This Is the Sea, released in September 1985, is the third The Waterboys album, and the last of their Big Music albums. Expanding the epic, multi-layered sound of A Pagan Place, This is the Sea is a more ambitious yet more successful record, since it finds Mike Scott at his melodic peak. The Whole Of The Moon is a song which swells with power and feeling until, as it sweeps to a climax, you believe it might literally burst. Spirit, This Is The Sea, Don't Bang The Drum and The Pan Within are guaranteed to shiver the spine and raise the goosebumps. Old England is a morality tale of epic proportions.
