― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Monday, 13 September 2004 09:36 (nineteen years ago) link
― Bimble.... (Bimble...), Saturday, 22 April 2006 03:16 (eighteen years ago) link
― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 22 April 2006 07:39 (eighteen years ago) link
It's a bit sad how much Daniel Bedingfield let us all down, considering the lofty points of comparison he received in this thread.
If I became a big successful crooner I would totally be on a mission to make "Saturday Night" a canonical favourite.
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 25 April 2006 01:50 (eighteen years ago) link
I bought it when it came out cuz i read a review that said that the members didn't know how to play any instruments and were just winging it. it really made me want to hear it. rufus, my three year old really digs it! i've been playing it since i bought it. that says something. i like pretty much everything they have done. even the last album.
― scott seward (scott seward), Tuesday, 25 April 2006 02:02 (eighteen years ago) link
― strongo hulkington is a guy with a belly button piercing (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 25 April 2006 02:54 (eighteen years ago) link
― Sick Mouthy (Nick Southall), Tuesday, 25 April 2006 07:30 (eighteen years ago) link
Yes Strongo, I always want one of the guys on the Idol shows to do Blue Nile songs. But I think they're all too long and full of instrumental passages, and cutting those out would cut out the hearts of these songs (e.g. what would "The Downtown Lights" be like without that awesome Edge guitar climax?). Plus there's probably not enough obvious vocal dynamics.
But I do think it would be amazing nonetheless.
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Tuesday, 25 April 2006 15:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Tuesday, 25 April 2006 15:37 (eighteen years ago) link
― Zwan (miccio), Tuesday, 25 April 2006 16:16 (eighteen years ago) link
cookie & I are going to see p buchanan sing, at the end of may
― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 25 April 2006 16:32 (eighteen years ago) link
Yes. It's on Medusa. The Blue Nile also worked on "Diva" with her. I remember I saw them all drinking in the Trongate with her once when they were recording together. I was thinking "Wow, I'm drinking in the same pub as The Blue Nile and ANNIE LENNOX!". Just then about 100 people came from the theatre next door and she started to get recognised, so they buggered off.
― everything, Tuesday, 25 April 2006 17:56 (eighteen years ago) link
― honorary joy division roadie (Bimble...), Monday, 1 May 2006 00:55 (eighteen years ago) link
― honorary joy division roadie (Bimble...), Monday, 1 May 2006 01:00 (eighteen years ago) link
― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 1 May 2006 02:06 (eighteen years ago) link
hahahaha
― honorary joy division roadie (Bimble...), Monday, 1 May 2006 02:25 (eighteen years ago) link
The Blue Nile leave me strangely cold. All the elements are there: memorable tunes, engaging electronic productions, Buchanan's sultry voice. For all intents and purposes, this is a band I ought to worship — one that clearly many people do.
Yet I don't. I haven't listened to either record in a while now, but every time I do, I sort of shrug and can't figure out the empty feeling they leave me with.
But as I think about it, I wonder if it's something's amiss with their aims. Fans rave about The Blue Nile's "passion" and "intensity." And while I can at least embrace the idea that doesn't always signify Aretha-like caterwauling, there's a def. sense that they mistake simplicity for transcendence, which has the effect of producing banality. Particularly on Hats, which trades early 80s futurism for late 80s MOR (not in and of itself an unworthy proposition), there are moments that must have made Phil Collins feel positively vindicated.
I mean, as craftsmen I respect The Blue Nile — they make a flawless, perfectly executed product. But as artists, they seem burdened by a complete lack of self-awareness.
― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Friday, 6 October 2006 17:56 (seventeen years ago) link
― hank (hank s), Friday, 6 October 2006 18:06 (seventeen years ago) link
In re: Blue Nile, dare I bring up Cousteau's first record, which I love almost as much as kittens?
― Hideous Lump (Hideous Lump), Saturday, 7 October 2006 04:04 (seventeen years ago) link
on the other hand, I've listened to Peace At Last this morning and it made me weep like a child several times. I think I can say I adore that album.
― Max Blazevic (kitaj), Monday, 9 October 2006 18:30 (seventeen years ago) link
― Bassment Jacks (Bimble...), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 05:09 (seventeen years ago) link
― Max Blazevic (kitaj), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 21:02 (seventeen years ago) link
― R_S (RSLaRue), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 21:51 (seventeen years ago) link
Where is My Bloody Valentines band?!?
