Project 1001: June 13, 2024; A Walk Across the Rooftops by The Blue Nile
Stay, stay, stay and I will understand you
Today’s random selection produces yet another new artist for me. The Blue Nile were one of the many British, more specifically Scottish, pop bands to emerge in the Eighties. This album is a lot of synth and electronic sounds which provide an overall pleasant listening experience. A Walk Across The Rooftops (a great album title, btw) exemplifies how I remember a lot of pop music to be from that time while simultaneously sounding very different. It’s almost mood music, and that’s a good thing in this case because as you listen you definitely feel of a different mood and place. For fans of music from the early/mid 80s who haven’t heard these guys before, this will probably be a fun listen.
My Rating:
A review for AllMusic described the songs as, “near-symphonic arrangements that manage to sound lush and incredibly austere at the same time.”1
Reviewing the collector’s edition in 2012 the BBC review stated, “A Walk Across the Rooftops remains unique in its fusion of chilly technology and a pitch of confessional, romantic soul that ‘alternative’ types would usually shy away from for fear it wasn’t ‘cool’.”2
Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now) by Phil Collins was the number one single at the time of A Walk Across The Rooftops’ release on April 30, 1984.3
The Footloose soundtrack topped the album chart, the second week of its ten-week reign on top.4
The movies selling the most tickets that week were 1. Police Academy, 2. Romancing the Stone, 3. Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, 4. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, and Splash.5
America loved her prime-time soaps back then. Dynasty, Dallas, Hotel, and Falcon Crest topped the TV ratings with Part 1 of the mini-series V coming in fifth.6
Robert Ludlum’s The Aquitaine Progression was the number one fiction book and MOTHERHOOD: The Second Oldest Profession, by Erma Bombeck crested the non-fiction list.
In sports April 1984:
•John Thompson’s Georgetown Hoyas led by Patrick Ewing won the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship beating Hakeem Olajuwon’s Houston Cougars. Olajuwon was named Most Outstanding Player.
•USC led by Cheryl Miller won the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship.
•On April 18 Joan Benoit sets the world record for the women’s marathon (2:22:43) presaging her Olympic Gold Medal performance later that year in Los Angeles.
•Wilt Chamberlain’s longstanding record for career points was broken by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
•Detroit Tiger Jack Morris no-hit the White Sox on the way to the Tigers’ historic 35-5 start to their World Series-winning season.
•Juli Inkster won her first of seven major golf titles at the Dinah Shore.
•Pete Rose got his 4,000th hit just a few years before getting banned for life for betting on games he managed and lying about it for most of the rest of his life. Well, until he had a book to sell in which he came clean. Sort of. Screw Pete Rose, by the way.
•Ben Crenshaw won The Masters.7
We lost a couple pop culture giants in April of ‘84
April 1, 1984: Marvin Gaye was shot and killed by his father.
April 22, 1984: Ansel Adams dies.8
Enjoy and listen without prejudice. Cheers!
For all the videos: You're Welcome 96; A Walk Across The Rooftops by The Blue Nile
Prime playlist: 96. A Walk Across The Rooftops by The Blue Nile