The Blue Nile - The Second Act (2004)

Paul Buchanan and his childhood friend Robert Bell grew up together in Glasgow and both attended the University of Glasgow in the late 1970's, with Buchanan gaining a degree in literature and medieval history, and Bell one in mathematics. Although Buchanan's father had been a semi-professional musician and had musical instruments around the house, it was only after he and Bell had graduated that Buchanan began to think seriously about a career in music. While at university Buchanan became acquainted with Paul Joseph "PJ" Moore, who was studying electronics, and the three friends became part of a band. Calling themselves McIntyre (named after the John McIntyre Building, the university's administrative offices) and then Night By Night, the band struggled to retain a settled line-up, and by 1981 only Buchanan, Bell and Moore remained as members. They decided not to recruit anybody else, trading in a guitar for an effect pedal and borrowing an old drum machine that only played Hispanic American music rhythms. Renaming themselves The Blue Nile (after the title of the 1962 book by Alan Moorehead), the group managed to raise enough money to record and release their first single, 'I Love This Life', on their own Peppermint Records label. Only a limited number were produced, but one found its way to RSO Records via their friend and engineer Calum Malcolm, and RSO licensed the single for distribution, but almost as soon as the record was released RSO went bankrupt and was absorbed into the PolyGram recording company, and the single consequently disappeared. Undaunted by this setback, the band continued to play gigs around Glasgow, starting to write their own songs alongside the cover versions they were playing, and having no drummer and with limited musical ability, The Blue Nile adopted an atmospheric, electronic approach primarily out of necessity. 

The most commonly told story about The Blue Nile is that in 1983 they were approached by a local hi-fi manufacturer, Linn Products, and asked to produce a song that would showcase the Linn equipment to best effect. Linn was so pleased with the resulting record that it offered the Blue Nile a contract to make a whole album, and set up its own record label specifically to release it. However, this has been categorically denied by both Buchanan and Moore, who insist that they just got lucky that their friend and engineer Calum Malcolm was a friend of Linn's founder Ivor Tiefenbrun, and his studio was fitted out with Linn equipment, so when Linn representatives visited one day and asked to hear some music to test out their new speakers, Malcolm played them the demo of 'Tinseltown In The Rain'. Impressed, Linn offered the band a contract with the record label it was in the process of setting up, and despite the fact that the group took nine months to reply to Linn's offer, the contract was eventually signed and the band's first album, 'A Walk Across The Rooftops', was Linn Records' first release in May 1984. On its release the album gained widespread acclaim from music critics for its mixture of sparse, detailed electronic sounds and Buchanan's soulful vocals, and the band gained greater exposure in Europe, with the videos for their two singles, 'Stay' and 'Tinseltown In The Rain', often shown on the video channel Music Box. Keen to capitalise on the positive critical reception awarded to 'A Walk Across The Rooftops', Linn sent the band back to Castlesound studio early in 1985 to produce a quick follow-up record. However, as the band later admitted, there was no new material ready to record, and they were not happy with the songs they were producing under pressure in the studio. 

The lack of progress led to stress and arguments among the band members, and matters were not helped when Virgin Records, to whom Linn had licensed the band's records, began legal proceedings against the group and the label for not producing the new material stipulated in the licensing agreement. After two years with almost nothing to show for its efforts, the band was forced to leave the studio to make way for another band, and had to return home to Glasgow. Away from the pressures of the studio, the group overcame the writer's block and eventually returned to Castlesound in 1988, where they were able to rapidly complete a new album. 'Hats' was released in October 1989 to rave reviews, including a rare five-star rating from Q magazine, and with the sound being warmer and smoother than the first album, and exploring the highs and lows of romantic love, 'Hats' peaked at number 12 on the UK Albums Chart. It was also the group's breakthrough record in the US, where it reached number 108 on the US Billboard 200 album charts in May 1990, and all three singles released in the UK made the top 75 in the UK Singles Chart. The Blue Nile's first live public performance after making 'A Walk Across The Rooftops' was in December 1989 on the television programme 'Halfway To Paradise', which was a Scottish-based arts magazine show broadcast on Channel 4, and the band also composed and performed the theme tune for the programme, later releasing it as a single b-side. American singer Rickie Lee Jones had recently befriended the band and had become one of its biggest supporters, and as well as her recording a duet of their 'Easter Parade' for the b-side to her 1990 single 'Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying', they also supported Jones on her 1990 US tour. 

