A Walk Across The Rooftops

Heard the name but never heard these guys before. It's pretty cool, interesting sound. Not exactly hooky with songs that are too long and sometimes samey. Stay is great. 3.5 rounded up Heard before? No Owned: No, 109/436 (25%) Will I get: No

Absolute stank nuggets.

I think this album hit me on a good day - it felt subtle all the way through, but I appreciated how it was produced. Each song felt like it was trying something unique, but wasn't overbearing. The first song bordered a clashing (almost off-key) vocal with a cool arrangement that seemed to work. Interesting album, may need to give it another listen. Rating: 8/10 Favorite Song: Tinseltown In The Rain

No exaggeration: one of the greatest albums ever recorded. A masterclass in tone, texture and atmosphere. Buchanan and co. may have peaked with Hats (which should be in this book, what the actual fuck), but this one is nearly equally as brilliant. One of the albums that is committed to the internal workings of my soul, an aural accompaniment to the very sensation of romance and lonely yearning in equal doses. A walk across the rooftops towards Tinseltown in the rain, from rags to riches and then to Easter Parades. The sounds of automobile noise and the feelings of heatwaves. An album that defies seasonal categorization. A love theme for the wilderness. A-fucking-men to the beauty of this record. I cannot state how important this album is to me in mere words.

This was weird. And odd. And at times slightly unnerving. But I didn't totally hate it. It was a touch dreary - mostly due to the singer - but had enough going for it it kept me listening. Hmm.

Very odd album

Peculiar one

Todella mitäänsanomaton

Je déteste la notation sur 5, ça manque tellement de nuances ! Parfois, il y a un album que je trouve fort sympathique, sans être exactement incroyable et il finit avec les 3, dans lequel je mets aussi les albums osef sans être vraiment nuls. Et là, on est dans le premier cas. C'est du rock du début des années 80, pas forcément transcendant, mais avec un côté atmosphérique pas dégueu, soutenu par des claviers qui ont pas tant vieilli que ça. Tant pis, je suis de bonne humeur (enfin, non, pas du tout, mais bref), je vais mettre un petit 4, pour une fois.

Pretty chill not bad but all sounded similar

This is not an album that will win over someone who thinks a song must have a big chorus, a dramatic climax, or a prominent instrumental hook. Its beauty is subtle, and some listeners will hear elegant background music where others hear a profound emotional landscape.

I don't know... about this. I think it is okay. I think it has heart and is serious and meaningful but it is... maybe for me, this is a genre I am quite into and find many many fine examples and maybe, just maybe some of these other examples i would put ahead of this band. It is not bad, but like a metaphor I have used before, they are not at the head table, and maybe they are sort of back in the crowd somewhere. I think it might lack a certain energy to me, kind of "too calm" in a way, like it could have used for a bit more excitement or changes here and there... IDK, I suppose I hate to be too judgmental when i am new to a band...

never heard them before. some magnificient songs on this album.

Production: - I can easily distinguish between the different insturments used. This means that the album has a professional recording to it with the use of live insruments and synths - However, at times it does feel like the voice is fighting for space or are more towards the back whereas the instruments are more forward; this can make it unclear what the singer is portraying Enjoyability: - The tracks in this album do not catch my attention and has low replay value for me - Fans of this genre would enjoy it although it is a bit slow, but I can definitely see someone just putting this on and chill - For me personally, this album is not really memorable mostly because the vocals did not have much variation - I do however, appreciate the use of instruments, synths and sounds used to create this album as they work together Cohesion: - The album follows a clear quite melancholic mood to it throughout - Songs fit together as a whole - As mentioned in production, the vocals appear to be more towards the back of the recording whereas the sound is more forward silencing the singer at times - Style of the album is intentional and matches the mood of it with a natural flow from song to song Lyrics & Composition: - Meaningful and reminiscing lyrics with memorable imagery - Has some good melodies but due to the lack of variation in the vocals it can come across as monotone sometimes - The tracks avoid feeling repetitive with the use of different musical ideas through the use of harmonies and arrangements Technical detail: - One thing I noticed in this album is that they have used a good variety of musical instruments, analog and electronic gear and have perfectly captured the emotions through it Emotional Impact: - Made me reflect on past romances but overall, the album was a bit boring for me as there was not much variation apart from Tinseltown in the Rain Best Track: Tinseltown in the Rain One thing I’d remember about this album in a month is its good use of analog and electronic gear to make a unique sound. The album did struggle to keep me engaged however

The music was way too weak and ineffectual for such bad vocals.

