Paul Buchanan - Mid Air (The Blue Nile)

cars in the garden

Yeah...

i really think it's the title track for me. just a breathtaking piece, perfect in almost every way (though i'm still coming around on that fifth stanza). take a look at this couplet that opens the last stanza:

for all the things that life was worth --
the falling snow, the virgin birth --
yeah i can see you standing in mid air

look, you just don't find writing like this in rock music too often. the decision to use "was worth" and not "is worth" seems trivial but is so crucial imo -- it lends a sense of experience rather than coming across as hypothetical.

and the way he SINGS it, my god. his voice trailing off at the end of each line, basically mouthing the last word or two -- it's basically a leonard cohen impression and he pulls it off flawlessly. "sad old guy sings about being old and sad" is pretty congruent with my personal brand

this album is basically "so we heard you liked 'regret'"

i had originally just planned to make a paul buchanan thread to mostly talk about this album and possibly use it for future projects. hopefully ppl will want to talk about him a lot!

btw does anyone know what he's up to these days? not touring or planning on releasing new music as far as i can tell?

i would like to know anything about paul buchanan's present existence i am allowed to know

the quietus interview from around the release time of Mid Air is wonderful

lol obviously butchered that stanza trying to go from memory. it's "everything that life was worth" and "yeah i can see her". important distinctions, especially the latter one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE70AgkeTZc

amazing performance. if there's ONE thing to knock about this song it's that the delivery in the studio version is so perfect that it's impossible to improve on it live

look at that man! that is the kind of man who has been told that wisdom comes from darkness and responds that it is pain

With the idea of this album being a "recordette", I wonder if or how he would go about a 6-7 track album like the old days, or would that be a "Blue Nile" approach, strictly speaking.

btw does anyone know what he's up to these days? not touring or planning on releasing new music as far as i can tell?

― k3vin k

He's almost finished a new album. I think it's due early next year.

Voted for Cars In The Garden as well. The way he sings the title is so heartbreaking, even by his standards. I really loved the cover of it on the last Hannah Peel album.

ok had no idea "cars in the garden" was such a consensus fave, have to listen closely again

getting into buchanan's slow, sad songs over the past month has made me realize that "easter parade" is one of my favorite songs of his, too

Yeah same, one of his best

btw does anyone know what he's up to these days? not touring or planning on releasing new music as far as i can tell?

― k3vin k

He's almost finished a new album. I think it's due early next year.

― kitchen person, Sunday, July 2, 2017 10:36 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

btw do you have a link for this?

recentish buchanan interviews i found btw for anyone interested:

http://www.popmatters.com/feature/166769-at-the-source-of-the-blue-nile-an-interview-with-paul-buchanan/
http://thequietus.com/articles/09375-paul-buchanan-blue-nile-interview
http://www.secretdecoder.net/features/2014/06/16/colors-and-aspects-an-interview-with-paul-buchanan/
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/blogs/blog-on-the-tracks/7175705/The-Paul-Buchanan-Interview

ok..."cars in the garden". i'm currently in liquid form

the quietus interview is great. the love he has for his estranged bandmate is striking -- he talks of him like a lover

That Quietus interview is fantastic - and kind of shattering. I guess it's part of the covenant and he says, more than once, that it is what it is - as in something he's been dealt - but would any of us willingly sign up for that level of discontent and dislocation, whatever the aesthetic outcome?

i'm about 1/3 through it and wondering if i should stop, get to know the album even better, and then finish it

http://www.kcrw.com/music/shows/morning-becomes-eclectic/paul-buchanan-of-the-blue-nile

just link dumping for my future use sorry guys. started this and the version of "easter parade" that leads it off is predictably amazing

Maybe now that it's warm out I'll give this another go. In the winter, this record immediately makes me think of pets I have lost. Not a criticism, it's just so disarmingly sad.

btw does anyone know what he's up to these days? not touring or planning on releasing new music as far as i can tell?

― k3vin k

He's almost finished a new album. I think it's due early next year.

― kitchen person, Sunday, July 2, 2017 10:36 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

btw do you have a link for this?

― k3vin k

Sorry, I really can't remember where I read this now. From what I can remember reading, I think he started in 2013 and then last year somewhere I read that the album was 80% done. I did see someone speculate that the band were back together on their Facebook page earlier this year and somebody else confirmed his second solo album was almost finished. I'm struggling to find links but I'll keep looking and post what I do find.

jeez guys this album

Quietus interview just blows me away.

Kevin use this thread all you want for link dumping, I'm certainly not complaining.

