Walk Across The Rooftops, A - Blue Nile (The)

...5 month period called “A walk across the Rooftops” contained all the tracks written over the previous 2 years, during the time of recording the band tried to live very cheaply poring all of Linn’s money into the recording, the resulting songs sounded nothing like any else on the music scene at the time.
The tracks are full of the passion of Buchanan’s lyrics, which for me take something ordinary and make it sound magnificent ...
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“A walk across the Rooftops “(4.54) the title track opens with an ever so quiet keyboard played by P.J. Moore who’s volume builds slowly to what sounds like the wires in a piano being struck and then another keyboard is used to imitate a trumpet the first line is sung “I walk across the roof tops” this is a signal for the warm rich bass sound of Robert Bell to start with 5 deep notes then the unofficial ... more

Background

Who are and what is The Blue Nile?
These are questions many have asked, as this band are famous for their lack of interviews, keeping their lives very private which has added to their enigma.

The Blue Nile are in fact 3 university graduates, who graduated from the University of Glasgow at the end of the 70’s, two of them had know each other since childhood both of them playing as children on the Northern streets of Glasgow.
Paul Buchanan (degree in English literature) and P. J. Moore (degree in Electronics) where not aware of Robert Bell (degree in mathematics) during their time at university but not long after they finished their studies where introduced to each other through mutual friends, a friendship between Paul and Robert was soon struck up through their love of music.

Paul remembered he got him into Mahler’s 5th Symphony and Robert would play him Marvin Gaye’s “What’s going on” or “Let’s get it on”.

The newly formed band started composing their own track s and formed their own label called “Peppermint Records” to put out a couple of tracks “I love this life” /”The Second Act” only a few copies where pressed before a copy found it’s way to the RSO label who offered to promote and release the single.

Just as things such as airplay on Radio 1 started happening and the single was getting attention, the RSO label was bought by a major label called Polygram so the single sunk without a trace. (Both of these tracks have recently surfaced as songs on one of the bands recent single releases called “I would never” on the Sanctuary label catalogue number SANXD305)

The 3 friends spent the next few years recording tracks they had half –written for RSO they had asked them for another song and they had gone recorded “Tinseltown in the rain”, the engineer on the tracks Calum Malcolm would play a key role for the band often giving them a place to sleep and something to eat as well as free recording time when there was a gap in the studios diary, this meant they went down to the studio late at night just to record.

Through the efforts of Calum Malcolm some of their work reached the Scottish high end Hi-fi manufacturer “Linn”.
In the early 80’s the company where looking to finance a recording to show how good analogue could sound, own hearing the bands demos Linn heard their potential and signed them to their newly formed label.
The band didn’t return any of Linn’s calls for 9 months the band said “they weren’t being evasive they just had other things to do”.
The collection of 7 tracks recorded over a 5 month period called “A walk across the Rooftops” contained all the tracks written over the previous 2 years, during the time of recording the band tried to live very cheaply poring all of Linn’s money into the recording, the resulting songs sounded nothing like any else on the music scene at the time.
The tracks are full of the passion of Buchanan’s lyrics, which for me take something ordinary and make it sound magnificent and extraordinary; the words are woven round a soundscape of electronics that are given soul by the romantic vocal delivery of Buchanan.
When the album was released in 1983 it received universal approval, with people like the record producer Steve Lillywhite calling it the best debut album in 5 years the album got so much attention that the label Virgin licensed the recording from Linn and told the band to write another album but that’s another story.

The Album

“A walk across the Rooftops “(4.54) the title track opens with an ever so quiet keyboard played by P.J. Moore who’s volume builds slowly to what sounds like the wires in a piano being struck and then another keyboard is used to imitate a trumpet the first line is sung “I walk across the roof tops” this is a signal for the warm rich bass sound of Robert Bell to start with 5 deep notes then the unofficial band member Nigel Thomas (who has played drums on all their albums and tours) whose hi-hats and snare drum played in 4/4 time blends in with the bass “ I am in Love, I am in love with you” the whole track is built around those two lines during the middle 8 section the repeated lines are given more depth and power by the sweeping arrangement.
The keyboards sounds like a harp along with a section of keys that sound like a string section (this all possible due to the use of a fairlight, which was a keyboard that at time was so big you built a studio round it, Kate Bush used one to great effect on the “Hounds of Love” album) The track ends with the opening line being repeated and the snare being struck and the keyboards disappear into the distance.

Tinseltown in the rain (5.53) starts with a funky up-tempo bass line and melodic piano run which sounds like it’s singing the chorus the lyrics open with “Why did we ever come so far? I knew I had seen it all before” at the end of every line the piano plays a descending chord which is the opposite of the scratchy bass playing that has more 4/4 drumming at the back of it, this propels the song in a very catchy manner with chorus of “Tinseltown in the rain” the track again makes great use of the sweeping string effect, Paul announces “I know now that love was so exciting” the song for me captures that first rush of emotion and desire that we all feel when we are first in love, to start with he feels that he has seen it all before and he thinks he take it or leave it but soon even he is caught up in the moment, he asks and answer himself with the line “Do I love you? Yes I love you” but after that he states “its easy come, its easy go” in other words as quickly as we can fall in live we can fall out of love.
The middle section has a glorious chop, chop, rhythm guitar and handclap part that is filled out by the string-like keyboards, this track is still a favorite when the band makes its rare live appearances.

