‘Every record should be compared to silence. Silence is perfect. What are you going to put on it?’
Paul Buchanan, 1984
The Blue Nile’s debut album A Walk Across The Rooftops – released 40 years ago today – embraced silence. The first minute of the title track was a case in point. Buyers all over the UK were wondering if their tapes and records were faulty.
In a superb year for debut albums, the Scottish trio stole a march on David Sylvian, beating his Brilliant Trees by two months, though Scott Walker was first out of the traps with Climate Of Hunter. Both Sylvian and Walker reportedly adored A Walk, as did Peter Gabriel and Brian Eno.
The album has a funny/weird backstory involving the Bee Gees, Krankees and Spice Girls, well worth checking out. But how does my original Linn/Virgin CD (catalogue number LKHCD1) sound 40 years on? Fantastic. Seldom have acoustic drums and pianos been better recorded, the songwriting is solid and every electronic noise has its place.
‘Tinseltown In The Rain’ and ‘Heatwave’ would make for superb hi-fi testers. Buchanan’s voice is original and affecting. Lyrically, his speciality seems to be life-changing realisations in ordinary settings. The title track, for instance, was reportedly inspired by the view outside his Edinburgh kitchen window.
A Walk only got to #80 in the UK on release but became a formidable sleeper hit and has apparently sold way beyond the band’s wildest expectations. They waited five years to release followup Hats, an album many rate as superior to A Walk. Not this writer though. A great debut album in a decade full of them.
movingtheriver.com 
I bought the album when it came out and I’ve been playing it ever since. Fantastic record: really unique then, it still sounds spookily original now. I do think Hats is a pop classic but A Walk Across The Rooftops is the sound of genius appearing on the scene.
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I was kindly given the earliest CD pressing last year, and the sound really is impressive. No wonder Linn were prepared to use it for their in-store demonstrations. Immaculate and timeless. Surprised only one cover version of songs from this album has ever been done by a mainstream artist (Andrea Corr’s Tinseltown In The Rain, from around 2010 I think).
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Yeah, it really does sound fantastic. Are you surprised re. covers? I’m kind of surprised anyone has taken on anything from this one! Always thought Annie Lennox’s take on ‘Downtown Lights’ was OK though.
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Must have had a brain lapse yesterday, because Stay was covered (very nicely) by a US band called Grace Pool in about 1989/1990. I have the CD! Those two songs are really the only ones I’d expect to be covered…oh wait, Hue & Cry did Easter Parade in 1988/89 as well (from the bonus disc of Remote).
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Good intel. Will try and check them out.
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I remembered another one – Gary Clark did a nice version of ‘Saturday Night’ on a B-side: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHf5uGr2mmM
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I can still capture the delight I felt when I first discovered this LP almost forty years ago. And yes, I have used (the CD) as a hi-fi test album.
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