Out now: The Waterboys’ Atlantic Rain - The Lost ‘Fisherman’s Blues’ Recordings

Back in the mid-Eighties, The Waterboys were familiar to college and alternative radio listeners, thanks to minor hit “A Girl Called Johnny” and especially, “The Whole of the Moon” (a top 30 single in several countries).

When the time came to make what would become the band’s fourth and most successful studio album Fisherman’s Blues, singer/guitarist/leader Mike Scott had moved to the Emerald Isle and gravitated toward that country's traditional sonic influences as well as that of his native Scotland.  

Recording sessions took place at various points during 1986-88, resulting in nearly 400 multi-track music reels. Some ran at half-speed in order to pack more music onto the tapes without having to change them. A good percentage of those reels had no song titles on them, only vague descriptions.

Scott pored through the mysterious tapes in 2024-25 and discovered many release worthy, forgotten performances, including never before heard songs like “Endless Store,” “Light Shine on Me,” “Come Back to Galway,” “Man with the Wind at His Heels,” and covers by Bob Dylan, Hank Williams, Woody Guthrie, Willie Nelson and others (Side note: astute Waterboys followers will recall there was a six-disc Fisherman’s Box, released in 2013).  

Atlantic Rain - The Lost Fisherman’s Blues Recordings is a frequently rousing 25-track collection that will prove eye-opening for longtime fans. The unreleased studio takes, soundchecks, jam sessions and more are available in 3CD, 3LP and digital formats. The package includes a 54-page deluxe book with notes and track by track by Mike Scott. 

Especially noteworthy is a new remix and lyric video for “We Will Not Be Lovers” (part of the actual Fisherman’s Blues release) – heard in the 2026 Netflix horror series, Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen. A companion lyric video was released: watch HERE. 

Among the standouts: the upbeat stomper “Too Close To Heaven,” with Anthony Thistlethwaite’s jaunty sax work and some falsetto vocal bits from Scott; a loping, nearly nine-minute-long “Come Back To Galway”; Steve Wickham’s dramatic violins on the uplifting “The Man with the Wind at His Heels”; a poppier “Light Shine On Me”; the feisty take on Hank Williams’ “Honky Tonkin’” and piano ballad cover of The Rolling Stones’ “No Expectations.”

The band also does its versions of Prince’s “When Doves Cry” (containing reverb-laden vocals, electric piano and an intense violin solo) and a nearly unrecognizable run-through of The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.” 

Impressively, Jay Dee Daugherty (Patti Smith) and the legendary Jim Keltner provide drums here and there, while a pre-fame Liam O’Maonlai of Hothouse Flowers also adds rollicking piano to the Williams’ popularized “Lost Highway.”

If you want to read about The Waterboys’ most recent studio album, Life, Death and Dennis Hopper, go to newwavegeo.blogspot.com.

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