and my view changed. Of course the music hadn't changed, just how I categorised it. It's OK to like Celtic folk music but not plastic American 80s bands.

Totally fine. Just not a huge fan of this kind of folk-inspired English pub-rock.

The Waterboys remind me of my NCL friend Ella’s FIRAT DANCE at her wedding

whoa…

Enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Fantastic title track, and even if the album doesn't always reach those heights there's enough life and craft here that it didn't wear out its welcome, even over the long double album.

Really not bad at all

First song I'm familiar with because TMD plays it from time to time. It sounds like a lot of instruments playing at the same time. World Party (weird name considering there's a band called the same) starts out like a Carole King song (which was my album yesterday), lyrically is it a jab at Karl Walinger? Karl left in 1985 apparently. Hmmm. It feels like an Irish jam band. In Sweet Thing, he quotes a line from the Beatles Blackbird over and over. It could be good background music but nothing I could see myself putting out to listen to.

Peaked with “We Will Not Be Lovers”

Lähellä neljä

Enjoyable to listen to - made me think I was at some Irish pub somewhere. Another reviewer said this sounds like Dylan meets Dave Matthews, which I think is an extremely appropriate comparison! Yes, it's enjoyable music but do I think it's one of the thousand and one best albums of all time?… That's quite a stretch.

I've been a big fan of the Waterboys for the last year and a half now. My favorite album of their's is "This is the Sea" but this one would be my next pick. I'm happy these lads got represented on this list one way or another. Favorite track: We Will Not Be Lovers 4.5/5

3/5

Not my fav one, but I like it. World party is my fav song off of this album

Cool Irish infused folk rock with nice energy and passion. Sadly, they probably said all they needed to say within about 45 minutes but it went on another hour anyway

Enjoyable, but not amazing. If I remember it, I’ll probably listen to some of this again.

Being labeled as "Celtic Rock", I was expecting this to sound similar to The Pogues. On the contrary, this was not even remotely as fun as the other band, and basically did nothing for me. Excluding my experience with The Pogues, I'm basically a stranger when it comes to Celtic folk, but if someone asked me how I would describe its sound, I would say it is a very exciting and energetic style of music. This life that I think of is not present at all in this album. Maybe my interpretation of this genre is totally wrong, and most of the time Celtic music is like this. In that case, I'll say that I'm not interested. The album sounds very passive. It lands in a point where the music isn't energetic enough neither it is captivating. As a result, it feels to me very stale. It makes it even more infuriating when there are so many instruments playing, blending elements of rock (like electric guitar and bass) and folk (like the various violins, the mandolin and the flute) and none of them are able to capture my attention. Not that they sound bad, just they don't do anything for me.

I hear they got criticized for changing their sound for this album. But having never heard them previously, I don’t know what they sounded like before, and I do know that I like this sound. This is traditional-but-tough-sounding Irish-derived music without a single reference to the bathetic “Danny Boy”. What’s not to like?

We Will Not Be Lovers is a banger, the rest... not so much

Unknown band. A good variety of genres. Good album.

Major props for having an original sound. I'll def throw this on again

Bueno este album lo miré por encima antes, y dije "se escucha bueno" pero parece que elegí una parte muy buena porque en general, no me gustó. Me aburrí al escucharlo, no tenia mucha gracia, algunas canciones igual eran en cierto punto "disfrutables" pero fuera de eso, no destaca en nada para mi, tiene una esencia muy antigua, o eso pienso yo, y la verdad es que seria un 2.3 de puntaje, tan malo no fue tampoco.

His was a fun, fresh album. I enjoyed it throughout and now want to explore their other music. Very good

This seemed very familiar; I think my uni house-mate liked it, and dragged me to see The Waterboys on this tour (she conveniently worked on the Ents team). I wasn't a massive fan, and I remember some dismay about them moving away from their artier sound. However, truthfully, I thoroughly enjoyed this today. There were one or two moments where he went a bit too "Bob" in the vocals, but it's a really good album, conveying sincere emotions. It's quite melancholy, but that suits my mood today. I'm happy to have journeyed back.

