The Blue Nile

Liking The Blue Nile is a matter of taste. A first listen to one of their albums would usually bore some people specially the so-called "New Wave" listeners. I have seen several times, people who bought the album "Hats" would later on sell their copies. But like wine, The Blue Nile sounds better with age and repeated listening. It's an acquired taste. 

Item #1 : The Blue Nile - A Walk Across The Rooftops

The photo on the album cover fits the music on the debut. "Automobile Noise" sounds good while driving in the middle of the night. "Tinseltown In The Rain" was a favorite of radio station BM105 in the mid 80's. This in my opinion is the strongest song in this album. "Stay" another song on the play list of BM105 is okay. I just find the repeated bass loop annoying at times :). "Heatwave" another favorite of mind sounds so soothing after a tiring day:  "Are we rich or are we poor? Does it matter anymore"?

Item #2 : The Blue Nile - Hats

"Hats" would be the masterpiece album of The Blue Nile. Perfect music for going around  the town at night. "Over The Hillside" is a great opening tune for the masterpiece "The Downtown Lights". The snare drum accompaniment to the bass is quite hypnotic. Best heard in solitude. "Let's Go Out Tonight" is so hurting and sweet at the same time. "Headlights On The Parade" was an NU107 favorite in 1989. Another great song about nigh time and watching the headlights. "Saturday Night" must have inspired the techno/rave club scene of the late 90's to make chill down  music after a night of partying. "From A Late Night Train'" is best for tucking in at bed time. 

Item #3 : The Blue Nile - Peace At Last

"Now that I have found peace at last, tell me Jesus will it last?" opens the first line of this album, from the song "Happiness". The unique voice of Paul Buchanan is once more highlighted on this album. This time around, more guitars are added on this album, maybe to fit in the mid 90's acoustic craze. Fans were wondering why they took 7 years to make a follow up to Hats.

Item #4 : The Blue Nile - High

"High" is a return to form for The Blue Nile. Again guitars were used  to accompany the keyboards and synths that were present in "Hats". "Because Of Toledo", "She Saw The World", "Soul Boy" and "Stay Close" are some of my favorites from this album. But nothing beats the masterpiece "High". Waiting almost 10 years in between albums seems not to bad after all.

Lyrics for "High":

I don't wanna wake ya

When ya sleeping so quiet

The motorcycle going by outside

Are we the same?

Caught at the lights

Why are we going home with our lies?

In the bowling alleys

In the easy living

Something good got lost along the way

We could be high

We could be higher

We could be high

Yeah yeah

I wanna make you understand

We could be high

Look at the morning people

Going to work and fading away

Look at the morning people

Going to work and fading away

Why don't we stop the traffic?

Why don't we stop the traffic?

Look at the morning people

Going to work each day

We could be high

We could be high

Yeah yeah yeah

We could be high

Yeah yeah

We could be high

Yeah yeah yeah



To complete the collection. My vintage cassette tapes :-)

Cold Wave

I thought only a few people remembered the music of  Frazier Chorus. Until I saw how many people liked their hits "Dream Kitchen" and "Typical" on facebook postings . Specially in the 80's and new wave groups. The debut album "Sue" features many more dreamy synthpop goodness. Listening to the album is like being hit by a cold wave.

Item #1 : Frazier Chorus - Sue

I'm glad I did not discard my cassette tapes when I bought the CD versions in the mid 90's. Although the tape format is the worst when it comes to sound quality and preservation, the memories attached to them while growing up is worth more than the value of a CD. If my memory is correct, I bought this tape in National Bookstore Harrizon Plaza branch. I've played this on my tape deck recently and it still sounds good. Thanks to the BASF tape used on this one. 

One is not enough :). Actually the second CD was a gift. The friend who gave it did not know I already have one in my collection. Both CD's are Made in Germany.

Item #2 : Frazier Chorus - Cloud 8 Mixes (CD Single)

This CD single features a better version of  "Cloud 8" than the one on the second album "Ray". It has the sharp dance grooves which fits the dance clubs of the early 90's.

However, the real gems here are the 12" versions of "Dream Kitchen" and "Typical". More so the different intro of "Typical".

Frazier Chorus was originally from 4AD Records. I used to have a 4AD compilation CD which is titled "12 Inch ’87 Anthology" . It features the original versions of "Sloppy Heart",  "Typical" and "Storm".  Here is the link to that CD: http://www.discogs.com/Various-12-Inch-87-Anthology/master/414759

Below are the 4AD versions:

No embed data for "Storm" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fg5jm6Zj6II

Just click the link

The Smiths Low-Fi

 I thought It would be fun to post some photos of my very old Smiths tape collection.  Thanks to some social media colleagues, I remembered to take a look again at these cassette tapes:

  

Photo #1 : Strangeways Here We Come, Best I, Best II, The Smiths, Hatful Of Hollow, Meat Is Murder

The first Smiths album I ever bought was the compilation "Hatful Of Hollow". The first time I heard "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" was in 1985, while riding in a red Toyota Tamaraw van going to school. I think it was a carpool organized by a classmate. I think the radio was tuned to the station 97.1 LS or 99.5 RT.  I was blown away by how jangly it sounded! I thought I was transported back to the 60's. I often see this album advertised in a local magazine called "Jingle", but I was not that convinced until I heard "How Soon Is Now" playing in a friend's "Walkman" later on in 1987. A few days later I bought the tape.

