ALBUM NOTES:

All That I Remember is an instrumental album issued on the Sonoluxe label in a limited edition of 500 copies.
The album was the third to appear in Nelson's Super Listener Series, and was presented in a digi-pack sleeve.

The album was first announced on the Dreamsville forum on 17 July 2015, approximately 1 year ahead of release.
At that stage Nelson had completed three tracks and had established the basic concept behind the work, formed from "nostalgic memories of younger days." One of the named tracks, "Old Boats" appears to have not made the final cut of the album, or perhaps it went through a change of title. In its early stages it was planned to include a couple of vocal pieces, but this idea never materialised, and Nelson stuck purely to instrumentals to convey his memories.

Work on All That I Remember continued at pace, with the track listing confirmed on 11 August 2015, and tentative plans to issue the album around Christmas 2015. However, by October 2015 Nelson re-scheduled his plans for the album to be issued in February 2016 with the intention of staging a launch party for the album's release. Bill ended up choosing a different release for the launch party, so All That I Remember was released on 25 July 2016, becoming the first to be sold through a re-vamped SOS web shop. By 3 August 2016 it was announced that the album had completely sold out.

Due to its autobiographical nature, Nelson decided to produce a 22 page set of listening notes, wonderfully illustrated and lovingly scripted, which help paint the historical back drop to the compositions.


CURRENT AVAILABILITY:
 

Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store.


IF YOU LIKED THIS ALBUM, YOU'LL PROBABLY ENJOY:
The Alchemical Adventures of Sailor Bill, New Northern Dream, The Years, Model Village, Picture Post,
Pedalscope, Fables and Dreamsongs, Songs of the Blossom Tree Optimists, Albion Dream Vortex


BILL'S THOUGHTS:

"All That I Remember is a very personal and autobiographical album.

"It's entirely instrumental...a musical painting (or sonic movie) of an early period of my life.

"But that's not to say that the music is always literally illustrative of the past. It has a post-modernist quality that often allows things to develop on their own, for purely musical reasons, rather than slavishly holding onto an entirely conceptual, 'retro' agenda. It features deliberately artificial, neo-classical stylings alongside, (and intensely fused with), electric guitar, plus a few subtle electro-techno touches.

"There are moments that might make you think of The Years or The Alchemical Adventures of Sailor Bill, but they're really only hints and tints and far from the big picture, (which stretches wider than this).

"It's a complex album, a bit of a puzzle, yet quite easy and explicit in other ways. As always, I'm playing ironic games with the listener's expectations, throwing diverse genres together, making odd juxtapositions. Is it music that requires intelligent thought to appreciate fully? I have no idea but, it's not an album for those who might be looking for an instant rock music fix. And yet, I have to admit it has some elements of that in it too.

"It's not just a very personal album, it's indicative of the complexity of my own multi-faceted musical inspirations."
_____

"The album contains a certain amount of nostalgic irony with a deliberate musical 'kitschness' to it. It's meant as a loving tribute to some older musical forms and has no existence in anything but whimsy and dreamy reminiscences.
I intended for it to sound slightly 'antique' and just a little bit kitsch. It's post-modernism coupled with a kind of cute take on surrealism. You have to see the 'wink' in it to fully grasp where it's coming from."
_____

"The listening notes help to fill in the background to each track, emphasising the autobiographical nature of the album and illustrating it with additional images, different from the CD package ones.
All this will hopefully add to your enjoyment of what I consider to be a major statement album."

_____

​

Bill's Listening Notes for the album: 'All That I Remember' Listening Notes

FAN THOUGHTS:
 

Palladium:

"I listened to All That I Remember this morning in a relaxed, receptive mood - the music really took hold, as it were. I suspect it'll be rated over time as one of Bill's richest and sweetest recordings. I get a lot of pleasure from it - there seems to be a superabundance of an effortless poetic something-or-other saturating every track. I don't know what it is, but, boy, it puts me in a harmonious & heartfelt place."

"I recommend that you read the detailed listening notes, track by track, as you listen to this album for the first time.
I'm glad I did - a remarkably rich, evocative, cinematic experience. (I don't usually read while listening to music, as I find one distracts from the other - but this is an exception, probably helped by the fact that it's instrumental and deeply atmospheric)...
It's an absolutely amazing, beautiful album, I should add."

