Sometimes when I get dug in a corner, it’s pretty hard to get me out of it. In this case, it was me trying to tie a certain sound, a certain atmosphere, inspired by the Glaswegian group: The Blue Nile.
You see, I often give a long leash to music that’s intimately inspired by nature, songs derived from a certain rural connection to time and place. Many LYL Radio mixes have been dedicated to such themes. Why? Because I feel such music is seriously underappreciated and/or misunderstood. However, lately, I’ve been trying to connect more with what exactly our urban (or urbane) environment can inspire. And there are few bands who are as intimately tied to their city (or their ideas of urbanity) than The Blue Nile.
Since their beginnings in 1981, by their own admission, The Blue Nile took what could have been a hindrance — limited musical ability — and turned that into a strength. A trio armed with no drummer, if you can call a drum machine one, leaned on their sparse production (and even sparser atmospheric sound) to make music on albums like A Walk Across The Rooftops and Hats that spoke to their lead singer’s uncanny ability to make certain universal connections that marry perfectly with such music. One could argue a song that could define The Blue Nile would be “Tinsteltown In The Rain”.
If I recall correctlly, while explaining this work to Dutch TV, Paul Buchanan spoke to how this song (an ode to Glasgow) was inspired by a certain beauty the city held when looked at in certain ways. When raining, Glasgow, if you saw it just right, resembled Hollywood, New York City and elsewhere. I thought there a beautiful thought in that. That no matter the size of your city, or how forgotten that place might be, in a certain light (or in a certain atmosphere) there was something innately glamorous and/or romantic about an environment that is exactly within your purview.
For my latest mix for LYL Radio I thought it would be interesting to make that connection. How many others could tap into exactly what Paul, Robert, and P.J., took their infamously precious time to articulate a few months or years in their tiny, cold, flat together? Here’s just a small answer: although, there might not be many champions, (sometimes) there is enough of something special in a certain legion…
Christmas & Glasgow
Tracklist:
Tanita Tikaram – Cathedral Song
Jean-Louis Murat – Pluie D’automne
Nicky Holland – Running Around Again
Cheryl Bentyne – Let’s Go Out Tonight
Park Choon Sam (박춘삼) – 못다한 이야기 (Voice Version)
Annie Lennox – The Gift
Andy Summers – Hold Me
Robbie Robertson – Breakin’ The Rules
Joni Mitchell – It’s All Over Now Baby Blue (Cover)
The Big Dish – Learn To Love
The Bible – Kid Galahad And The Chrome Kinema
Deacon Blue – Christmas & Glasgow
The Blue Nile – Happyness