The Blue Nile
Album: A Walk Across the Rooftops/Hats
Label: Virgin
Tracks: 14/13
Website: http://www.paulbuchanan.com

The Blue Nile can't lay claim to a particularly deep legacy and yet, in certain circles, they are as revered as any of their contemporaries - indeed, to many they are the great unlauded act of 80s pop. Their music was/is (their most recent album was 2004's High) uniformly self-conscious, beautifully constructed and aesthetically aware; Paul Buchanan's lyrics ranged from obtuse to tender, touching on deep truths and musing on life's mysteries to provoke a cultish devotion in fans almost as unfailing as that afforded The Smiths.

Now available in two-disc collector's editions, The Blue Nile's first two albums stir a warm nostalgia for a time when getting this band was to distance yourself from the shoulder padded hordes. The debut, A Walk Across the Rooftops, sounds like the 1980s you almost forgot. Pencil thin, this is soul music as interpreted by David Bowie and Brian Eno. Synthy, reedy and bruised by strings, songs like the nearly hit Tinseltown In the Rain, the closing Automobile Noise and the sultry Stay are expanded by the remixes, b-sides and alternate takes on the second disc.

Hats is arguably more direct, with its enlarged sound and the sense of expectation engendered by the debut. The Downtown Lights, Saturday Night and Headlights on the Parade should probably have been far bigger hits, but they remain a pleasing discovery for those musical explorers who stumble upon them. Warm, soulful and instantly pleasing, this is a drop of the good stuff.

Nick Churchill
www.thegranvillechambers.co.uk