The Blue Nile: C or D?

so uh......

does Mid Air not have its own thread?

It should, it is the third best album of Paul buchanan songs and a rare inhabitant of the same zone as the Mark Hollis album

Wait what, how did I miss the existence of this for five years?! And comparisons to 'Mark Holis,' which might have been my favorite Talk Talk record over the last 16 years? Oh, goodness. . .

And, at the suggestion of a couple folks upthread and your positive response, I finished a direct sequel to 'The Dawning' mix (for which The Blue Nile were the keystone and catalyst). Blue Nile isn't on there themselves, but I'd like to imagine their influence is, and certainly their spirit. Moving the period forward a few years to '85-'95, going a little deeper into the dream state--I gotta say I'm really pleased with how it turned out and I hope you guys will be, too.

https://musicophilia.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/musicophilia_00_various_-_evensong_1985-1995_2017_cover.jpg?w=1536

'Evensong' (1985-1995)

Part I

01 [00:00] It’s Immaterial – New Brighton” (Song, 1990)
02 [05:31] Tears for Fears – “The Working Hour” (Songs From the Big Chair, 1985)
03 [12:06] Tortoise – “His Second Story Island” (Tortoise, 1994)
04 [14:14] Michael Brook & Pieter Nooten – “Searching” (Sleeps With the Fishes, 1987)
05 [17:07] Shelleyan Orphan – “One Hundred Hands” (Helleborine, 1987)
06 [21:29] Stina Nordenstam – “A Walk In the Park” (Memories of a Color, 1991)
07 [24:54] Sade – “Pearls” (Love Deluxe, 1992)
08 [29:38] Massive Attack – “Protection” (Protection, 1994)
09 [37:26] The Cure – “The Same Deep Water As You” (Disintegration, 1989)
10 [46:19] Depche Mode- “Waiting For the Night” (Violator, 1990)

Part II

11 [52:41] Evelyn Glennie – “Light in Darkness” (Light In Darkness, 1991)
12 [55:59] R.E.M. – “Sweetness Follows” (Automatic For the People, 1992)
13 [60:21] The Innocence Mission – “Medjugorje” (The Innocence Mission, 1989)
14 [61:53] Disco Inferno – “Second Language” (Second Language EP, 1994)
15 [66:52] Slowdive – “Rutti” (Pygmalion, 1995)
16 [76:53] Rain Tree Crow – “Cries and Whispers” (Rain Tree Crow, 1991)
17 [79:26] Bark Psychosis – “Pendulum Man” (Hex, 1994)
18 [82:37] Peter Gabriel – “Mercy Street” (So, 1986)
19 [88:27] Low – “Sunshine” (I Could Live In Hope, 1994)
20 [91:35] Portishead – “Roads” (Dummy, 1994)
21 [96:44] Hector Zazou & Bjork – “Visur Vatnsenda-Rosu” (Songs From the Cold Seas, 1994)

[Total Time: 1:40:43]

Download or stream it here at Musicophilia

Yeah I haven't been at a proper computer yet this weekend but I can't wait to download your new mix!

04 [14:14] Michael Brook & Pieter Nooten – “Searching” (Sleeps With the Fishes, 1987)

Love this song/album

It should, it is the third best album of Paul buchanan songs and a rare inhabitant of the same zone as the Mark Hollis album

― or at night (Jon not Jon), Saturday, July 1, 2017 3:27 PM (four hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah only one listen in, but highs are extraordinarily high

title track in contention for his best song ever

Thanks for the mix and the link! Judging from the song list, you really captured a specific late-night city summer vibe

does Mid Air not have its own thread?

― k3vin k., Saturday, July 1, 2017 4:39 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It should, it is the third best album of Paul buchanan songs and a rare inhabitant of the same zone as the Mark Hollis album

― or at night (Jon not Jon), Saturday, July 1, 2017 7:27 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Done.

the third it's immaterial album got shelved by the label in the 90's but it's due for release maybe later this year. this track off it definitely has blue nile-ish qualities but there's just no way his voice is ever going to compare to paul buchanan >

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3ivUuv3D04

that's where bark psych falls a bit short for me too. His voice is nice but that's about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6XssIfW9W8

http://www.youtube.com/user/MrSherco12/search?query=paul+buchanan+OR+blue+nile

have fun with this guys

Anyone heard the Lowland Hundred? Little group out of Aberystwyth that it's just dawned on me have elements of the Blue Nile about them (stately, nostalgic - albeit nostalgia filtered through a mining of the remote past - kinda naked). Under Cambrian Sky is a brilliant record.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEX9FeBmkSs

2xp
I was at that show! (Liss Ard). It was magic. Never knew there was video. Thanks for posting.

jealous! i hope he tours again at some point. i'd go anywhere to watch

Wow. Just stumbled across this duet version of Easter Parade with the great Rickie Lee Jones, followed by Buchanan and co joining in with a version of Jones's Flying Cowboys. Not a collaboration I would've ever expected, but it totally works.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_172cffdDJU

^wow!!!

