Customer Reviews

High

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

My God, I never thought they'd record again. Then one day hunting on Amazon I come across "High". I personally was disappointed with "Peace at Last" ( even so I played it a lot ). I still kept going back to "A Walk Across the Rooftops" & "Hats" for my real fill of the Nile. Because of this I was extremely worried about what form the new album would take.
Well before I received my copy in the mail I got to listen to an archive interview and session on California's KCRW ( Morning's Become Eclectic ) internet radio. Oh and is Paul's voice soothing and moody ? Oh it is. He sounds like a cool foggy midnight with a little light rain. One where the moist streets reflect every light and there's no-one around but you. Do you know what I mean ?. That was an excellent acoustic performance ( check it out at KCRW.org ) and I started to become more anxious.
The album arrived, and the first time I listened I thought.. hhhhmm okay. Then I listened again... and again. And the 80's synth chords and voices came up through the velvety vocals and mixed up in my head to recreate a distant time. The layers are subtle and you'll never get them unless you listen in a quiet room or in bed. It isn't a modern sound... but it's addicting just the same. Paul's vocal tapestry of images flow through me and it is a rewarding experience. I can't believe a title like "Because of Toledo" could be so powerful... and then segue into something so different as "She saw the world". I love it and only wish it was twice as long. We've waited a long time but it is SOOO worth it.

I just wanted to add my two cents to the Blue Nile reviews and opinion section of Amazon. I have been following Blue Nile since about the 80's and i must say they had an affect on me spiritually, emotionally and even more. They rode with me as i traversed rocky relationships, family problems and directions in life. There is something inherent in their music that goes beyond having to release records due to the stardom of being rockstars or the glam and glory of it all. They seem to write out of life itself, breath itself, the need to express themselves in such an emotional and personal way. This new record of theirs may have been long due, but once again the ingenious esoteric unspokeness about their sound shines forth again. It's funny so often i tend to compare one record to the next and sit back and say that one is better or worse, but at the end of the day it is more of a collage and a collaboration of several musicians coming together in whatever shape or form they do it in and bring something magical to the ears of humanity. I cannot say that about many bands but few. Maybe the Cocteau Twins, The Chameleons and such...in this genre but overall they shine with a brilliance that one must hear with open ears and open eyes. Til the next time my dear friends, write til your tears, joys and stories unfold and can be experienced and embraced by others...thank you

I too like many of the folks here, am a HUGE HUGE HUGE Blue Nile fan. I began listening in the late 80's when I heard Headlights on the Parade on the public radio station in Nashville, TN. It has been the only band/record that has ever spoken to me so intensely and reflectively at that time in my life. I figured over the years (of growth, relationships-good and bad, love, loss, melancholy, joy, elation, evolution) that my seemingly lonely position of being the only person to LOVE this band- would fade. It has not. I looked long and hard for the next album after Peace At Last (an ok set); and found it with HIGH. I intensely (and with beating heart) skimmed the snippets of the tunes before purchasing hoping another track would speak to me as many did in the 80's- 10+ years later, BN has not lost their ability to reach in and connect with the innermost corners of psyche and subconcious. The minute I heard 'Stay Close' I felt like something long gone for over 10 years had come back to life. I listened over and over and over. I felt no one else on earth could understand my connection to this band. Clearly there ARE OTHERS. Its cultish. I hope to see a performance in some seedy London back club one of these days and who knows... one might just might find the renaissance man himself- Sting- sitting in the back sipping a smart cocktail... (or a green tea) ala Christian McBride :)

Their are a handful of musical moments that I can recall exactly where I was and what I was doing. One was the first time I heard Paul Buchanan's haunting voice on "Over the Hillside" (from "Hats"). It was an epiphany, transcendent, call it what you will. Just when I started losing hope that they'll never re-enter our cosmos, back comes their star in the night sky. This outing is exquisite. Strings that illuminate the firmament. Guitar and bass that circle the moon. And then Paul Buchanan's rapturous voice - manna from heaven. Oh Lord, don't ever let their star fall from the night sky.

Like a melancholic but problematic love affair, this album simultaneously comforts and distresses a wounded heart. In that sense it's most reminiscent of...well, er, basically everything else this band has produced. The dichotomy of exposing oneself to love, or rather its potential, resonates throughout--and even though that's the recurrent focus of the lyrics, it's really most reflected in Paul Buchanan's extraordinary vocal ability to sound both awash in emotion and otherwordly in his anticipaton of its demise. Enduring...a true legacy in sound that will never grow old simply because it always connects with something primordial about the pursuit of love.

