The Scottish folk-ambient band the Blue Nile has enjoyed a mystique contrived by its inaccessibility and the infrequency of its recordings, but it has also made a series of critically acclaimed discs. The group was formed by three Glasgow natives who had graduated from university there: singer/songwriter/guitarist Paul Buchanan, bassist Robert Bell, and keyboardist Paul Joseph Moore. (Engineer Callum Malcolm and drummer Nigel Thomas have worked with the trio consistently, to the point of being considered secondary bandmembers.) (The Blue Nile is the title of Alan Moorehead’s 1962 sequel to The White Nile, the two books making up a history of the Nile River.) They recorded their own single, “I Love This Life,” which was distributed by Robert Stigwood’s RSO Records just before the company closed its doors. They were then signed by Linn Products, which released their debut album, A Walk Across the Rooftops, in 1984. (A&M handled it in the U.S.) Since the company was small and the band did not tour, the album took some time to find its audience, though it briefly reached the U.K. charts and led to high expectations for a second album. This came in 1989 with Hats, which reached the British Top 20, throwing off three chart singles, “The Downtown Lights,” “Headlights on the Parade,” and “Saturday Night.” The album also made the lower reaches of the American charts as the Blue Nile embarked on its first tour, a 30-date journey taking place in the British Isles and the U.S. In the ensuing years, the band members switched record labels, signing to Warner Bros., and contributed to recordings by Robbie Robertson and Julian Lennon. They finally emerged with their third album, Peace at Last, in June 1996. Another critically acclaimed release, it placed in the U.K. Top 20, but failed to chart in the U.S.
Biography by William Ruhlmann, Allmusic.com
The Blue Nile’s debut album has a rather fascinating genesis. Scotland’s Linn Electronics wanted a demo track to demonstrate the fidelity and versatility of their new recording console and tapped a struggling local trio, The Blue Nile, to provide it. Their effort was a deliberately disjunctive song called “A Walk Across the Rooftops.” To demonstrate the recording equipment’s dynamic range and clarity, the song was arranged most peculiarly, with vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, and full string and horn sections all appearing, but never at the same time. Linn liked the song so much that they formed a record label and bankrolled the recording of this full album. The seven lengthy tracks on A Walk Across the Rooftops all follow the model of the opener, with Paul Buchanan’s rich voice at the center of near-symphonic arrangements that manage to sound lush and incredibly austere at the same time. The tempos are deadly slow, with the most upbeat track, “Tinseltown in the Rain,” barely rising above a graceful saunter, and the inventive arrangements make extensive use of empty space. This was a popular album for demonstrating the lack of hiss and background noise in the then-new compact disc medium, but A Walk Across the Rooftops works even better as a piece of music than as a stereo demonstration record.
Review by Stewart Mason, Allmusic.com
Tracklist:
01. A Walk Across The Rooftops (04:56)
02. Tinseltown In The Rain (05:57)
03. From Rags To Riches (05:59)
04. Stay (04:57)
05. Easter Parade (04:34)
06. Heatwave (06:28)
07. Automobile Noise (05:08)
XLD extraction logfile from 2009-05-09 17:32:39 +0100
The Blue Nile / A Walk Across The Rooftops
Used drive : MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857D (revision KBVB)
Use cdparanoia mode : YES (CDParanoia III 10.2 engine)
Disable audio cache : OK for the drive with cache less than 2750KB
Make use of C2 pointers : NO
Read offset correction : 102
Max retry count : 100
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 00:00:00 | 04:56:65 | 0 | 22264
2 | 04:56:65 | 05:57:60 | 22265 | 49099
