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