Blue Nile Poll: A Walk Across The Rooftops or Hats?

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

i went back and picked up Hats from the dollar bin the next day - i couldn't stop thinking about it (along w/a michael franks album, who i think fans of blue nile should be fans of tbh). awatr and hats are kind of equal in my eyes, almost interchangeable, but since i've spent more time w/rooftops, i'm voting that.

Hats. Just shades it though.

it's more a silhouette than a shade.

I prefer the former, most seem to prefer the latter

I thought it was the other way round!

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

Nice. It's just about that close, but I went with the debut because it seemed like such a revelation when I heard it in late 1984.

Very cool! Thanks for voting y'all

What I love about "Hats" is its overwhelming melancholy despite (from memory) a minimal reliance on moody minor chords. It's a neat trick.

Most of the chords on that album are sort of jazz-influenced and sort of "impressionist", no? You are right there are few minor chords, but also few straight major chords.

I bought a really nice copy of Hats on vinyl today. Listening now...if you haven't heard this on a nice turntable setup, try to....this is impossibly gorgeous

'Rooftops' really needs to be reissued with "I Love This Life" added. The best I can imagine a song so titled--without an apparent trace of irony--could be.

I've been listening to these albums a lot recently due to his solo album being so great. Voted for Rooftops at the time but think I'd go with Hats now, it's very close though as they're both so perfect. It's like trying to pick between Spirit Of Eden and Laughing Stock in that Talk Talk poll.

hats for me, just because I've heard it a lot more that rooftops. want to find a vinyl copy.

The Blue Nile continued to record without success until they were approached by Charlie Brennan, a representative of Scottish audio equipment company Linn Hi-Fi. Engineers at Linn had become frustrated by the poor quality of the test LPs that were provided for their flagship turntable product, so they manufactured their own cutting lathe and were looking for local artists to provide recordings to demonstrate the quality of their new equipment.[3] The track the band recorded was "Tinseltown in the Rain" (a tribute to their home town), which impressed the company so much that they agreed to finance an entire album, which became the first release on their new record label, Linn Records. It reached #80 in the UK album charts.

Interesting. and not surprising that these records sound so great.

I wrote this in another thread:

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.

...and I think I still agree with it. Yet for some reason, I never totally give up.

i was sort of wanting to write a piece about the blue nile lately and of course i encounter tim's totally otm post upthread

a kind of 80s white suburban equivalent of The-Dream

omfg

i'm listening to some b-sides and oh man, "i love this life", "regret", and "o lolita" are all incredible

i'm listening to some b-sides and oh man, "i love this life", "regret", and "o lolita" are all incredible

Are the b-sides collected somewhere, on a compilation maybe?

My post upthread is probably the most OTM I have been about anything ever.

it's def one of my favorite things you've ever written

every time i've tried to write about the blue nile in the past few years i've had a moment where i'm like "fuck i'm just rewriting tim's post"

was there any relation or sense of commonality between Blue Nile and Talk Talk at the time, either with bands themselves of w/writers? Very different in some ways but there's some sense that they are mining the same ground in two different ways

oh btw i have a bootleg collection of the b sides and will send it to whoever wants it when i get back to my computer tonight

btw as amazing as AWATR is, the answer is hats

Mr. Nelson, that would be fantastic.

I bought both records in the late 1990s, and for years I preferred Hats.

These days, I definitely think Rooftops is the superior album. I couldn't really articulate why though.

Automobile Noise is some track to play on the headphones when you're out for a walk at night.

That is great stuff upthread by Tim btw.

One small correction though – Rooftops came out in 1984 not 1983 (though it was recorded in 1983).