Fisherman’s Blues by The Waterboys

Fisherman's Blues, the Waterboys' fourth album, came out on Ensign in October 1988, and it's the record where Mike Scott walked away from the towering, anthemic "Big Music" of his early days and went looking for something earthier. With Bob Johnston producing, the band dove into Irish and Scottish traditional tunes, country and rock and roll, with Steve Wickham and Anthony Thistlethwaite in the fold.

The title song is a joyous, rolling reel of a thing, all sawing strings and open-road longing, and the whole album feels loose and lived-in, like a late-night session nobody wanted to end. Not everyone bought the change of direction, and some critics said so, but others ranked it with the band's best, and it became the Waterboys' biggest seller.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.