THE WATERBOYS Released Their Highly Praised 3th Album ‘THIS IS THE SEA’ Today 40 Years Ago
Significant longplayers from yesteryear
16 September 2025
Scottish rockers THE WATERBOYS, the brainchild of singer-songwriter Mike Scott
released their splendid 3th LP THIS IS THE SEA today 40 years ago, on 16 September 1985.
It’s considered by critics to be the finest album of the band’s early
rock-oriented sound described as “epic” and “a defining moment”.
Themes of the LP include spirituality (Spirit, The Pan Within), romantic love (Trumpets),
and English politics (Old England), while the album’s eponymous single This Is The Sea utilizes the allusion of the flowing river as a life affirming recognition of constant
renewal and regeneration.
It peaked at #37 on the UK Charts.
Kerrang said: “A veritable shoal of musical ideas, held firm by a ballast of keyboard horizons and string tugs. Several songs thrive with life in the fullest sense of the term. This isn’t merely aural wallpaper but a strident, confident attempt at eliciting response; the art of texture and dynamics has rarely been better illustrated.”
KEY SINGLE
Their greatest ever,
#3 in the UK.
ALBUM