The Blue Nile - A Walk Across The Rooftops (1984)

UK import

An album more about sound than songs. Intimate, beautiful, tasteful, impeccably arranged sound. So the emphasis is squarely on texture and structure seems optional. Nothing grabs you but you can't stop listening. And I mean all that as a compliment because I really dig the musical milieu. Spin this disc while staring out a window and suddenly your life has a budget and a cinematographer. Atmosphere with vocals almost an afterthought. Certainly not the kind of thing I was looking for in 1984, but I'm glad I finally caught up to it decades later.

Press of the time:

• Smash Hits (9 out of 10): "Straight into a league of their own comes a major new talent"
• Rolling Stone: "this shimmering music is not difficult, just sophisticated"
• Spin: "moodily captivating on the A side...but constricted by a painfully languid flip side"
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Eighties Music (1997): ★★★★

The album is listed in the 2005 book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die with the following quote: "If you are not moved, you may be dead."

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart: Did not chart

Tracks: My initial thought was to simply write "It plays as one long track and when it's over, you want a second helping" but the tracks Tinseltown In The Rain and Stay really do stand out on this one.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: previously recounted here

Previously revisited for the blog:
Peace At Last (1996)
Hats (1989)