Heartfelt, evoking. There's something there that I would probably appreciate more if I had more background.

I didn’t hate it, but part of me thought these were repetitive 80s dirges.

I liked it! Calm with a really nice voice!

69

Cool album that oddly enough kept reminding me of LCD Soundsystem.

Not my cup of tea

This album kinda bugs me because there’s a lot in it that I really dig especially the soundscape it creates with its production, but the vocals on this just seem the best to me and the lyrics don’t move me feeling like placeholder. I feel if there were more songs like the title track and stay I could see myself really digging what is being served to me but right now it just doesn’t feel like too much of my thing. Fav tracks: A walk across the rooftops, Stay, and automobile noise

Largely forgettable. 2/5

Jazz guys doing pop in the most basic way

very u2-ish

One of the less commercial synth bands of the 80s and in my opinion all the better for it. A wider variety than most of the pre-programmed drum and bass lines well worth a listen.

4/5 mom and dad will love, love songs cool ambient sound.

mehhh

Largely uninspiring 1980s Sting impersonations.

I'm a fan of any music that incorporates an orchestra for the extra gravitas. That said, this was a little on the slow side. It's like the soundtrack at an aquarium, it really sets a mood but it's not going to be something I come back to again and again.

epic

Like talking heads off wish

Красивый альбом с замечательным вокалом и меланхоличным звучанием. Hats на порядок круче, но и эта пластинка — не промах

Mm. Nice enough

Every song on this feels like it is almost interesting, but is socially distanced from the concept of embracing being interesting, which is more frustrating than if it was just whole-heartedly boring. Rating: 2

If someone had asked me in 2020, this is what I would have imagined AI music would sound like. Technically perfect but completely lacking any hooks or catchiness. Unfortunately it didn't turn out that way.

yeah, this sucks

Uneven. Surprisingly to me I have heard Heatwave and enjoyed it. There's a bit of Japan in here, a bit on 80's synthpop toned down. The production and sound quality is fantastic. Just a pity that the music doesn't quite match up to it. Still... enjoyable 3/5

I have never heard of this group but right away I'm loving the sound and that bass is fantastic. Overall this was really enjoyable listen. Short but sweet. Just a really nice, chill vibe to get enveloped in. Will definitely be adding this to the library and exploring more from this group.

People that aren't bored to tears by this album should be studied so we can harness their powers for the greater good.

I have a love hate relationship with the New Wave Genre. How, you may ask? Well let's put it like this. I LOVE Talking Heads, and mostly hate everything else (kidding, somewhat). I guess What i really mean by that is that the truly commercialized idea of New Wave that The Talking Heads made definitive was just too high a standard for any other band to reach in my opinion. I tried not to let that affect my listen of this album. If I had to describe this album, i'd describe it as the type of album that someone with deep Musical theory understanding, probably does appreciate. However for a casual/somewhat educated music undestander (me), I wouldn't necessarily acclaim this. But I will say, I love the versatility this album does cover, Especially the song "A Walk Across the rooftop". This is a cool relic of a time where New Wave was at its hey-day, but its also probably always going to stay that, a relic, almost time capsule esqe album. 2/5

The singer was doing his own thing quite a lot. Otherwise it’s a nice album.

+: A Walk Across the Rooftops, Stay, Easter Parade +-: Tinseltown in the Rain, From Rags to Riches, Automobile Noise -: Heatwave 4,1/10

3/5. This thing is very well produced, whether that be the great groove on “Tinseltown in Rain” or the beautiful sounding “Heatwave.” As someone who’s usually not a fan of 80’s pop production that is really saying something. That being said, the album is a bit one-note, there’s not much variety in the track-list which is fine but makes it so there aren’t as many strong individual standouts outside of the two I previously mentioned. Though it is at least only 38 minutes so it doesn’t overstay its welcome too long.

