mail: daniel_fjall@hotmail.com
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fisherman's blues
Fisherman’s Blues Released: 1988 Rating: 9/10 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 Frank?/ 9. When Will We Be Married/ 10. When Ye Go Away/ 11. Dunford’s Fancy/ 12. The Stolen Child/ 13. This Land Is Your Land This tribute to Celtic and American folk-music is delivered with so much passion that it’s bound to penetrate the coldest hearts out there. Albums like this often are nothing but a way to make one or two extra bucks by profiting on the cultural heritage resting within people’s souls. Folk-music is something that appeals to mankind and we will for always carry it with us. Record companies are aware of this and can easily calculate how the record sales will increase as the buying market broadens by bringing in folk-elements. The Waterboys’ Fisherman’s Blues is nothing like that, though. The love and care put into the music is present all the way throughout the album, just as it was in Steve Earle’s The Mountain or in Billy Bragg & Wilco’s Woody Guthrie-album. Another artist heavily inspired by this music is Van Morrison, and his influence can clearly be heard too. There even is a Morrison-cover included (“Sweet Thing”) which is performed gorgeously, and it also sends The Beatles a tasteful thank you, by including parts of “Blackbird” to great effect. “When Will We Be Married”, “And A Bang On The Ear” and “Has Anybody Here Seen Frank?” are all pure folk, whilst the wilder “World Party” and “We Will Not Be Lovers” brings the traditional music more up-to-date and blends the past with the present perfectly. Everything about this record (music, lyrics, arrangements, production) sounds genuine and honest and even the ballads have an aura of pure energy and excitement surrounding them, taking the listener to a pub somewhere on the windy, rainy isles. This should be regarded as a modern, semi-classic.
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