I listened to this album at 1 AM while high as kite and playing chess.

10/06/2026 There were a few good songs in places.... but overall, just an average album. Spotify listeners: 2.7 million

Fisherman's Blues was certainly a pretty solid album. I initially went into it thinking it was gonna be a country album and i was kinda right as it is folk rock which in a lot of ways is similar to country music. There were two types of songs on this album, the fast upbeat ones and the slow ones. I do lean a bit more toward the former style but i think that they both have their merit in quite a lot of the songs. I'm not usually the biggest fan of the folk violin that is used in quite a lot of these songs but they actually work decently well here. I wouldn't really say its a super great album but for what it does, it does pretty solidly. Best Song: World Party Worst Song: This Land Is Your Land

4.5 Only knew whole of the moon before this which is one of my faves. This was a really interesting album, a few weaker tracks like on most of the albums on this list though to be fair

Overall: 6/10 At first I was enjoying this, it fuses rock and traditional irish music very well. The biggest problem is that the songs are overlong and there's way too many of them. I shouldn't be checking how much longer the album is halfway through it. Maybe I'm being a bit harsh, but it overstayed it's welcome so much that it started to become unenjoyable. Fav Song: Sweet Thing

Decent and fun music while I was working

mediocre

Ja, klingt teilweise nicht schlecht, aber auch nicht mehr. Nette Folkmusik, aber auch bisschen langweilig mM.

Fand ich tatsächlich super chillig. Mehr Mitglieder in der Band als ich Freunde habe

Dit soort muziek is voor mij een feestje. Je loopt ergens in Ierland een kroeg binnen, op een nauwelijks verhoogd podiumpje staat een bandje te spelen, je bestelt een pint Guinness en vanaf de bar dein je mee met de viool, accordeon, gitaar en drums. En grote kans dat de hele zaak alles woordelijk meezingt. Tegen de eind van de avond ben je vrienden voor het leven. De volgende dag met je nog licht benevelde kop een fikse wandeling over groene heuvels en vale hei maken, laarzen in de modder, daarna in de herberg bijkomen bij de haard, nippend van een meesterlijke lokale whiskey. Het goede leven, kortom. Melancholie, zachtheid, vriendschap, en een feestje op z'n tijd. Oh man.

Folk-klanken zijn vaak vrij uitbundig. Maar dit album weet de klanken zo 'normaal' te maken, dat het soms naar de achtergrond zakt. Al biedt dit album ook wel eens een nummer dat een feestje kan doorstaan. Met name de zang springt niet overdreven uit de band. Als het wat meer lijkt om de sterotype folk-zang, als bij When will we be married, vind ik het eigenlijk fijner. Toch wil ik de drie van dit album niet vergeetbaar noemen. Het is in totaal best een geinig plaatje.

Ik ken the Waterboys alleen van hun ene grote hit, the Whole of the Moon. Dat is van die typische jaren 80 bombastische stadionmuziek. Dit album is totaal iets anders. Meer folky deuntjes van de Britse eilanden. Het doet me denken aan (een vrolijke) Van Morrison, the Pogues, the Dubliners, dat soort muziek. Blijkbaar is dit hun best verkochte album, maar er is geen enkel nummer bekend. Dat is toch raar vind ik. Aan de andere kant, had ik dit album nooit uit mezelf gevonden, want als je iets van the waterboys moet draaien, dan ga je dat album met die ene grote hit opzoeken. Misschien hadden ze dus helemaal niet opgenomen hoeven worden in het boek met albums, maar had die ene hit in het 1001 songsboek moeten staan. Nou goed, ik vind het wel geinig om dit te luisteren op de vroege ochtend, een degelijke 3.

This album is beautiful. It's left me pretty speechless. Wow wow wow

I didn't know them and I had low expectations (when I read that something mess with folk, I get instinctively suspicious). It was a nice surprise though: it starts with a couple of kick-ass songs and remains enjoyable but still a little boring towards the end.