It's okay but I instantly forgot the songs.

Now THIS is a quirky 80s album

2 star - 80's slop

80s New Wave. Scottish debut. Hints of Bowie. Slightly dark. Has more soul and sadness than other new wave albums. Much more my thing.

A Walk Across the Rooftops sounds impossibly full while containing remarkably little. That is the first paradox, and almost everything else about the record follows from it. The Blue Nile seem less interested in asking what can be added to a song than in discovering how much can be removed before the image disappears. Bass, piano, synthesiser, percussion and voice occupy enormous territories because hardly anything is allowed to compete with them. Silence is not absence here. It is part of the arrangement. That makes the record difficult to reconcile with being a debut. Debuts normally contain some residue of eagerness: a band emptying the notebook, demonstrating range, showing you everything it can do before somebody changes their mind. This does almost the opposite. It behaves as though the group had already spent years discarding possibilities. Its confidence is editorial rather than exhibitionist. Every sound seems to have survived a severe test of necessity. The title track establishes the method in its purest form. Small instrumental figures chug quietly according to their own logic rather than constantly responding to the vocal. There are distant hints of Steve Reich or Philip Glass in the construction — not because The Blue Nile sound remotely like minimalist composition, but because repetition, independence and interlocking parts create movement without much conventional harmonic development. The music has modernist bones. Then Paul Buchanan starts singing and the whole thing fills with weather. The lyrics work by the same principle as the arrangements. They do not explain when an image will do. Red sandstone, rooftops, dawn, movement: Glasgow appears in fragments and somehow becomes enormous. I found myself imagining the narrator growing to impossible scale and striding across the rooftops into a magical sunrise. The city is recognisably Glasgow but already becoming something else — part Glasgow, part New York, part Brigadoon, an actual place enlarging itself into metropolitan myth. “Tinseltown in the Rain” is immediately busier, but it does not abandon the system. It simply puts more traffic through it. The same precisely separated components now create propulsion, as though the panoramic camera of the opening song has descended to street level and started moving through the city. It is strongly cinematic without becoming lush. The impressionistic lyrics are even less resolved, flashes of image and feeling passing through an arrangement which knows exactly where everything belongs. At first I thought Buchanan was the exception. His melodies could sound messily extemporaneous, as though an extraordinarily deliberate band had allowed the singer to find his tune at the microphone. “From Rags to Riches” intensified the suspicion. The accompaniment supplies pulse, texture and placement but relatively little conventional harmonic information, leaving Buchanan free to make abrupt melodic leaps whose destinations rarely feel inevitable. That freedom is both fascinating and costly. The album is full of compositional “what ifs”, and those what ifs become the thief of inevitability. These are not tunes which always make you think the next note could only have been that note. They can be difficult to hum because they keep refusing the expected route. But “Easter Parade” changes the argument. Stripped down largely to piano and voice, the piano tracks Buchanan through the same strange corners. The apparent improvisation is revealed as composition. The awkwardness was on the drawing board. These melodies do not flow around corners; they negotiate them. That track also exposes the album’s central aesthetic contradiction. As an instrumental construction it would be starkly modernist: lines, intervals, spaces, very little cushioning. Buchanan turns it into impressionism. His voice does not soften the geometry so much as coat it in uncertainty. That helped me understand what had initially bothered me about his singing. Buchanan sounds wearily performative. Not merely sad, not merely tired. Impressionistic lyrics preserve ambiguity, but presenting them as song necessarily makes choices: this word, this pitch, this emphasis, now. He often sounds as though the act of making an indefinite feeling definite costs him something. His voice feels older than a debut album should feel. It brings weather with it. “Stay” makes that emotional distance particularly clear. Conventional gestures of love seem to have lost their purchasing power in a damaged world. The music remains absurdly ordered while human connection does not. That opposition gradually becomes one of the album’s deepest ideas: the instruments know exactly where they belong; the people in the songs rarely do. The politics enter by the same route. They are not declared. They accumulate. “Heatwave” begins with separation made almost cosmological: another star, another air, rivers in the distance leading somewhere. Then the second verse gives us straw houses in a promised land, taking sides, rich and poor, and the heatwave rolling down on the young and foolish. At that point it becomes difficult not to hear the song as allegorical politics. Not an anti-Thatcher manifesto. Something more interesting than that. The politics are experienced as weather. For ordinary workers, one of the defining facts of the early 1980s was that employment became a scarcity product. “There’s a queue of people outside who’d love your job” was practically a workplace proverb. Scarcity disciplines behaviour. The celebrated language of individual possibility existed alongside a world in which losing your foothold could mean falling a very long way. The promised land might exist, but the houses were made of straw. The brilliance of “Heatwave” is that it never needs to name the system. It shows what living beneath it can feel like: forced choices, diminishing security, the young absorbing pressures they did not create, people apparently inhabiting different economic atmospheres while being told they occupy the same society. Then “Automobile Noise” turns that social atmosphere into resignation. By now Buchanan sounds almost crushed by the sheer busyness of the city. Behind him it gently clanks and clangs, exquisitely placed as ever. Money moves across wires. Ladders promise access to all the money in the world. Vast quantities of activity and wealth are circulating, but circulation is not participation. The machinery functions perfectly well whether the narrator feels included in it or not. His weariness with both fighting and surrendering contains something I recognise very strongly from the 1980s. Resistance exhausts you. Accommodation exhausts you. Neither position offers release. Meanwhile the traffic moves, the money moves, other people move, and the city continues perfectly well. Life goes on, often without you. That is why the album’s tendency to linger at the ends of songs matters. Resolution is less important than afterimage. Once a song has apparently said what it needs to say, the architecture is often allowed to remain standing for a while. Patterns continue. The atmosphere survives the information. The city carries on after the argument has finished. There is an amusing historical irony in how beautifully the record reveals good playback equipment, given the mythology that has grown around Linn and the idea of The Blue Nile as some sort of audiophile laboratory experiment. None of that matters very much. What matters is audible: this is music whose architecture is extraordinarily exposed. Better reproduction does not simply reveal more detail. It reveals more geometry. And yet geometry is not what remains when the album is over. What remains is weather, distance, traffic, rooftops, failed promises, money moving elsewhere, people attempting love with tools that no longer seem adequate, and a voice trying to locate itself inside a world that is much more certain of its own arrangements than it is of him. That may be the album’s strangest achievement. The Blue Nile construct an unnervingly precise modernist city and populate it with impressionistic people who cannot quite find their place inside it. Everything in the music is perfectly positioned. Almost nobody in the songs is. Modernist bones, impressionist weather — and one of the most astonishingly self-possessed debut albums I have heard.

