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Rating: Paul Buchanan, creator of Blue Nile, is undoubtedly one of the geniuses of pop, of that superior quality pop..
The Blue Nile is a trio, besides the already mentioned Paul (voice and guitar) the band is composed of Robert Bell (bass) and Paul Joseph Moore (keyboards-synth), and this "Walk Across The Rooftops" is their first full-length and is dated 1983..
The album starts with the title track, and it becomes clear right away that the excellent bass lines (almost funky in this track) and the infinitely human synthetic sounds will take center stage, the guitar plays a secondary role, and Paul's voice is very sweet, but capable, very capable, of scratching, a voice that reminds me a lot of Peter Gabriel and Sting, perhaps the voice that might be born from blending the vocal cords of the two..
To illustrate just how clean and sophisticated this track is, Linn (a Scottish Hi-Fi company, homeland of ours) after hearing what would be the second track of this album, asked Paul to record a new track to test the quality of their systems, Paul presented "Walk Across The Rooftops", the result was that Linn created a record label (Linn Records) and produced this and the next work by The Blue Nile (the next work, "Hats", perhaps even more enchanting, which was anticipated for 6 years)..
In this opening track, the violins pluck the air, a nocturnal air, Paul like a cat walks on the rooftops, and thinks of his beloved, the city and its buildings are just a backdrop, while the heart does something else, while the heart dreams..
Then it continues with "Tinseltown in the Rain", a more danceable pop, a pop-soul, with synth used in a way closer to the sounds of that period..
Tinseltown is in the rain, and when it rains, one thinks, perhaps of love, of how easy it is to see it go away, of how much time is available to be happy..
The third track is "From Rags to Riches", here the synth becomes more minimal, darker, the bass becomes darker, mechanical percussion is perceived, a synthetic orchestration, Paul's voice flies high..
It continues with "Stay", certainly the most "easy" piece of the album, a track with more of a "hit" soul (if only there were more "hits" like this, just to be clear!)..
With "Easter Parade" it gets serious again, the track, one of the most languid of the lot, is a sweet piano-voice lullaby, here Paul narrates by singing, the classic track difficult to listen to without allowing oneself to close one’s eyes, without letting oneself be "carried", music of silence..
"Heatwave" follows, another sweet slow track with a tribal-synthetic rhythm, just to change with great class, and with a chorus that doesn't seem to want to be catchy, but which one cannot help but open the door of one's mind and let it in, making it one's own... Where do the rivers lead? Straw houses in the promised land..
The album concludes with "Automobile Noise", a skeletal, essential, sad sound, Buchanan returns to narration rather than singing, offering yet another great interpretation... Bare feet on the cold cement, remembering one's own war, while a cold rain falls, and a car passes and runs in the direction of the hill where the bombs were dropped, this is the reality, while drifting into a dreamless sleep, and waking up staring at the moon, that moon that falls on the hill..
There are perfectionists who quickly become tiresome, who do not entice, who lose joy, pain, and passion, to achieve that "perfection", Paul Buchanan and his Blue Nile do not fall into these cases, neither with this debut nor with the few future albums, the 6-year wait between the first two albums is the shortest time this band has let pass between one album and another, to date the albums released are 4, all of excellent quality..
This is my first review, I hope to have the time and courage to write more, I talk about courage because writing about certain albums with everything those albums may have meant takes it, it is not easy, this album does not belong to that category, but I have a great fondness for it..
Maybe it's not beautiful to end a review with a rating, I don't even know how essential ratings are in a review, and I don't even know if this can be considered as such, and I'm no one to judge something as great as art, however, it is the first time I have the opportunity to give them and so I will, now as for any future reviews, but do not give them too much weight.. :)
Rating of the album: 7.5
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
03 From Rags to Riches (05:59)
I leave the home of a lifetime
Like any son
I have hope and good intentions
And wandering into the daybreak
I learn as I go
To fall laughing into the water
Sticks and the stones are your broken promises
We wait too long to go from rags to riches
I am in love, I am in love with a feeling
A wild wild sky, a wild wild sky
Fences and tumble down bridges surround and divide
I wear a coat of many colours, of many colours
The sticks and the stones, our broken promises
I wait no longer to go from rags to riches
People are leaving the squalor
They're leaving the houses and fires
And starting out
We find the waiting country
Sticks and the stones are your broken promises
I wait no longer, I go from rags to riches
From rags to riches
I go from rags to riches
Go from rags to riches
From rags to riches
05 Easter Parade (04:29)
The line of traffic comes to a stand still
For the love King, out in the morning air
I find a place I started from
The wild is calling, this time I follow
Easter parade
In the bureau typewriter's quiet
Confetti falls from every window
Throwing hats up in the air
A city perfect in every detail
Easter parade
I know you, birthday cards and silent music
Paperbacks and Sunday clothes
In hallways and railway stations
Radio across the morning air
A crowd of people everywhere
And then the people, all running forward
Easter parade
06 Heatwave (06:26)
You live beneath another star
You are pretending love is worth waiting for
You always breathe another air
The rivers in the distance must be leading somewhere
Heatwave, Heatwave
Why is it rolling down on the young and foolish?
Heatwave, Heatwave
Are we rich or poor ?
Does it matter anymore?
Heatwave
Can this be all we will desire ?
Straw houses in the promised land
Why is it time for taking sides ?
When all I say and do is take too many chances
Heatwave, Heatwave
Why is it rolling down on the young and foolish ?
Heatwave, Heatwave
Are we rich or poor ?
Does it matter anymore?
Heatwave
Will I tell you ?
Will you listen ?
If I tell you, what will happen ?
Heatwave, Heatwave
Why is it rolling down on the young and foolish ?
Heatwave, Heatwave
Are we rich or are we poor ?
Does it matter anymore?
In a heatwave
Heatwave, Heatwave
Why is it rolling down on the young and foolish ?
Heatwave, Heatwave
Are we rich or are we poor ?
Does it matter anymore?
In a heatwave
07 Automobile Noise (05:08)
Automobile noise
Out in the traffic
Black cars and blue cars go by
Backwards and forward
The names and places I know
Alright I cross the same old ground, yeah
Automobile noise
Exit signs and subway trains
Twenty-four hours, statues in the rain
Walk in the headlights, walk in the daylight
Automobile noise
Climbing a ladder to all the money in the world
Watching it blow across the wire
Automobile noise
Exit signs and subway trains
Twenty-four hours, statues in the rain
Walk in the headlights, walk in the daylight
Automobile noise
I am weary of this fighting
I'm weary of surrender
Heat of the moment
Then the unwinding of it all
Saddle the horses and we'll go
Automobile noise
Exit signs and subway trains
Twenty-four hours, statues in the rain
Walk in the headlights, walk into daylight
Automobile noise
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