― Venga (Venga), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 22:55 (seventeen years ago) link
Nile US and Canadian 2007
dates just added
Feb 13 Atlanta Variety Playhouse
Feb 15 Alexandria Birchmere
Feb 16 Philadelphia World Cafe Live (WXPN Studios)
Feb 17 New York Concert Hall-NY Society/Ethical Culture
Feb 18 Boston Paradise Rock Club
Feb 20 Montreal Le National
Feb 21 Toronto Mod Club
Feb 23 Chicago Black Orchid Showroom
Feb 24 Minneapolis Fine Line Music Cafe
Feb 27 San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts Theatre
Mar 01 Los Angeles Avalon
Mar 02 Anaheim House of Blues
― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 27 October 2006 22:07 (seventeen years ago) link
― An evening of fun in the metropolis of your dream (Bimble...), Saturday, 28 October 2006 01:29 (seventeen years ago) link
― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Saturday, 28 October 2006 03:40 (seventeen years ago) link
― An evening of fun in the metropolis of your dream (Bimble...), Saturday, 28 October 2006 04:59 (seventeen years ago) link
good god how did i go this long w/o hearing this band
― gff, Wednesday, 20 February 2008 22:11 (sixteen years ago) link
!!
:D
i've listened to A Walk Across Rooftops today. love them so
― jaxon, Wednesday, 20 February 2008 22:20 (sixteen years ago) link
gff otm
― deej, Wednesday, 20 February 2008 22:21 (sixteen years ago) link
Peter Gabriel should hang his head in shame
funny that both these guys dated Rosanna Arquette...
― henry s, Wednesday, 20 February 2008 22:28 (sixteen years ago) link
god this stuff is just amazing... jess is right, above, every element is deeply suspect but the whole thing just works and works and works
When local Hi-Fi manufacturer Linn Electronics heard their music, the company offered the band money to record a track that would showcase the sonic range of the company's high-end audio equipment.[2][3] Linn was so pleased with the result, they formed their own record label in order to release The Blue Nile's debut, A Walk Across the Rooftops, in 1984.sample (help·info) Buchanan later commented that during that time Linn was not really a record company, and The Blue Nile was not really a band.[1] Although it received positive reviews, it sold modestly.
^^ incredibly loveable
― gff, Thursday, 21 February 2008 01:21 (sixteen years ago) link
paul buchanan has a great ear for melody
― max, Thursday, 21 February 2008 01:29 (sixteen years ago) link
do i love you??
― max, Thursday, 21 February 2008 01:31 (sixteen years ago) link
YES I LOVE YOU!!!
― max, Thursday, 21 February 2008 01:32 (sixteen years ago) link
All this talking - this talking - is only bravado.
SO classic. Almost envious of those just now discovering this band, and really happy that folk immediately fall for them.
Search out the b-sides, too: "New York Man", "Wish Me Well", "O Lolita", and my favorite, "Regret", which guts me every listen. "It's 3:30 and I'm thinking of you."
― scampering alpaca, Thursday, 21 February 2008 03:27 (sixteen years ago) link
Is there a place in this city a place to always feel this way?
― gff, Thursday, 21 February 2008 03:53 (sixteen years ago) link
Timely thread. I accidentally dragged the record needle across side B of my copy of Hats a couple of days ago. Seems mainly okay though.
― fields of salmon, Thursday, 21 February 2008 08:03 (sixteen years ago) link
Please, please, please does anyone have a copy of 'St. Katherine's Day' they could share? It's impossible to find.
― rebop, Thursday, 21 February 2008 17:34 (sixteen years ago) link
"the wires are down" also a fantastic b-side. love this band so so much
― impudent harlot, Thursday, 21 February 2008 18:06 (sixteen years ago) link
actually yeah, where was this band hiding when i was in high school?
― impudent harlot, Thursday, 21 February 2008 18:10 (sixteen years ago) link
I really can't see The Blue Nile appealing to high school students in any decade!
― fields of salmon, Thursday, 21 February 2008 21:03 (sixteen years ago) link
you don't think teenagers find songs about falling in love and wanting to leave home appealing? maybe musically you have a point but i bet some of my sad-sack emo-loving friends would've liked "let's go out tonight" at the least
― impudent harlot, Thursday, 21 February 2008 21:14 (sixteen years ago) link
Original Blue Nile demo, inc. "St. Katherine's Day" is now up on slsk. *whistles*
― Bimble, Monday, 3 March 2008 04:31 (sixteen years ago) link
no i was 16 when TINSELTOWN...floored me for the first time one night. perfect teenage album the debut is.
― pisces, Monday, 3 March 2008 12:16 (sixteen years ago) link
I fell in love with A Walk Across The Rooftops when I was fifteen. That was in 1998.
― Tim F, Monday, 3 March 2008 13:05 (sixteen years ago) link
I have just acquired the first two LPs, at last, and have been listening to them over and over and over again all week. I feel that I am finally in a position to understand almost everything on this thread.
Though right now at this very moment I am listening to early Prefab Sprout.
― the pinefox, Thursday, 11 September 2008 08:14 (fifteen years ago) link
Maybe it's a good thing, that Dot to Dot never did make a cover, of I Love This Life.
― the pinefox, Thursday, 11 September 2008 08:15 (fifteen years ago) link