3 | 10:54:50 | 05:59:30 | 49100 | 76054
4 | 16:54:05 | 04:57:47 | 76055 | 98376
5 | 21:51:52 | 04:34:63 | 98377 | 118989
6 | 26:26:40 | 06:28:55 | 118990 | 148144
7 | 32:55:20 | 05:08:57 | 148145 | 171301
Track 01
Filename : /XLD/01 – A Walk Across The Rooftops.flac
CRC32 hash (test run) : 949838D0
CRC32 hash : 949838D0
CRC32 hash (skip zero) : 70DB0A42
AccurateRip signature : C1586BD6
->Accurately ripped! (confidence 39)
Statistics
Read error : 0
Skipped (treated as error) : 0
Edge jitter error (maybe fixed) : 0
Atom jitter error (maybe fixed) : 0
Drift error (maybe fixed) : 0
Dropped bytes error (maybe fixed) : 0
Duplicated bytes error (maybe fixed) : 0
Inconsistency in error sectors : 0
Track 02
Filename : /XLD/02 – Tinseltown In The Rain.flac
CRC32 hash (test run) : 36F768CC
CRC32 hash : 36F768CC
CRC32 hash (skip zero) : 37D18C51
AccurateRip signature : C9E19CAB
->Accurately ripped! (confidence 39)
Statistics
Read error : 0
Skipped (treated as error) : 0
Edge jitter error (maybe fixed) : 0
Atom jitter error (maybe fixed) : 0
Drift error (maybe fixed) : 0
Dropped bytes error (maybe fixed) : 0
Duplicated bytes error (maybe fixed) : 0
Inconsistency in error sectors : 0
Track 03
Filename : /XLD/03 – From Rags To Riches.flac
CRC32 hash (test run) : E5DB9A36
CRC32 hash : E5DB9A36
CRC32 hash (skip zero) : 1036E0B5
AccurateRip signature : 1EF468EA
->Accurately ripped! (confidence 39)
Statistics
Read error : 0
Skipped (treated as error) : 0
Edge jitter error (maybe fixed) : 0
Atom jitter error (maybe fixed) : 0
Drift error (maybe fixed) : 0
Dropped bytes error (maybe fixed) : 0
Duplicated bytes error (maybe fixed) : 0
Inconsistency in error sectors : 0
Track 04
Filename : /XLD/04 – Stay.flac
CRC32 hash (test run) : 627B1D1B
CRC32 hash : 627B1D1B
CRC32 hash (skip zero) : A6CA413A
AccurateRip signature : 64E8C56D
->Accurately ripped! (confidence 39)
Statistics
Read error : 0
Skipped (treated as error) : 0
Edge jitter error (maybe fixed) : 0
Atom jitter error (maybe fixed) : 0
Drift error (maybe fixed) : 0
Dropped bytes error (maybe fixed) : 0
Duplicated bytes error (maybe fixed) : 0
Inconsistency in error sectors : 0
Track 05
Filename : /XLD/05 – Easter Parade.flac
CRC32 hash (test run) : 195E5814
CRC32 hash : 195E5814
CRC32 hash (skip zero) : 3DA88380
AccurateRip signature : C34374A8
->Accurately ripped! (confidence 37)
Statistics
Read error : 0
Skipped (treated as error) : 0
Edge jitter error (maybe fixed) : 0
Atom jitter error (maybe fixed) : 0
Drift error (maybe fixed) : 0
Dropped bytes error (maybe fixed) : 0
Duplicated bytes error (maybe fixed) : 0
Inconsistency in error sectors : 0
Track 06
Filename : /XLD/06 – Heatwave.flac
CRC32 hash (test run) : AA7E831C
CRC32 hash : AA7E831C
CRC32 hash (skip zero) : DD3843FA
AccurateRip signature : 812C6F8C
->Accurately ripped! (confidence 39)
Statistics
Read error : 0
Skipped (treated as error) : 0
Edge jitter error (maybe fixed) : 0
Atom jitter error (maybe fixed) : 0
Drift error (maybe fixed) : 0
Dropped bytes error (maybe fixed) : 0
Duplicated bytes error (maybe fixed) : 0
Inconsistency in error sectors : 0
Track 07
Filename : /XLD/07 – Automobile Noise.flac
CRC32 hash (test run) : 23C7E559
CRC32 hash : 23C7E559
CRC32 hash (skip zero) : 485DF87B
AccurateRip signature : 0ECD7C73
->Accurately ripped! (confidence 37)
Statistics
Read error : 0
Skipped (treated as error) : 0
Edge jitter error (maybe fixed) : 0
Atom jitter error (maybe fixed) : 0
Drift error (maybe fixed) : 0
Dropped bytes error (maybe fixed) : 0
Duplicated bytes error (maybe fixed) : 0
Inconsistency in error sectors : 0
No errors occurred
End of status report
log date: 2013-12-14 21:06:08
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: The Blue Nile / A Walk Across The Rooftops
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR15 -3.48 dB -22.30 dB 4:57 01-A Walk Across The Rooftops
DR14 -2.54 dB -18.60 dB 5:58 02-Tinseltown In The Rain
DR13 -4.68 dB -20.97 dB 5:59 03-From Rags To Riches
