The Blue Nile have released only 4 albums: "A Walk Across Rooftops" (1984), "Hats" (1989), "Peace at Last" (1996), and "High" (2004). How do you make a living by releasing an album every 7 or 8 years?? AWAR didn't work for me, but I totally signed up with "Hats", still I think their best. Didn't care much for PAL until I skipped the first song, then loved it (what is it about the way one crap song can sink a whole album?) "High" for me doesn't reach previous heights, (yeah, I know), but a good 'un still. Paul Buchanan's voice is the apex of desperate yearning, always on the brink of despair. Or at least, that's what I thought until my brilliant son Ben said, "But he's not giving up -- that's the point." Well said. I remember my reaction to Bruce Springsteen's song "The River" -- girlfriend's pregnancy means he'll have to give up his dreams and work at The Factory, or The Mill, or whatever, chained to that job and a wife and kids and responsibilty... As Bugs Bunny would say, what a maroon. At least he has a job, a child and a loving wife (until "he" (another song, same character) starts "racing in the street" -- jeez, Bruce, how much time did you spend listening to the Shangri-Las anyway??) Maybe Bruce saw how immature this chump was. I really hope so. Anyway, "Hats": "The Downtown Lights". Find it, listen to it. As food writer Mark Bittman says in a totally different context, "this you will do forever".
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