The Blue Nile has delivered it's best recording to date and it is well worth the wait. I feel the songwriting is more mature and strikes the nerves in all the right places. I Would Never, High and She Saw The World are my favorite tracks right now but that may change tomorrow when I listen to it over and over again. Honestly, there is not a bad track on this CD. The music has a way of creeping up on you and Paul Buchanan's voice is so moving. I'd wait another 7 or 8 years for the next one because they always seem to deliver the goods. I'd even go as far as saying that this recording is in my personal top five of all time. Don't get me wrong, I love "Hats" and "Peace at Last" but this record is on another level. The more you listen to it, the more is haunts you. (In a good way))

Finally, after so many years, Blue Nile released their next album "High". By many of their fans, the Anticipation was sky-high, and I guess many hoped for a comeback to the "Hats" style. Well, I gotta tell you, then you can safely buy this album. Blue Nile is back right where they are loved the most. Moody and Blue slow songs, feeling back to back with the songs on Hats. Any of these songs could easily melt into that album.

There isnt a bad song here. Not that Blue Nile actually had any bad songs, I couldnt find one on any of their earlier albums, so High delivers. When you listen to it, you will instantly recognize the style, the vocals, the lyrics. It all works so well. While it might be toned down a bit compared to Hats(Compared to songs like "Downtown Lights" and "Headlights on the Parade"), it easily fits more into the calm style of "Over the Hillside" and "Lets go out tonight".

There are some very sweet songs here. "Days of our Lives" is the first song, and it works as a warmup song, to get you back into Blue Nile Anno 2004. "I would never" is so beautiful. The way he sings "But I would never turn my back on you", backed up by the slow but perfect chords, makes me love the song more and more for each listen. "Broken Loves" is a little strange, driven by hammering the Piano into a strange rythm, yet it still works. This is Blue Nile as we know it, experimenting with the instruments to create an unique sound that only they can do. "Because of Toledo", an accoustic song with all the right turns. "She saw the World" is a little more upbeat, but nothing more than what the songs on Hats were. Blue Nile never do something that doesnt fit them, they have this unique ability to create songs that sound the same and yet are different and varied, but still keeping the trademark Blue Nile sound. "High" is one of my favorite songs on the album. It is the closest thing they get to "Lets go out tonight" and "From a Late Night Train", and it just works so well.
After it comes "Soul Boy", a nice song with the drums holding up the song, some combined vocals and a nice guitar tapping in the background. "Everybody Else" is a decent song, and it lifts the atmosphere a little bit up. While I personally didnt like it as much as the other songs, it will most likely work after a few tries.
The Final song "Stay Close" is a really good song, one of the very best, the rythmic drums shapes a trainlike sound, the synths in the background sweeps it in a dream-like picture. As it fades out in the end, you just want more. I immediately pressed play again to start all over.

Make no mistake. While this is no commercial music, this is exactly the album Blue Nile needed to make. It is a solid proof that they still got the "Hats" sound, combined with the experience from all three albums. While they probably wont get any hits like they had with "From a Late Night Train", I have this feeling that fans all over will love and hold this album dearly. I do, and I`m so grateful that they again delivered a fantastic album, where the most important thing is the songs itself, how elegantly crafted they are, and how you can just slip into their world once again and dream away.

Now lets hear it for a Best Of Album!

If you are as big a fan of the Blue Nile as I am, you are going to love this CD! The haunting melodies and impassioned voice of Paul Buchanan, evoke a deeper understanding of your own emotions and connect you with its universal theme. "Stay Close" will break your heart and put it back together for you, closer than you were before! "Because of Toledo," also asks you to be there, with him as he tries to come to grips with his additions - drugs & her! A Blue Nile album is to be listened to in its entirety, not picked over; the whole is better than its parts.

...the blue nile's music has marked milestones in my personal life...and it does so today as eight or twelve years ago...when I first got the album I listened to "high" as one would eat a rare delicacy...in small...savoring bites...each song stimulating the auditory and emotional palette in a different way....just last night I listened to the album as a whole driving home from dinner with a sweet lady...and when I got out of the car just after midnight I could have sworn I was on a rain swept shiny street somewhere in glasgow or any town or city in the world on a "blue nile saturday night"...

...the band and their music are simply astonishing...

The voice of Paul Buchanan, The Blue Nile's fabulous vocalist, touched my life almost four years ago, when a colleague first introduced me to their work by means of their landmark albums "Hats" and "Walk Across the Rooftops", both on my list of Desert Island albums. They later released a bit of a flop album, a production out of sync with the times, and eight years later, in 2004 they came back with "High", a fantastic production that once again fits in perfectly with our days and nights, considering that all of us that grew up as eighties children are seeing our music and rhythms revive in the most unexpected ways.

"High" presents a limited selection of nine songs, that sound like Talk Talk-meets-Peter Gabriel. As a matter of fact, Paul Buchanan had quite a performance in Gabriel's album OVO, which convinced me for good of his vocal ualities. With a cover that matches the recurrent 'downtown lights' theme of the band, the music very much works perfectly for nighttime playing, and stands out above most of the conventional works around, in spite of its incredible simplicity. It just strikes the right chords around Paul Buchanan's mellow voice.

So, in sum, The Blue Nile are back... and, with an album just as good as "Walk Across the Rooftops", they seem to me as if they're here to stay. By all means, check out "High".