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Hats

~ Blue Nile
4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
Price: £5.78 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
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Hats + A Walk Across the Rooftops + High
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Product details

  • Audio CD (9 Oct 1989)
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Label: Virgin
  • ASIN: B00000I3JO
  • Other Editions: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 26,771 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s

Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or view the MP3 Album.

Samples
Song Title Time Price
Listen  1. Over The Hillside 5:04£0.69
Listen  2. The Downtown Lights 6:30£0.69
Listen  3. Let's Go Out Tonight 5:15£0.69
Listen  4. Headlights On The Parade 6:16£0.69
Listen  5. From A Late Night Train 4:01£0.69
Listen  6. Seven Am 5:08£0.69
Listen  7. Saturday Night 6:26£0.69

Product Description

CD Description

Finding a category into which the critics can slot them hasbeen a problem for this excellent Scottish band. File under'very good quality pop' no longer exists on the record label. For the uninitiated, they have the soulful, wandering nature of John Martyn, mixed with some anthemic U2, plus a tolerable dose of Deacon Blue/Simply Red. A strong synthesizer backdrop may deter, but the lush arrangements are truly lovely. Paul Buchanan has an emotive voice that is well suited tohis melancholic material. Three albums in nearly 15 years is hardly prolific, but they are critically acclaimed and quality is always better than quantity.

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Customer Reviews

37 Reviews
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 (36)
4 star:    (0)
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 (1)
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Average Customer Review
4.9 out of 5 stars (37 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Words are not enough, 17 Jan 2005
I've known the Blue Nile since they've launched their second album, Hats. Other reviewers do a better job than me in singing the glories of this music so I'll content myself in stating bluntly the pure simple matter of fact: Hats is an absolute masterpiece of music.

To me, it is the best of all (just 4!) the Blue Nile albums and it is in that terrible list of "the 5 records to take to a desert island". Can music ever be so melankolic and at the same time so joyously happy? Can it sound so despairing and ultimately brimming with hope and enchantment? Yes, the Blue Nile answer yes with this album.

I'd like to end up this review with a three-sentence personal story: I once lend Hats to the woman I loved. I already knew by then that there was no hope. Hats did not moved her.

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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Frank Sinatra is alive and well and lives in Glasgow!, 25 Feb 2007
I will personally hunt down and stick pins into strange dolls if I discover the person who did the official Amazon description on Hats! Anthemic like U2? compares to Simply Red and Deacon Blue? While I hope his or her GSCE Music exam went well the comparisons are laughable and "Hats" deserves better. I too agree that all Blue Nile albums are brilliant but this is the masterpiece. Peace at last for example contains the superb Family Life and Body and Soul but also a couple of duffers. The same also true of the Walk across the rooftops and High.

On Hats every song is perfect in every way. No real point in singling any out. What you should do is listen to them in key settings. I put on Downtown lights on top of the Empire State building in New York one evening the world suddenly made sense and 5 minutes of a wonderful memory will never leave me. "From a late night train" is that song when your on your own, the darkness has descended and you want to be alone, the beauty of it is almost delicate but also earthy. Over the Hillside creeps up on you and then explodes. There is only one person I know who dislikes this album drives a Subaru, supports Man U and thinks James Blunt is brill. What greater recommendation could I give you to get Hats?