DR13 -3.12 dB -19.09 dB 4:58 04-Stay
DR14 -9.09 dB -27.71 dB 4:35 05-Easter Parade
DR13 -3.82 dB -20.22 dB 6:29 06-Heatwave
DR14 -4.52 dB -22.78 dB 5:09 07-Automobile Noise
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Number of tracks: 7
Official DR value: DR14
Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 671 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================
Five long years in the making, the Blue Nile’s stellar Hats was well worth the wait; sweeping and majestic, it’s a triumph of personal vision over the cold, remote calculations of technology. While created almost solely without benefit of live instruments, it is nevertheless an immensely warm and human album; Paul Buchanan’s plaintive vocals and poignant songs are uncommonly moving, and his deployment of lush synth washes and electronic percussion is never gratuitous, each song instead crafted with painterly precision. Impressionistic and shimmering, tracks like “The Downtown Lights” and “From a Late Night Train” are perfectly evocative of their titles: Rich in romantic atmosphere and detail, they conjure a nocturnal fantasy world lit by neon and shrouded in fog, leaving Hats an intensely cinematic experience as well as a masterpiece of musical obsession.
Review by Jason Ankeny, Allmusic.com
Tracklist:
01. Over the Hillside (05:05)
02. Downtown Lights (06:30)
03. Let’s Go Out Tonight (05:16)
04. Headlights on the Parade (06:16)
05. From a Late Night Train (04:01)
06. Seven A.M. (05:09)
07. Saturday Night (06:27)
EAC extraction logfile from 28. May 2009, 20:26
The Blue Nile / Hats
Used drive : PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-111D Adapter: 1 ID: 1
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 48
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Installed external ASPI interface
Gap handling : Appended to previous track
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 320 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:Program FilesExact Audio CopyFlacflac.exe
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T “artist=%a” -T “title=%t” -T “album=%g” -T “date=%y” -T “tracknumber=%n” -T “genre=%m” %s
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 5:05.30 | 0 | 22904
2 | 5:05.30 | 6:29.72 | 22905 | 52151
3 | 11:35.27 | 5:16.10 | 52152 | 75861
4 | 16:51.37 | 6:16.48 | 75862 | 104109
5 | 23:08.10 | 4:01.62 | 104110 | 122246
6 | 27:09.72 | 5:09.25 | 122247 | 145446
7 | 32:19.22 | 6:27.55 | 145447 | 174526
Track 1
Filename E:EAC RipsThe Blue Nile – 1989 – Hats [FLAC]1 – Over the Hillside.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00
Peak level 98.4 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 9FEF7004
Copy CRC 9FEF7004
Accurately ripped (confidence 14) [A4409F58]
Copy OK
Track 2
Filename E:EAC RipsThe Blue Nile – 1989 – Hats [FLAC]2 – Downtown Lights.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:03.13
Peak level 98.7 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 0018982F
Copy CRC 0018982F
Accurately ripped (confidence 15) [8FE3932F]
Copy OK
Track 3
Filename E:EAC RipsThe Blue Nile – 1989 – Hats [FLAC]3 – Let’s Go Out Tonight.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:02.02
Peak level 95.5 %
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC F877351F
Copy CRC F877351F
Accurately ripped (confidence 15) [D34F65C8]
Copy OK
Track 4
Filename E:EAC RipsThe Blue Nile – 1989 – Hats [FLAC]4 – Headlights on the Parade.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:01.49
Peak level 98.7 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 8C2C9C51
Copy CRC 8C2C9C51
Accurately ripped (confidence 14) [384B0DA6]
Copy OK
Track 5
Filename E:EAC RipsThe Blue Nile – 1989 – Hats [FLAC]5 – From a Late Night Train.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:02.93
Peak level 62.9 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 93346DA7
Copy CRC 93346DA7
Accurately ripped (confidence 15) [B78459AD]
Copy OK
Track 6
