DOWN MEMORY LANE

THE BLUE NILE - "Hats"


I didn't know a thing about The Blue Nile until i read this great review about "Hats" back in 1989 and i vividly remember the magic of that blue sleeve and the words of the reviewer describing the record sound has "warm electronic pop". Back then what defined the 80s 'era' was a massive use of technology, drum machines and a lot of synthesizers that were anything but "warm", that's why that statement made me buy what i still think is one of the best pop album at the twilight of that decade.
As soon as i pressed play, the slow heartbeat-like drum beat and the string keyboard majesty made me feel immediately serene, like when you finally have reached a destination, a place where nothing is wrong, a place over there, "Over The Hillside".
The band lead vocalist was Paul Buchanan, a man with a voice so deep, you'll imagine him suffering sincerely everytime he sang even apparently simple lines like "baby, baby let's go out tonight", you have to hear him to believe it!
"The Downtown Light" is like a trip through the city at night with pulsing drum machine and keyboards that had no equal at the time, the melody of "Let's Go Out Tonight" is augmented by a crescendo of what sounds like a steam machine(?!) that's propelled by an unusual synth. When "Headlights On The Parade" starts you're certain you're listening to something great and timeless, still today, nobody can match their combination of electronica, orchestral pop and poignant lyrics.
One of the song i'm most fond of has to be "From A Late Night Train", a piano led elegy about the melancholy that builds when we're about to leave some place (or someone) we love and the sad notes of the trumpet are almost blurred by the fog and vapors of the train leaving the station.
Such film-like images are what The Blue Nile did better, pop as art, songs like paintings with heavy shades of blue giving you a strange feeling of comfort even when their words were sank in sadness.
They went on releasing two more albums in 15 years (it takes time to produce masterpieces) but neither "Peace At Last" (1996) or "High" (2004), both fantastic anyway, reached the same highs as "Hats", recorded in a place that i always liked to imagine it was over there, over the hillside.