A Walk Across the Rooftops

This is some ok, but not great, pop music. Some songs structures are unconventional, but the album is still plenty accessible. Nothing here stands out as great, though, it's mainly just ok. The singer has a pretty good voice, though.

I’m at a 4.5 that I will easily bump up to a 5.

The top review for this album on the site says that the “lyrics are incoherent, the instrumentation is a disconnected mess, and the song structure is completely nonexistent”. I think this would only be true if you’re looking at it from a traditional 80s British pop lens, ala a Peter Gabriel or a Kate Bush. This is not a traditional album, but it’s far from an incoherent, disconnected mess. (I would also like to point out that the same person who wrote this review has the top review for Bjork’s “Vespertine”, an album rooted much in the same general “vibes first” atmosphere, where they also complained about song structure. There’s a pattern here.)

I’ll say this right off the top though; the title track is a BAD tonesetter for this album. I would argue it doesn’t need to be on the album, honestly, but maybe it’s just because I can’t quite catch the same visions that the other tracks were able to evoke so easily. “A Walk Across the Treetops” as an opening track just doesn’t work for me. It does the least effective job of telling a story through its soundscape, and the lyrics are far, far, far too broad to truly evoke the imagery it wants to. The other tracks are far more concise, and far more melodically pleasing. It’s not a bad song, but it’s a bad start to the album, and it’s honestly SUCH a bad tonesetter that it wouldn’t surprise me if it soured / sours people on the album immediately.

If it wasn’t obvious, this is an album where the instrumentation sets most of the tone, with the vocals used as texture work to capture more of the emotional tone, with the lyricism acting as something that can add optional depth. That optional depth added a lot for me, so boo/hiss to that person who called them incoherent. They’re just more novel-y in tone, and not quite as easy to digest. That said, I think I’ve cracked the meaning on a lot of the tracks, and that understanding of the meaning evokes bigger & broader imagery, even past the initial tone the album gives from just the vibes alone.

“Tinseltown in the Rain” is a track where I think the vibes alone carry it pretty well; I couldn’t really crack the lyrics on this one, outside of just a Hollywood air surrounding a relationship on the brink of collapse. The funk of the instrumentation though & the sort of Peter Gabriel-esque rhythm to it? By itself, that carries the track really nicely, and I think it should’ve opened the album.

“From Rags to Riches” is a little shaky – I think it’s mostly an interpretation on Joseph’s story in the Bible, given the coat of many colors reference, but framed as freedom from parental pressures with the grass not being as green on the other side. That said, it’s a little long & I don’t think the sound design throughout the outro is compelling enough to warrant the runtime. It does have a sort of Aphex Twin vibe to it that I find appealing, so ultimately, I think the track works.

“Stay” reads to me as a track about navigating the perils of growing up, mostly from a mental aspect. I specifically get that vibe from the lines “Candy girls want candy boxes / She loves the music box forever”. If it is from the perspective of a parent helping a daughter to navigate their older years, then it’s incredibly sweet. It can also read like a pair of teenagers promising to be there for each other through the tougher times to come, which is still heartwarming. Once again, just the energy of the instrumental makes this one work, and the vocals capture that sort of desire to help really nicely.

“Easter Parade” is a tricky one, but I think it’s a snapshot of a truly perfect moment in time, whilst mourning the fact that there may never be another snapshot like this ever again. There’s confetti everywhere, hats thrown in the air, and a truly happy crowd all running forward with a passion & excitement they may never collectively have again. It explains the somber tone to the instrumentation, and I think that dichotomy of mourning what may never be again through the lens of achieved perfection is kind of beautiful.

“Heatwave” feels kind of straightforward to me; it’s about a generational gap. The older people’s air, their star (the sun); it’s all different to the youth, who are feeling the weight of the elderly’s decisions bearing down upon them. That’s the heatwave. That’s a heatwave we’re still in, arguably more literally than ever. I couldn’t tell if he was singing from the perspective of the old people or the punished youth though, and I think that’s intentionally ambiguous. Regardless of that, I think the vibes from the instrumentation alone are just effortlessly fruitful, and the whole track is a highlight to me.

