The Enduring Mystique of The Waterboys’ Fisherman’s Blues
October 31, 2018 9:04 AM Subscribe
Fisherman's Blues turns 30 "Sometimes you hear an album and there is no immediate way to make sense of it. There might be hints, small ways in which you can locate it in the ‘80s or ‘90s or ‘60s or whatever...But it still sounds like it occurred in a slightly altered version of that reality, emanated less from the world you know and recognize and more from an echo or reflection. ...These are the albums that exist out of time, not just removed from the trends of their era but seemingly the product of a visitor who isn’t even aware of that era, but is looking for something more eternal."
The song Fisherman’s Blues is one I can’t listen to without crying, so I rarely do it, but maybe I’ll go for a good cry later today.
posted by outfielder at 9:38 AM on October 31, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by outfielder at 9:38 AM on October 31, 2018 [5 favorites]
Great album, and one of my favorite covers of Van's Sweet Thing, but I have always hated how the engineers simply fade out what seems to be an extended instrumental at the end.
posted by OHenryPacey at 9:52 AM on October 31, 2018
posted by OHenryPacey at 9:52 AM on October 31, 2018
Amazing album. My personal fave (for Reasons) is Room to Roam, but Fisherman's Blues is a stone classic.
There's a huge box set of out-takes and what-not, btw.
It's fantastic.
posted by parki at 9:55 AM on October 31, 2018 [4 favorites]
There's a huge box set of out-takes and what-not, btw.
It's fantastic.
posted by parki at 9:55 AM on October 31, 2018 [4 favorites]
Oh man this is great. I was completely unaware of this band, but it's clear how much was borrowed from them by bands like Wolf Parade and Arcade Fire. Great stuff to dig into.
posted by es_de_bah at 9:58 AM on October 31, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by es_de_bah at 9:58 AM on October 31, 2018 [1 favorite]
great great album though I disagree rather wholeheartedly with this bit:
there have been multiple reissues that shed light on other aspects of Fisherman’s Blues, songs left behind or songs that fleshed out the story of how they got to this end destination from This Is The Sea. (Most recently, there was a gigantic 7-disc iteration that dug deeper into the vaults, dubbed Fisherman’s Box and released in 2013 to coincide with the album’s 25th anniversary.) But Scott’s impulses in 1988 were correct. However bountiful that period of time was, he managed to craft an album that was intimate yet sprawling, complex yet immediate.
because as parki suggests, there is a multitude of great great stuff in those reissues that argues hard for at least a double album, if only to make room for Too Close To Heaven and Lonesome Old Wind.
And while we're on the topic of the greatest Irish band ever that weren't actually Irish, this 2012 live performance of Don't Bang The Drum (originally found on This is the Sea) may just be the entire reason* for all of human history.
* As for what's happened since, I'm just not seeing much reason.
posted by philip-random at 10:00 AM on October 31, 2018 [5 favorites]
there have been multiple reissues that shed light on other aspects of Fisherman’s Blues, songs left behind or songs that fleshed out the story of how they got to this end destination from This Is The Sea. (Most recently, there was a gigantic 7-disc iteration that dug deeper into the vaults, dubbed Fisherman’s Box and released in 2013 to coincide with the album’s 25th anniversary.) But Scott’s impulses in 1988 were correct. However bountiful that period of time was, he managed to craft an album that was intimate yet sprawling, complex yet immediate.
because as parki suggests, there is a multitude of great great stuff in those reissues that argues hard for at least a double album, if only to make room for Too Close To Heaven and Lonesome Old Wind.
And while we're on the topic of the greatest Irish band ever that weren't actually Irish, this 2012 live performance of Don't Bang The Drum (originally found on This is the Sea) may just be the entire reason* for all of human history.
* As for what's happened since, I'm just not seeing much reason.
posted by philip-random at 10:00 AM on October 31, 2018 [5 favorites]
Oh boy oh boy oh boy if you've never heard Fisherman's Blues you are so lucky - go listen for the First Time!
posted by parki at 10:01 AM on October 31, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by parki at 10:01 AM on October 31, 2018 [7 favorites]
I still love "This is the Sea" best of the Waterboys albums, but I also really loved how Fisherman's Blues went in very different directions instead of rehashing the previous album.
posted by tavella at 10:18 AM on October 31, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by tavella at 10:18 AM on October 31, 2018 [3 favorites]
I was a college DJ back in those daysand played the heck out of This is the Sea and Fisherman's Blues (my all time favorite songof theirs is "Whole of the Moon"). For the life of me, I couldn't get anyone else in my life to hear the beauty I was hearing. I'm thrilled that their reputation continues to grow, but they so deserved that recognition in 1985. The arc of the music world bends towards recognition, I guess.
