Rooftops Across the Walk

Overall Album Score: 8.9 out of 10

It seems this album has an interesting history. This band was specifically commissioned to write music to test high end stereo equipment... Before I even read anything about this band, I was pretty amazed at how crystal clear this music was. In fact, almost *too* crystal clear. But that's certainly a quality about this music that might intrigue you. The sounds are utterly flawless, and you can hear everything perfectly. Calling this stereo demo music doesn't do it justice, though. This is actually enormously well-written music. Plus, this crystal-clear instrumentation doesn't do anything else than give it class. Yeah, that was very '80s, but at least that's one decent thing that came out of the decade in music.

Well, I must say this music is enormously intriguing, but it's definitely not for the impatient. I specifically remember trying to listen to this awhile back and getting bored pretty quickly --- I was hoping for something as instantly likable as "Let's Dance" or something. The principle "problem" with this music is that it's all very slowly paced. They're much more interested in creating atmospheres --- and they do that pretty well.

But even these "atmospheres" aren't that intriguing when you compare them to stuff like Peter Gabriel who was creating exotic synthscapes at the time. These are absolutely minimal atmospheric tracks --- they don't spend any time making instrumentals that won't be heard with these state-of-the-art stereos. There is not a single wasted note or instrumental sound anywhere apart from some minor atmospheric notes you hear very lightly... You'd almost wish for some excess somewhere, but I guess why do it when you don't need it? That's their mentality. As minimal atmospheric music, this is remarkably effective.

A few of these songs are even very beautiful! Don't need to look much further than "Heatwave" to prove my point. It doesn't just feature beautiful instrumentation (and slightly lusher than most of their other songs --- though *slightly* is the key word to keep in mind), but its melody is utterly engaging. It helps that lead singer Paul Buchanan has one of those engaging voices. Despite that, the personal favorite of mine is always going to be "Tinseltown in the Rain." Chances are, even if you're not a big fan of the rest of these songs, you'll appreciate that one. It's a fast paced song with a catchy melody and snappy instrumentation --- that's crystal clear New Romantic music, the way it seems like it was designed to be heard.

The album opener "Walk Across the Rooftops" appropriately sets the tone for the album, and I seemed to have a lot of words to say about it in the track reviews. It's detached and artsy --- but still pretty engaging if you're the right listener.

OK, they go too far even for me with the monotonous "Easter Parade," but even that one has undeniable class and atmosphere. It's hard for me to have any negative words to say about The Blue Nile and their debut album, because it all sounds so deliberate. As far as I'm concerned, they succeeded in their set task enormously well.

Overall Album Score: 8.9 out of 10 (I like The Blue Nile. They have a keen artistic sense and make classy music. The downfall is many listeners are going to be bored to tears... This might just be worth a chance though.)

Average Song Score: 9.1 (This is pretty good for minimal music. Some of it gets boring, but they do a good job of keeping everything fresh sounding.)

Album Tilt: 8.5 (Somewhat overbearing... I don't want the final score to get too high you know!)

Artist Rating: 9.0 (This is sophisticated art music after all. Their crystal clear production was a nice touch and something other bands would follow ... though nothing incredibly noteworthy when it gets down to it.)

Track Reviews

Walk Across the Rooftops 9.5/10

This track has a distinction of being starkly minimal but atmospheric and compelling nonetheless. The sound is absolutely crystal clear --- and almost disturbingly so. Yes, I already told you about that story. This is certainly a detached song that took me quite awhile to get used to --- The pacing is dreadfully slow, for a start. The instrumentation characteristically features some fake violins --- they're playing pizzicato in the verses and they play regularly in the chorus. The drum beat doesn't seem to be sublimely interested in what the violins are doing --- it's just keeping a beat because it has to --- nothing in terms of fancy fills or anything. (Ah, this was the New Romantic era, wasn't it.) Some atmospheric sections inserted throughout make this seem even more detached. To make matters even stranger, there's a disturbingly deel bass guitar chiming in at regular intervals. These atmospheric sections are sort of the same idea as those almost Middle Eastern flavored diversions in Kate Bush's "There Goes a Tenner" except this is more minimal. Yes, this song is difficult to get into, but it honestly didn't take me very long. I was intrigued by it at the very start, so I actually wanted to be interested in it. Besides, they make it pretty easy on me, because they add on instrumentals as the song moves along --- including a crystal-clear piano, beautiful horns and other sound effects. This is really quite a nice composition... You don't have to be complex to make an intriguing composition, you know.

Tinseltown in the Rain 10/10

Picking up the pace to good effect! This is your typical herky-jerky New Romantic beat, but it has great flow. Wonderful music for those crystal-clear yuppie stereos! This relatively simplistic but crystal clear instrumentation is undoubtedly classy with plenty of variations to keep this fresh throughout its six minute running length. That's a unique attribute to a band --- they make a six-minute song that doesn't seem too long. I love this song, and the melody and chord progressions are wonderful. These guys were good songwriters --- and that's extremely evident with this piece. Excellent.

From Rags to Riches 8.5/10

Well it's hard to follow up that previous track, especially if you're going to return to writing slowly paced tunes. But this is nothing if it doesn't have class. Again, the crystal clear instrumentation does nothing but intrigue me. Here they experiment with calculator synths whilst Paul Buchanan sings over it. It seems pretty pretentious, but the great aspect about it is that it manages to be fairly intriguing despite it. The song has definite development even though it does admittedly come off as monotonous at times.

Stay 9.5/10

This is more upbeat and mainstream --- though certainly still unique! It has a regular drum machine backing beat and the tempo's a little faster, which certainly helps it. Again the sounds are just perfect. Still pretty minimal but it's anything but monotonous. You can hear the sounds beautifully. From the crispy drum machine sounds to the haunting piano and the gloriously dark bass-line. This song has quite an atmosphere that just captures my attention. This is very beautiful.

Easter Parade 8/10

Everybody who says The Blue Nile is boring definitely has a point. I even think they're pretty boring. It's becoming passe to point out every time that the sound is crystal clear --- but that's another one of its intriguing aspects. But this thing is so slowly paced and keeps on repeating the same chord sequence that it could be enough to drive some people insane. I'm willing to give it plenty of credit for being pretty creepy and spaced out though --- and, well, it certainly doesn't drive me insane. The atmosphere is very trippy.

Heat Wave 10/10

Needless to say, I like the songs with the steady backing beats the best. I'm merely human, you know. Well, here is another delicate composition with at atmosphere that absolutely captures me. It's very slow paced, which is enough to drive many listeners nuts. But I'm pretty sure at this point, these listeners already tuned out. I love the melody --- especially the chorus manages to come off as extremely resonant for some otherworldly reason.

Automobile Noise 8/10

Don't expect this album to go out on anything particularly exciting. This final track is another slowly paced song with a number of sound effects inserted throughout. This is one of the least intriguing compositions of the album, but it's still fairly interesting in its own right. They do a good job of changing the beat around every once in awhile to keep this engaging --- but that still doesn't seem to be enough to keep myself from slowly drifting away from it.........

Sophisticated comments for a sophisticated album here.