i can't even remember listening to it yesterday but i did

I suppose I can see why some people might like this. The vocals can be achingly poignant, and the musical stylings are simple enough to stay out of the way for the most part. But even at a lean running time of less than 40 minutes, the album offers nothing fresh after you've heard the first two or three songs. It didn't run on long enough to become painful to listen to, but I kept finding myself looking up, amazed that it was STILL going on.

Like a mix between A-ha and David Bowie. I like it a lot.

This is average for me.

Ambient new wave, pretentious but I liked the grooves

Not for me

Not sure how to feel about this one. I like the vocals. There are parts of the instrumentation that I like. It’s maybe a little synthy for me at times. I also think the vocals were in a strange place in the mix. There were a few moments where I really felt like the vocals and the music didn’t fit together. Sometimes I really liked the slow somewhat melancholy feeling in the songs and sometimes I just felt like they went on too long. It feels almost like something I should like, but it just doesn’t quite work for me. Fav song: Heatwave Least fav: Easter Parade

I really liked the vocals and lyrics but was somewhat confused by the music, what are they doing? why are they doing it? why so much synth? Fun being in Glasgow and listening to a song they called an ode to Glasgow- although it's lovely and sunny today, I'll have to listen again when it rains (sure I won't be waiting long). Favourite song: Tinseltown in the Rain Least: Rags to Riches

Listened before?: never. i didn't like much of what i heard after listening Walk Across the Rooftops - 1/5 Tinseltown in the Rain - 2/5 From Rags to Riches - 3/5 Stay - 2/5 Easter Parade - 2/5 Heatwave - 3/5 Automobile Noise - 3/5 Average score: 2.3/5 ⭐️⭐️

Somehow I made it through this entire album without dozing off.

