'The Downtown Lights is as panoramic as a twilight view of Manhattan"

Over the decades, Scottish musicians have made many classic albums that have stood the test of time. Today, we look back at Hats, by The Blue Nile. YOU don’t have to look too far to find evidence of the powerful emotional impact that the music of The Blue Nile has had on people.

In journalist Allan Brown’s book, Nileism: The Strange Course of The Blue Nile, an Australian fan recalls reading, all of 35 years ago, a review of the band’s second album, Hats, in his girlfriend’s magazine as she got ready for a night out. Together they made a quick detour to a record shop, where he bought the album. He was already hooked on it.

“The relationship”, he writes, “didn’t last but the album has. It remains quite possibly my favourite ..

. From the opening beats that start the album, I can still smell her perfume”. On the messages section of the website of the band’s singer and songwriter, Paul Buchanan, one fan tells Buchanan that his music “has helped me through countless tough times and happy ones too”.

Another fan, in Australia, says: “I struggle to think of creative work that has offered me solace, comfort and friendship like your music has”. On the band’s Facebook page, someone observes: “The memories of hearing Walk Across the Rooftops for the first time, actually makes me weep”. In the meantime, demand for vinyl reissues of the Glasgow band’s four albums remains strong.

The music made by Buchanan, PJ Moore and Robert Bell in the course of four al.