I listened to remaster of The Blue Nile's 'A Walk Across the Rooftops' last night. My excitement at its unveiling was diminished somewhat by the luxuriant packaging's mauling, done by the postman's undaunted enthusiasm in (eventually) cramming a double pack of double CDs (I got 'Hats' also) through our tiny letter box.
I'd hate to be his wife...
Slight gripes aside, what of the much anticipated re-imagining?
It's great, much improved; there's a new richness to the icy beauty; the bells are brighter; the bass is fuller. The fullness does make Buchanan's voice recede a little, but it's still a lovely thing. My current high points are the clipped guitars that have emerged from 'Heatwave' and the chocolaty sound that coats the bass intrusions in the title track.
The extra CD gives us some bright re-mixes and a couple of well known lost gems, the pick of which is 'Regret'; it's worth the price of the album for the heavenly reverb on the song's vocal; amazing to think that it's nearly 30 years old...
It's 'Hats' tomorrow.
I'll give you a shout when I've digested it all.
Meanwhile, here's a piece in 'The Quietus' by Wyndham Wallace; well worth reading: Chimney Tops and Trumpets
And if you're overwhelmed by the love fest' why not slide down the happy ladder to read this hateful 'Quietus' review of the new 'Mumford and Sons' album from a certain 'Mr Agreeable'.... Babel or babble?
Will you buy him a beer or bottle him? Mr Agr**able reviews 'Babel'
I keep reading that 'Mid Air' is a disappointment.
I disagree.
I now know it inside out.
A bit like Raymond Carver's stories; there's comfort in the revisiting; a fresh nuance suggests itself with every exposure; because everything is so raw and revealing you actually get to focus on what lies within.
Every listen endorses what a brave and emotional revelation the album is. Its emotional landscape isn't always easy to navigate but that is surely part of the engagement.
It's easy to regard this as late night fodder; taken with the obligatory glass of single malt.
It also works well on Sunday mornings with a contemplative cup of coffee....
I just found this performance of the title track from BBC 2's 'Review Show'. TOTP2 it aint...
Film maker Bernard Rudden has made this video for Paul Buchanan's forthcoming single. I know the remix is dividing opinion; I like it. The video is like listening to PB through a lava lamp... the vagueness of the images makes the whole thing beautifully woozy.
Take a listen to this.
Makes you think what Mid Air might have sounded like as a Blue Nile album.
It's the Elegance Remix (by Robert Bell of The Blue Nile) of Buy A Motor Car by Paul Buchanan. http://soundcloud.com/paul-buchanan-music/paul-buchanan-buy-a-motor-car Buy A Motor Car is the new single to be taken from 'Mid Air'.
The song, according to Paul, is about “... escaping or urging someone to escape a claustrophobic relationship, as far as I can tell.."
"Every record should be compared to silence - silence is perfect. What are you going to put on it?" Paul Buchanan
It's interesting how the Blue Nile and Paul Buchanan particularly have helped map the emotional landscapes of many; not only enriching but endorsing the human condition. Surely this is the ambition of any artist: to connect. It seems that Buchanan's voice and canny observations have us all rendered dumb, then babbling; he says what we wanted to say; he articulates the minutiae, the commonplace, helping us to reclaim lost moments; the silences; the space between the disappointments and the small victories. That is his gift; he speaks for All of Us without preaching... with the faltering delivery of a wounded man he notes and totes the daily defeats; the bruises, the scars, the damage done; his keen eye focussed on the fault lines of the male psyche. And yet with PB there is always the promise of recovery. Perhaps this is why he elicits such adulation and devotion from us maudlin middle agers. And while he speaks for all of us, there is an intimacy in the delivery that gives the impression that he is speaking directly to us; the effect can be emotionally overwhelming. There's always empathy and tenderness; "Ask me if I am grateful , watch as I fall down to my knees". The album is chock full of such blessed moments, too earthly to be called heavenly. It's also informed by a pretty potent quotient of loss. I won't detail the songs here; their discovery is surely a personal pleasure and, if you've not yet heard the album, I envy you your first encounter. There's no fat here, no distractions in the austere presentation; the prodding piano, that beautifully imperfect voice stage centre; everything lean and focussed. You can't help but... lean in. There's much pondering, Buchanan has you rubbing your chin, nodding sagely at the worldly recognitions; and then he'll hit you with 'for the starlight in my suitcase' and you find yourself elevated and... in pieces. Are we ever too old for epiphanies? Ever too old to wish upon stars? It's said that the boy is the father of the man; what is unique about this exceptional writer is the way he articulates what it is to be a man in testing times; yet always with a sense of wide eyed wonder; there's clarity and wisdom in his almost willful innocence. He sees, he recognises, he sheds light, illuminating a path forwards,onwards and beyond the defeats, towards some kind of refuge... that guiding light might be insubstantial starlight; a half light; but it is light enough...
