On their early albums, the Waterboys became known as practitioners of "the Big Sound," an epic, wide-screen musical vision on a par with the contemporaneous offerings of U2 and Big Country, making them the musical equivalents of Cecil B. DeMille. For FISHERMAN'S BLUES, though, they decided to scale things down considerably, departing for a little while from their outsized pop/rock ambitions to embrace Celtic roots, folk, and heavily Dylan-influenced, BLOOD ON THE TRACKS-like folk-rock. The gambit paid off better than anyone could have expected, resulting in one of the band's most memorable, moving albums.

Singer Mike Scott emerges here as a gifted troubadour, a mode he'd explore more fully years later in his solo work. Where he once spun grand statements framed by booming drums and echoing guitars, here he makes simple romantic observations backed by fiddles and acoustic guitars. A surprising nod to country roots pops up as well, with "Has Anybody Here Seen Hank?," but, in the end, FISHERMAN'S BLUES is closer to the Celtic soul of prime Van Morrison (whose "Sweet Thing" is covered here) than it is to either the band's rootsier influences or to any 1980s contemporaries.