This Is The Sea
by The Waterboys

Overall rank: 903rd | 1980s rank: 134th | 1985 rank: 13th
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings).(Last updated: 4 hours ago)

Filter

Sort by

Year	Source	Chart	Rank	Rank Score
2026	ExTeaSea	Top 73 Music Albums of 1985	58/73	1
2026	Steppenwolf666	1985 2nd chart	19/52	-
2026	ssteve	Top 30 Music Albums of 1985	28/30	1
2026	Moondance	Top 100 Music Albums of 1985	2/100	5
2026	TastyandTemptin	Top 100 Greatest Music Albums	3/100	93
2026	Juneof44	Top 50 Music Albums of 1985	16/50	4
2026	Johnnyo	Top 100 greatest music albums (alternative list)	55/100	-
2026	Foxforce5	Top 34 Music Albums of 1985	23/34	2
2026	craab	Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s	90/100	2
2026	matterhornrider	Top 70 Music Albums of 1985	9/70	4
		Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in.		300
		Total Rank Score: The total rank score.		1,920

You can include this album in your own chart from the My Charts page!

This Is The Sea collection

Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 146 members

This Is The Sea ratings

Average Rating:

79/100 (from 307 votes)

Showing latest 3 ratings for this album. | Show all 307 ratings for this album.

Sort by

Rating	Date updated	Member	Album ratings	Avg. album rating
70/100 !	09/09/2026 15:35	RasmV	2,602	73/100
85/100 !	08/18/2026 17:20	Leonard	6,611	70/100
50/100 !	05/22/2026 04:23	brent13	2,179	66/100

Rating metrics: Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 78.9/100, a mean average of 78.1/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 79.1/100. The standard deviation for this album is 13.9.

Please log in or create an account if you want to be able to leave a rating

This Is The Sea favourites

Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 60 members

Forum mentions

This album has been referenced 150 times on the forums, Explore the wider forum discussion to see what members have said about it.

From

BestEverAlbums 3 days ago in Chart of the day (#5435): By flamingyesdept

“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Music Albums of the 1980s by flamingyesdept () 1. by (1980) 2. by (1986) 3. by (1985) 4. by (1984) 6. by (1983) 8. by (1985) 9. (1986) 10. by (1988) 11. (1980) 12. by (1988) 13. (1984) 14. by (1982) 15. by by by (1989) 18. (1980) 19. (1989) 20. by (1985) 22. by…”

View forum post →

From

BestEverAlbums 5 days ago in Chart of the day (#5433): By Johnnyo

“Today's chart of the day Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by Johnnyo () 1. by (1978) 2. by (1971) 3. by (1968) 4. by (1971) 5. by (1975) 6. by (1970) 7. by (1973) 8. by (2004) 9. (2005) 10. by (1991) 11. by (1975) 12. (1991) 13. (1988) 14. by (1969) 15. by (1967) 16. by (1969) 17. (1976) 18. by (1989)…”

View forum post →

From

BestEverAlbums 09/01/2026 16:00 in Monthly overall chart movements

“The overall chart is ever changing, and it's difficult to keep up with the detail of what's happening. So, for those people who are interested, this post attempts to show the latest movements - biggest climbers, movers, new entries and leavers for the top 100, 250, 500 & 1000 over the past month,…”

View forum post →

View all forum mentions

This Is The Sea comments

Showing latest 5 comments | Show all 18 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)

Rating:

95/100

From Warnxxb 02/16/2025 17:10 | #307622

A Tour de Force of acoustic guitars, a blasting saxophone and poetic lyrics, THIS IS THE SEA opens with the tortuous "Don't Bang the Drum". The setlist continuous on it's journey with obscure sensuous visions of the now and hereafter. A wall of sound, the release captures a renaissance of Celtic soul and hard rock spiritual deliverance. "Old England is Dying"! (Edited)

Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:

80/100

From mv3k 11/26/2022 20:49 | #291580

Great early alternative rock album, 80s vibe all over it and some great tracks on the first half, the second half is more mixed in terms of quality.

Helpful? (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:

90/100

From Untitled 03/18/2022 01:37 | #282959 | TOP COMMENT

The opening two songs on this record are just perfection and they captivate me every time I press play. The rest of the album follows along in this sense and it really gives you an energetic ride for the full run time. From the layers of instrumentation to the brilliant vocal, this release really has everything a music lover is looking for. There is so much to explore and get your teeth into that it is hard to know where to start which isn't helped by the vast array of instruments you are treated to. All of which are played to such a high quality that it creates this wall of sound which is so overpowering and it completely stuns you as you listen through. This makes it so easy to fall into the atmosphere of this record and really get lost in it. Furthermore, the song writing is phenomenal and well worthy of deeper inspection. However, it does have a couple of weaker tracks but none that really damage the quality of the music too much. Overall, the record closes on the brilliant Title Track which truly demonstrates just how spectacular this album is lyrically and musically and shows that it is a must listen for everyone. (Edited)

Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +3 votes (3 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:

95/100

From

TheDude85 08/11/2021 12:35 | #272446 | TOP COMMENT

It has to be one of the all-time best albums ever in my book. The anthemic quality of the songs from start to finish might be derivative of U2, but that is where the similarity ends. The imagery of Mike Scott's lyrics, particularly on "The Whole Of The Moon" and the title cut, are completely captivating. How many times did I repeatedly listen to this album for nearly twenty years? Innumerable. I was somewhat disappointed with the slight change of direction on their follow-up album "Fisherman's Blues" which veered away from the stadium pleasing tunes featured here. GET THIS ALBUM! (Edited)

Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +4 votes (4 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Rating:

95/100

From TipneyHicks 12/09/2018 14:21 | #226594

Inspired song writing, fantastic sound. (Edited)

Helpful? (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)

Please log in or create an account if you want to be able to add a comment

Your feedback for This Is The Sea

What do you think of this album? Leave a comment or rate it below.
The top-voted comments get featured on our charts, Album of the Day, and the site newsletter.

Best Albums of 1985

1. Hounds Of Love by Kate Bush

2. Rain Dogs by Tom Waits

3. Brothers In Arms by Dire Straits

4. Meat Is Murder by The Smiths

5. Psychocandy by The Jesus And Mary Chain

6. Songs From The Big Chair by Tears For Fears

7. The Head On The Door by The Cure

8. Tim by The Replacements

9. Steve McQueen by Prefab Sprout

10. Rum Sodomy & The Lash by The Pogues