Oh, totally misread you then! I'm often a little too worried about offending those who are closer to an artist than I am. New to the Blue Nile myself but liked that solo track much more.
― Evan, Monday, October 3, 2016 9:58 PM (fifty-six minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Can't say I was too clear with Seinfeld reference tbh. Just really, really wished your Lewis reference was on point. And it was.
― the tightening is plateauing (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 3 October 2016 20:56 (seven years ago) link
yeah "saturday night" is the one that i've been most obsessed with, when the strings come in a little over halfway through the song it's just game over, music doesn't get much better than that
― k3vin k., Monday, October 3, 2016 7:00 PM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
yeah I was coming here to say that "saturday night" has the slightest of edges because the string refrain from the 3 and half minute mark is like two lovers walking towards each other on a city bridge.
also it's my "song i would sing on Idol or equiv" song.
― Tim F, Monday, 3 October 2016 21:18 (seven years ago) link
"saturday night" is my vote
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Monday, 3 October 2016 21:40 (seven years ago) link
http://www.primlifestyles.com/wp-content/plugins/RSSPoster_PRO/cache/c9820_Beyonce-Formation-4.gif
― k3vin k., Monday, 3 October 2016 21:41 (seven years ago) link
most inexplicable discovery from the 5 favorite albums thread, never heard of this, had no idea so many people held it so dear.― flappy bird, Monday, October 3, 2016 12:31 PM (twenty-two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
ya me neither
― marcos, Monday, 3 October 2016 21:43 (seven years ago) link
shouts out to my favorite lyric ever though: "in love we're all the same / we're walking down an empty street"
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Monday, 3 October 2016 21:45 (seven years ago) link
god that isaac hayes cover
― savvinesslessness (map), Monday, 3 October 2016 21:57 (seven years ago) link
this album was a big deal in my house growing up. My mother is the kind of woman who buys a CD every year - Will Young, Daniel Bedingfield, Ronan Keating - and her then-partner was a Britpop man who also loved dance music. But they both would say this is their favourite album of all time.
― boxedjoy, Monday, 3 October 2016 22:15 (seven years ago) link
I've probably said this before in any number of ILX posts over the years, but one thing that really stands out about The Blue Nile is the reverent or hymnal quality of their songwriting and production, the sense that the songs are gesturing toward something much larger than the band and their private concerns; certainly these songs never feel autobiographical (regardless of whether they in fact are or not, and notwithstanding the recurrent sonic and lyrical motifs which form the group's indelible imprint).
It's rare to find music so personal, so singular, that is not also idiosyncratic in the strong sense of that word, not irrevocably bound up with the personality of its creator(s). Certainly when I think about 80s pop it feels like a lot of material falls on either side of that line, either deeply personal or thoroughly universal; The Blue Nile's songs feel like a communication from one frame of reference to the other.
Kate Bush produced two songs which also walk this tightrope, I think ("Running Up That Hill", "This Woman's Work"). But only two.
With The Blue Nile it's just what they do.
Which is one reason why the band is so routinely covered by other artists relative to their general obscurity.
― Tim F, Monday, 3 October 2016 22:27 (seven years ago) link
"Seven A.M." because it goes down a storm with just about any combination of Sade's "Make Some Room," the dub mix of Mr. Fingers' "What About This Love," M.E./Virgo's "School Hall," and the Arthur Baker "Rapid Eye" remix of Will Downing's "In My Dreams."
so much perfect music in one sentence
― boxedjoy, Monday, 3 October 2016 22:37 (seven years ago) link
yeah i would pay ten dollars just to sit somewhere and hear that run, and i'm really poor.
― savvinesslessness (map), Monday, 3 October 2016 22:39 (seven years ago) link
Booming post Tim
That reverent spirit is probably what triggers thoughts of a kinship with talk talk.
Also the feeling of longing which is so distilled it becomes religious and romantic at the same time
― I wish you could see my home. It's... it's so... exciting (Jon not Jon), Monday, 3 October 2016 22:41 (seven years ago) link
yep, and it's romance of a religious order, something you walk through with its own weather and texture, a weighted experience. every feeling almost having an architectural significance, as if they were individual buildings in a city you're walking through
a lot of this is in the form of address of buchanan's lyrics; it's never really a monologue, it mostly seems to be one end of a conversation, whether he's having that conversation with a person or the feeling of that person
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Monday, 3 October 2016 23:01 (seven years ago) link
with this framing it's a lot less jarring that peace at last ended up being often literally devotional
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Tuesday, 4 October 2016 00:58 (seven years ago) link
Was jamming "Sentimental Man" this morning.
― Tim F, Tuesday, 4 October 2016 01:05 (seven years ago) link
the last minute of "downtown lights" :O
― k3vin k.
Yeah, this is one of my favourite moments in music. The way he sings, "I'm tired of crying on the stairs" and then belts out the title gets me every single time.
