The Waterboys - Fisherman's Blues (1988)

I started my journey to adult music in the early 90s. Around that time, especially for a pre-teen boy, it was all about electric guitars. This meant that 80s music with all the synthesisers was a no go. It took me years and years to realise that there was actually some really good music made in that decade. It just wasn't the kind of music I associated with that decade. To be fair, I've kind of started to appreciate that synth music from that decade as well recently, but that's another story. Anyway, I had never even heard of the Scottish band The Waterboys until I moved to London. I don't really remember where I first encountered them, but it definitely was a surprise to me that I hadn't heard about this band that sounded so great. It fits in well with other indie bands of the 80s in terms of the sounds, but there's some true originality with this band as well.

It's quite rare that a band who has gained some reputation by making certain type of music changes their style in a big way, but this is what happened with The Waterboys for this album. Their previous albums are more typical British 80s alternative rock with dark melodies and slightly out of tune vocals. On Fisherman's Blues, The Waterboys delve into the world of folk. They keep their dark rock as the basis of their sound, but combine it with acoustic guitars, fiddles and mandolins. I can see how this kind of experimentation could go horribly wrong, but actually this album became their best one and I, for one, really do like this combination.

The album starts with one of the band's best known songs and the title-track of the album, Fisherman's Blues. This song is actually probably the best introduction to the sound I was describing above. I really like the soaring fiddles in the intro. The second song, We Will Not Be Lovers, is perhaps a bit more typical song for the band based on previous albums. This over seven minute song shows the ambition of the band in a great way. The whole song sounds big, but it still keeps growing all the time. Strange Boat slows things down a bit. This brings out the 80s sound with echoey vocals and drums without much fills. World Party starts with a rock piano that is soon joined by strange string instruments that sound like springs and finally the sound is completed by a funky bass that reminds me of many other 80s alternative rock bands. Next up is their cover version of Van Morrison's Sweet Thing. It's interesting that I think Van Morrison is another artist that was virtually unknown in Finland, at least in the circles I hung out at, whereas he's a huge superstar in the anglosphere. Jimmy Hickey's Waltz is a proper country folk song with just acoustic instruments and people talking in the background, reminding me of a country fair or something. A Bang on the Ear has a jumpy country roll as well, but it takes us again closer to The Waterboys trademark sound. Has Anyone Seen Hank? takes influences from classic Americana country music. It's perhaps a bit boring of a song. When Will We Be Married has fiddles that remind me much more of Celtic folk and no wonder why, since it is an adaptation of a traditional folk song. When Ye Go Away again sounds a bit more American with its slide guitars and acoustic strumming. Dunford's Fancy has some absolutely beautiful folk fiddle. In fact, that's about all there is in this song, but what more could you need. The Stolen Child breaks the sound slightly with 80s style electric piano and a flute, but on the other hand, this song features some of the best vocals on the album. The album ends with an adaptation of Woody Guthrie's classic folk song This Land Is Your Land.

I don't know if there are any music videos from this album, so I go to some live footage instead. The video of the band performing Fisherman's Blues live shows the talent in the band quite well. Also, it's a great reminder of just how ridiculous some of those clothes and hairstyles were in the 80s.

In the recent years, I have made a conscious effort of listening to music outside of my immediate go to artists and this way I have found some excellent artists, not just new ones but old ones I haven't known before. Only about 70 years of popular music is full of great albums, so if you're bored with new music that's coming out, it always pays off plunging into the history finding stuff you've missed for reasons or others.

Listen to the album on Spotify.