Filename E:EAC RipsThe Blue Nile – 1989 – Hats [FLAC]6 – Seven A.M..wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:04.16
Peak level 98.7 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC F7FB1439
Copy CRC F7FB1439
Accurately ripped (confidence 15) [C5C9ED3D]
Copy OK
Track 7
Filename E:EAC RipsThe Blue Nile – 1989 – Hats [FLAC]7 – Saturday Night.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:01.62
Peak level 98.7 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC FAC30890
Copy CRC FAC30890
Accurately ripped (confidence 12) [8DC1C567]
Copy OK
All tracks accurately ripped
No errors occurred
End of status report
log date: 2013-12-14 21:06:19
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: The Blue Nile / Hats
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR13 -0.13 dB -16.05 dB 5:05 01-Over the Hillside
DR12 -0.11 dB -14.60 dB 6:30 02-Downtown Lights
DR12 -0.39 dB -16.05 dB 5:16 03-Let’s Go Out Tonight
DR12 -0.11 dB -14.44 dB 6:17 04-Headlights on the Parade
DR13 -4.02 dB -21.62 dB 4:02 05-From a Late Night Train
DR13 -0.11 dB -16.09 dB 5:09 06-Seven A.M.
DR13 -0.11 dB -15.26 dB 6:28 07-Saturday Night
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Number of tracks: 7
Official DR value: DR13
Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 828 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================
The members of the Blue Nile seem to have taken seriously all those articles and reviews about what audiophiles and technicians they are, and this time around they’ve spent a half-dozen years concocting an album that sounds like they made at least some of it in their living rooms rather than their space-age studio. They achieve the appearance of simplicity and humanity by foregrounding either an acoustic guitar or piano on most tracks, by restraining other instrumentation, by making their synthesizers sound like strings most of the time, and by using real strings on occasion. All of which makes for appropriate settings for Paul Buchanan’s songs of domestic contentment. “Happiness,” “Sentimental Man,” “Holy Love”: the titles tell the story, though they don’t reveal the underlying fear that it will all go bust. (“Now that I’ve found peace at last,” Buchanan sings to open up the album, “Tell me, Jesus, will it last?”) Nor do they explain why a guy who keeps insisting that he’s happy sounds so mournful. Buchanan belongs to the Bono/Peter Gabriel school of throaty emotiveness, in which sudden, arbitrary ascensions toward the falsetto signal fits of otherwise unacknowledged passion (or maybe just a sneeze coming on). In Buchanan, the singing style and the loose structure of the songs make his protestations of tranquility unconvincing. That may be what he intends, especially since they lend an implied depth to what is the Blue Nile’s lightest effort yet.
Review by William Ruhlmann, Allmusic.com
Tracklist:
01. Happiness (04:39)
02. Tomorrow Morning (04:15)
03. Sentimental Man (05:05)
04. Love Came Down (03:35)
05. Body And Soul (05:16)
06. Holy Love (02:42)
07. Family Life (05:21)
08. War Is Love (03:33)
09. God Bless You Kid (04:56)
10. Soon (05:29)
EAC extraction logfile from 3. May 2009, 19:21
The Blue Nile / Peace At Last
Used drive : HL-DT-STDVDRAM GSA-T20N Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction : 667
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Appended to previous track
Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 1024 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:Program FilesFLACflac.exe
Additional command line options : -8 -V -T “ARTIST=%a” -T “TITLE=%t” -T “ALBUM=%g” -T “DATE=%y” -T “TRACKNUMBER=%n” -T “GENRE=%m” -T “COMMENT=EAC FLAC -8” %s
TOC of the extracted CD
Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––-
1 | 0:00.00 | 4:39.45 | 0 | 20969
2 | 4:39.45 | 4:15.27 | 20970 | 40121
3 | 8:54.72 | 5:05.48 | 40122 | 63044
4 | 14:00.45 | 3:35.00 | 63045 | 79169
5 | 17:35.45 | 5:16.47 | 79170 | 102916