The Blue Nile-scored Govan Ghost Story linked in the article - for completists maybe, but I've had .wav files on my PC for years of the sound cues the three members did for this. Been interesting to hear dialogue snippets and wonder what the full scene depicted. Just an hour long.

I haven't seen appropriate love for this unreleased track, "Meanwhile": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxRc3ecDqIY.

http://thequietus.com/articles/24718-shirley-manson-garbage-interview-favourite-albums?page=13

shirley manson on a walk across the rooftops is a nice wee read

oh man she fuckin nailed it

yes

also what a great set of records she picked

That's a great read. She says lovely things about Sulk by Associates too. She has excellent taste.

I think I was the only person on ILX who fell head over heels for the first Pure Bathing Culture lp. The second one was not much cop, but now they have decided to cover the whole of Hats! Not sure I want to hear Ben Gibbard singing, but the rest of the album might be good.

https://www.stereogum.com/2000973/pure-bathing-culture-ben-gibbard-saturday-night-the-blue-nile-cover/premiere/

ben gibbard also did a bandwagonesque cover album.

ben gibbard, leave my treasured glasgow/lanarkshire music alone you vandal

By the way: one of the things that justifies file-sharing for all time is that I was finally able to get hold of a copy of their first (?) ever song 'I love this life'. And it's turned out to be my favourite song of theirs.
― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Tuesday, March 25, 2003 10:45 AM (fifteen years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Fifteen years later I just heard this for the first time and think I agree: it has a vibrancy to it that they never again showed much interest in conveying. Even the Joe Jackson synth bass is excellent.

it's so good

xmas eve so you can listen to family life

Tomorrow will be Christmas
We'll be singing old songs
And light up the tree
God and all the mercy
And say all your prayers
For little old me

a truly soul-crushing song

I really love this one too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1MN94bark4

first (?) ever song 'I love this life'. And it's turned out to be my favourite song of theirs.

I honestly don't know if I can think of a single artist/band whose first single (a-side and b-side taken together) is more perfectly fully realized, and totally sui generis. I've never heard pure joy captured more wonderfully and without any mawkishness in music than with "I Love This Life," and the world-weary wisdom and old-soul sadness of "The Second Act" is so moving (and rather shocking coming from a 25-year-old). And to think--they got *better* for the next decade, seems impossible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkUl0oeYNLY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOw8SS00Pis

*sigh*

always so nice to be reminded how amazing the blue nile is after having forgotten for a month or two.

Wow. Maybe this made the rounds in 2016 and I missed it, but Paul Buchanan does a goosebumps-inducing take on Bowie's "I Can't Give Everything Away" with an orchestral arrangement that's very unusual and well executed. At 58:33:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRL3QBMBEJ0

(Also does "Ashes to Ashes" earlier)

I adore his solo album and have not heard anything about whether there will be another one. I certainly hope so

i’ve heard a lot about whether there will be another one

almost as much as i’ve heard about whether there’ll be a new scritti politti record lol

xpost i posted about that proms at the time, buchanan's performances are by miles and miles the highlight, completely amazing

i need to try to figure out how to isolate those bits from the one long track I downloaded

A friend of mine took the 2nd half of Rags to Riches and made a balearic / downtempo re-edit.

https://soundcloud.com/marshall_watson/blue-nile-rags-to-riches-marshall-watson-edit

https://thebluenilereissues.com/

1000 copies doesn’t seem like very many? Hats on vinyl is pretty in-demand on Discogs.

They might have a few left over copies of the third one though.

Prohibitively expensive to ship to the states, unfortunately, or else I'd be all over these

Cheaper through Amazon.uk.

Paul, I ordered all three of them on Amazon.co.uk to America. It came to £56.37 in total. I don't like ordering from them in general, but it seemed like the cheapest way and I really didn't want to miss out.

Thanks! That's definitely more reasonable. I'm gonna order 'em (or at least Hats and Rooftops)

this always seems to happen when i'm broke

Amazon.co.uk shows £22.99 for each of the three discs, which'd be £68.97 plus S&H to the U.S. Was there a side deal that dropped it to £56.37?

Looks like they've increased in price slightly since last night. I got them at £20.53 each. I'm not sure how it works exactly but shipping is included in that price. I just put them all in my cart again and the final total is now showing as £62.52 including the shipping. I've ordered this way from them before as it somehow comes out cheaper.

Nice! Maybe they nix the VAT from the price for U.S. folk. Thanks for the tip/reply.