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)

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