The Blue Nile – A Walk Across The Rooftops (1983)
I came to Blue Nile from the wrong end, as it were - starting with Peace At Last, then buying its follow up new and returning to the two earlier ones.
They band were hardly hard workers, managing four albums in a 24 year career, and this is their debut.
It starts off fairly promisingly, A Walk Across The Rooftops being a slow, soulful song, if a little repetitive in tone, while the more upbeat Tinseltown In The Rain is a brighter, more listenable song. Sadly, it's also the highpoint of the album, none of the other songs coming close to these two openers, being a mix of dull ballads, such as Easter Parade or livelier electropop, like Stay.
I'm afraid this hasn't aged well, being a 1980s reflective album heavily reliant on synths almost-but-not-quite sounding like real instruments. I can hear the promise in Buchanan and Bell's songwriting, but there's a way to go yet.
2* - dated sounding eighties electroballad pop
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