The Waterboys “This Is The Sea” 1985. Today, December 14th, is the birthday of The Waterboys’ founder Mike Scott (b. 1958). This Is The Sea was the band’s third album release and its most successful, peaking at #37 on the UK charts and the single “The Whole of the Moon” reached #28.

Celtic-folk-alt-rock, the album falls on the “epic” spectrum, similar to vast-spaces sound of bands like U2 but with more wind (trumpets – nod to the obvious in “Trumpets” – and saxophone) and water (”This is the Sea”). Scott’s lyrics and vocals are urgent and the combination of it all kind of sums up Ireland in the 1980s.