Also subtly inventive: "Rags to Riches" sounds like pop produced by Steve Reich; "Automobile Noise" makes me think of David Sylvian or Kate Bush circa Hounds of Love.
― Tim F, Wednesday, 19 April 2017 22:20 (seven years ago) link
Oh yeah it's quite experimental when you get over how fucking beautiful it is.
― iris marduk (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 19 April 2017 22:46 (seven years ago) link
With latter Talk Talk, they were doing truly amazing stuff on another level from 99.9% of even the other best popular music, like the Blue Nile's first two records (and singles). But I always imagine Talk Talk might've been. . . a little self-serious, even if they totally earned it like few others. So it's amazing to hear the Blue Nile guys, who, while they're not falsely modest, don't give the impression that making this higher-plane music was anything but what basically came naturally. I mean, they suffered in some way for their music, I guess; but they just seem like regular people more or less--in that audio documentary, he speaks like areal pop artist in that he felt he was (and he was) expressing the universal, only belatedly recognizing the specificity of his individual experience, too. Just wonderful.
― Soundslike, Thursday, 20 April 2017 01:12 (seven years ago) link
I do kinda have to flog this mix here, because it was very much inspired by the feeling the Blue Nile give, and I think people who like them would almost surely dig the mix:
https://musicophilia.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/musicophilia_00_various_-_the-dawning_1981-1989_cover.jpg?w=1536
Various – ‘The Dawning’(1981-1989)Part I01 [00:00] The Blue Nile – “Over the Hillside” (Hats, 1989)02 [05:00] Heaven 17 – “Let Me Go” (The Luxury Gap, 1983)03 [09:16] Hot Gossip – “Morale” (Geisha Boys and Temple Girls, 1981)04 [12:18] Dif Juz – “The Last Day” (Extractions, 1985)05 [16:13] Tears for Fears – “Start of the Breakdown” (The Hurting, 1983)06 [21:03] Mick Karn – “Tribal Dawn” (Titles, 1982)07 [25:12] Thomas Dolby – “The Flat Earth” (The Flat Earth, 1984)08 [31:34] Peter Gabriel – “Zaar” (Passions, 1989)09 [35:56] Nona Hendryx – “Off the Coast of Love” (Skin Diver, 1989)10 [40:23] Cocteau Twins – “Lazy Calm” (Victorialand, 1986)11 [44:34] Talk Talk – “I Believe In You” (Spirit of Eden, 1988)Part II12 [50:40] Comsat Angels – “After the Rain” (Fiction, 1982)13 [54:31] King Crimson – “Two Hands” (Beat, 1982)14 [57:48] Bel Canto – “Without You” (White Out Conditions, 1987)15 [61:43] Scott Walker – “Dealer” (Climate of Hunter, 1984)16 [66:33] Scritti Politti – “Absolute” (Cupid & Psyche ’85, 1985)17 [70:53] Arthur Russell – “This Is How We Walk On the Moon” (Another Thought, 1984)18 [75:34] David Sylvian – “Orpheus” (Secrets of the Beehive, 1987)19 [80:20] Durutti Column – “Love No More” (Vini Reilly, 1989)20 [83:06] Kate Bush – “Never Be Mine” (The Sensual World, 1989)21 [86:42] David Byrne – “Ghosts” (The Knee Plays, 1985)22 [89:54] Colin Newman – “I Can Hear You” (Commercial Suicide, 1986)23 [94:16] This Mortal Coil – “Ivy and Neet” (Filigree & Shadow, 1986)24 [99:04] Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – “Of All The Things We’ve Made” (Dazzle Ships, 1983)[Total Time: 1:42:27]
Part I
01 [00:00] The Blue Nile – “Over the Hillside” (Hats, 1989)02 [05:00] Heaven 17 – “Let Me Go” (The Luxury Gap, 1983)03 [09:16] Hot Gossip – “Morale” (Geisha Boys and Temple Girls, 1981)04 [12:18] Dif Juz – “The Last Day” (Extractions, 1985)05 [16:13] Tears for Fears – “Start of the Breakdown” (The Hurting, 1983)06 [21:03] Mick Karn – “Tribal Dawn” (Titles, 1982)07 [25:12] Thomas Dolby – “The Flat Earth” (The Flat Earth, 1984)08 [31:34] Peter Gabriel – “Zaar” (Passions, 1989)09 [35:56] Nona Hendryx – “Off the Coast of Love” (Skin Diver, 1989)10 [40:23] Cocteau Twins – “Lazy Calm” (Victorialand, 1986)11 [44:34] Talk Talk – “I Believe In You” (Spirit of Eden, 1988)