6 | 22:52.17 | 2:42.00 | 102917 | 115066
7 | 25:34.17 | 5:21.23 | 115067 | 139164
8 | 30:55.40 | 3:33.17 | 139165 | 155156
9 | 34:28.57 | 4:56.40 | 155157 | 177396
10 | 39:25.22 | 5:29.60 | 177397 | 202131
Track 1
Filename C:The Blue Nile – Peace at Last (1996) [FLAC] {Warner Bros., 45848-2}1 – Happiness.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00
Peak level 97.4 %
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC B2E5D5CC
Copy CRC B2E5D5CC
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [BD569BBA]
Copy OK
Track 2
Filename C:The Blue Nile – Peace at Last (1996) [FLAC] {Warner Bros., 45848-2}2 – Tomorrow Morning.wav
Peak level 98.8 %
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC CDBBDD70
Copy CRC CDBBDD70
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [72416766]
Copy OK
Track 3
Filename C:The Blue Nile – Peace at Last (1996) [FLAC] {Warner Bros., 45848-2}3 – Sentimental Man.wav
Peak level 99.9 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 2C8A1292
Copy CRC 2C8A1292
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [CAE3DC09]
Copy OK
Track 4
Filename C:The Blue Nile – Peace at Last (1996) [FLAC] {Warner Bros., 45848-2}4 – Love Came Down.wav
Peak level 99.3 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 3DE77AD9
Copy CRC 3DE77AD9
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [9266AD8B]
Copy OK
Track 5
Filename C:The Blue Nile – Peace at Last (1996) [FLAC] {Warner Bros., 45848-2}5 – Body And Soul.wav
Pre-gap length 0:00:01.26
Peak level 99.9 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC F774E6AC
Copy CRC F774E6AC
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [03E0E18F]
Copy OK
Track 6
Filename C:The Blue Nile – Peace at Last (1996) [FLAC] {Warner Bros., 45848-2}6 – Holy Love.wav
Peak level 98.9 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 3B5A464F
Copy CRC 3B5A464F
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [E9588C6B]
Copy OK
Track 7
Filename C:The Blue Nile – Peace at Last (1996) [FLAC] {Warner Bros., 45848-2}7 – Family Life.wav
Peak level 94.9 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC EF405D5A
Copy CRC EF405D5A
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [15279F46]
Copy OK
Track 8
Filename C:The Blue Nile – Peace at Last (1996) [FLAC] {Warner Bros., 45848-2}8 – War Is Love.wav
Peak level 99.9 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 92B4128D
Copy CRC 92B4128D
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [66A57309]
Copy OK
Track 9
Filename C:The Blue Nile – Peace at Last (1996) [FLAC] {Warner Bros., 45848-2}9 – God Bless You Kid.wav
Peak level 98.6 %
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC FBAE446E
Copy CRC FBAE446E
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [1135D3E1]
Copy OK
Track 10
Filename C:The Blue Nile – Peace at Last (1996) [FLAC] {Warner Bros., 45848-2}10 – Soon.wav
Peak level 97.2 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 5E4363BB
Copy CRC 5E4363BB
Accurately ripped (confidence 1) [8B431142]
Copy OK
All tracks accurately ripped
No errors occurred
End of status report
log date: 2013-12-14 21:06:32
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: The Blue Nile / Peace At Last
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR8 -0.22 dB -11.20 dB 4:40 01-Happiness
DR8 -0.10 dB -10.32 dB 4:15 02-Tomorrow Morning
DR8 0.00 dB -10.57 dB 5:06 03-Sentimental Man
DR8 -0.05 dB -10.24 dB 3:35 04-Love Came Down
DR8 0.00 dB -9.23 dB 5:17 05-Body And Soul
DR8 -0.10 dB -10.72 dB 2:42 06-Holy Love
DR9 -0.45 dB -13.84 dB 5:21 07-Family Life
DR7 0.00 dB -9.78 dB 3:33 08-War Is Love
DR7 -0.12 dB -8.66 dB 4:57 09-God Bless You Kid
DR10 -0.25 dB -12.35 dB 5:30 10-Soon
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Number of tracks: 10
Official DR value: DR8
Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 790 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================
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