After just a few tracks I was genuinely quite surprised by how much I was enjoying this record. Draws from traditional folk styles without being completely beholden to them, a really fantastic sense of pacing and dynamism to the instrumentals. Maybe drags a little towards the end, but definitely one of the stronger folk-rock records I've heard doing this.

When to listen: at a barn? In Ireland? Unclear. This album was... overwhelming. A lot of instruments. A lot of styles. A lot of dissonant chords. A lot of tracks. I see the vision in moments but not the whole time.

I didn't really care for this album, it seemed mostly OK if a bit over-busy and not terribly exceptional to my ears. But then again, it's not to my taste. I played this twice, and ultimately found it rather irritating. As an aside, when I was a student in Edinburgh in the mid to late 1970s, every billboard seemed to be advertising Scott's earlier band Another Pretty Face. Never heard them!

Nunca los habia escuchado pero fue un gran acercamiento al grupo cancion favorita del Album: We Will Not Be Lovers (2006 Remaster)

Interesting

This is quite reminiscent of the Pogues which I really enjoyed quite a lot. I am also enjoying this quite a lot, however it feels like this album is way too long and blends a little bit too much, so we'll give it a middle rating of 3, not super great, but no bad by any means either.

This is definitely like Rusted Root meets the dad singing Rod Stewart in So I Married An Axe Murderer. It's good but feels like a very specific mood to want to hear this. Like at work in front of two screens is not a good environment. More of these songs sound better with a cask pour ale and some good friends around in a bar.

Folksy rock with UK sound

First listen was okay. On the second listen I kind of fell in love. This is great!

Interesting album of Irish and Scottish traditional music mixed with modern rock sounds.

Violon commence a gosser a fin mais overall vrm bien

what the heck is going on around here

Not for me! Fine, but just very not for me. 2.5

I was playing a video game so I wasn't super listening to this but I enjoyed it more than I expected

Didn’t know what i was expecting but i was pleasantly surprised, it was very pretty, i guess its an irish inspired folk album? Side A is much stronger i will admit, but Side B still is very pretty and traditional. Standouts are we will not be lovers, world party (coolest thing to make a self titled track to your own band in an album by another band, best track too), sweet thing (beautiful cover) and The Stolen Child.

2.5

I liked the sound mostly but a double album of something I don’t love felt like a little much at times and the whole thing also felt kinda like county fair music

sin pena ni gloria...

Pre Listen: Based on the name of both the band and album, I assume in order to fully experience this album, I need to put my waders on and get fishing. Will do. No idea who these guys are. Notable Tracks: This Land Is Your Land | Dunford's Fancy - Tied for my favorite tracks on the album. I'm a massive fan for this style of folk music. The sort you hear live in a local pub by chance that cements itself in your head as a cherished memory. Jimmy Hickey's Waltz - Another highlight, not quite my favorite due to the slower tempo, but great nonetheless. The Stolen Child - Not a big fan of what I'd call "Story Rock" typically, and this one falls into that. Not a big fan of the refrain, the whole song just feels like a wet napkin. Least favorite track. Fiddle work is solid tho. Sweet Thing - Beatles referenced oh my goodness gracious oh my good heavens. Post Listen: Definitely wasn't what I was expecting. I have a massive soft spot for Scottish/Irish Folk Music, as I live in the Appalachian region of the U.S., where immigrants from those countries played a huge role in shaping our folk music. When the first song played, I got quite excited and went to look where this band was from, and understood everything when I found out. That said, the album isn't entirely traditional folk. I enjoyed it the most during the more folkish songs, and the least when it was closer to traditional rock. The fiddler is great, the acoustic guitar is pretty good, the vocalist harmonizes well sometimes. I'm incredibly torn on giving this album a 4 or 3. I think I'll give it a 4 for now, but I might come back to it once I've listened to more albums, and I've had time to sit on it. EDIT - Sat on it, giving it a 3 ultimately. The more folkish songs were all I remembered after a while, the rest just really isn't as great.

this album was just not my dig but they did do a beatles tribute with blackbird which i thought was nice. the lead singer just needs to clear his throat and his vocals might pass

Okay. I admit it. I only listened to Disc 1. Forgive me. But I will likely listen to Disc 2 because this was fantastic. Very diverse tracks on this album; I was more into their country-sounding melancholy tracks (Strange Boat was fantastic). It felt very country which I’m usually not too fond of but there was something immensely unique to the sound. Very impressed.