L
posted by Joey Michaels at 10:22 AM on October 31, 2018 [7 favorites]
L
posted by Joey Michaels at 10:22 AM on October 31, 2018 [7 favorites]
Back in the mid-90s a young intern at my newspaper was talking about some band (U2, maybe) being Irish music but she didn't get what the big deal was, it didn't sound Irish (probably right) and so on. I came back the next day with my copy of Fisherman's Blues and said this, this is what you need to listen to.
As noted, they're not even truly Irish, but to me (I collect music from a lot of Irish bands, have visited the country) they capture my thoughts and imagination of the place. Not much to add, I guess, except that the Waterboys are the best, like philip-random said, they redeem humanity. Thanks for this post.
posted by martin q blank at 11:43 AM on October 31, 2018 [1 favorite]
As noted, they're not even truly Irish, but to me (I collect music from a lot of Irish bands, have visited the country) they capture my thoughts and imagination of the place. Not much to add, I guess, except that the Waterboys are the best, like philip-random said, they redeem humanity. Thanks for this post.
posted by martin q blank at 11:43 AM on October 31, 2018 [1 favorite]
I remember the bemusement of some of the music press at this turnabout, but going from stadium to folk was generally respectfully received. They were much less forgiving a few years later, when James (the band) went the other way.
posted by GeorgeBickham at 11:49 AM on October 31, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by GeorgeBickham at 11:49 AM on October 31, 2018 [1 favorite]
These stories are weird for me to read at work. No audio here, so I can't tell if I know this tune or not, I feel as though it should ring a bell but without hearing it I'm hopeless. I've never specifically heard or remembered the "Waterboys" before and the song title doesn't ring a bell. I say I'll check it out when I go home, but I don't even browse mf there, makes me wish I had some system to alert me an hour after getting home to look up all the things I meant to during the day.
posted by GoblinHoney at 12:03 PM on October 31, 2018
posted by GoblinHoney at 12:03 PM on October 31, 2018
This album is so singular. To paraphrase Steve Albini, like many things I love, my first encounter with it left me profoundly confused.
Also, really? A SEVEN DISC SET of outtakes? I've not written that much music IN MY ENTIRE LIFE.
posted by lumpenprole at 12:13 PM on October 31, 2018 [4 favorites]
Also, really? A SEVEN DISC SET of outtakes? I've not written that much music IN MY ENTIRE LIFE.
posted by lumpenprole at 12:13 PM on October 31, 2018 [4 favorites]
It has to be 20+ years since I listened to The Waterboys. It's on right now and I'm blown away at how contemporary it still sounds.
Speaking of big sound 80's Scottish bands I just remembered I get to see The Alarm later this week.
posted by ShakeyJake at 12:13 PM on October 31, 2018 [2 favorites]
Speaking of big sound 80's Scottish bands I just remembered I get to see The Alarm later this week.
posted by ShakeyJake at 12:13 PM on October 31, 2018 [2 favorites]
This album occupies the same space in my head as Van Morrison's Astral Weeks - a mind meld of all of the exact elements of the exact genres of music I love best, beaming itself in somehow from some alternate ethereal plane of reality or some alternate timeline and somehow coming into this one. Van sang about venturing through the slipstream between the viaducts, and sang about having "a home on high in another land"; the Waterboys sang about being loosened from the chains that held them fast.
"When Ye Go Away" is so much like the pattern of most of my love affairs that it makes me want to weep - but then that reel on the fiddle comes in and saves me, every time. And "Fisherman's Blues" itself is probably my favorite song. I wrote a story in a MeTa a while back about how that song featured in a moment of what felt like pure magic.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:36 PM on October 31, 2018 [5 favorites]
"When Ye Go Away" is so much like the pattern of most of my love affairs that it makes me want to weep - but then that reel on the fiddle comes in and saves me, every time. And "Fisherman's Blues" itself is probably my favorite song. I wrote a story in a MeTa a while back about how that song featured in a moment of what felt like pure magic.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:36 PM on October 31, 2018 [5 favorites]
(P.S. - that MeTa I link to itself contains a link to a video of Mike Scott singing "fisherman's blues" with GLEN HANSARD and THE FRAMES on backup.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:38 PM on October 31, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:38 PM on October 31, 2018 [2 favorites]
I've never specifically heard or remembered the "Waterboys" before and the song title doesn't ring a bell.
The Waterboys had an alternative hit called the "The Whole of the Moon" which came earlier than Fisherman's Blues. Also a member of the band broke off to form World Party who had a minor alternative hit in Way Down Now.
posted by The_Vegetables at 12:55 PM on October 31, 2018 [2 favorites]
The Waterboys had an alternative hit called the "The Whole of the Moon" which came earlier than Fisherman's Blues. Also a member of the band broke off to form World Party who had a minor alternative hit in Way Down Now.
posted by The_Vegetables at 12:55 PM on October 31, 2018 [2 favorites]
I've never specifically heard or remembered the "Waterboys" before and the song title doesn't ring a bell.