― Kitchen Person, Tuesday, 4 October 2016 02:08 (seven years ago) link
buchanan's latest solo album has some really great lyrics. he's still very much an interesting lyricist.
― Heez, Tuesday, 4 October 2016 02:26 (seven years ago) link
Are you talking about Mid Air or did the new one come out?
― I wish you could see my home. It's... it's so... exciting (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 4 October 2016 02:53 (seven years ago) link
yeah mid air
― Heez, Tuesday, 4 October 2016 02:53 (seven years ago) link
Went with 'The Downtown Lights' but holy hell what a ridiculously difficult choice.
― Austin, Tuesday, 4 October 2016 02:58 (seven years ago) link
i should go back & listen to this again. i remember not being bowled over when tim got me to listen to it years back, but "saturday night" was instantly stunning
― J0rdan S., Tuesday, 4 October 2016 03:06 (seven years ago) link
i am gonna have to think about it but this album has one of music's greatest one-two punches. so much so i often just play "hillside" and "downtown" on repeat.
― a basset hound (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Tuesday, 4 October 2016 03:34 (seven years ago) link
sort of worried that "let's go out tonight" isn't getting its due
― k3vin k., Tuesday, 4 October 2016 04:21 (seven years ago) link
on first listen i think it might be my fav
― savvinesslessness (map), Tuesday, 4 October 2016 04:26 (seven years ago) link
the first lines got me. heavy springsteen vibes.
― savvinesslessness (map), Tuesday, 4 October 2016 04:36 (seven years ago) link
Seven AM cos the last 2 minutes are the best sounding recording of anything ever. so much going on
stoppp, go, stopppp, go, cos i .. doontknoooow
― Spottie, Tuesday, 4 October 2016 06:23 (seven years ago) link
(Saturday Night is probably really my vote but I didnt want to jump on the wagon)
― Spottie, Tuesday, 4 October 2016 06:24 (seven years ago) link
the springsteen connection feels explicit on high oddly enough, it's one of the few records that's ever reminded me of tunnel of love. "i would never" has the kind of stately delivery of "tougher than the rest" and the same melancholic shadow to its lyrics
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Tuesday, 4 October 2016 14:42 (seven years ago) link
I want to like this record a lot but right now I'm having trouble getting past the particularly dated 80s instrumental arrangements/ingredients and relentlessly gloomy vibe. Or maybe not the right kind of gloomy (I normally love gloominess). This is probably a problem I have with certain 80s stylings. I love late Talk Talk and Gigi Masin etc. so maybe I should stick to looking for a way to check out Mid Air in its entirety instead.
― Evan, Tuesday, 4 October 2016 14:55 (seven years ago) link
great to hear this new release getting some attention, thanks Tim
― Bein' Sean Bean (LocalGarda), Tuesday, 4 October 2016 14:56 (seven years ago) link
*cough cough* perenially ignored thread on a v nice Blue Nile-influenced contemporary band that i started: vesuvio solo
― flopson, Tuesday, 4 October 2016 15:07 (seven years ago) link
hayy i'm falling in love and this record is perfect for it, sue me. i think "over the hillside" is my fav now. religious. this record reminds me of the terence davies film distant voices still lives in its liturgical qualities and the production sounds like what the film looks like too i think.
majorly otm
― savvinesslessness (map), Tuesday, 4 October 2016 20:23 (seven years ago) link
hayy i'm falling in love and this record is perfect for it
i got to do this once and i'm guessing few future experiences will measure up to it
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Tuesday, 4 October 2016 20:24 (seven years ago) link
Terence Davies parallel otm
― I wish you could see my home. It's... it's so... exciting (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 4 October 2016 20:28 (seven years ago) link
xp honestly though i am really into this album atm i don't feel like it's going to be among my all-time favs or anything. i.e. i think that moodymann dj-kicks is actually a better treatment of "life and love" as a subject just because it's so much more varied. but as an intense and focused worshipful pop kind of thing this record is super good.
― savvinesslessness (map), Tuesday, 4 October 2016 20:29 (seven years ago) link
I've had this for years and always had a weird kind of magnetic repulsion relationship with it - as if it were a symbol of age and sophistication to which I wasn't ready to submit. It's clearly right in a particular arc of mine, too: widescreen, impossibly romantic, committed, staring out of windows, that sort of secular longing for a bright beyond... Anyway, thanks to this thread and the five albums thread I've dug it out again and, though I do have some issues with the production, well, I guess I'm finally old and (un)sophisticated because it's just about all I need right now.
― Sunn O))) Brother Where Art Thou? (Chinaski), Tuesday, 4 October 2016 21:39 (seven years ago) link
have been devoted to blue nile since high school but the process you just described resembles what as happened to me with Peter Gabriel's Us. It was the corniest dadrock to me when it came out and now as a frightened weak early-middle-ager I find it incredibly moving
― I wish you could see my home. It's... it's so... exciting (Jon not Jon), Tuesday, 4 October 2016 21:43 (seven years ago) link
This album is like a grand expression of tenderness without having the release of touching
― Rae Kwoniff (NickB), Tuesday, 4 October 2016 21:50 (seven years ago) link
^^^
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Tuesday, 4 October 2016 22:00 (seven years ago) link
I seem to run through the chords to "Let's Go Out Tonight" every time I pick up my guitar these days.