I liked maybe 4 songs and the rest bored me rigid. Like a limper version of The Pogues.

Yeah buddy Waterboys know how to rock

Enjoyable.

I liked this more than I thought I was going to do

Im not listening to all this. But it’s always nice to get a bit of Scotch music.

This album came out of nowhere and really blew me away. A bit too inconsistent to get five stars, but will definitely be checking out more by them.

3.5/5

I don’t think it’s essential to listen to an hours worth of average Celtic Country before I die, but if it is at least I’ve done it. Meh.

I enjoyed this

Bien, no estuvo mal. Solo que me pareció un disco de fondo

Background Irish noises with a random Beatles jumpscare in the middle

Well fiddle di dee and slap my knee. What a lovely album. Shame that they seemingly forgot how to end it. 10 tracks too many.

I like folk music and I love a change of pace album. Haven’t heard any other of the Waterboys’ stuff outside of this but I’m keen to explore now.

Never would have heard of this if it weren’t for the list. A fun mix of Irish trad, rock, even country/bluegrass. Not something I’d daily but I enjoyed it

🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑 This is one of those ratings that's an average—there's some two moments and some four moments, and I have to settle somewhere in between. I only knew (and loved) the song "A Pagan Place" from The Waterboys so this piqued my curiosity, but I left with mixed feelings. On the one hand, something triggered a cheesiness reaction in me, and I felt like I wasn't supposed to enjoy the parts I was enjoying because of the twang, the lyrics, or the unabashed scatting. I mean, as good as that jam was, does it really eclipse sort of Van Morrison-ing the entirety of "Blackbird" in the middle of it? On the other hand, yea, that jam really was good, as was much of the rock fiddling for many of these songs—the spirit was high and, as I feel like I say too much in these things, I bet it'd be easy to get swept up dancing to these songs live. Things really began to get grating around "And a Bang on the Ear," which I was relieved was coming to an end lyrically about five minutes in until I realized we were barely halfway through. By the end of the album, I had four songs saved and more conflict than I'd expected, so I listened to "A Pagan Place" again and realized that this is what was missing from Fisherman's Blues: the reverence, the joy, that elevated the already excellent instrumentation. Without it, this seems like great music to enjoy live but, for me, not to revisit. 1: Bad | 2: Okay, No Desire to Revisit | 3: Good, Conditionally (OR Inconsistent Mix of Qualities) | 4: Great (OR Technically amazing but missing the sauce emotionally) | 5: Amazing

yeah it's good

4 stars, but actually 3.5 could be appropriate. I should say from the outset that Apple Music had the original 13 song album so no endless outtakes and alternate versions. I listened to this CD a lot when it came out (I was in college) and always have had a fondness for Celtic trad music. Is some of it hokey? Yes. Did it age well? Some songs more than others. But the song “We Will Not Be Lovers” is a great one

I can do without the extended collectors edition. Overall a good record. We Will Not Be Lovers is a great song. Fisherman’s Blues is a very good song. The incorporation of trad music is interesting. When Will We Be Married is a hornpipe which is fun. Still, as trad playing goes it is only moderately good.