No! Just no! This is trash, it’s boring and I assume would be regulated to the bargain/free bin at the local record store.

I couldn’t stand to finish a single song on this album. About 30 seconds into each one, I skipped ahead to the next track, hoping it would be better. It never was. In fact, I think the songs got worse as the album went on.

hab zum ersten mal von dieser band gehört gute lieder

MORE synthy new wave out of the UK! This list is already awash with this exact sounding music, so I just cannot see anything here that I particularly liked. This entry does seem to take itself a bit more seriously than others in this genre, if thats your bag. Its just a little too limp in the vocal department, and there are some super long drawn out intros, making it more of a chore to listen to.

I have 9 albums left on this list. Nice to see there’s still room for yet another bland, poorly sung UK synth pop album. Robert Dimery needs to have this list taken away from him and redone from the bottom up. You do not need to hear this album before you die

Very anti climactic Good music Somewhat monotone but not necessarily in a bad way.

I listened to this and promptly forgot everything about it. In terms of how awful most 80s music is, that’s an upgrade.

Pretty dull and uninspiring. One I'll certainly forget I ever listened to in a few days time.

Scotch music. I don’t mind it, andI’m glad it’s another Scotch band I’ve listen to, but I’m not sure it’s a must listen.

Not a bad album in the traditional sense but an incredibly boring one. A lot of the songs sound the same or sound like other songs I've heard before (but done better). Some cool instrumentation here and there, like the plink plunk noises on "Heatwaves," but other than that not a whole lot else good to say other than that I was glad it has a run time under 40 minutes. 2/5

Smooth

This felt like a more boring version of a lot of other bands of the era.

Track By Track A Walk Across The Rooftops - slow beginning. Atmospheric, almost filmic. Sci-Fi. Jagged, angular. Big fat funky bass, quite enjoying that. Didn’t like the chorus. Tinseltown In The Rain - a good driving bass line. So very eighties. Again sounds like it’s from a soundtrack or something. From Rags To Riches - very different to the swinging jazz number I know! Dancing melody on the top. Sounds like it has some influences from Steve Reich or someone similar. Very strange harmonies going on in a lot of these tracks. It has that slightly sinister ‘80s sound. Stay - they’re really going with that repetitive bass line here. It’s a good vocal melody in this one. This has that Scottish feel that I can’t quite put my finger on. Sweet chorus. Easter Parade - slow and plaintive. I felt the emotion in this one for sure. Heatwave - another slow tempo one, like the experimental instrumentation actually. Again, very ‘80s. Automobile Noise - a nice closer for the vibe of the album. Has a good finality to it. Quite movie-like and a reminiscent nostalgic feel to it. A portrait of a place type song. Nice. A little bit Springsteen-esque actually. Overall Review: Not too bad. Some of the synth melodies did get a bit waring after a while. It seems to me one of those albums that’s more of a mood than with singles and the like. Quite experimental actually in parts. It’s not a genre I particularly love for a whole album, but was decent in places. For experimentation and musicianship, it would get a high 3, but for my overall enjoyment and listen-ability it’s getting a mid-late 2. 2.7/5 Favourite Songs: Stay, Easter Parade

80s slop

Sophisti-pop my beloved. This album didn't disappoint, being smooth and jazzy the whole way through with just a hint of that new wave influence. Easy 8/10. I hope their next album Hats is also on here!

Not sure what the point of this one was

This album exists in a weird space for me, because I was almost expecting something along the lines of Roxy Music's later albums based on the descriptions. I did not enjoy it the first time, finding it really repetitive and uninteresting, but when I sat down at my desk I was able to hear more subtleties. This is either going to be one I never listen to again or one that gradually works into my rotation and becomes a 4 or 5. No in between.

Good

Really interesting sound, great album

Lame. 2

É legal, mas sei lá, não bateu forte em mim, só é legal.

