Melancholic trio's first two albums given sympathetic, but uninformative, expanded revisits
A Walk Across The Rooftops - 9/10
Considering the The Blue Nile are already known for being reclusive and mysterious, you'd think that the first ever CD remasters of one half of their catalogue might offer a glimpse, a small chink of light, an insight into the band, the music, the recording sessions, perhaps even the year the original tracks were recorded. Nope, you're out of luck. It's business as usual with an extra disc of tunes, some rare, some not and an extended array of candid photos. But no interview, no revelations and a tortuous lack of information almost that spoils the experience. Almost.
A Walk Across The Rooftops first appeared in 1984 on Linn Records, the recording arm of the Scottish ultra high-end hi-fi manufacturers of the same name, making this beautifully gloomy handful of songs an incredible 28 years old. It's aged well - the sparse arrangements offset by singer Paul Buchanan's fragile and weathered vocals remain intriguing and beguiling in equal measure, with additional haunting synths, gently pattering percussion and minimal guitar-work from Paul Moore and Robert Bell glued together by long-standing producer and friend, Calum Malcolm.
The travesty of how this exemplary work failed to spark interest among the comatose public continues to wrangle - the likes of Tinseltown In The Rain and Stay were perhaps too romantic, too simplistic and too perfect to appeal to mainstream buyers in the mid '80s. It's more likely that Buchanan and co were happy with their art and preferred to let the music speak for itself - it certainly does that, even three decades on. Much of the album makes you feel like you are perusing a book of cherished photographs - the lovely Easter Parade never fails to tug at heartstrings while the sombre and lonely travelogue Automobile Noise is as perfect as it gets.
With just seven extra tracks on the second-disc, one wonders two things. Could all the songs have been squeezed onto one disc? Yes. Were there not a wider array of rarities available to the compilers? Almost certainly. What we have got is worthy enough - a lovely new song with St Catherine's Day, a splendid reworking of Heatwave, both sides of the pre-Linn RSO single I Love This Life and the essential b-side to Tinseltown, called Regret. No space it seems for the single remix of Stay, nor the instrumental versions of Heatwave or Saddle The Horses - completists have certainly not been catered for.
Hats - 10/10
Nor have they been recognized on the two-CD version of the band's second album. Appearing a full five years after its predecessor, Hats is as perfect as it gets. Again just seven songs long, but perhaps less mournful and more celebratory, epic even, The Blue Nile's sophomore collection and final Linn outing is a triumph. From the blissful and almost horizontal opener Over The Hillside, the resplendent trill of cinematic synths on The Downtown Lights and the lovelorn and lachrymal Let's Go Out Tonight, you're only three songs in and you're already witnessing musical fruition. The real highlight here is the atmospheric From A Late Night Train, a song that carries you away across sleepy mountainous landscapes, perhaps wet with rain and with just your headphones and a book for company. And that's the great thing about much of The Blue Nile's music - the lyrics may mean nothing to you personally, yet with one brief shut of the eyes and a few minutes into a song, you can imagine your own accompanying mind-movie. Of course, without any sleeve-notes, you'll have to use that imagination even more.
The extras on Hats are functional enough - another new song, this time it's Christmas, an observational festive ballad that borrows the rhythm-track from Saturday Night, plus early or live versions of album tracks, plus The Wires Are Down, a song that is up there with their best moments. But you don't get the rare instrumentals Our Lives or Halfway To Paradise, the remix of Headlights On The Parade, the Rickie Lee Jones duet on Easter Parade or any one of the previously unreleased (but occasionally performed live) rarities that have featured during live shows.
Overall, the music is a must, but the execution of these reissues by the label is a tad questionable and leaves this writer wondering when this very fine outfit will be given a proper revisit.
A Walk Across The Rooftops - 9/10
A Walk Across The Rooftops first appeared in 1984 on Linn Records, the recording arm of the Scottish ultra high-end hi-fi manufacturers of the same name, making this beautifully gloomy handful of songs an incredible 28 years old. It's aged well - the sparse arrangements offset by singer Paul Buchanan's fragile and weathered vocals remain intriguing and beguiling in equal measure, with additional haunting synths, gently pattering percussion and minimal guitar-work from Paul Moore and Robert Bell glued together by long-standing producer and friend, Calum Malcolm.
The travesty of how this exemplary work failed to spark interest among the comatose public continues to wrangle - the likes of Tinseltown In The Rain and Stay were perhaps too romantic, too simplistic and too perfect to appeal to mainstream buyers in the mid '80s. It's more likely that Buchanan and co were happy with their art and preferred to let the music speak for itself - it certainly does that, even three decades on. Much of the album makes you feel like you are perusing a book of cherished photographs - the lovely Easter Parade never fails to tug at heartstrings while the sombre and lonely travelogue Automobile Noise is as perfect as it gets.
With just seven extra tracks on the second-disc, one wonders two things. Could all the songs have been squeezed onto one disc? Yes. Were there not a wider array of rarities available to the compilers? Almost certainly. What we have got is worthy enough - a lovely new song with St Catherine's Day, a splendid reworking of Heatwave, both sides of the pre-Linn RSO single I Love This Life and the essential b-side to Tinseltown, called Regret. No space it seems for the single remix of Stay, nor the instrumental versions of Heatwave or Saddle The Horses - completists have certainly not been catered for.
Hats - 10/10
The extras on Hats are functional enough - another new song, this time it's Christmas, an observational festive ballad that borrows the rhythm-track from Saturday Night, plus early or live versions of album tracks, plus The Wires Are Down, a song that is up there with their best moments. But you don't get the rare instrumentals Our Lives or Halfway To Paradise, the remix of Headlights On The Parade, the Rickie Lee Jones duet on Easter Parade or any one of the previously unreleased (but occasionally performed live) rarities that have featured during live shows.
Overall, the music is a must, but the execution of these reissues by the label is a tad questionable and leaves this writer wondering when this very fine outfit will be given a proper revisit.