Never really listened to the Waterboys. Long ago, I had a roommate who had a few of their cd's. Checked them out slightly, but it didn't take. I think their blend of folkiness and rock would have worked better for me when I was younger. Fisherman's Blues is a good one, laid back and kind of charming. We ... Lovers is interesting. I thought, "Unlike the first song, this one is boring." Then, "But this one is good" -- and we were still in track 2! So, boring beginning, strong ending. Back half of this song cooks. And a Bang On the Ear -- good one; liked it, enjoyed the extended playing. Even with a remaster, the sound just isn't great. A bit thin, a but muddy. And the piano is a clear instance of the late 80s electric piano that is set to "acoustic piano" setting ... thumbs down. Sounds lousy. Always a tightrope when you have a singer whose voice isn't very good. They overcome that limitation only intermittently. Solid. About half, maybe more, I definitely like. The Van Morrison cover that goes into Blackbird is pretty cool. Unfortunate that they couldn't get the sound right. Evidently they recorded dozens and dozens of songs during these sessions ... were these really the best dozen? Speaking of which ... The Stolen Child -- oh, dear Lord ... were you writing material for inclusion in Portlandia, 15 years before it was created ... ? Holy Jesus. By contrast, Killing My Heart, the alternate version of When .... Away, might be the best thing on here. Good job including it as a bonus track!

I'm feeling big gratitude for this project, y'all! I've chosen my path through the big, beautiful wilderness of modern music step by step, just as we all do. I made choices that healed me, confronted me, got me dancing, got me relaxing, got me thinking. But it was just one path! Even if we look at this big wilderness of modern music through a pop lens, it's still massive. And so we miss stuff! Of course I loved "Fisherman's Blues," the Waterboys' hit song from this album. But even though I saw The Alarm in concert some years before this, I just didn't connect with the Waterboys at the time... and I walked on by. Today their music feels just plain epic! A big band with a big sound, earnestly and jokingly making a big, hopeful din, and getting me up out of my seat and dancing again. So thank you 1001 Albums folks!

The first few songs had me so happy. I forgot about the Waterboys! I like the Waterboys. Then I started to feel like, enough already, Waterboys. Please branch out a bit, Waterboys. I can't say I would turn this off, but I'm not sure I would make a deliberate choice to put it on. True confession: I like World Party's hit more than I like The Waterboys' hit "World Party."

Embracing more traditional sounds with this album the Waterboys took almost two years to finish the album and recorded a vast amount of material. I used to own a CD of this back in the day but haven't heard it for decades, good album.

I want a Guinness and a shot of Jamesons.

Fisherman's Blues And a Bang on the Ear

This has been on my want to check out list for a while. Familiar with a couple of tracks that I do like. Pretty consistant, some somgs better than others, but overall I like the faux celtic sound he was going for. 4 Heard before? Some Owned: No: 72/289 (24%) Will I get: No

Really digging this right from the start. Fiddle and mando players rip. Singer has a great voice. Has a classic sound reminiscent of The Band.

I think the album goes on a little too long but it's damn good and I will be putting it into the rotation.

Didn’t mind it. First song is pretty solid and rest of album has some hits and misses.

Sounds like a less energetic Replacements meets trad Irish folk. It was okay.

It's perfectly pleasant Celtic-inflected folk rock, and I already knew I liked Mike Scott's voice from the "Whole Of The Moon" single (which isn't on this album). But perfectly pleasant doesn't strike me as anywhere near essential listening for a list of 1001 albums to hear before you die.

Context worth naming: seeing The Waterboys live at Bourbon and Beyond — the Hammond organ player in particular looking like he was having the time of his life — gave this record a warmer entry point than it might otherwise have had. That experience is real and worth acknowledging. It just doesn't change what the studio record actually delivers. Fisherman's Blues sits at a genuinely appealing intersection — Irish and Celtic folk tradition, Van Morrison-influenced spiritual urgency, and acoustic warmth that connects to the Americana lineage. When it hits those marks the results are undeniable. The title track is joyful, driving, and fiddle-forward in a way that's almost impossible not to respond to physically, and the best moments on disc one show a band fully inhabiting a sound with real conviction and personality. The problem is consistency. Hit or miss is the honest description — genuine peaks surrounded by stretches where the record coasts on atmosphere rather than delivering the same energy. The unevenness that keeps so many folk-adjacent records in the three-star tier is present here too, and the record player test came back clean: not something you'd reach for by choice despite the affection for the live show. The Hammond player was clearly having a helluva time. The album, taken front to back, earns a respectful three.