Yup, got it yesterday; listened to it after arriving home from work. Di was in the garden mincing around in a bikini so my mind was possibly elsewhere; it all just seemed to pass me by...
I went off to play squash and came home at midnight to a dormant house so, just me, a bacon butty and a beer; headphones on and... there's so little going on that, if you listen, you can't help but pay attention to the details and God, my friends, is there in these heavenly vignettes. The brevity just sharpens the focus on the Carveresque (thanks TT) observations and minimalist piano proddings. There is an imperfection to the arrangements, and indeed to some of the vocals, that involves and engages; you just can't help but lean in...
I'm already looking forward to re-listening tonight and will do my review once I've soaked in the thing.
I'm beginning to feel a bit like PB's press agent with all of these pre-release posts.
Here below is a reminder of some recent press activity.
This might seem a bit nerdy but maybe we could all venture an album review to be initially posted here, and then posted on amazon by the author; I know from personal experience how important those endorsements are. I'll start the ball rolling once I've lived with the album a day or two and then you can play if you want to... it'll take a lot to get Peter Broderick off my system...
With 'Mid Air' realeased on Monday there are a couple of radio interviews to look out for this weekend:
Sunday Express 4/5 - "14 short pieces are melodic, beautifully crafted and definitely not for the broken hearted"
Time Out 4/5 (Album of the Week) - "exquisitely hushed and extraordinarily intimate listen"
Mojo 4/5 -"A 2am album of sheer devastating beauty"
The Sunday Times and Guardian ran 2 interviews with Paul last weekend that are also available to read on PB's website:
I got home from work yesterday to a package from Amazon that I assumed was my copy of 'Mid Air'. Disappointed to open it and find Peter Broderick's 'How They Are' instead; forgotten that I'd ordered it... I played it and disappointment flew out of the window; beautiful, minimal stuff; much what I'm anticipating from PB.
First track 'Sideline' is breathtaking in its modesty; just lovely. Take a look at the video below and tell me that you cannot break a heart with ten thumbs and a 'so-so' voice...
Meanwhile; 'Mid Air' is Time Out's record of the week.
I'm trying to gather as much of the pre-release minutiae as possible regarding Mid Air; mainly sourced from the (now regularly updated) official website http://paulbuchanan.com
(I hope that this doesn't expose my arse legally), which I'd say to go direct to (your honour).
Witness a PB interview with John Kelly on RTE One. Hit this link and watch from 13.40 onwards. It's available until May 31st...
Here also is The Sunday Time's interview with PB, preceded by The Sunday Express's review of Mid Air; always a sure sign that the wheels are spinning when the tabloids get involved...
Click on the images to enlarge and read.
There's a great interview by Graeme Thomson of The Guardian that you can read in full here. In it PB admits that 'Mid Air' "isn't all singing and dancing" and talks revealingly about fellow ex bandmates Robert Bell and PJ Moore; "a group of real friends, truly democratic". They wanted their songs "to be better versions of us – of everything. We wanted to make pictures, so we tried to remove ourselves from the fabric of it, to get out of the way of the music." After the release of 'High' he noted that "some of the unfettered joy had gone. Some kind of magic had slipped away from us, and some of the hope that we started out with. " So was there a future for The Blue Nile? "It's not cut and dried. The right thing to do as people would be to get together again – even if we then say goodbye. That's my vague hope. It probably won't happen, but I know that contributing to that unit was me at my best." Of Mid Air he confesses " "At no point did I think I was making a record. It never occurred to me that anybody else would listen to it. Looking back, that was a great thing. That unselfconscious quality becomes more elusive as you go on making music, so it's nice to be brought back to that very simple expectation. It was almost like starting out again. I wasn't deliberately making a record of fulfilling a contract. There's a joy and innocence in that.... You work and work and work and have the life that you have, and once in a while, sometimes once in a decade, you see a few things you've got and think, yes, that's authentic. You try to stay true to that little moment whatever the costs.""
