INTRO
THE BLUE NILE
A WALK ACROSS THE ROOFTOPS (Linn Records/A&M, 1984)
There’s a lot to be said for having very little to work with.
When this Glasgow-based trio of Paul Buchanan, PJ Moore and Robert Bell started out in the early 1980s, working on eclectic cover versions of Motown and Beatles numbers, they had little more than an organ, a guitar or two and a basic synth between them. By making a virtue out of necessity they developed a sparse, minimalist style of songwriting that was big on open spaces and ambiguity. Temperamentally adverse to rhapsodic flourishes, grandstanding solos or any of the usual trappings and affectations of pop and rock at the time, spaciousness and restraint were very much the principles guiding the making of the band’s 1984 debut album, A Walk Across The Rooftops.