Dec. 14th: How do I know you feel it? How do I know it's true?

The Blue Nile-Hats (Linn Records, 1989)

The Blue Nile are a not-terribly-prolific (4 albums in nearly 30 years) Scottish band, who so impressed a non-record-releasing hifi company with their songs that they set up a label in order to release their music.

I love two Blue Nile songs- debut single 'I Love This  Life', which is bloody impossible to find in any kind of physical format; it's on a 2004 single currently going for silly money on eBay but that's it- and 'The Downtown Lights', which is on this LP. I've never actually managed to listen all the way through.

On first listen the album is exceedingly 80s. It's almost entirely electronic and chockablock with synths but hasn't dated badly at all. TDW is still brilliant and definitely the best thing here, but  there are songs of similar quality galore; 'Over The Hillside', 'Headlights On The Parade'...

With over half the songs being more than 5 minutes long, this isn't a particularly instant or commercial album, and it requires concentration, but it is a rewarding listen. A couple of uptempos break up any possible monotony; Paul Buchanan's voice tends to sound mournful no matter what he sings.

This got huge critical acclaim when it came out (e.g. 5 star Q magazine review) and I'd probably agree with that. For an album which came out an eternity ago in music terms, it bears up to scrutiny very well

Dec, 8th: I was lonely 'til I found the reason; the reason was me

Felt- Stains On A Decade (Cherry Red,2003)

This was another indie-fresher-you-have-to-hear-this purchase, on the same day as the Pastels CD, and again,  one which sounds much better 4 years down the line.  Felt were effectively the project of one man, Lawrence (no surname was ever given on their record sleeves), who released 10 albums and 10 singles in 10 years, then disbanded. Possibly the 1980s' definitive cult indie band, they released on both Cherry Red and Creation, moving back to Cherry Red after Creation were unable to release their final album until 1990, which would have messed up the 10 year masterplan. Stains On A Decade is a compilation of their singles and B-sides from both labels, which handily traces the changing styles of the band on one CD, from baroque pop to acid-jazz inflected pieces via jangly indie. It includes Primitive Painters, featuring Cocteau Twins' Elizabeth Frazer, probably the band's most well-known track, Penelope Tree, Ballad Of The Band and many others.
Stuart Murdoch of Belle & Sebastian is a Felt fan, and it's possible to hear similarities between his and Lawrence's vocal styles- and the 'one man's band' idea which applied initially to both B&S and Felt.
Stains On A Decade is a pretty much essential buy for anyone interested in 80s indie or fey, intricate pop in general.