A Brilliant Collection Of Love Songs

Released in 1989, Hats is the second album by the Scottish group The Blue Nile. There was a five year gap between their first album, A Walk Across The Rooftops and this record. Taking a long time between records would prove to be a career trend for the band. The group relies heavily on electronic instrumentation on this album, much like with the first record. They deftly avoid over-kill, as the tracks are pretty stripped down. Despite the reliance on electronics, the band achieves a surprisingly warm sound, unusual for this type of music which often sounds very cold. The music is down-tempo pop and the subject matter is love lost, found, and maybe unrequited. Singer Paul Buchanan imparts a world-weary ache and sense of longing to the vocals.

The album opens with "Over The Hillside" a slow, spare song about a man stuck in a dead-end job who longs to escape the city with his (possibly unrequited) love.

"The Downtown Lights" is the second track and was the first single. Decidedly more upbeat, Buchanan sings of walking late-night streets with his lover.
This song has very evocative lyrics (the neons and the cigarettes/rented rooms and rented cars/the crowded streets,the empty bars/the chimney tops and trumpets/the golden lights,the loving prayers/the colored shoes,the empty trains/ I'm tired of crying on the stairs) that transport the listener into the singers world.
It has been covered by both Annie Lennox and Rod Stewart( please don't let this deter you from listening!). This is my favorite song on the record, and is an all-time classic love song.

"Let's Go Out Tonight" again slows the tempo down, while Buchanan tries to entice his lover to set aside their differences. The plea of "let's go out tonight" seems like a desperate attempt to find a spark in a dying relationship.A version of this track appears on the Six Feet Under soundtrack.

"Headlights On The Parade" is the most exuberant song on this album. Buchanan professes his belief that love is all that matters, begging his lover to "close your eyes/ come with me/only love is alive". This song was the second single and features a lovely piano line.

"From A Late Night Train" is the slowest, most spare and saddest of any of the songs on this record. The singer details a late-night train ride home after the end of a relationship, one that he can't get over(It's over now/I know it's over/but I can't let go). This bleak lament is one of the record's many high point's.

"Seven A.M." is about a cheating lover, who Buchanan can't keep himself from returning to even after repeated betrayals(each time I fall for you/it hurts me/a little bit more/than I want it to).

The final track is "Saturday Night", a beautiful song.Over swelling strings, synth washes and a minimal drum beat, Buchanan again professes his belief in the redemptive power of love, as he sings "an ordinary girl/will make the world alright/she'll love me all the way/ Saturday night" and plaintively asks "who do you love?/who do you really love?". The song closes out the album on an upbeat note, as the cycle of love lost and found begins again.Themes of love,light and the city at night dominate the record. Though I would listen to this fantastic record anytime, it does work particularly well in the wee hours of the morning.

Hats was warmly received by critics and did well in England, but barely made a dent stateside, although it did briefly chart in the Billboard Top 200. It's a shame, because this is a great record and one of the classic albums of the eighties. It transcends the genre of synth-pop, and bears little resemblance to other Eighties synth-pop bands.
If you like Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry, and other music in that vein, I think you will definitely enjoy Hats.