Few bands have changed as much as The Waterboys. Formed in 1983, on their first three albums the band sculpted a layered post-punk sound, culminating in 1985’s sky-scraping This is the Sea. Since then the music has never ceased to evolve, from the hugely influential mix of Celtic folk, gospel, country and rock on the classic Fisherman’s Blues (1988), to the New York guitar sounds of Dream Harder (1993), the agitated Millennial sonic exploration of A Rock in the Weary Land (2000), the fired-up poetic passion of An Appointment with Mr Yeats (2011) and culminating in the freewheeling rock 'n' roll of Modern Blues (2015).

"Fisherman’s Blues was made in 1986-88, a period when third generation rock musicians, having learned their trade listening to 1960s and ‘70s pop or rock music, and finding themselves remote from the original roots of rock itself, went in search of a deeper resonance, a deeper grounding. This impulse runs through the Waterboys’ Fisherman’s Blues era like a shining, winding path, and the Fisherman’s Blues music is an expression of our journey from rock to roots; from ‘We Will Not Be Lovers’ to ‘The Stolen Child’, with a hundred songs between.

"This journey began with a confluence of events in late 1985. At that point I’d taken the broad, symphonic sound of the first three Waterboys albums (released in 1983-85) as far as I could. Frustrated that I couldn’t reproduce the sound on stage, and seeking new musical roads to travel, I’d started to listen to country, folk and old-style gospel music, envying their simplicity and purity. I was excited by the possibilities of writing and playing these different kinds of music, and by the liberating prospect of departing from the repeat-formula-for-success script that managers, agents, record companies, journalists and even fans were devising for me.

"Right on cue, we were joined by Irish fiddler extraordinaire Steve Wickham, an intuitive musician equally at home playing rock, country, blues or folk music. We quickly discovered that with Anthony Thistlethwaite partnering Steve’s fiddle and my guitar with his mandolin, we could play our own open-horizoned style of acoustic roots music. At the start of 1986 I went to stay with Steve in Dublin for a week, and ended up living in Ireland for years. This land - rich with music, poetry, artistic tradition and an extra quality I can only describe as a freedom of the imagination - provided the fertile ground for the explorations which followed.

"So if ‘Fisherman’s Blues’ has a message to impart other than the pure expression of the music itself, it is this: music is music, and no musician or band need be limited to any genre; all are fair territory for the questing musical explorer; British and Irish music need not be divorced from its own roots to be relevant; if it is in tune with its own deep sense of identity, music can have - and can transmit - more power and more cultural, mythical and practical resonance. In this spirit, ‘Fisherman’s Blues’ and all the Waterboys music that has followed it admits of no barrier or categorisation, and is built on the mighty foundation rock of the Celtic soul." - Mike Scott

Track Listing:
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