Part II
12 [50:40] Comsat Angels – “After the Rain” (Fiction, 1982)13 [54:31] King Crimson – “Two Hands” (Beat, 1982)14 [57:48] Bel Canto – “Without You” (White Out Conditions, 1987)15 [61:43] Scott Walker – “Dealer” (Climate of Hunter, 1984)16 [66:33] Scritti Politti – “Absolute” (Cupid & Psyche ’85, 1985)17 [70:53] Arthur Russell – “This Is How We Walk On the Moon” (Another Thought, 1984)18 [75:34] David Sylvian – “Orpheus” (Secrets of the Beehive, 1987)19 [80:20] Durutti Column – “Love No More” (Vini Reilly, 1989)20 [83:06] Kate Bush – “Never Be Mine” (The Sensual World, 1989)21 [86:42] David Byrne – “Ghosts” (The Knee Plays, 1985)22 [89:54] Colin Newman – “I Can Hear You” (Commercial Suicide, 1986)23 [94:16] This Mortal Coil – “Ivy and Neet” (Filigree & Shadow, 1986)24 [99:04] Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – “Of All The Things We’ve Made” (Dazzle Ships, 1983)
[Total Time: 1:42:27]
Download:
https://musicophilia.wordpress.com/2015/11/15/post-post-punk-the-dawning-1981-1989/
― Soundslike, Thursday, 20 April 2017 01:20 (seven years ago) link
Oh I never noticed that one! That looks great and I'll totally DL it.
― iris marduk (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 20 April 2017 01:40 (seven years ago) link
good stuff
― niels, Thursday, 20 April 2017 17:33 (seven years ago) link
That radio piece was really nice. Forgot that for a short while they were booked a show to play here, back in ... 2007? What was that all about?
― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, 20 April 2017 18:36 (seven years ago) link
The Dawning mix is now on my player, gonna listen to it the rest of my workday. psyched.
― iris marduk (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 20 April 2017 19:05 (seven years ago) link
that mix looks amazing
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Thursday, 20 April 2017 19:07 (seven years ago) link
great mix
who called this stuff "silk bathrobe music"?
― blonde redheads have more fun (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 20 April 2017 19:08 (seven years ago) link
Well but this is like silk bathrobe music where when you look at the embroidery on the silk it's actually pretty uncanny and disturbing
― iris marduk (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 20 April 2017 19:12 (seven years ago) link
i love how "AWATR" opens the album so abruptly, like a slap in the face telling you to pay attention to the masterpiece you're about to hear
― k3vin k., Thursday, 20 April 2017 19:28 (seven years ago) link
― iris marduk (Jon not Jon), Thursday, April 20, 2017 2:12 PM (sixteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
yeah i think it was more like yuppie ennui, staring out of your luxury condo in your bathrobe, wondering why you're still sad etc
― blonde redheads have more fun (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 20 April 2017 19:29 (seven years ago) link
this kind of music is somewhat like Gaucho era Steely Dan, expect more romanticism and less cynicism. more staring across the river at the city by yourself in your condo, less staring across the bay next to a pair of passed out, drugged up escorts. also the bathrobe in the Dan song would be soft white cotton, imo.
so actually nothing like steely dan maybe.
― nomar, Thursday, 20 April 2017 19:34 (seven years ago) link
no the blue nile are definitely steely dan-ish! musically they're like a new wave dan
there's certainly a lot of romanticism in their lyrics but hats has always struck me as quite bleak. or at the very least wistful and nostalgic
― k3vin k., Thursday, 20 April 2017 19:58 (seven years ago) link
ugh this mix is so good. this is basically my favorite vein of music at this point in my life. this and horror film scores.
