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Too Close To Heaven
 
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Too Close To Heaven [CD]

The Waterboys | Format: Audio CD
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
Price: £3.49 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Frequently Bought Together

Too Close To Heaven + A Rock In The Weary Land + A Pagan Place: Remastered
Price For All Three: £12.95

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Product details

  • Audio CD (5 Jan 2003)
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Format: CD
  • Label: Sony Music CMG
  • ASIN: B00005NUV7
  • Other Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 6,318 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

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1. On My Way To Heaven
2. Higher In Time
3. The Ladder
4. Too Close To Heaven
5. Good Man Gone
6. Blues For You Baby
7. Custer's Blues
8. A Home In The Meadow
9. Tenderfootin'
10. Lonesome Old Wind

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

Too Close To Heaven is effectively a long-delayed sequel to The Waterboys' 1988 classic Fisherman's Blues. The sessions that yielded Fisherman's Blues have long been the stuff of legend, and the bare statistics describe a logistical enterprise only slightly less ambitious than D-Day: 41 musicians taking 303 days in 13 studios in four countries to record 159 songs. Mike Scott could continue to release companion pieces to Fisherman's Blues for some time to come. The songs on Too Close To Heaven are all recognisably of the Fisherman's Blues era--this is the lusty take on Irish folk music familiar from that record. What sets Too Close To Heaven apart is that many tracks hark back to the elemental ferocity of earlier Waterboys albums, especially A Pagan Place. On that score, perhaps Too Close To Heaven should be considered more a prequel than a sequel to Fisherman's Blues. Whatever, one can never have too many albums of The Waterboys on this kind of form. --Andrew Mueller

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Audio CD
1985 was a good year for the Waterboys; "The Whole of the Moon" was riding high in the charts, and their newest album "This is the Sea" was acclaimed worldwide for the majesty of its unique sound, termed by some "The Big Music". Three years later a unique sound would again be encountered on the band's next album "Fisherman's Blues" but it was quite a different magic that was being weaved. Gone were the trumpets and the soaring sax, in were fiddles, mandolins, flutes and accordians.

So what had happened? Tales of Mike relocating to Ireland, of being told by Jackie Leven to "Get on the bus" and doing so -- all hinted at an inner turmoil, of an evolution within the music caused by searching and pain. On "Too Close to Heaven" we gain a fascinating insight into the "missing period" and it's an insight to beat most others. It's a view of a band evolving through experimentation, through improvisation and through sheer musical virtuosity. From the grandeur of "Higher in Time", through the sensitive counselling of "Too Close to Heaven", through the pain of "Blues for Your Baby" to the beauty of "Home in The Meadow" the album delivers nothing that could really be called weak and so much that really moves the listener.

One of the outstanding things on this album is the honesty in the lyrics and the sensitivity of the way the band deals with building a musical canvas around those words -- In "The Ladder" there is just the right acoustic backing, on "Higher In Time" a rich musical canvas and on the closing track "Lonesome Old Wind" dynamic crosswords that you sense just *had* to be there. When Mike sings (to the saxman on "Blues for Your Baby") "Play it for me, for I'm hurting too" you really believe he is, and when he assures the subject of "Too Close To Heaven" that he feels the hurt she's enduring you just know that he does.

But enough from me!! Whatever your musical tastes you couldn't fail to be moved by this album, don't miss out -- it might not change your life, but it may change the way you look at certain things.

"In the morning you can cry all that you want to, we'll spend the whole day weeping. I want you to lay down your weary head, I want to see you sleeping."

Beautiful!

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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
'Fisherman's Blues' is in my opinion one of the best albums of the 80s, and so a CD of unreleased material from the same recording sessions was a tempting prospect. Albums of archive music are often a bad idea, motivated more by the need for revenue than by any artistic consideration, and this album certainly contains some material which should have been left to rot in the vault ('A Home in the Meadow' is a real stinker). However, along with a good dollop of self-indulgence there are some excellent tracks, notably 'Higher in Time' and 'Custer's Blues', which are vintage Waterboys, and the title track,which is quite simply one of the best things I have ever heard in my life. Worth buying for this alone. Stunning!
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Limited Enjoyment 25 Jan 2002
Format:Audio CD
The majority of this album simply passes me by. It lacks depth and contains some rather willowy songs. However, the title track, Too Close to Heaven' is probably one of the most inspiring and complete songs I've ever heard. With the drummers obvious passion and Scott's dynamic vocals it has to go down as a masterpiece in my book. If you buy it for this track alone, it's worth it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
aka Fisherman's Blues part 2
I bought this CD because I love Fisherman's Blues. This CD consists of session material drawn from that same period but does not quite have the obvious Keltish and Irish influences... Read more
Published 1 month ago by G. Eggens
Fascinating insight into the transition towards Fisherman's Blues
In late 1985, Mike Scott went to Dublin for a week to stay with the brilliant fiddler and newest Waterboys member Steve Wickham. He ended up staying in Ireland for six years! Read more
Published on 25 July 2007 by Greg Farefield-Rose
Save yourself some money and give this a miss
I love the Waterboys. I have all their previous albums as well as the Mike Scott solo records. However this is the biggest load of dirge that I have heard in a long long time. Read more
Published on 14 Dec 2001
A Return to the Big Music (Nearly)
After the truly awful Room to Roam buying a non-compilation Waterboys CD has been an exercise in optimism rather than expectation. Read more
Published on 7 Nov 2001
Bridge Between "Sea" and "Blues"
This album reminded me of how great The Waterboys' albums really are. This collection forms a definite bridge between the big music sound from "This Is The Sea" to the... Read more
Published on 4 Oct 2001
A dull selection taken from the endless Irish sessions
According to the sleevenotes the band had enough material to fill about six albums in addition to those tracks that found their way on to Fishermans Blues. Read more
Published on 3 Oct 2001
The Missing Link In The Waterboys History
Subtitled "The Unreleased Fisherman's Blues Sessions" this is apparantly just a small selection of the music recorded in the 1985-1988 period. Read more
Published on 21 Sep 2001 by garion@totalise.co.uk
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