― spastic heritage, Tuesday, 4 October 2016 22:26 (seven years ago) link
can i just btw
I love the meticulous productions of Talk Talk and David Sylvian's solo work, but I've never got on with The Blue Nile. I can't deny that the production on this record is great, but whenever I've listened to it I've often found my attention wavering very quickly. 'Let's Go Out Tonight' is a great example of a song that I switch off from long before the end.― pen pineapple apple pen (Turrican), Monday, October 3, 2016 2:32 PM (two days ago)Sing To God is on four, btw, and unlike Hats, stuff actually happens in it, so if you're a fan of stuff happening, check it out― imago, Wednesday, October 5, 2016 2:13 PM (one hour ago)
― pen pineapple apple pen (Turrican), Monday, October 3, 2016 2:32 PM (two days ago)
Sing To God is on four, btw, and unlike Hats, stuff actually happens in it, so if you're a fan of stuff happening, check it out
― imago, Wednesday, October 5, 2016 2:13 PM (one hour ago)
yes everyone is lining up correctly― supreme problematics (D-40), Saturday, July 11, 2015 2:26 AM (one year ago)
― supreme problematics (D-40), Saturday, July 11, 2015 2:26 AM (one year ago)
― k3vin k., Wednesday, 5 October 2016 19:47 (seven years ago) link
let's go out tonight
― akm, Wednesday, 5 October 2016 22:02 (seven years ago) link
I would like to hear a good vinyl rip of this album
― I wish you could see my home. It's... it's so... exciting (Jon not Jon), Wednesday, 5 October 2016 22:19 (seven years ago) link
:)
without going into too much detail i am also falling in love, and concomitantly (slowly) falling out of love with another person, a situation about which i have strong but mixed feelings, and maybe it's just bias but this record seems to pretty perfectly reflect those feelings. "let's go out tonight", for example, has this palpable supplication that can be read from either perspective. it's the only song i've listened to in the past 24 hours
― k3vin k., Wednesday, 5 October 2016 23:46 (seven years ago) link
i pray for love / coming out alright
― k3vin k., Wednesday, 5 October 2016 23:49 (seven years ago) link
I didn't really rate Saturday Night very highly until I heard some of the live versions on Youtube. Maybe that's one of the songs on the album that suffers most from the 80s production sound on the album, which I generally find fitting or neutral on the other songs on the album.
― Pataphysician, Thursday, 6 October 2016 04:10 (seven years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Thursday, 13 October 2016 00:01 (seven years ago) link
I read the Nileism book in the time since this poll got started. Thought it was quite good. There are a few moments in there that really hurt my heart.
― still lists its address as the recently razed home of “Morris” the (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 13 October 2016 00:10 (seven years ago) link
listening to this now for the first time. it seems like something that would reward multiple listenings - it's not grabbing me at first, really
― Treeship, Thursday, 13 October 2016 00:13 (seven years ago) link
First album is more immediately striking, this one is more demure
― still lists its address as the recently razed home of “Morris” the (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 13 October 2016 00:14 (seven years ago) link
^^ had a surreal moment when that came on the radio in a cafe near Sagrada Familia while the sun was setting circa 1999. looking at Gaudi's architecture bathed in a golden glow while this unfamiliar slooooow version of a familiar song played, it felt like my brain was melting.(being slightly tipsy didn't help.)
― ( X '____' )/ (zappi), Saturday, 20 January 2024 12:10 (three months ago) link
Is that a marimba? For someone who nails the late night lethargy of the song, adding that is like throwing in slide whistle or a saw. It's a 10, but ...
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Saturday, 20 January 2024 23:29 (three months ago) link
an aside: atmospheric slide whistle new fav micro-genre
― she fell asleep with her hand around my throat (Austin), Sunday, 21 January 2024 00:18 (three months ago) link
"it's the poor man's pedal steel"
sorry. as you were.
but yeah, didn't know about this cover. pretty reminiscent of his classic sidelong makeovers of burt bacharach.
ofc i had to look it up and it originates as a b side from a uk only single. nice.
― she fell asleep with her hand around my throat (Austin), Sunday, 21 January 2024 00:28 (three months ago) link
2024 - could this be the year the long-rumored complete second Paul Buchanan album releases?
― the body of a spider... (scampering alpaca), Sunday, 21 January 2024 01:31 (three months ago) link
new song — Paul Buchanan - Mid Air (The Blue Nile)
― truly humbled underdog (k3vin k.), Saturday, 27 January 2024 22:20 (two months ago) link