Album of the Week - Opinion/Samples


Okay - a thread along the lines of "What are You Listening to Lately". Hopefully this won't get out of hand, but - my thoughts are for thread participants to recommend (on a weekly basis) a single album/CD from their stacks, make a few personal comments, and add a link so people can hear some of the album. Keeping it to a once a week basis should let the pleasure extend indefinitely...

To link - add a mark-up tag to an Amazon page that has a "Listen to Samples" selection.

I'm sure everyone here has GREAT musical taste, and probably know quite a few hidden gems/personal treasures that have yet to hit mainstream consciousness ...

Starting out from my collection, I'm going to dust off the jacket and select:

The Blue Nile - Hats

The Blue Nile puts out an album about once every six years, and god knows I wish they were more prolific. Their first two albums - A Walk In the Rain and Hats from the mid-late 80's - are tone poems more than anything. I'd probably describe these two as "Impressionistic rock" or "smoky cabaret rock". It's sort of haunting and uplifting at the same time, with mournful horns - synthesized beats/keyboards - yearning vocals with a Scots burr. And the lyrics are poetry of an everyman ...

Last heard from with 1996's "Peace at Last". A little less atmospheric than the other two - but still great.

Hoping they release at least once more in my lifetime, because they are so damned good. I assume they were bigger in the UK - but are little known over here. Unfortunately "Hats" and "A Walk In The Rain" only appear to be on import labels now, but they are worth forking over the dough for...
regiolanthe

Showing 2 responses by snook2

Not to take anything away from the opinions but it certainly sucks how little choice there is for really moving music. I search for weeks in stores and online to scratch out a few good ones. Aren't there any trained young musicians anymore?
I am still spoiled from the 70's when you walked into a record store in Philly or New york City and it would take an hour to get through the new releases for just that week. Lots of original music. I am not condemning anyones choices and agree with some mentioned as excellent music. Its all subjective. Just wish there were insurmountable amounts to choose from.