The place most likely to have heard them without realizing it is the Good Will Hunting soundtrack. Kinda like how when I say the Dropkick Murphy's and get a blank stare and then I say, "they did *that* song in the Departed" and then they'll realize they've heard them.
For any aficionados of the album that haven't heard the alternate version of When Ye Go Away entitled Killing My Heart, it's worth a listen. I may or may not have bookended mix tapes with the two versions.
posted by Candleman at 1:16 PM on October 31, 2018 [1 favorite]
The place most likely to have heard them without realizing it is the Good Will Hunting soundtrack. Kinda like how when I say the Dropkick Murphy's and get a blank stare and then I say, "they did *that* song in the Departed" and then they'll realize they've heard them.
For any aficionados of the album that haven't heard the alternate version of When Ye Go Away entitled Killing My Heart, it's worth a listen. I may or may not have bookended mix tapes with the two versions.
posted by Candleman at 1:16 PM on October 31, 2018 [1 favorite]
I still listen to this thirty-year-old album — and also The Church’s “Starfish,” and 1988-91 R.E.M., and INXS, and the Saw Doctors... so damn much good music and fun music from back then that still holds up.
posted by wenestvedt at 3:04 PM on October 31, 2018
posted by wenestvedt at 3:04 PM on October 31, 2018
Mike Scott is such a underrated and unrecognised talent , one of the most proflic and soulful singer/songwriters the UK has ever produced - perhaps his honesty and integrity preclude that ever being fully recognised.
posted by burr1545 at 3:12 PM on October 31, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by burr1545 at 3:12 PM on October 31, 2018 [5 favorites]
one of the most proflic and soulful singer/songwriters the UK has ever produced - perhaps his honesty and integrity preclude that ever being fully recognised.
about a year ago I tumbled down a Youtube wormhole that started with checking out a few tracks from the then brand new (and excellent) Waterboys album Out of All This Blue ... and ultimately led to this playlist (all 21st century, I'm pretty sure):
Kiss the Wind
Let it Happen
September 1913
Sweet Dancer
Love Anyway *
On my way to the Big Light
Do we choose who we love?
Destinies Entwined
Long Strange Golden Road
White Birds
Bring 'em all in *
Mad as the Mist and Snow
Plus a whole bunch more. The * are technically Mike Scott solo tracks, but they sure sound like Waterboys to me.
posted by philip-random at 3:59 PM on October 31, 2018 [2 favorites]
about a year ago I tumbled down a Youtube wormhole that started with checking out a few tracks from the then brand new (and excellent) Waterboys album Out of All This Blue ... and ultimately led to this playlist (all 21st century, I'm pretty sure):
Kiss the Wind
Let it Happen
September 1913
Sweet Dancer
Love Anyway *
On my way to the Big Light
Do we choose who we love?
Destinies Entwined
Long Strange Golden Road
White Birds
Bring 'em all in *
Mad as the Mist and Snow
Plus a whole bunch more. The * are technically Mike Scott solo tracks, but they sure sound like Waterboys to me.
posted by philip-random at 3:59 PM on October 31, 2018 [2 favorites]
Okay, what the heck:
This is the version of "Fisherman's Blues" that I talked about above, introduced to me by surprise by a guy I dated briefly. We stayed in Facebook contact after we stopped dating, and a couple years back he was in a goofy mood and posted the enigmatic question "what would people like to hear today?" and actually responded to people's requests, both the silly and the serious. I decided to be equally goofy and post three requests - all of which I thought that I'd made up and couldn't possibly exist. One of them was "Glen Hansard and The Waterboys jamming on 'Fisherman's Blues'." And it took him only 20 minutes to respond with this clip.
While I didn't cry when he went away, I was bummed for a while, and was over it when he gave me this a couple years later. And so I send him my love and a bang on the ear.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:01 PM on October 31, 2018 [8 favorites]
This is the version of "Fisherman's Blues" that I talked about above, introduced to me by surprise by a guy I dated briefly. We stayed in Facebook contact after we stopped dating, and a couple years back he was in a goofy mood and posted the enigmatic question "what would people like to hear today?" and actually responded to people's requests, both the silly and the serious. I decided to be equally goofy and post three requests - all of which I thought that I'd made up and couldn't possibly exist. One of them was "Glen Hansard and The Waterboys jamming on 'Fisherman's Blues'." And it took him only 20 minutes to respond with this clip.
