A Walk Across the Rooftops
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Albums:
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A Walk Across the Rooftops
- Artist: The Blue Nile
- Rating:
- Release Date: 1984 05
- Total Time: 37:47
- Genre: Rock
Review
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. ~ Stewart Mason, Rovi| A Walk (1996 Album by Bad Religion) | |
| A Walk Down Broadway (2009 Album by Matthew Baldwin) |
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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A Walk Across the Rooftops
| A Walk Across the Rooftops | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by The Blue Nile | ||||
| Released | 13 May 1984 | |||
| Recorded | 1982–1984 at Castlesound, Edinburgh | |||
| Genre | Adult alternative, sophisti-pop, New Wave | |||
| Length | 37:47 | |||
| Label | Linn Records (UK) A&M Records (US) |
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| Producer | Paul Buchanan and Robert Bell | |||
| The Blue Nile chronology | ||||
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| Singles from A Walk Across the Rooftops | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Rolling Stone | [2] |
A Walk Across the Rooftops is the debut album from Glaswegian adult contemporary/pop group The Blue Nile, released on 13 May 1984 on Linn Records in the UK and A&M Records in the US.
The album had an unusual history. Three years previously, The Blue Nile had recorded and independently released their first single, "I Love This Life". It caught the attention of RSO Records, who re-released it, but the company was absorbed into Polygram soon afterwards, and the single disappeared from view, as did the band.
The Blue Nile continued to record without success until they were approached by Charlie Brennan, a representative of Scottish audio equipment company Linn Hi-Fi. Engineers at Linn had become frustrated by the poor quality of the test LPs that were provided for their flagship turntable product, so they manufactured their own cutting lathe and were looking for local artists to provide recordings to demonstrate the quality of their new equipment.[3] The track the band recorded was "Tinseltown in the Rain" (a tribute to their home town), which impressed the company so much that they agreed to finance an entire album, which became the first release on their new record label, Linn Records. It reached #80 in the UK album charts.[4]
The album was noted for its use of empty space and detailed separation of each musical instrument, designed to showcase the Linn hi-fi equipment to best effect. Two singles were released from the album in the UK, with minor success: "Tinseltown in the Rain" reached #87 in the UK singles chart,[5] and "Stay" reached #97.[6]
The Irish singer Andrea Corr recorded "Tinseltown in the Rain" for her 2011 album of cover versions Lifelines, and released it as the first single from that album.
Duo Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin included a cover of "Heatwave" on their 1989 album The Big Idea. [7]
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Contents
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Cover art
The photograph of the band on the front cover was taken on Cathcart Road in Glasgow. The building on the right of the picture was the Hermon Baptist Church, a single-storey pent-roofed structure built on to the end of a block of tenement houses. At some point the tenements were demolished and the church stood in isolation for some years until it was destroyed by fire in 2001, and subsequently demolished.
Track listing
All songs written and composed by Paul Buchanan and Robert Bell.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "A Walk Across the Rooftops" | 4:54 |
| 2. | "Tinseltown in the Rain" | 5:53 |
| 3. | "From Rags to Riches" | 5:59 |
| 4. | "Stay" | 4:55 |
| 5. | "Easter Parade" | 4:29 |
| 6. | "Heatwave" | 6:26 |
| 7. | "Automobile Noise" | 5:08 |
Personnel
The Blue Nile
- Robert Bell - bass, synthesizers
- Paul Buchanan - vocals, guitars, synthesizers
- Paul Joseph Moore – keyboards, synthesizers
Additional personnel
- Calum Malcolm - recording engineer
- Nigel Thomas – drums
External links
References
- ^ Mason, Stewart. A Walk Across the Rooftops at Allmusic. Retrieved 11 September 2011.
- ^ Holmes, Tim (26 September 1985). "Review - A Walk Across the Rooftops". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 24 August 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070824225327/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/thebluenile/albums/album/144052/review/5940452/a_walk_across_the_rooftops. Retrieved 11 September 2011.
- ^ Linn Records website
- ^ Chart Stats.com - A Walk Across the Rooftops
- ^ Chart Stats.com - "Tinseltown in the Rain"
- ^ Chart Stats.com - "Stay"
- ^ Covers Project.com - The Blue Nile
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AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Albums
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