No matter how much a person loves music, there will always be things he misses along the way -- must-have albums that somehow got passed by. As much music as I've collected over the years, I cannot count the discs I still need to catch up on. This week, I'm catching up on the long-overdue Fisherman's Blues by the Waterboys.

It begins with the title track, a great song that I've heard by other bands but never by its originators. About time!

OK, to begin with, the Waterboys are a largely Scottish band led by Mike Scott and a fluid group of musicians since 1983 (with a seven-year hiatus in the 1990s). They are a folk and rock band, with elements of punk, soul and Scots-Irish traditional music flavoring the sound. More famous bands, including U2, the Hothouse Flowers, Simple Minds, Big Country and In Tua Nua, list the Waterboys among their influences. Fisherman's Blues, my research shows, marked a shift in the band's development, bringing more of the traditional zest to the mix and abandoning a more straightforward rock sound.

They also bring a lot of talent to the mix, with names both familiar and new appearing on various tracks. Besides Scott (on lead vocals, guitar, piano, Hammond organ, drums and bouzouki), the album features Trevor Hutchinson (bass guitar, double bass), Anthony Thistlethwaite (saxophone, mandolin, harmonica, Hammond organ) and Steve Wickham (fiddle), plus more than a dozen other folks and the Abergavenny Male Voice Choir.

Even with the switch toward traditional stylings, the band retains a big sound throughout this recording. It makes for great listening, sure to suck you in and get feet tapping; a few more listens and you'll be singing along.

Besides the title track, my favorites on this album are the traditional (and whimsical) "When Will We Be Married," the Scott original "When Ye Go Away" and the closer, an original rendition of the William Butler Yeats poem "The Stolen Child," artfully arranged with Scott's vocals over spoken words by traditional Irish vocalist Tomas MacEown and layered instrumentals for a magical blend. It's followed by a brief revised take on Woody Guthrie's "This Land is Your Land."

All in all, it's a fantastic album. I'm only sorry it took me 28 years to find it.