"Currently hugely enjoying this album. It has a lot of different moods and textures, but it works so well as a coherent, organic whole (as it were) - incredibly evocative, with some staggeringly lovely guitar. Current favourite tracks: "The Wonderful Wurlitzer of Blackpool Tower", "Christmastide", and "Reighton Sands"."


james warner:

"Another personal trip into the past in musical form from Bill, conjuring a strong sense of nostalgia with no words.
Guitar and keyboards take turns at lead over the course of this album with number of tracks featuring the synthetic orchestra sound of The Alchemical Adventures Of Sailor Bill album."


BigManRestless:

"I'm mainly a fan of vocal-based songs, but I think this album, on first listen, may be my 2nd favourite instrumental album from Bill, just behind Practically Wired. A few more plays and it might overtake it.
Very, very impressed!"


Peter:

"All That I Remember arrived over the weekend, and tonight I am sitting down for my first listen...I am half a dozen songs in and am truly loving what I am hearing. (I couldn't even wait until I had heard the whole album to say something about it!)
Fantastic stuff, Bill! From the first warm, embracing notes of the title track, I have been entranced. Thank you for this one!"

"I love it to pieces. It is just full of those moments when I am stopped dead in my tracks and just think, "Oh, wow...that's BEAUTIFUL". Bill's ability to do just the right thing at just the right moment never ceases to amaze me.
Nicely done, Mr. Nelson."


TheMikeN:

"Nostalgia is an odd ingredient in brand new music, particularly when it comes alongside Bill's oft-expressed intention to look to the future in all his work. The dichotomy is explained by the fact that the music moves forward here and only the visuals (the pictures in Bill's head) were nostalgic. This is not a musical tribute to music of the past – it's a soundtrack to the colourful imagery Bill associates with his childhood and adolescence. The pictures in his head are fresh, so the music is fresh.
What's not clear is whether the memories are poignant or joyful. Mr N assures us that there is tongue in cheek for much of what is here, but some of the melodies are so delicate that even I can feel the loss of those innocent times. None of us can have simple feelings about happy times that are lost in so many ways because the majority of the important players are no longer with us. Bill's 'golden memories' are thoughtful and subtle but they still inspire a chuckle. Listen to this alongside everything from Model Village, Chance Encounters and even "Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape". For less detailed, more abstract musical imagery, And We Fell Into A Dream is a great place to go as well."


Alan:

"Today, I had time to sit down, read the listening notes, prior to listening to each track, and all I can say is, "Thank you, Bill Nelson."
I appreciate you're letting us see a glimpse of your life through music. Many artists are reluctant to let their fans have a view of who they are, but it's one of the things that makes you a genuine person, as well as a true star.
I've always liked the photograph of you and Ian, with the steamboat in the background. That photograph, as well as others, shows that you were a very good brother.
As an aside, I'm glad that All That I Remember was a full album. I was afraid from the title that it may be an EP...
Seriously though, keep doing exactly what you're doing. (Not that you need my permission).
Oh, and on the final track, I heard some of the same type of guitar that originally drew me into your music all those years ago."


wadcorp:

"It's a sonic sea, deep & expansive. There are wide open vistas of English countryside, early morning walks by the seaside, and journeys down roads not traveled since one's youth.
You're walking through a small town in "The Wonderful Wurlitzer of Blackpool Tower", past a grand old merry-go-round. You're not in the present any more, but flashing back to the experience as it was when you were young.
"Spacefleet (The Golden Days of Dan Dare)" whisks you into a future, as imagined in the 1950s. Sweeping skyward with excitement & optimism.
Undercurrents of jazz flood into the coolness of "Strolling With My Father." Imagine a smoky, dark nightclub, populated with the coolest of the cool.
Seagulls call as you stroll by the edge of the water in "Reighton Sands." The music goes beyond setting the mood, and sets the place. You are there.
All the tunes are very evocative of place, as well as of time. This is a journey of remembrance.
Fans who enjoy The Alchemical Adventures of Sailor Bill will find this one right up their alley. A major entry into the Bill Nelson canon."


major snagg:

"I'm listening to this fabulous CD as I type this. What a stunning album."


Returningman:

"A highly personal album rather like an invitation to a private viewing of Bill's thoughts and distant memories.
"Reighton Sands" for me is the absolute highlight of the album.
Gentle strummed chords and ocean sounds provide the background texture to another guitar masterpiece. Ethereal and perfect, a sound that spirits you away to a place far far away.
Bill mentions the possibility of "an epic box set, a life captured in sound" at the end of the notes, on the strength of Vol 1, I hope this project achieves fruition."