“Automobile Noise” is an interesting closer. I think it’s about a guy who’s fed up with the hustle & bustle of the city and just wants to wind down in a place that’s a little more quiet. The titular “automobile noise” is a honk. He says the line at moments when people will just honk at him. Listen to his vocals again. Just really pay attention to them. He’s weary & he’s worn down. The noises he’s talking about in the tracks aren’t evoked for fondness; they’re evoked as just repetitive nuisances in his way. He’s walking in the rain, getting honked at, and it’s just the same damn thing every day. He would rather be anywhere else in the world. It’s sort of a downer ending to the album, but I’m just fascinated at how effectively sound design & lyricism can be used hand-in-hand to such an effective degree like this, especially for 1984.

Once again, notice how I didn’t gush for anything about the title track? That’s the only reason I’m not at a flat 5 here. To call this album an incoherent, disconnected mess after all of that tells me your imagination isn’t as rich as it could be, and while I might let it slide for the title track, the rest of this is undeniably a delight. I don’t know if my soliloquy of interpretations will change anyone’s mindset towards this album, but hopefully it evokes a greater sense of understanding what the album is trying to do, and appreciating it in that sense. To my ears, it’d be foolish to let one track bump this all the way down to a 4; it’s an easy bump up to a 5.

P.S.: I’m very glad that The Blue Nile lived up to the expectations I set upon them from “The Downtown Lights”, which is the only track I knew from them before now; it’s on their followup “Hats”, and I’m sad that it’s not here on the list. I gotta check the whole thing out.

Perfect plaintive vocals to pair with the orchestra strings, melancholic piano and driving bass

A Walk Across The Rooftops was certainly one of the stranger albums on this list but i didn't find it too bad. It is more or less your typical 80s New Wave album from the UK as it hits all the same beats as it's contemporaries do with things like the vocals, synths and general vibe that they all have. The thing that makes this album as strange as it is would mainly be the fact that some of the songs are compositionally odd, especially with the synths. This album wasn't really a bad listen though as some of the songs could be quite relaxing and very pleasing to listen to. In my eyes, it was those songs that made the album as enjoyable as it was to listen to.
Best Song: Easter Parade
Worst Song: From Rags to Riches

Gonna be honest, when I got this album I audibly groaned. I had never heard of this band or album before, but this thing screams 80's brit pop in a way I dislike. And honestly I wasn't far off. Got the 80's right, but it's Scottish sophisti-pop.

Not that I've had a particularly bad experience with sophisti-pop on this project (except for Scritti Politti, yeah, you're not getting away from me in this review), but I always recoil whenever people come up with a genre like "sophisti-pop" or "art rock". Implying your music is somehow "better" than "low brow" genres like regular old rock or pop annoys me (I still haven't heard a single sophisti-pop song better than Kesha's Tik Tok. For all your sophistication, you can't beat out the person who brushes her teeth with Jack, lol). I know the bands usually disavow those genres names (similar to post-rock/metal and djent bands do), but still. I'm mostly ranting here as a joke aimed at fans of the genre as opposed to the artists, but yeah, those genre names are stupid as hell.

That said, very pleasantly surprised by this album. Usually when I hear sophisti-pop, I imagine an album that's kinda all over the place in sound, painfully and sickeningly 80's, or just all around so up its own ass that its boring.

But this record has an urgency or desperation to it that I enjoy. In a previous review I mentioned the difference between a good 80's pop record and a bad one. Good ones, to me, have a sort of melancholy to them, whereas bad ones don't and are generally just sickeningly upbeat. I'd like to amend that as I don't really get melancholy from this record. So good 80's pop records, to me, need melancholy and/or desperation in them. If its just upbeat that's content with itself, it's going to suck.