Photo Set #2 : Meat Is Murder

"Well I Wonder" is still is one of my favorite songs from The Smiths. Perfect combination of bass hooks and jangly guitars. I remember this song being played on BM105 around 1985-1986. Speaking of BM105, one of the first songs I heard from them was "The Lodgers" by The Style Council and "Stay" by The Blue Nile. I recall it was in a friend's house, while I was admiring their new Sony mini-component sound system.

 Nice insert with lyrics on this tape. "Meat is Murder" is one of those songs which you would appreciate later on in life. Those sounds from a butcher's place was really well thought of. Most guitar bands from the 80's to the present time seems to be in a hurry to play their guitar solos to the world.

Photo #3 : Morissey - Vauxhall & I, Southpaw Grammar

I lost my tape of Viva Hate sometime in 1989. I did not thought of buying another one as the years 1988-1989 was really blooming with lots of new releases. So I guess lunch money was spent on some other new wave artist of that era. I don't remember local record companies releasing "Your Arsenal" or "Bona Drag" in the 90's. Maybe I missed it. "Vauxhall and I" and "Viva Hate" are my favorite albums from Morrissey.

Bringing Home The Wild Swans

 My obsession with The Wild Swans started in 1988. I remember buying the cassette version of "Bringing Home The Ashes" together with The Grapes Of Wrath's "Treehouse". Playing the Warner debut during the summer of 1989 etched into my mind the beautiful landscapes of England while I was actually lying on a beach in our hometown in the Philippines. We also played the album while enjoying the sea breeze on top of a wooden watch tower with an old cassette player. Ahhh so much memories of our youth :)   

Here are some of my CD collections from The Wild Swans:

Item #1 : The Wild Swans - Music and Talk from Liverpool

 This is a promo only CD for the Warner debut "Bringing Home The Ashes". Some talk about their hometown and the "Revolutionary Spirit". It was fun listening to the interview. I have not listened to this for a long time as I don't want to crease the CD with my fingerprints. It is quite rare now.

 Item #2 : The Wild Swans - Magnitude

 This is a 2 CD compilation of the two Warner albums. It is said to be remastered but I have not compared the sound that much from the original CD releases. I noticed the swan logo on the cover is scanned from the "Music and Talk" CD and retouched digitally. If you look closely, the edges of the swan has minor pixelation. Nevertheless, this is a great collectors item. 

 Item #3 : The Wild Swans - Bringing Home The Ashes

Very iconic album art. This is the 1996 Philippine release on a white colored disc. I was very happy when this was released for the first time on CD in the Philippines. I was not able to get hold of the USA release as I had some bad experience with Warner CD releases in the 80's. Some of them already have holes in the silver coating. A friend who has the USA version have holes on the disc. Incidentally, this album was produced by Paul Hardiman, who also produced the great debut from Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, "Soul Mining" by The The and "...From Across the Kitchen Table" by The Pale Fountains.

 Item #4 : The Wild Swans - The Platinum Collection

Philippine compilation of the Sire/Warner tracks released early 2000's. The disc has better quality printing than the label. I think this photo is taken from the internet, as I also have an image of this poster saved on my computer. Notice that the swan logo is not the official logo for the Sire years. I wonder why they did not simply reissue the 1996 release. Maybe the Japan CD reissue in the 2000's already has sole distributorship for the original debut album. Still a great addition to the Wild Swans collection. 

I'll be featuring my Wild Swans vinyl and cassette collection at a later time...

Ramblings About Some New Wave CD Collection

Way back in the 90's, getting New Wave CD's was not an easy task like it is now with sites like ebay, Amazon, Gemm and Musicstack. I had to order some of these from sellers in Record Collector magazine and catalogs like the Eil record catalog. It would be no problem if I was in the USA or UK, but I am in the Philippines! There is that lingering thought that what I ordered might get lost or stolen in the postal system. Nevertheless, I had lots of fun hunting down some of my music collection. Some of these are posted below:

Item #1 : The Wild Swans - Space Flower

 

A great follow up to the Warner debut "Bringing Home The Ashes". Although Jeremy Kelly was not in this recording, it is pretty good. Tracks like "Sea Of Tranquility" and "Space Flower" seems to hint that Paul Simpson is already planning to form his ambient project - Skyray. My first copy was the one without a punch hole. The two with punch holes I got later on during the 2000's.

Item #2 : 16 Tambourines - How Green Is Your Valley

Local radio station NU107 got me curious about this album. They played "Bathed In The Afterglow" and "How Green Is Your Valley" in 1988-1989. Years later in 1995-1996, I bougth this CD from one of the sellers in Record Collector magazine.

Item #3 : The Adventures -  Broken Land (3" CD Single)

I bought this single because of the acoustic version which is seldom heard. I like the way the version faded into the background while the drums are just starting to play. A good remix would probably begin with the acoustic version and then at the chorus, the original studio version would come in.