I only know that 'whole of the moon' song by this lot but it's not on here. Mostly pretty samey bland folk-pop-rock with a bit of an Irish lilt. It sounds like it wants to be stadium rock but have these guys got a stadiumful of fans? I won't be listening to it again.

Folk rock is just never as good as straight folk. I’ve heard better, and it’s so self-serious, even though it’s good and has some standout tracks. Bookended by the best, the middle I could take or leave… actually, mostly leave.

I made it three minutes into 'We Will Not Be Lovers' before stopping what I was doing to take stock of why I was so mad at it. The chordal cadence had only been modulating between two chords for the whole damn thing and wouldn't resolve. It's fine to play with a two-chord deal ('God's Gonna Cut You Down' is a great example and there are others) but holding your listener in tension for that long is just musical blue balls. Fuck off with that shit. I'll listen to some challenging things. That's just irritating. It got better. Reminded me of a lot of things but I can tell you that Jeff Tweedy, Josh Ritter, Tom Petty and a raft of other musicians I love must've listened to this. 'Sweet Thing' was revelatory. Great fiddle work, too. I'm almost mad that I ended up liking this, I was so pissed off by 'Lovers'. It's been a long week (and it's Wednesday morning), so maybe that's what's up. That this closes with some traditional tunes and a Woody Guthrie classic (basically trad, at this point) is a real bow on things. Highly recommended. 4/5

Love this album, but I have to admit that it's not quite good enough all the way through to earn 5 stars.

A tale of two. The more upbeat songs are easy to get into and real highs. However, I hated 'Has Anybody Here Seen Hank?' That's when I really started to feel like it should end and "Am I stuck in an Irish purgatory pub?" A similar theme with a lot of these albums is they end up going on far too long.

Meh

no es mi tipo pero definitivamente veo por qué ha sido seleccionado, lo importante que es por su sonido tradicional escocés e irlandés.

I thought this was going to be decent at moments early in, but it just got more and more boring

Great.. 10 members, a mandolin, and an accordion. I could tell from the picture on the cover that I was going to hate this. I was right.

I tell you one person who’s never sad when he’s fishing. Len Houmous from Houmous & Chutney 2.6 5/22 Sweet Thing

I kind of love this.

Didn’t like the first track, rest of the album was way better than I expected. Absolutely loved the second track.

Day 35 — The Waterboys — Fisherman's Blues (1988) Listened: May 3–7, 2026 Genre: Celtic Rock / Folk Rock / Roots Rock Vibe: Joyful and spiritually alive — Irish folk instrumentation crashing into rock energy with pure celebratory abandon. Highlights: • Fisherman's Blues • We Will Not Be Lovers ★ World Party (Extended Version) • Carolan's Welcome • Soon as I Get Home Impression: Enjoyed it but had to be in the right mood — during a stressful week it could feel like too much energy. Different listens hit differently. When it clicked the raw Celtic energy and layered fiddle work were genuinely joyful. A grower that rewards patience. Rating: 3.4/5 Keep songs? Yes Revisit album? Yes

This is good stuff. I'd never heard of, or didn't recognise this band to begin with, but everyone has heard Whole of the Moon. That song isn't on this album though. I am enjoying the tunes and I'm heading towards a 4/5 so far. Some of the songs are maybe a bit too long and start outstaying their welcome, but not hugely.

I found this one to have a really strong start, I think the very pure traditional sounding Celtic folk music was actually really cool. However, after having listened through most of it, I was starting to get a little bit bored with its sound and style. Like it's cool to have such a traditional style for a whole album like that, but it is very much literally the only thing the album has to offer. It was still a really cool album overall, I just think that it really could have benefited from either just being shorter or trying to implement a wider pallet of sounds.

This starts off incredibly strong, two songs in, it feels like I’ve stumbled onto a hidden 5/5. But it definitely loses steam as it leans more into the traditional sound. Like a lot of double albums, it suffers from having too much mid-tier material. Trim it down to a single album, and it could’ve been great. “We Will Not Be Lovers” is the standout for me.

