The Blue Nile - Hats (1989)

UK import

Without a doubt, this may be one of the most laid back pop albums I've come across and is definitely one of my best finds in the past few years. For a good while, I'd heard good things about this band's debut album, A Walk Across The Rooftops, and had seen it on a couple of "Best of '84" lists. I felt compelled to listen and about ten years ago, I finally gave Rooftops a try. It just didn't do much for me on first blush. Wrong album at the wrong time in the wrong place with the wrong mindset. Fast forward to 2023 and I see a copy of this Hats CD in the used bin and figure I'll take the chance. I bought the disc and immediately put it in the car's CD player (we were pleasantly surprised when our 2023 Subaru Forester came with a stock CD player and above-average Harman Kardon speakers). You wouldn't think this music would be well-suited for a drive with thousands of my San Antonio neighbors down US Route 281 on a scorching hot afternoon, but you'd be wrong. It was perfect - serene and relaxing. I was hooked from the get-go and played it again on the home system as soon as I arrived at my house. No "sophomore slump" here. The purchase of other Blue Nile discs followed; look for them in the space at some point in the future.

The reviews I've read of this album seemingly all use the same set of words: atmospheric, stripped-down, understated, longing, meditative, intimate, emotional, gorgeous, sublime - you get the picture and I agree with all of those descriptions.

Press of the time:

• Chicago Tribune (★★★½ ): "minimalist minor key melodies and lyrics that sketch out a strangely sad yet compulsive search for something"
• Musician: "capable of evoking romantic desolation and big-city loneliness with such heartbreaking vividness"
• Record Mirror (★★★★): "Wow - sublime!"
• Rolling Stone (★★★): "surely a fine second act from a trio that deserves encouragement"
• Spin: "Hats proves that the Blue Nile really are pasty-faced moths to the flame of self-absorption, not to mention insect-like studio perfectionists"
• Stereo Review: "there is no such thing as ideal love. But that doesn't stop the Blue Nile from trying to capture it. Or us from hoping they succeed."

Free CD copy!
Sadly, we've missed the February 12, 1990 deadline.

Peak on the US Billboard 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: I guess there are different tracks, but it's just a single 39 minute track to me. (I will mention that track 2, The Downtown Lights, peaked at #10 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart.)

Exclusive CD longbox photo courtesy of
Dirk Digglinator of the Hambonian Archives.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: see above