the blue nile: hats

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

good results!

my current rankings SN = LGOT > DTL > HOTP > OTH > 7am > FADT

This album is like a grand expression of tenderness without having the release of touching

― Rae Kwoniff (NickB), Tuesday, October 4, 201

This is a terse, beautiful description of late '80s Bryan Ferry albums.

it may shock Brad that I still haven't finished a second listen.

Alfred between this and Lovesexy you are seriously letting down 1989

Do Blue Nile fans enjoy David Cassidy's "Romance"?

alfred get it together

Sorry -- too busy listening to It's Better to Travel.

We listened to the first two tracks of this last night after I told him "I think I'm falling in love with you" and he said the same thing. He loves "Saturday Night". Also I found a copy of the first record on this trip.

<3

awwww....love that!

aw

that is so extremely sweet map

beautiful!

😊

<333

This album is like a grand expression of tenderness without having the release of touching

it is the sound of longing buds

"From A Late Night Train" is imo as sublime as it gets

― Master of Treacle, Monday, October 3, 2016 3:03 PM (nine months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i am beginning to realize this

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, October 3, 2016 6:27 PM (nine months ago)

this is a characteristically amazing post but i have to say that after reading (part of) that paul buchanan interview with the quietus after mid air came out made me realize that all of their songs are very much painfully autobiographical

"From a Late Night Train" is one of the best songs on the album but it's not the kind of song that I could picture anyone saying is "the best one," hence it's ranking here. it's beautiful but too subtle to completely steal the show

it is the sound of longing buds

― harold melvin and the bluetones (jim in vancouver), Tuesday, November 1, 2016 12:44 PM (eight months ago

btw this is otm -- every blue nile/paul buchanan song is about longing

I need to own my own copy.

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, October 3, 2016 6:41 PM (nine months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

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, October 3, 2016 7:01 PM (nine months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

wow these posts speak to my soul

nice piece

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/the-blue-nile-hats/?mbid=social_twitter

Has this been reissued again?

fucking perfect essay man

there's a gord downie lyric, "bigger dreams, bigger screens, bigger feelings are planned," that i think about a lot whenever i play this album

(been discussed on the pitchfork is dumb thread as well fyi)

poll results sound about right, front loaded album, if there's a bad song on it it's probably Seven AM.

Let's Go Out Tonight is of course the song to cry to, so vulnerable, their best imo

7 AM is a great song!!

whats crazy is the sound of that song could be like ... a 2017 rap song

Ha! Future could prob rap his way through a lot of Blue Nile songs. I can see that.

"seven am" is awesome, "each time i fall for you / it hurts me a little bit more / than i want it to" is a central moment on the record

Yeah. The repeated "than I want it to" echoing off in the mist seems quintessential to the record.

haha, maybe I'll get around to it someday - don't particularly like the bass sound

“seven AM” is probably the only song from their first two records that I don’t truly love. but that doesn’t mean it isn’t good, or that I won’t love it some day

“from a late night train” has with some time emerged for me as the real tearjerker and centerpiece of the album

I'm going through a relationship break-up right now and this album is just on constant repeat*. just perfect.

*i also listen to this album a decent amount when I'm not going through a break-up to be fair.

let's go out tonight and from a late night train are my 2 faves on the record, 7am my least favourite but it's still p great. i really like the baseline but I'm not so keen on some of the keys

Shit got real... I'm sorry to hear that Jim, and I truly hope you'll be ok.

Having said that, yeah, it's probably the best break-up music out there. But especially when you're not experiencing one.

yeah I was in the middle of a breakup when I got into this band, it’s really the perfect music for that. for better or worse...

7 am is top 2 song from the album to me & the one that best transcends its setting

bass sound makes it!!

other being “saturday night”?

Blue Nile could've done me a world of... something, if it had been around when I had my break-ups. Only discovered them 5, 6 idk years ago (in true 'where have you been all my life' fashion)

Shit got real... I'm sorry to hear that Jim, and I truly hope you'll be ok.

Having said that, yeah, it's probably the best break-up music out there. But especially when you're not experiencing one.

― ♫ very clever with maracas.jpg ♫ (Le Bateau Ivre), Wednesday, January 10, 2018 1:37 PM (ten minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

thanks for the kind words, I'm doing well, it's been a slow-motion breakup so I've been through the whole 7 stages of grief thing and it's ending amicably.

back to the topic actually saturday night actually might be in my top 2, not sure which song it would usurp though

sending good vibes your way, jim

“saturday night”, “lets go out tonight”, and “from a late night train” are in my top 10 paul buchanan songs

hats is the record to listen to during and following a breakup. mid air is revisiting those feelings years later

Good to hear it is somewhat amicable, god speed Jim <3

“saturday night”, “lets go out tonight”, and “from a late night train” are in my top 10 paul buchanan songs

― k3vin k., Wednesday, January 10, 2018 9:57 PM (sixteen seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ha yeah, same here! Don't think we've ever done a Blue Nile POX (would be extremely hard)

High from 96 is pretty great, they did a pretty remarkable job of sticking to their lane and not getting bogged down in 90s stuff

my paul buchanan POX is pretty heavily weighted toward the first 2 albums and mid air, and I’m not including non-album tracks, even though things like “I love this life” and “regrets” and “christmas” and “st catherine’s day” etc etc etc are right up there

from rags to riches
easter parade
heat wave
let’s go out tonight
from a late night train
saturday night
family life
mid air
half the world
cars in the garden

It's an infallible selection. Kudos for including Half the World.

Mid Air is a masterpiece. I'll have a good long think about my POX.