From rags to riches (5.59) begins with what sounds like 2 match boxes getting rubbed together then chimes and bells being struck with the sound of the chimes cross-panned from speaker to speaker as well as a single note played on a keyboard and a booming bass sound is used to give rhythmical structure , this ambient soundscape is the backdrop for Buchanan to delivery a vocal that is more like talking in pitch rather singing “ I leave a home of a lifetime, like any son, I have hope and good intentions” at the end of this line the reverberating sound of the chimes is now getting frantic.
“I’m wandering into the daybreak, I learn as I go, to fall laughing into the water” at the end of the word “water” a snare drum is struck 3 times then a single boom of a bass sound then back to the snare “the sticks and the stones, are your broken promises, we wait too long to go from rags to riches” at the end of every line the snare device is used giving the delivered lines potency, another keyboard has been added so as he sings “I am in Love, I am in Love, in Love with a feeling, the wild wild sky , the wild wild sky, fences and tumbled down bridges, surround and divide, I wear a coat of many colours, of many colours the sticks and the stones, are broken promises, I wait no longer to go from rags to riches” adding to the drama, a keyboard trumpet sound is used for the bridge along with previous parts.
The vocals return with the line “people are leaving the squalor, there’re leaving the houses and fires, and starting out we find the waiting countries”.
The track appears to me to be about leaving your family home and starting in another place or is it about the Highland clearances when the people had to make way for sheep, whatever the subject matter the simple arrangement and stark use of percussion make this a real stand track for me.

Stay (4.55) in the days of vinyl this was the opening track of side2, this song is of similar construction and tempo to “Tinseltown” except the 4/4 time has an off-beat and a rolling effect has been has been used on the keyboards to give the piece a relentless groove that is both funky and rocky at the same time.
The song starts with a simple keyboard run and then the drums start the sound which goes back and forth between the speakers then crash more keyboards and drums with a hi-hat off-beat used along with the bass guitar and a rhythm guitar “I’m taking out this party girl, the right situation is over, a new situation begins, the red guitar is broken, beat the drum of youth again, take to long to say, Stay “crash of cymbals just before the word “stay” which is repeated 3 times the line “I will understand you” the sound of the signature sweeping strings fill the spaces between the other elements in the song giving it a grand majestic sound that bops along in a very pop-like manner.
The simple piano run from the intro is used during the bridging part this gives the track an eerie feel that takes the listener to the choppy guitar section that bounces from speaker to speaker, the vocals return with “Summer girls in disarray, can be so free and easy now, for we’re free and easy” back to the repeat of the word “Stay “3 times “And I will understand you” the drums now have reverb on them, this gives rhythm section greater depth and attack.
As the track begins to fade the guitars and drums continue to rattle from speaker to speaker with the repeated word “Stay” has even more of a pleading feel than the earlier parts, on the fourth repeat the song fades into the distance.

Easter Parade (4.29) the mood is quickly changed with this somber sounding piece with its big sounding simple piano intro that has had it’s sound fattened up by using a another keyboard playing the same part at the back of it, the forlorn vocals of Buchanan begin with “The line of traffic comes to a standstill, for the love King out in the morning air, I find the place where I started from, the wild is calling this time I follow” at the word follow a dub effect is used to bring the songs title to the listeners attention, the descending and ascending device from the intro is used between the lines, this is of the centerpiece of the album for me with it’s simple but effective sound and potent lyrics, that seem to talk of a perfect day but is it real or imagined?

Heatwave (6.26) has a gently played chord introduction that is all bird-like noises and rattling chains and what sounds a bicycle being ridden past along with a very threatening boom of the percussion, the bass guitar is playing the same as the keyboards to add a brightness to the sound an acoustic guitar has been added into the mix, after this strange beginning the track settles into a more traditional narrative structure.
The unsettling intro ends with a roll on the snare, this is where the lead vocals begin “You’ll never need another’s heart, you are pretending that love is worth waiting for, you always breathe another air, the rivers in the distance must be leading somewhere, Heatwave” on the word “Heatwave” which has been recorded twice and has had reverb added along with a pretty sounding run on the acoustic guitar which gives this summery feel that talks of the joy of youth and being in love for the first time, this is a song that is cinematic in it’s scope and is a personal favorite for it reminds a cynical middle –aged man what it was like to be young and in love and the innocent happiness that brought.

Automobile noise (5.08) the closing track of this collection sounds very similar to the previous although Paul Buchanan’s vocal delivery has an added melancholy that the up-beat message from the last song didn’t have.
This track has a menacing drum intro that has off-beats and other percussion effects, the bass and piano play the same 4 note motif that pulls the listener in the sinister sounding back wash of percussion and keyboards for the vocals to begin “Automobile noise out in the traffic, black cars and blue cars go by, backwards and forward, the names and the places I know, all right I crossed the same old wrought yea”
For me this the perfect end to one of my favorite albums form the 80’s as it is more about the atmosphere and what has pasted before in your life, in the short running time of less than 39 minutes this band has covered more of the human condition than most of today’s band have in their whole back catalogue.

My biggest criticism of this album is the sound, unfortunately this is only available in it’s original 1983 CD pressing and has yet to be re-mastered, out of curiosity I asked a friend who has a Linn turntable (LP 12) and a Naim CD player along with a full Naim set-up if he had this album on vinyl as well as the CD, he did so in a way of an experiment we played one format against the other, just as I suspected the vinyl sounded superb and the CD just didn’t come anywhere near it, it was cold and empty sounding.
This is a shame as this album is stunning and still sounds as fresh as it did all those years ago.
I have seen copies of this CD in Fopp for a Fiver which isn’t bad.

Of course this album was the one financed by Linn to show how good their turntables can sound and it shows my friend had his deck up-graded last year adding all the latest improvements. (New motor, new arm and a different cartridge and stylus)

The sleeve is just a folded in half cover with little info and no lyrics, so if I have got any of the words wrong sorry it was a case of stopping and starting the album over and over again to try and hear them.
All the back ground information came from the official Blue Nile website and I used as my main source an article called “Songs of Love & transport” from the site.
 

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