----
The Waterboys released their 4th album, Fisherman's Blues, on October of 1998. The Fisherman's Blues recording sessions were an epic undertaking that spanned cities, countries and even continents. The recordings took place from 1996 to 1998 and produced an insane amount of music. The sessions began at Windmill Lane Studio in Dublin and lasted from January through March 1986. From there they moved to San Francisco and recorded for a few more months before moving back to Windmill Lane and finally ending the recording sessions at the Spiddal house in Galway. Mike Scott describes the process; "We started recording our fourth album in early '86 and completed it 100 songs and 2 years later. There was a lot of indecision. I got too involved in the album and I lost perspective. We had blues songs, gospel songs, country songs, rock songs and ballads. I didn't know where to take it. It could've been a gospel or country album. It could've sounded more like This Is The Sea or it could've been a traditional album. It could've been anything."
14 years after the release of Fisherman's Blues came Too Close To Heaven or Fisherman's Blues Part 2 (with an extended tracklisting) as it was known as in North America. "Quite how 'Too Close to Heaven' – a song that is easily worthy of either John Lennon or Van Morrison - languished in the vaults for 12 years is a matter for Scott's conscience (and his accountants)" said the Guardian.
25 years after the release of Fisherman's Blues the Waterboys released a 7-CD box set which contained 121 tracks from the album sessions (including all those on the original record and subsequent editions) plus a further 85 unreleased tracks!
After years of taking stabs at creating an all inclusive best of the Fisherman's Blues boxset for my own listening pleasure I finally did it. I pared down the epic 121 track boxset to a 64 song four part listening experience.
------
Part 2 is called Fisherman's Blues: Higherbound
Part 1 can be found here.
Tracklisting:
On My Way To Heaven
Nobody 'Cept You
Stranger To Me
Drunken Head Ghost Of Rimbaud Blues
The Grief Of Pan
Killing My Heart
The Girl Of The North Country
Let Us Be Drinking And Kissing The Women
Will You Ever Be My Friend
Shall We Gather By The River
Meet Me At The Station
The Scotsman's Delight
Come Live With Me
You In The Sky
Bo Diddley Was A Caveman
Higherbound [3rd Version]
Wickham's Proclamation
The Last Jam
I'll rave and I will ramble,
I'll do everything but make you stay
You'll be killing my heart
When you go away
