The Blue Nile - Peace At Last (1996)

My introduction to The Blue Nile is documented in my post for their 1989 album Hats, but not long after enjoying that album, I bought two other Blue Nile CDs, including this one. The music here is somewhat similar to Hats, but it incorporates some acoustic instruments and many tunes openly embrace gospel influences. Nevertheless, Peace At Last retains the introspective mood of previous albums; mood and atmosphere are as important to the music as melody. I hate to use a word from the album title to describe the album, but I certainly find this one to be quite peaceful.

I don't often mention lyrical content, but the religious overtones here cannot be ignored. Words such as prayers, saviour, peace, Jesus, angels, God, holy, mercy, etc. are liberally sprinkled throughout most of the tracks.

Press of the time:

• NME (3/10): "there are desperately few redeeming features to 'Peace At Last' at all."
• Entertainment Weekly (B): "lacks the poignant urgency of its predecessor."
• CashBox: "a real underground find, even though it's on a major label."
• Rolling Stone (★★): "predictably overwrought"
• Musician: feature article in the August 1996 issue

Album chart peaks:

• US Billboard 200: Did not chart
• Billboard Heatseekers: #48

Tracks: I don't often say this about full albums, but this one plays like one long track. Perfectly sequenced. While there's some variance in tempi from song to song, the whole thing is slow to mid-tempo with most cuts below 100 b.p.m.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: Man-oh-man I wish I had come across this back in '96. This would have been perfect music for me as I entered my thirties.

Previously revisited for the blog:
Hats (1989)