The Blue Nile: C or D?

As I lately said to JtN, I fear that the Blue Nile may actually be worse than I want them to be.

I blame RJG's car.

*wince*

Totally incorrect. Linn the hi-fi systems manufacturer has absolutely nothing to do with the long-defunct drum machine manufacturer of the same name. What lazy journalism.

wow, what a bizarro compilation that would be. i'm off to soulseek to find out...

rod stewart doing 'downtown lights'!!!

I saw those two campish, scottish "interior" "decorators", in a doorway, with a newspaper, near charing cross, earlier, today, and I said something to them and then I had to wait around, so I went into starbucks and gerard kelly and elaine c. smith were in there and so were those guys.

where is paul buchanan and has he got tuberculosis.

the two interior decorators are called justin and colin and I sat next to them one day, in tribeca, they demanded, no, they asked could their scrambled eggs be done a little more creamy, they were a 'touch' dry last time. they nattered and gossiped. scarlet, it's not her name, from river city did too.

one day jed didn't introduce me to paul buchanan but now you've told me that I'll definitely buy that single. I love this life.

I saw them and realised it was them, as I passed, and I slowed and I took a step back and the dark haired one looked up, from the newspaper they were reading, and smiled and said "hi...!" and I waggled my finger and said ""yous guys are famous" and I didn't wait for any response and I continued on my way.

it definitely could have sounded like an insult, I promise.

I should have just gone with fanny--it has never let me down, in the past.

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.

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.

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.

cookie & I are going to see p buchanan sing, at the end of may

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.

hahahaha

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.

In re: Blue Nile, dare I bring up Cousteau's first record, which I love almost as much as kittens?