Limited 180gm vinyl LP repressing of the band's third studio album, originally released in 1985. This Is the Sea was the last of their 'Big Music' albums. Considered by critics to be the finest album of their early rock-oriented sound, described as 'epic' and 'a defining moment', it was the first Waterboys album to enter the United Kingdom charts, peaking at #37. Steve Wickham makes his Waterboys recording debut playing violin on 'The Pan Within' and subsequently joined the band, appearing on the video of 'The Whole Of The Moon'. This Is the Sea is the last album with contributions from Karl Wallinger, who left the group to form his own band, World Party. Mike Scott, the album's principal songwriter and leader of The Waterboys, describes This Is the Sea as 'the record on which I achieved all my youthful musical ambitions', 'the final, fully realized expression of the early Waterboys sound', influenced by The Velvet Underground, Van Morrison's Astral Weeks, and Steve Reich. The album was recorded between March and July 1985, and released that October.