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The Waterboys
 
 

Fisherman's Blues (contributed by Tom Wareham) What collection is complete without an Irish band besides U2? Ah, but which band and which CD? Good arguments could be made for Van Morrison's Moondance or Tupelo Honey or any number of his records. Equally good arguments could be made for the Pogues' Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash, a lovely blend of folk, blues, rock, and punk. And if my memory serves me correctly, and often it does not, I recall picking up your first walkman, when he could have been no more than five, and in it was Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash. The musical genes kicked in early for the you.  Right from the first notes on the first song, "Fisherman's Blues", you could tell this was going to be a great record. Like any great record, the songs sound as if they have actually been lived by the singer, even on the cover of Morrison's "Sweet Thing" and the traditional "When Will We Be Married?" On "Sweet Thing", Mike Scott also effectively incorporates portions of the Beatles' "Blackbird", creating a unique version of two songs blended into one. On "The Stolen Child", he creates a song based on the words of Irish poet, W. B. Yeats. The disc ends with a sort of hootenanny version of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land". Even with all of these varied pieces, the end product is not a mish-mash of songs, but a solid collection of parts melded into a cohesive whole and presented with all the aches and pains and yearning and longing and wonder and. . .