There were reasons
But forget them
Nothing stands here
Our way

For the starlight
In my suitcase

And for the good days

Don't leave

i want to share a pretty crazy opinion but i'm going to hold off for a few weeks at least

I'll bite! No seriously, you cannot be in a Blue Nile/Buchanan thread and tease us like this; it's unethical, it's not right. Think of all the melancholy weak souls you are crushing. You won't sleep another night! Please do tell.

i mean i just want to make sure i'm being measured with my very, very personal and emotional reaction to this album. it might be my favorite work of his. but i want to take some time to make sure

favorite right now is "half the world"

i need to stop copy and pasting from lyrics sites because they suck and are wrong

half the world has gone to sleep
half the world is on its knees
dreaming of somewhere else

for the snowfall
out on main street
only love can see
for saint martha in the hallway
don't leave

the astronaut in god's blue sky
dreaming of a summer day
waving his last goodbye

there were reasons
but forget them
nothing stands in our way

for the starlight
in my suitcase
and for the good times
don't leave

afaik the word "starlight" is in 3 blue nile/buchanan songs and they are all in my top 10

this is great kev

i'm glad you like it! this record has meant a lot to me over the past couple of weeks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkUOd6NBj70

"family life" is probably his closest antecedent to this album's sound

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

rare video of paul playing piano and singing!

think i'm going with "half the world" but every song means something special to me. the first three in particular

"wedding party" also destroys me on a weekly basis

Its a good day
For a landslide

There are tears
In the car park outside

A long walk
In the long grass

We were lost
Under glittering skies

Are You trying to tell me
What i already know?

Let me go

Tear stains
On your pillow

I was drunk
When I danced with the bride

Let it go
Let it go

Thanks for the revive. It reminded to post (repost?) this: http://www.glasgowist.com/interview-ken-sweeneys-in-search-of-the-blue-nile-on-bbc-scotland/. Of note is a mention of a new album, which people above thought to have heard something about recently (and which I'm guessing this was the source).

might be my favourite album of the decade.

First hunch is to vote for either Half The Word or Cars in the Garden. But of course it's like an entire song cycle, a Winterreise.

There were reasons, but forgot them.

I want to live forever.

Thanks for the revive. It reminded to post (repost?) this: http://www.glasgowist.com/interview-ken-sweeneys-in-search-of-the-blue-nile-on-bbc-scotland/. Of note is a mention of a new album, which people above thought to have heard something about recently (and which I'm guessing this was the source).

― Pataphysician, Saturday, July 29, 2017 9:35 AM (two days ago)

whoa yes!!

also ludo otm

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

thread is sorely missing posts from brad and tim

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

Just six voters, despite k3vin doing gods work in here?! Outrageous.

i don't know this album very well at all so didn't feel qualified to vote unfortunately.

i have been on a big blue nile kick recently again but need to put this album into my rotation.

after listening to this album so much i find that my favorite blue nile songs these days are the slow, sad ones ("easter parade", "let's go out tonight", "from a late night train", "family life")

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=og05XStpa9M

Is Jesus on the telephone?
Or is he sleeping?

All I thought You for
Was dreaming

The coffee is cold and out of reach
You are mistaken

I read a movie magazine
The planes are landing

Do you want to fly?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJFivQk-9OU

of course paul likes yeats.

honestly hearing paul read those poems brought so much clarity to my appreciation for both his music and yeats' poetry. it's pretty clear why i love both

this is my favorite album ever

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YGmb02RJTw

(as mentioned by kitchen person)

http://www.uncut.co.uk/reviews/album/paul-buchanan-mid-air

very otm review

it distresses me so much that i can't find a live video of paul doing "cars in the garden"

Same ;_;

Is there even a live audio version out there? There are a couple of bootlegs, but the ones I know don't contain the song (all Blue Nile era)

bootlegs of what?

Uhm, Blue Nile?

Blue Nile, Manchester Free Trade Hall 1990
This one

My q was if there even exists an audio version of a performance of Cars in the Garden. Apparently not.

ohh i thought you were implying that there was a version of CITG on a bootleg you knew of

might be my favourite album of the decade.

First hunch is to vote for either Half The Word or Cars in the Garden. But of course it's like an entire song cycle, a Winterreise.

There were reasons, but forgot them.

I want to live forever.

― Ludo, Saturday, July 29, 2017 2:05 PM (five months ago)

otm

this is my favorite album ever

― k3vin k., Saturday, August 12, 2017 7:10 PM (five months ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qV_UtLhuxU

His voice is absolutely spectacular here. Can't imagine standing there in the crowd.

wasn't he supposedly done with a new album? any news on that?
'meanwhile' is such a classic, would deserve a proper release...

https://www.instagram.com/p/CR00yk2Li0I/?utm_medium=copy_link

He seems very nice

got the reissued 2x LP a few days ago, listening now :)

was hoping there would be some good stuff in the booklet, it’s basically a jumbo lyric book

https://www.heraldscotland.com/life_style/arts_ents/24078861.paul-buchanan-blue-nile-stage/

rare paul sighting, and a new song!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_P0ZdvUV9s

“mid air”
“let’s go out tonight”
“snow” (new song!)
“happiness”

"Snow" is lovely. So nice to hear his voice with that orchestral backing. Pretty much confirms if I ever see him live, I'll weep throughout.

Thanks for sharing!! Keep watching for the encore, where they replay "Mid Air" (without audience coughing) and "Happiness."