The radio play gained by 'Hats' in the US, in particular the single 'The Downtown Lights', brought The Blue Nile to the attention of several well-known US-based musicians, and in 1991 the band was invited to Los Angeles to work on songs by Julian Lennon, Robbie Robertson and Michael McDonald. As a result, Buchanan moved to Los Angeles and lived there for a while, embarking on a relationship with the actress Rosanna Arquette between 1991 and 1993. Having been let go by Linn and Virgin Records, the group signed a deal with Warner Bros. Records in 1992, and the band decided that it wanted to find somewhere private to record its new album with its portable studio, so they began travelling around Europe searching for suitable locations. Having spent two years looking at and dismissing locations in cities such as Venice, Amsterdam and Copenhagen, the record was finally recorded piecemeal over three locations in Paris, Dublin and Los Angeles. In June 1996, seven years after 'Hats', The Blue Nile released a third album, entitled 'Peace At Last', which displayed a marked difference in style to the first two albums, with Buchanan's acoustic guitar work more to the fore. Despite its release on a major label, critical reaction to the album was more mixed than for the band's previous records, although sales were good, entering the UK album chart at number 13. In 1997, the band appointed a full-time manager for the first time, with ex-Dire Straits manager, Ed Bicknell, managing to extricate the group from the deal with Warner Bros. He also attempted to persuade the band to change its recording habits, but had little success, and following an appearance at the Glastonbury Festival in June 1997, the band disappeared from public view for the next seven years. 

After the longest period yet between albums, The Blue Nile released 'High' in August 2004, the same year that they parted company with Bicknell. Part of the lengthy delay in making the record was due to Buchanan contracting a form of chronic fatigue syndrome which affected his health for two years, but the band's perfectionism was also a factor, dumping an album's worth of songs that they weren't happy with. 'High' reached number 10 on the UK Albums Chart, the highest position to date for the band, and although acoustic guitar is still present on some tracks, the overall musical sound is more reminiscent of 'Hats'. It became apparent during the recording of 'High' that old tensions among the band members had resurfaced, and Buchanan has indicated that the album was finished more out of a sense of duty and loyalty rather than any willingness on the part of the band. During preparations for the tour in February 2005 following the album's release, Buchanan and Bell realised that Moore had stopped contacting them and would not be showing up, and so Buchanan and Bell toured England, Scotland and Wales in 2006, billed as "Paul Buchanan sings the songs of the Blue Nile", refraining from simply calling themselves The Blue Nile as a mark of respect for Moore's absence. Although there has never been an official statement to clarify whether or not The Blue Nile still exists, the indications are that the band have split up. In May 2012 Buchanan released his first solo album, 'Mid Air', a collection of short, stripped-back songs mostly with just his voice and piano, recorded with Calum Malcolm's son Cameron as the album's engineer, and released on Buchanan's own Newsroom Records label. The Blue Nile have been cited by a number of musicians as an influence, and their fans really are fanatical in their devotion to the group. This has been helped in no small part by deluxe re-issues of their albums, which have included otherwise unreleased tracks as bonuses, and so as a tribute to the group here are all the non-album b-sides to their singles, interspersed with those unreleased out-takes and demos. 

Track listing

Disc I - 1981-1991
01 I Love This Life (single 1981)
02 The Second Act (b-side of 'I Love This Life')
03 St. Catherine's Day (previously unreleased 1984 )
04 Saddle The Horses (b-side of 'Stay' 1984
05 Regret (b-side of 'Tinseltown In The Rain' 1984) 
06 Young Club (previously unreleased 1983)
07 The Wires Are Down (b-side of 'The Downtown Lights' 1989) 
08 Broadway In The Snow (previously unreleased 1989)
09 Halfway To Paradise (b-side of 'The Downtown Lights' 1989) 
10 Christmas (previously unreleased 1989)
11 Our Lives (i. Lost, ii. Bolivia, iii. New York) (b-side of 'Saturday Night' 1991)

Disc II - 1996-2004
01 A Certain Kind Of Angel (previously unreleased 1996)
02 O Lolita (b-side of 'Happiness' 1996)

03 Turn Yourself Around (previously unreleased 1996)
04 New York Man (b-side of 'Happiness' 1996)

05 There Was A Girl (previously unreleased 1996)
06 Wish Me Well (b-side of 'Happiness' 1996)
07 Wasted (previously unreleased 2004)
08 I (previously unreleased 2004)
09 Big Town (previously unreleased 2004)
10 Here Come The Bluebirds (previously unreleased 2004)