Not exactly revolutionary. Nobody's claiming that (I hope). The real question is, does Fisherman's Blues really qualify to be in a list of the 1001 best, most influential records of all time? Well... No. Not at all. Wikipedia, in their overview, describes the album as "abandoning their earlier grandiose rock sound for a mixture of traditional Irish music, traditional Scottish music, country music, and rock and roll." And then goes on to act all shocked when many critics and fans disliked the change. Retrospective music can be very good – take 80s-inspired albums like Simulation Theory and After Hours, or the sparkling Billy Joel-penned An Innocent Man. For genres that have existed for significantly longer than 80s synth-pop or 50s doo-wop/Motown – I'm talking hundreds of years old, at least – there's less of an excuse. I'm not saying the fiddles and Celt-ish melodies/harmonies are bad. They just take away from how "impressive" of a piece of art the album can be. Onto the good stuff. The mixing of old and new, particularly with regard to instrument choices, makes up for a lot of my grievance. The vocals are pretty strong, taking a sort of indie-hard-rock approach that accompanies the guitars and drums nicely. None of the above mesh particularly well with the fiddles, but what can you do? If we don't include a fiddle, how will the audiences perceive our pure goofiness and whimsy, our willingness to go against the musical grain? Four non-prog tracks, each lasting 7 minutes or longer, really start to test my patience. Relatedly, the best tracks are the shortest ones, excluding Jimmy Hickey's Waltz, which is just bizarre and impossible to get into. The extremely scattered applause at the end can't be helpful. Sweet Thing is probably the closest we have to true "prog", but I use heavy quotation marks here, because really it's just all over the place. At one point the lead singer breaks into a terrible rendition of Blackbird. I begrudgingly enjoy the jaunty And A Bang On The Ear, but that's despite its length rather than because of it. I'm between a 2 and a 3. The large amount of dead space in the album lowers it to a 2 for me. 3/5 Key tracks: Fisherman's Blues, World Party, When Will We Be Married

Very Irish very excellent

Enjoyed this more than I expected! Especially the first two songs. They have a really cool sound and I love the traditional Irish influences. It’s a long album and dragged a bit, but would revisit a few songs. Top Songs: Fisherman’s Blues, We Will Not Be Lovers

Very cool traditional-modern folk rock combination, performed with a lot of energy and passion. Must-listen #338

This thing was fucking incredible man. Sweet Thing reminded me a lot of Paul Kelly, or some other old Australian indie/folk artist. Speaking of which, in And a Bang On The Door - 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺 AUSTRALIA MENTIONED??? 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺 RAHHHHHHHHGHGHHHHHHH 🦘🦘🦘🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺

Absolutely amazing title track, the first half of this was very good but I don't know if I was ready for an entire hour of folk music. Highlights: Fisherman's Blues

the Waterboys were known, at first, for an anthemic large-scale post-punk sound that would become known (via one of their own song titles) as "big music"; Fisherman's Blues marks a pretty significant change from that sound, toning down the stadium-ready tunes for a slightly more intimate (but still "big") sound heavily inspired by Celtic folk music. the use of fiddling and mandolins is especially on-point, and the stripped-back percussion gives these songs some great breathing room, especially on the B-side. I also appreciate that this album manages to mostly avoid that reverb-heavy 80s production which preserves so many albums from this decade like time capsules. decent 7/10.

Too much Irish sound.

It sounded good and all, but 22 songs is a LOT of song to listen to on a weeknight.

Very Irish, solid folk rock.

It was fine.

Lidt lang for et ret gimmicky album men jeg syntes den var rigtig god

Har hørt en anden Waterboys plade som jeg bedre kunne lide, og blev lidt overrasket da jeg fandt ud af at jeg ikke havde hørt den pga listen. Oh well! Synes stadig det her var fed, kan generelt rigtig godt lide deres lyd, men det blev liiidt for keltisk en gang imellem

The fusion of genres/sound was fun for a few song, but got a bit much.