― iris marduk (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 20 April 2017 20:29 (seven years ago) link
Crossfade karn-->dolby = a+
Flat earth was my favorite album in 8th grade and still blows me away
What is it about masterful 7-song albums that year? AWATR, Flat Earth...
― iris marduk (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 20 April 2017 20:44 (seven years ago) link
this music has something to do with a conception of what being an adult who lived in a big city was like when i was a small child
― blonde redheads have more fun (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 20 April 2017 20:45 (seven years ago) link
otm and i am still that child, not knowing what the fuck to do in nyc
― iris marduk (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 20 April 2017 20:50 (seven years ago) link
you're just in the wrong new york you need the old one where you could work in the mailroom and get your big break
― blonde redheads have more fun (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Thursday, 20 April 2017 21:17 (seven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPuj9_94TBQ
It's the balcony and blue half light in the final scene of Local Hero.
― doug watson, Thursday, 20 April 2017 21:26 (seven years ago) link
Also that Dawning mix is terrific. Cheers, soundslike
― doug watson, Thursday, 20 April 2017 21:48 (seven years ago) link
nice to see the comsat angels on that mix - 'cutting edge' from a few albums later would work too.
some sad rain-smudged mysticism from gigi would also fit the whole 80s adult contemplary vibe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsYRfOy0J9w
― del esdichado (NickB), Thursday, 20 April 2017 21:53 (seven years ago) link
I've never listened to comsat angels before this. Total bark psych precursor at least on the track included on this mix. Really like it.
― iris marduk (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 20 April 2017 22:02 (seven years ago) link
the album 'sleep no more' is their real masterpiece and an early highpoint of brooding atmospheric 80s rock
― del esdichado (NickB), Thursday, 20 April 2017 22:09 (seven years ago) link
just discovering the musicophilia mixes this week with 1981 being up for download, this is a wonderful one along with all the others I've nabbed. I have most of these songs and have been deeply in love with this sound since the late 80's, but the sequence for Dawning is really something else. also this: "this music has something to do with a conception of what being an adult who lived in a big city was like when i was a small child" OTM.
― akm, Thursday, 20 April 2017 22:25 (seven years ago) link
Listening to 'Sleep No More' and The Blue Nile was basically my life as a fifteen year old.
― Tim F, Thursday, 20 April 2017 22:33 (seven years ago) link
that was my life as a 19 year old so you had a good four years on me there
― akm, Thursday, 20 April 2017 22:36 (seven years ago) link
this mix is so great
― blonde redheads have more fun (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 21 April 2017 15:43 (seven years ago) link
it bears restating!
― iris marduk (Jon not Jon), Friday, 21 April 2017 15:54 (seven years ago) link
sequel please mr soundslike
― iris marduk (Jon not Jon), Friday, 21 April 2017 15:55 (seven years ago) link
getting stuck downloading "Dawning" (permission denied) - anyone else?
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Saturday, 22 April 2017 14:24 (seven years ago) link
Really glad you guys are digging 'The Dawning' mix--that one has really stuck with me. I only get the time to make a couple mixes a year now, generally; but the upside has been that I spend even more time culling tracks, letting the sound I want marinate in my mind, sequencing, etc. so that I feel like the end result is as coherent and "finished" as I can get them.
Don't know if a direct sequel to 'The Dawning' is possible soon--but there are several mixes that would probably appeal. The 'Heart' mix from the '1981' box-set is the most direct post-punk/new-wave precursor to this sound (the box set features just about every artist in their earlier incarnations). I feel like the second disc of the recent 'Le Monde du Funk '85' gets into a very compatible vibe, coming from more R&B/post-disco/boogie/hip-hop-oriented spheres. Skewing more explicitly electronic and spanning the 80s to the 2010s, 'Circuits' is definitely related. I'd say that the sophistication, precision, care, emotional clarity combined with forward-leaning art is a common strand to a lot of what I mix, including the stuff that's more 70s-oriented like the 'Their Heart had Six Strings' singer-songwriter mixes, or the Musique du Monde (especially the 'Le Mystere de la Musique' and 'Le Nouveau Son') mixes of artful, international 70s music.