Here at the bottom of the page are two 'official videos for 'Mid Air' made by Bernard Rudden. If you go to Paul's official site here you can vote for the one you prefer. Meanwhile, reading the Mojo interviewette (see what I did there?) at the bottom of the post and looking at his photo above, it seems that Paul's getting all emotional at the love fest:
“I might not be John Lennon or Mahler but that's okay; I have a modest life and I know the world won't care if I give up tomorrow. But once in a while someone will stop me in the street and say to me, “My wife and I got married to your song”- it’s tiny moments like that that resonate with me”.
Further afield, Sweden's 'Border' magazine have given 'Mid Air' a 10 out of 10 rating.
Thanks to Morten Hald for this translation…
“Painstakingly Beautiful. One should think it impossible to surpass the low key Glasgow-band The Blue Nile in making beautiful, sad pop music. But by releasing his first solo album in his 30 year career, the bands frontman Paul Buchanan manages to do just that and by applying much simpler measures. A lone voice, piano, the odd trumpet and strings. In such setting small things such as an extended accord or vocal intonations can make a big difference. Such small gestures are something Buchanan masters to its fullest. Simple, essential, everyday like. Painfully beautiful at times as only such things can be. Mid Air leaves no eye dry and you have to be made of diamond or granite to remain untouched and not cry. It is a set of short songs which the artist is even reluctant to call an album, rather he dubbed it a ‘recordette’. Any which way it is irresistible.”
The first reviews of Paul Buchanan's new album are in.
Uncut and Mojo give it a big, well manicured 'thumbs up'.
Is it just me or does PB seem to be chewing on a wasp in his recent promo shots? It might well be that he's having trouble suppressing a self-satisfied smile of contentment as it seems that he's just produced a marvel...
Looks like he's knocking on the door of true greatness... Click on the reviews to enlarge and read.
I'm sure that most of you have seen this, but it's worth a second look.
The event should be doubly celebrated as PB's austere take even manages to stop Jools from 'boogywoogying'...
The 'for everything that life was worth' line gets me in the same place as the 'Jesus, please make us happy sometimes' line from 'Family Life'.
I really liked The Maccabees also; a proper 'band'...
We're all getting a bit giddy aren't we? I just received this email from Paul Buchanan's site:
Paul will be performing on Later With Jools Holland this week. Tune in both today (17th) and Friday (20th) to hear Paul perform Mid Air. Visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/later/ for further details.
Paul will also be popping in for a chat with Bob Harris on Bob's Radio 2 show next Sunday morning (22nd) at Midnight. Further information on that is available here -http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01gc0z2
Last week Paul appeared on Jools Holland's Radio 2 show performing Norwegian Wood and playing My True Country, Two Children and Mid Air from the album. Listen back to both this and an interview with Stuart Maconie on Paul's Soundcloud page - http://soundcloud.com/paul-buchanan-music
Finally, the title track from Paul's new album, 'Mid Air', is available to purchase from iTunes worldwide here - http://bit.ly/midairitunes
Three tracks from Paul's new album 'Mid Air'.
First up, the title track, then 'Newsroom' (blink and you'll miss it), finally (for anyone who might have missed it) the previously heralded 'My True Country' which you can still download for free at http://www.paulbuchanan.com
Slightly beautiful or beautifully slight?
Insubstantial little gems or glorious vignettes?
I hope that he stretches out a bit more on the album.
This is tasty tapas and I'm bloody starving....
OK, two posts in a day is pushing it but I just got this news via Max Malagnino of 'Rainsound' fame.
The new Paul Buchanan album Mid-Air is due soon and if you click on this link http://paulbuchanan.comyou can not only pre-order the album but download a free track now.
It's called 'My True Country' and it's a beauty.
For those who are not able; just click the link below. MY TRUE COUNTRY
PAUL BUCHANAN ANNOUNCES MID AIR
Paul Buchanan, mainstay of Glaswegian soulful pop perfectionists The Blue Nile, will release his debut solo album ‘Mid Air’ on May 21st 2012 on Newsroom Records via Essential. ‘Mid Air’ will feature 14 songs written, performed and produced by Paul Buchanan and was recorded at home, at a friend's house on the East Coast of Scotland, and at Gorbals Sound in Glasgow, a new state of the art studio in Glasgow. Tracklisting is below
1. Mid Air
2. Half The World
3. Cars In The Garden
4. Newsroom
5. I Remember You
6. Buy A Motor Car
7. Wedding Party
8. Two Children
9. Summer’s On Its Way
10. My True Country
11. A Movie Magazine
12. Tuesday
13. Fin De Siècle
14. After Dark
"I think if I'd tried to make a record that sounds like the band I'd be quite nervous, but this is more of a record-ette. It's quite small in stature and the songs are very brief, but don't get me wrong - it kept me awake at night."