Sorry, but I don’t like this kind of music.

It's rock with a celtic bent and it sounds OK but nothing special. Some of the songs are too jammy and don't know when to quit (e.g. "We Will Not Be Lovers" and the final track "Soon as I Get Home").

If this album had maintained the level of the first two songs, it would have been a 4, but most of the rest of the album didn't quite hit those highs as either traditional Irish fare or arena rock.

Maybe my expectations were low but was surprised to enjoy this as much as I did. The first two songs start off pretty darn strong with a nice mix between folk and rock that brought to mind bands like the Moondoggies, Lord Huron and Cave Singers. Things fell off a bit when they tried to rock harder on 'World Party' but things stayed pretty consistently enjoyable with a few pleasant instrumental tracks thrown in. Maybe a high 3, low 4 kind of situation but grading up given this exceeded my expectations.

A fun album, some songs really make me appreciate it. It gives me the feeling of spending a summer at countryside and the time passing really slow 3/5

Those who do not like this music lack a soul-and probably a heart. Lyrical and beautiful—moves me to tears at sixty as easily as it did when it came out and I was twenty two.

Better than I was expecting

this better not be a surrealistic pillow (jefferson airplane) situation where the instrumentation depicted on the cover is not in fact prominent in the album. i do believe the children these days call that catfishing. ok it's definitely a little rocky, but has distinct folk elements (that fiddle [is a british fiddle still called a fiddle?]). also 'tis british! once again i am beseeching spotify to allow us to listen to the original release i don't want the remastered extended album i was surprisingly... not a huge fan. it was fine. not better, not worse. british folk should be right up my alley (i.e., five leaves left [nick drake]), but this just sounds too produced and polished and like country rock with a fiddle??? the second-last track with the spoken word in a good gaelic accent had a good thing going, tho. wish the whole album was like that. average 3/5.

Good.

epic as hell, this would be a 9/10 if i could give half stars

Not for me. Just kinda meh. Way too long. A LOT of fiddle. "We Will Not Be Lovers" was the only one I sort of enjoyed.

Alright. That was pleasant. I didn't have high expectations going into this, but I was pleasantly surprised by how heartfelt this was. Fisherman's Blues is a late-80s Celtic folk album, and I don't really have any experience with late-80s Celtic folk albums. I do now though, and my experience with this album was positive. Well, I guess I should start with the one thing that doesn't always work for me, that being the singing. It works well on some songs, but not on others. Mike Scott's voice isn't my favorite, but it's not bad. However, while my opinions on the vocals are mixed, my opinion on the writing and music is undeniably positive. This is just a super nice album. The music here is rich and delightful. There are a ton of instruments here. You've got strings, guitars, some horns I think, and I'm pretty sure there's an accordion for some parts. Oh and the bass is really good too. This is the kind of music that just makes me feel happy, you know? Of course, the writing isn't all happy. You've got some tenderness in the writing, with there being a good amount of love songs here. Honestly, they're all good. I especially love the opening two songs, those being the title track and "We Will Not Be Lovers." Good stuff. The album is a bit too long, but I can't complain that much when the music is as good as it is. So, yeah. The Waterboys are good. Who would've thought? This isn't a perfect album at all, but I got a good deal of enjoyment out of this. I recommend it. Low 4/5.

Day833 - one of the more underrated bands i’ve discovered in the last few years. i’m loving this one. we will not be lovers is added straight to the library

3.0 2x

I was expecting to dislike this at first as a long folk/country rock style album (from a Scottish group???) but it ended up being alright. Still not really my type of music and definitely some songs I wasn't keen on but overall pleasant as background music.

kinda bland with only one notable song, didnt finish

The first song I really liked. The rest is more boring stuff. Not unpleasant, but forgetable. 2,5/5.

I remember fisherman’s blues as being a cross between indie pop and Irish folk - and was surprised this album is more Van Morrison than the wonder stuff

buenas cuerdas