While I didn't cry when he went away, I was bummed for a while, and was over it when he gave me this a couple years later. And so I send him my love and a bang on the ear.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:01 PM on October 31, 2018 [8 favorites]
30 years! I feel very old now.
posted by octothorpe at 5:33 PM on October 31, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by octothorpe at 5:33 PM on October 31, 2018 [1 favorite]
Speaking of big sound 80's Scottish bands I just remembered I get to see The Alarm later this week.
Welsh (there's few enough Welsh bands who busted out of the UK). I saw them twice back in the day - have a great time at the show.
I have a 750 word summary of peak and other types of magical experiences with the Waterboys written up, I'll try sharing just one of them:
In 1989, I travelled West from Toronto, by train, using a one way ticket to cross the Prairies, then the Rockies for the first time. At this point in my life I had not found anything to match the intensity and confused insight that came with the manic episodes in the early part of the decade. I was willing to get that crazy again, leaving not just my home, but the entire earthly plane behind in a grand psychic burn.
I was successful in this undertaking to 'wear the rings of Saturn', i.e. really became out of my mind, and then I got some antipsychotics to reintegrate, and touched base in a few towns on the West Coast. Victoria looked pretty, and I returned to it after doing a loop up to the Alaskan border. When I arrived in Victoria the second time with less that $20 to my name, and all my possessions in a bag, I booked a room in the Salvation Army, then walked behind that building, through the alleys on Wharf Street. In big, bright crimson two foot tall capital letters, high up on one of the 100-plus year old walls were the words: WATERBOYS: THIS IS THE SEA.
I'm still here, and got to see the Waterboys for the first time a few months back. It was amazing.
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 5:36 PM on October 31, 2018 [8 favorites]
Welsh (there's few enough Welsh bands who busted out of the UK). I saw them twice back in the day - have a great time at the show.
I have a 750 word summary of peak and other types of magical experiences with the Waterboys written up, I'll try sharing just one of them:
In 1989, I travelled West from Toronto, by train, using a one way ticket to cross the Prairies, then the Rockies for the first time. At this point in my life I had not found anything to match the intensity and confused insight that came with the manic episodes in the early part of the decade. I was willing to get that crazy again, leaving not just my home, but the entire earthly plane behind in a grand psychic burn.
I was successful in this undertaking to 'wear the rings of Saturn', i.e. really became out of my mind, and then I got some antipsychotics to reintegrate, and touched base in a few towns on the West Coast. Victoria looked pretty, and I returned to it after doing a loop up to the Alaskan border. When I arrived in Victoria the second time with less that $20 to my name, and all my possessions in a bag, I booked a room in the Salvation Army, then walked behind that building, through the alleys on Wharf Street. In big, bright crimson two foot tall capital letters, high up on one of the 100-plus year old walls were the words: WATERBOYS: THIS IS THE SEA.
I'm still here, and got to see the Waterboys for the first time a few months back. It was amazing.
posted by not_that_epiphanius at 5:36 PM on October 31, 2018 [8 favorites]
This thread prompts me to go back to this album. I will listen to it again tonight. TBH, I think I only listened to this a time or two when it came out. I was a huge Waterboys fan. Just before FB came out I bought a CD player so that I could buy The first three records on CD. When FB came out, I was disappointed that it didn't have the same sound as the first three records. I never bought or listened to another new Waterboys record again, although I still listen to the first three, and bootlegs from that period. I definitely need to revisit it.
posted by OmieWise at 7:10 AM on November 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by OmieWise at 7:10 AM on November 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
One of the few pure moments of satisfaction derived from this life is putting on Fisherman's Blues and getting to hear And A Bang on the Ear once again, for about the 1000th time.
posted by e1c at 9:36 AM on November 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by e1c at 9:36 AM on November 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
I welcomed this post because it reminded me of the time I saw the Waterboys in an Oxford theatre, around the time Fisherman's Blues came out, and the swimming pool where I was working, and the friends I was finally making after about two years of being a terribly lonely Eastern European immigrant boy in Reading, UK, and being a fan for a while (before switching to Jethro Tull because all the guys in the band liked them and we even covered a few of their songs) so this morning I decided to put on some Waterboys, and I am sad to report that it is somewhat worse then meh, for me it has all aged badly, where I once heard the big sound I now hear a kind of selfish pomposity and posturing, and I wonder, to what extent has that been caused by my changing (improving?) and certainly much more diverse tastes and to what extent it was decided there and then, simply a result of the turns my life took that year... go figure. I think Adam Neely's story (which I found unconvincing because I am not particularly attached to most of the music I was listening to in my teens) could be fleshed out further. Life events surrounding contact with any particular music seem to colour the perception of that music for a long time.
posted by holist at 3:49 AM on November 2, 2018
posted by holist at 3:49 AM on November 2, 2018
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So many memories. Now I'm going to fire up my ipod and listen to some Waterboys all day...
posted by suelac at 9:13 AM on October 31, 2018 [1 favorite]