Most well-known album, still relevant 20 years on.

Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Don't Bang The Drum
2. The Whole Of The Moon
3. Spirit
4. The Pan Within
5. Medicine Bow
6. Old England
7. Be My Enemy
8. Trumpets
9. This Is The Sea

Disc 2:

1. Beverly Penn
2. Sleek White Schooner
3. Medicine Bow (full length)
4. Medicine Jack
5. High Far Soon
6. Even The Trees Are Dancing
7. Towers Open Fire
8. This Is The Sea (live 1984)
9. Then You Hold Me
10. Spirit (full length)
11. Miracle
12. I Am Not Here
13. Sweet Thing
14. The Waves

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21559 in Music
• Released on: 2004-03-29
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Enhanced

CD Description
Released in 1985, THIS IS THE SEA stands as the Waterboys' most ambitious and impressive record. The Scottish band takes the majestic, Phil Spector-influenced "Big Sound" of the era, and applies it to grand tales of the ocean and the countryside. While singer/songwriter Mike Scott's plaintive vocals and cinematic lyrics are prominent, the album's shimmeringproduction also showcases the bold layers of instrumentation and lush arrangements. "The Whole of the Moon" spotlights the regal keyboard lines of Karl Wallinger (who would soon leave to form World Party), providing a nice contrast to moodier tracks such as "The Pan Within", a mythology-heavy song that glides along on a slinky melody, and "Medicine Bow", anurgent, expansive guitar-fueled rocker. Scott masterfully caps off the album with the jangling title track, evoking a glorious sense of liberation while sailing into the sunset. (Note: The 2004 reissue of THIS IS THE SEA includes an outstanding bonus disc that culls 14 tracks from Scott's archives,and features a bevy of previously unreleased songs.)

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Customer Reviews

That was the river. The sea starts here...
I would imagine a lot of people have the original album as it contains one of the great songs of all time, The Whole Of The Moon. This new remastered and expanded edition gives it all to you. The album on its own is genius.

U2 wanted to make music this big but never quite did it with such Celtic leanings. Mike Scotts vision was at its zenith

The album starts with the Spaghetti Western style Dont Bang The Drum before launching into an epic assault on the ears. Maybe this was a dig at Bonos flag waving. I'm not sure. Then there's THE single. We all know it and it still climbs and soars.

Just when you thought you couln't get any higher the next tack is the lovely Spirit. Lucky for us the bonus disc has the full length version on it which is over double the time. I always thought the original was short - over too quickly. Maybe Mike should have put the long version on the original album on this release much as he did with All The Things on the remastered Pagan Place a couple of years ago.

Then its back to the big music with The Pan Within. Very dark but epic. A great song. Mike would always return to folklore throughout his songwriting.

The second half of the album starts with the barn storming Medicine Bow. What a race this. Again a longer version is on the bonus disc. Next up is my favourite, Old England, which with its vision of a crumbling empire is more relevant to today than it ever was. This was a great live favourite and I thought the original band never sounded better than on this track.

Be My Enemy, I know is a good song but I never got into it. This always felt like the weakest track for me. Fair enough, it rocks hard, but it doesn't do it like Medicine Bow does.

Trumpets is the quiet song on this half. You'll listen to it, miss it, but you'll come back to it because it grows and grows. A beautiful song.

Finally Mike Scotts last piece of big music for the 80s, the title track, is stunning. It is a giant of a song harking back to A Pagan Place. Its uplifting and strong in its vision. That was the river, this is the sea indeed. Mike Scott had fufilled his genius.

The bonus disc as well as having longer versions of songs on the original album also has the hard to find b-side, Medicine Jack which is good and the lost classic High Far Soon. A superb song. There is also a version of Van Morrsions Sweet Thing which is different to the great version which appeared on the next album, Fishermans Blues.

The rest are unreleased songs that have never been made available before. As has been the case with a lot of Mike Scotts unrealeased tracks, other song writers would kill to have quality songs like that.

Mike then turned away from the big music for a while with Fishermans Blues and Room To Roam. Both good albums but are they as good as this?

You must buy this. It is beyond good.

Oh I do love to be beside the sea
At a time when the impetus of the new wave had largely dissipated and so many seemed so intent on sanding down any rough edges The Waterboys pursued a very different path. While others slid by they shook, rattled and rolled.

"This Is The Sea", their third album, pooled all their previous ragged innovation to paint a broad canvas about big themes, the spirit within, the landscape without. The opener "Don't Bang the Drum" is an emphatic statement, a manifesto near enough, decrying people's apparent obsession with themselves and reluctance to stop, look around and sense who they really were. They make a virtue of their loose, shambling sound, not carried off with such verve since The Faces in the early seventies. The Waterboys add to it with generous use of sax and trumpet.

Whilst not overtly political, The Waterboys weren't afraid to comment on the state of the nation, in more oblique terms than gifted contemporaries like Elvis Costello. Having said that, "Old England" is far from oblique! Deep in the mire of Thatcherism as we were, enduring the constant sight of Maggie cosying up to Ronald Reagan, they chucked stones in the pond criticising England for putting its flag "where it ill belongs", lamenting a decaying society where children "stare with heroin eyes" and the tendency of successive governments to react more hysterically and less pragmatically to social problems. In the wake of the Iraq War these sentiments are as relevant as they were in 1986. For all that, the album as a whole maintains an air of optimism in the ability of people to overcome their difficulties given an opportunity to show some generosity of spirit. And that sums The Waterboys up: generosity of spirit. Their eagerness to find harmony in discord reaches a glorious conclusion in the concluding, title track, taking you from the river, which carried you in one direction, to the sea, which will take you wherever you wish. Oh I do love to be beside the seaside, don't you?

Bonus Material
I would have to say that the bonus material enhances this set. the original album was stunning, but the whole package becomes so very much better with the second CD of material. Beverly Penn to me is in fact as good as anything on the original CD and in my opinion is one of the best songs Mike has ever done. If you don't have this edition and are a big fan, I can't see how you cannot add this to your collection. I put off doing so for years and just loved it when it finally arrived on my doorstep!