The
Blue Nile are the very definition of enigmatic, and who would want to change that? What we have left are the rumours, legends and myths.
A Walk Across the Rooftops was a work of such stunning musical perfection that Linn Products, makers of some of the best audio equipment in the world created a record label just so that their customers could listen to the Blue Nile on Linn turntables and weep at what they were hearing.
They operate on a glacial timescale, taking on average 5 years to produce each album, and last performed live over 10 years ago. Their search for perfection is obsessive – they once destroyed an entire album’s worth of material because they were not happy with it.
The Blue Nile as a band seem to be dead now but Robert Bell and Paul Buchanan are back for this series of 10 gigs. Having waited for so long I was frankly keechin’ masel about this gig, the only person more nervous was, I think, Paul Buchanan.
The voice is still aching, the soundscape still filled with the ephemeral - haunting scenes and emotions glimpsed from moving trains and automobiles, guilty glances into the minutiae of others’ lives, and always an unfulfilled desire for some sort of connection.
In short it was a fucking incredible 2 hours which passed in minutes. If you are very lucky you may still be able to see them in London or Brighton.
The 
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I was introduced to the Blue Nile in an atmospheric wine bar, near Maxwell Road Foodmarket in Singapore where I would retreat for inspiration from my uninspiring office, prior to an evening of proposal writing. The barman had a phenomenal collection of atmospheric music, but the Blue Nile stood out. I had never heard of them and I went out and bought it the next day and it has followed me around for the last 10 years. I must find the latest.
I was introduced to them cause I was at School with a punter who's father owned Linn - the audio company that first signed them.
New albums - Peace at Last and High are probably not as good as earlier stuff...but they still have some great tracks on them.
Family Life from Peace at Last for example is fantastic.
Just got back from Paul Buchanan's Barbican gig - absolutely magnificent!
No sign of "Family Life" but everything else and more besides, two new songs, both very good indeed. Wonderful arrangements, simple, beautiful songs and that voice, Oh that voice!
Paul Buchanan is a national treasure. I hope we don't have to wait another ten years to see him again!
Alex, when Deacon Blue last played Sydney Lorraine McIntosh crashed at my gaff...so don't give up hope.
Declan
Alex and I were a couple of years below Lorraine McIntosh at school. So I guess he might manage that one...
Is she not married to Ricky Ross?
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