Walking across the rooftops sounds dangerous. Why is this so ominous. Ok. Hello? Weirdly disjointed. Of course they're Scottish. Why do Scots always make the weirdest shit? Weird weird sound. But maybe not that bad. I could enjoy this if I tried. Maybe wouldn't add it to the playlists but I could get behind it. It just kinda sounds like all the instruments are a little off. Tbh. Not a fan. But also kinda a fan. Wait okay. Give them a second. I actually do like this it's funky in a good way, in an old guy way. it's just also a little boring but that's ok. Favourite: Tinseltown In The Rain Least favourite: Easter Parade

Interesting band. Hadn’t heard them before. Reminds me of Peter Gabriel.

A new discovery to me. Parts sound like 80s Peter Gabriel while other parts almost sound like the Cure without going all the way into that sound. Interesting and well done.

Chill, but kind of a background album.

A bit meh

Really surprised by this one. I heard some Destroyer and Hamilton Leithauser in it, so wonder if they were influenced by them. Very pleasantly surprised as I had never heard of the band before. 4 to 4 1/2.

#462/1001. This and the last album have been from artists which I hadn't known before, from genres I often enjoy (the other being 60s psychedelic folk). So great to see this list can also offer new discoveries even in fields where I think I already know something. This LP I'll definitely buy if I ever encounter it with a reasonable price. One of the reviews quoted in the wiki page had an interesting comment about how this album also teaches to listen, due probably to the fact that the band's musicianship wasn't that great, and they constructed songs (with a good producer obviously) from simple elements, creating a complex whole. Electronic sounds meet real instruments, interesting rhythms, supporting melodies and songs are allowed to grow and live. I am sure this album will benefit from relistens - although I have to admit that by the last two songs listening was a bit of tedious because of style/mood repetition. Have to see if that will happen over forthcoming revisits. 4 or 5? I'll go for the high score now.

sophist-o-pop

This wasn’t the most amazing album and it’s fair to question why it’s even included in the first place. Their contemporaries have done heavy synth work to greater acclaim and accomplishment. Yet, there was something intriguing about this album even if I can’t quite put my finger on it. Tinseltown in the Rain was my favorite track on the record. Easter Parade was like something out of the quietest part of a musical combined with a number Mark Knopfler or Peter Gabriel could have constructed. Just excellent in its restraint. Heatwave felt like another track which could have been a Peter Gabriel early/mid 80s track. That said, this just wasn’t as good as what Gabriel was producing at the time. Again, not the greatest record ever, but there’s something very satisfying about finding a record that’s pretty original which I never would have found without going through this journey.

very 80s beats but a bit more melodic and soulful.

kind of interesting?

This one has been haunting me a little bit. It was generated for me 12 days ago, but I've had to listen to it three times. My first impression was that the album was more "interesting" than enjoyable, but I think it's growing on me. It's an album that reveals a little more of itself track by track and then also (full) listen by listen. If I have a criticism at this point, I would say that I don't know if they quite earned the right to average 5 minutes per track. Most of these songs take a minute and a half to wind down when 40 seconds would have done it.

Really enjoyed this! Heatwave was unbelievable cool, as was the opener

I'm biased here. I bought this album on day of release and it has been a constant companion ever since. A stunning and beautiful album with every song outstanding. Probably one of the greatest debut albums of all time.

The Cure 🤝 Leonard Cohen 🤝 The Seinfeld Bassist

Like if Brandon Flowers and Robert Smith had a child that took Peter Gabriel's place on his solo records. Except not as good as any of them. But still vaguely enjoyable in a dark 80s kind of way.

the good news is that this was loads better than the drum and bass i just listened to. the bad news is that it still isn’t really my cup of tea

This is very 80s, very minimalist, very clean and pretty boring. I like minimalist, but usually I want something juxtaposing it, like a harsh guitar tone, or a dark bass sound. This is all just nice. The drums being electronic don't give me any excitement either. I also think if you're commuting to that minimal and exposed your vocalist has to either have the most incredible voice, or at least a really unique voice that brings something fascinating to the work and this guy just has a voice, neither exciting nor crass, nor different, not even just bad. An vocalist struggling to hold a tune might make this more interesting to me. But he was fine. I can cope without this.

Bits were okay but it went on far too long and got quite boring by the end

This was kinda meh...