The album will be made available in a number of different formats. A standard 14 track version of the CD & 180 gram vinyl (w/ download) will be available in your local stores. There will be a digital version, with the option of 320kbps MP3, FLAC or Apple Lossless. Lastly there is a deluxe 2CD boxset, limited to 2000 numbered copies, which will only be made available from Paul's website http://paulbuchanan.com/. This version features a 20 page 7" booklet with photos taken by Paul and lyrics. More importantly there is a 2nd CD with 10 tracks that are not available anywhere else. The tracklisting to the 2nd CD is below.
1. Have You Ever Been Lonely?
2. My True Country (Piano)
3. After Dark (Instrumental)
4. Two Children (Piano)
5. Lost
6. Tuesday (Instrumental)
7. Half The World (Demo)
8. A Movie Magazine (Instrumental)
9. Mid Air (Demo)
10. God Is Laughing
For those who want a teaser from Mid Air, 'My True Country' is available as a free download from http://paulbuchanan.com/. If you choose to access it, there is a an honesty box in the form of a link to the British Heart Foundation for donations of any size so that we can all help a good cause. http://www.justgiving.com/PaulBuchananMidAir
Thank you to all who've pre-ordered the record so far and thank you for your support.
This, just in from Toronto Tim, came as an email rather than a blog but I'm sure that he won't mind me sharing. I've chosen to feature a curious Blue Nile duet with Rickie Lee Jones 'Flying Cowboys', and, up first, my favourite unrecorded BN song 'Meanwhile'. If PB doesn't record the song soon I'm going to call it mine...
"Paul Buchanan's voice can break your heart and heal it in the course of one song."
Welcome to "Tributaries of the Blue Nile."
Music enriches life and makes it worth living and some music transcends the ordinary and connects like a lover or an old friend.
That is the special beauty of Paul Buchanan and the Blue Nile.
Once it connects, it is like a gift that will be treasured for the rest of your life.
It has been said of Paul Buchanan's voice that it can break your heart and heal it in the course of one song.
I have tried to put together some their material that was never released, so that you can tide yourself over until, with luck, we're graced with more music from them.
This is music that will touch you; like hearing a story and connecting more closely with someone you deeply care about.
So relax and enjoy music that will captivate your soul.
Falling in love shows you have a heart, loving the Blue Nile shows you have impeccable taste.
Perhaps you've already found this 'channel' on Youtube.
If not, it's a neat place to find about 100 hard to find Blue Nile clips, all in one spot, lovingly compiled by "MrSherco12".
Most clips are "AUDIO ONLY" but have been selected for superior sound quality.
Videos will shuffle through in order once you click on one.
For an easier scroll, click "UPLOADED VIDEOS" on right side.
There are a few interesting audio clips I hadn't seen:
- Meanwhile (featured below) - (live Manchester) - a much cleaner audio version than the earlier Dublin posting. Crank volume. Sweet!
- Seasons of Light - from Seasons of Light Christmas Album (pricey item on Amazon.com) - not an obvious Xmas tune... pretty.
- Silent Night - obvious Xmas tune from same album. Pure sincerity! Bit late in the season to find this one.
- Everyone's Gonna Be Saved - duet with Lois Walden (of 'Sisters Of Glory') - an OK gospel song.
- Strangers In The Night (live) - Sinatra cover - superior audio clip compared to the old video.
- PB reads WB Yeats poetry - Huh?
- Stay Close (instrumental version) - I actually prefer this to the original. PB testifying "Yeah, Yeahs" a bit much for me. OK shoot me!
- All The Way (live) - Sinatra cover
- Manchester Hall 1991 (live) - for BBC - immaculate audio! Sadly emasculated after a few songs.
- Complete Albert Hall and Bottom Line gigs
- Wish You Well, Lolita, New York Man - still enjoy these fine b-sides
More from PB.
The first track 'Midnight Without You' is with smooth jazzer Chris Botti.
The second is a live track with Botti taken from a show in LA.
There are synch' problems so try squinting and just... listen.