I've generally found that if you get the "permission denied" thing, just try again a minute later and it usually works--'The Dawning' at least isn't down right now.
― Soundslike, Saturday, 22 April 2017 14:43 (seven years ago) link
Re: Steely Dan, this from their pre-Blue Nile days as Mcintyre is quite revealing https://vimeo.com/24108742
― Stevie T, Saturday, 22 April 2017 15:20 (seven years ago) link
wow, that IS steely dan
― k3vin k., Saturday, 22 April 2017 15:33 (seven years ago) link
Soundslike - I never really investigated the band but were there any mournful Level 42 songs? They might fit
― blonde redheads have more fun (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Sunday, 23 April 2017 11:42 (seven years ago) link
love this thomas dolby song -- it's like the blue nile doing my life in the bush of ghosts
― k3vin k., Tuesday, 25 April 2017 21:40 (seven years ago) link
thanks again for this mix, soundslike
― k3vin k., Tuesday, 25 April 2017 22:08 (seven years ago) link
kevin you need that dolby album, it is perfect
― gimmesomehawnz (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 25 April 2017 22:31 (seven years ago) link
listening now!
― k3vin k., Wednesday, 26 April 2017 00:05 (seven years ago) link
btw, did we know this?? (from AMG review)
The Blue Nile's debut album has a rather fascinating genesis. Scotland's Linn Electronics wanted a demo track to demonstrate the fidelity and versatility of their new recording console and tapped a struggling local trio, the Blue Nile, to provide it. Their effort was a deliberately disjunctive song called "A Walk Across the Rooftops." To demonstrate the recording equipment's dynamic range and clarity, the song was arranged most peculiarly, with vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, and full string and horn sections all appearing, but never at the same time. Linn liked the song so much that they formed a record label and bankrolled the recording of this full album
― k3vin k., Wednesday, 26 April 2017 01:18 (seven years ago) link
I knew that but I probably learned it from AMG
― akm, Wednesday, 26 April 2017 01:38 (seven years ago) link
thats awesome
― Spottie, Wednesday, 26 April 2017 02:39 (seven years ago) link
yes
― niels, Wednesday, 26 April 2017 06:18 (seven years ago) link
The Blue Nile are far too rare a thing--but that mix was my best shot at gathering the closest things I know. Glad you guys are digging it!
― Soundslike, Thursday, 27 April 2017 02:09 (seven years ago) link
can someone (brad?) give me a list of some blue nile rarities i'm missing out on? all i've got is pretty much what's on spotify
― k3vin k., Wednesday, 3 May 2017 22:35 (seven years ago) link
Look for the download comp 'birthday cards and silent music'
― gimmesomehawnz (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 3 May 2017 23:46 (seven years ago) link
I got this album some years back and promptly forgot--but it's one of the few things that almost has that Blue Nile feeling (in moments, anyway):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4mFypXa-I0
Also,
sequel please mr soundslike― iris marduk (Jon not Jon), Friday, April 21, 2017 3:55 PM (two months ago)
― iris marduk (Jon not Jon), Friday, April 21, 2017 3:55 PM (two months ago)
Working on a sequel, probably honing in on something like '86-'94. . .
― Soundslike, Sunday, 25 June 2017 05:23 (six years ago) link
Maybe this doesn't quite have the BN vibe, the drums are little too busy, but I feel like it could've come from the same era as Hats (it actually came out in 2015).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWW4wySZz8E
― Pheeel, Sunday, 25 June 2017 09:05 (six years ago) link
It's Immaterial sounds interesting, apparently they recorded in the same studio and w/ same producer as Blue Nile. And I gather from youtube comments that there was some dispute between them and Blue Nile because of some uncleared samples?
― niels, Sunday, 25 June 2017 10:41 (six years ago) link