Paul Buchanan has one of the most fragile and beautiful voices. I remember a live Radio 1 concert from the Blue Nile broadcast many years ago when in silence before a song someone shouted from the audience to him "don't be nervous". Buchanan laughed quietly and retorted that he had State Registered nurses waiting in the wings. Blue Nile are that type of band; you want them to succeed but not too much in case everyone likes them. And yes it is all a bit precarious and it is true that they only release an album about 6 to 7 years, but my god "Hats" was worth the wait. Stop what your doing and immediately download it.
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23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The river that runs with love, it won,t run dry., 1 Feb 2004
By russell clarke "stipesdoppleganger" (halifax, west yorks) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)      
Enigmatic Scottish band The Blue Nile have released three albums in 20 years.This band know how to take their time , but when the results are as stunning as this album then you know it,s been time well spent.
The phrase "classic" or "not a bad track on it" is all too often bandied about when albums are reviewed or talked about but i am aware of very few albums where not a note is out of place, where every lyric or nuance seems to fit perfectly into the scheme of things."Hats" is such an album."Hats" is perfect.
The Blue Nile are evocative mood magicians.When Paul Buchanan sings about rain lashed streets, empty neon lit bars or trains crawling out of stations late at night the pictures flicker instantly into your mind.No band has ever made the small things seem to matter so much How "An ordinary girl can make the world alright"Allied to their lush transcendental wall of strings and synths this is heart stopping stuff, a quiet genius is at work here.
"Hats" is essentially a concept album about love and the constant clashes and conceits it puts us through."Over the Hillside" starts procedings off in a plaintative mood.The voice is world weary ,resigned.Some sort of relationship is ending and he can,t even dredge up the energy to care.It,s set to funereal keyboards and measured guitars and drums.
"The Downtown Lights" is a goosebump/spine tingler of a pop song.When Buchanan sings "Sometimes i walk away whem all i really want to do is love and hold you right" and shimmering keyboards cascade in wide screen its like someones got hold of your heart and given it a quick squeeze."How do i know you feel it?" he implores as walls of hearbreak sound ebb and floe like the churning of his guts as he realises the person he,s with does,nt love him anymore.Superlatives can,t do this song justice but i had to try.
Serene ballad "Lets go out tonight" is about two lovers sat at home trying desperately to re-kindle what was once so special.Theres a point in this song when Buchanans voice almost breaks as he trys desperately to articulate, but it,s all too much again.Another sublime moment.
On "Headlights on the Parade" the trademark washes of sound are more to the fore as he faces the choice of finishing/staying in a relationship while a lonely trumpet and piano carry the mood on "From a late night train" Once again "It,s over now/ but i can,t let go"
"Seven A.M." almost gets funky and sounds a little out of place at first buts it,s the signifier for the albums story arc as he prepares to try again and give love another shot.So does closing track "Saturday Night" a colossal number with a life affirming chorus and triumphant belief in our ability to love again and the excitement that promise can bring.Yes, we,re back to that "ordinary girl".
Words, as i intimated earlier really cannot do justice to this music.For me this album lies unchallenged as the greatest ever made.It,s that good.Any talk of it not dating well is utter tripe. Music this moving,cinematic and well human will never date.
There are,nt enough stars in the sky to give this album.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Still sublime and haunting after 20 years
Every couple of years I get the CD back out and drive along and rekindle my love for every song on the album- although Downtown lights must be my favourite. Read more
Published 12 days ago by M. Singleton

5.0 out of 5 stars Another way to leave your lover
My ex-wife bought me this when it was first released to prepare me for her leaving me. I was too thick to get the message because the music is so good. Read more
Published 3 months ago by A. M. Bretherton

5.0 out of 5 stars It was 20 years ago today (give or take 8 months)
Hats - the Blue Nile's best LP?

I'd say so, but then it's probably too close to call. The band has only ever released one substandard song in their entire career, and... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Alex DeLarge

2.0 out of 5 stars (It's A) Universal Emptiness
I am guessing from reading other reviewers' opinions that `Hats' is one of those CDs that you fell in love with when it came out and you then treasure it for always no matter how... Read more
Published 13 months ago by D. Newton

5.0 out of 5 stars "An ordinary girl can make the world alright"
This is astonishing music. Full stop.

10/10
Published 13 months ago by Brendan O. Clarke

5.0 out of 5 stars If Carlsberg made albums.....
...they'd not be as good as "Hats"

The best of the best from the best. The sound may not be indicative of where Blue Nile are now - but the craftsmanship has always... Read more
Published 17 months ago by S. Rainford

5.0 out of 5 stars God Is Puzzled?
I went into a church recently and sat by the altar was God.

He had a CD copy of The Blue Nile's "Hats" in his right hand and was scratching his immaculately groomed... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Mark Barry at Revival Records,...

5.0 out of 5 stars Possibly the finest album ever recorded..................
Like many others I heard Tinseltown in the Rain quite by accident which was how I got into The Blue Nile in the first place. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Steve_Turner

5.0 out of 5 stars Remarkable, Haunting HATS
I read the reviews on Amazon before buying the CD and I'm so glad I was persuaded of the special qualities of this outstanding collection of songs by The Blue Nile. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Mr. Derek Denton

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful heartbreak
If that fateful day ever came when I was forced to choose a handful of desert island discs, there's a good chance that Hats would be on the list. Read more
Published on 24 May 2007 by Mr. M. Purdy

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