And all around it's a very pleasant sounding record. Vocals wise, it's clearly Bowie-inspired. Definitely not as good as Bowie, but it works.

All in all, I enjoyed it.

Not my thing. Very homogenous as well. 1.5/5

This was promising with some unique instrumentation and I enjoyed some of it, but it was infected with the all too pervasive cheese of music from this time period.

My god this is in need of auditory viagra - might have been the softest soft-rock I've ever heard. It's like they thought Discipline era King Crimson and the Police were far too experimental. I wanted to rate this a 1 because it sickens me that this is in the 1001 list where there are >10 million albums in existence, but the ambient bits warmed me up a tad at the very end. 1.5/5 -> 2/5

Yeah, it was fine.

Maybe I have no idea. I have the faint feeling that this is supposed to be great art and that unique snowflakes are floating around. In short, I don't understand the music. Strange vocals that don't match the rhythm of the instruments. Atonality. Overall, my impression when listening to this album fluctuates between boredom and being annoyed. 1/5

This record is an inventive and imaginative accommodation of 80s pop, and its general aura, given the group's name and the album cover, was something I was prepared for. What I wasn't primed to appreciate was the extent to which its seven songs all deal w/ 'love' in one way or another. 6/7 of the tracks contain love in the lyrics. For an album like this, that seems to me a significance: 'I am in love, I am in love with you'; 'Do I love you? Yes, I love you'; 'I am in love, I am in love with a feeling'; 'The love theme for the wilderness'; 'For the love King, out in the morning air'; 'You are pretending love is worth waiting for.' The final track is an exception, but the thematics have been inculcated by then. A bit sleepy, but mostly wise and peaceful. And 'Stay' is a masterwork: 'Stay, and I will understand you.' That's love.

Crystal clear production with some very weird instrumentation/arrangement choices that are somehow both ambient and jarring. Fairly concise album at only 38 minutes, despite the 5-6 minute song lengths. A couple of the slower songs do drag a bit, but overall the album is too interesting to give less than a 3/5.

So before starting this album, I looked at reviews. Probably a bad idea but I do it anyway. The first few reviews call this 'pretentious 80s new wave' and it's pretty lowly rated. I was excited because that sounds right up my alley.
It doesn't immediately suck me in. Although I do like the bass a lot, it's unmistakably 80s. And sometimes that 80s bass just kills. I don't get why everyone is calling this pretentious? I dig it. The guy's voice is a little strange and takes some getting used to but it oddly fits the music. It's pretty synth heavy, but that’s to be expected for 80s new wave I guess. I think it gets better as it goes on and it flows really well. Overall I really enjoyed this and it was a little unexpected.
This album is super short, just when I was really getting into it, it was almost over. I'd definitely buy this album if I ever came across it though. It would be a great record to throw on and sit and enjoy with a cocktail on a rainy evening. 4/5

Completely different from anything else I have been recommended as part of this process and one of few records that were completely unknown to me.

Pleasant if a little meandering :)

I just dont really like the moaning style of the 80s. Dont know why

This was a weird album and I was trying to figure out why it was picked for this list. Then it comes up on demo albums for CD players from the 80s all the time and that sort of made sense, but I still don't think I had to hear this one.

When I read "Sophisti-pop" on the wiki I really was expecting to hate this, but I think those bottom-of-the-barrel expectations allowed me to somehow hate this even more. I want someone to throw me in The Blue Nile.

New wavey... First few tracks are reminiscent of U2 from around the same era. It devolves over the course of the LP into slower ambient tracks that remind me of the parts of Peter Gabriel's catalog that I do not like; mostly snoozers.

O man. Die stem. Verschrikkelijk. Soms zelfs mompelend en zeurend tegelijk... Jammer want ik vind de rest van de muziek soms wel erg fijn. Dan weer heel filmisch, dan weer heel elektronisch, dan bijna huppelend. Soms ook wel weer tergend saai. Leuk album dus om een keer te luisteren. Maar door die zanger geen tweede keer.