Teenage Archangel/Jets At Dawn
7" single
Released on Smile Records in 1973
Recorded at Holyground, Wakefield
1000 copies
Rereleased in 1977
Be Bop Deluxe Discography
1973:
Teenage Archangel/Jets At Dawn
7" single
Released on Smile Records in 1973
Recorded at Holyground, Wakefield
1000 copies
Rereleased in 1977
1974:
Be Bop Deluxe - Axe Victim
UK: Originally released on Harvest SHVL 813 in June 1974
UK: Rereleased on Harvest EDP 154 679-3 in September 1983 as a double album with Futurama
UK: Compact disc released on EMI CZ 327 in February 1991 with additional tracks
Available through the Bill
Nelson Record Store
Recorded at AIR London CBS Audio International Studios
Produced by Ian McLintock
All songs by Bill Nelson except Rocket Cathedrals by Robert Bryan
Songs appearing on the CD release
Bill Nelson - lead guitars, lead vocals, acoustic guitar and grand piano.
Ian Parkin - rhythm and acoustic guitar. Organ on track 6.
Robert Bryan - bass guitar, vocal. Lead vocal on track 6.
Nicholas Chatterton-Drew - drums and percussion.
Jet Silver And The Dolls Of Venus/Third Floor Heaven
7" single
Released on Harvest in June 1974
1975:
Be Bop Deluxe - Futurama
UK: Originally released on Harvest SHSP 4045 in May 1975
US: promo-only on Harvest, banded for airplay
UK: Rereleased on Harvest EDP 154 679-3 in September 1983 as a double album with Axe
Victim
UK: Compact disc released on EMI CZ 328 in February 1991 with additional tracks
UK: Compact disc rereleased on EMI/Harvest CDP 7920742 in June 1997 with additional
tracks
Available through the Bill
Nelson Record Store
Recorded at Rockfield, Sarm, and Abbey Road Studios
Produced by Roy Thomas Baker
Songs appearing on the CD release
Bill Nelson - all guitars, keyboards, lead vocals and percussion.
Charles Tumahai - Fender bass, vocals and percussion.
Simon Fox - drums and percussion.
Be Bop Deluxe - Between the Worlds/Lights
UK: 7" single on Harvest HAR 5091 in February 1975
Single deleted after one day of sale
Maid In Heaven/Sister Seagull
UK: 7" single on Harvest HAR 5098 in May 1975
1976:
Be Bop Deluxe - Sunburst Finish
UK: Originally released on Harvest SHSP 4053 in February 1976
US: Harvest SPRO 8485/6
US: promo-only, banded for airplay
UK: Rereleased on Fame FA 3004 in May 1982
UK: Rereleased on Revolver in 1986
UK: Compact disc released on EMI CZ 329 in February 1991 with additional tracks
Available through the Bill
Nelson Record Store
Recorded at Abbey Road
Produced by John Leckie and Bill Nelson
Fair Exchange/Heavenly Homes/Ships In The Night/Crying To The Sky/Sleep That Burns/Beauty Secrets/Life In The Air Age/Like An Old Blues/Crystal Gazing/Blazing Apostles/Shine/Speed Of The Wind/Blue As A Jewel
Bill Nelson - lead vocals, all guitars, harmonica, tubular bells and percussion
Andrew Clark - all keyboards
Charles Tumahai - bass guitar, vocals and percussion
Simon Fox - drums and percussion
Be Bop Deluxe - Modern Music
Highest UK Chart position: 12
September 1976 UK: Originally released on Harvest SHSP 4058
US promo-only on Harvest, banded for airplay
February 1991 UK: Compact disc released on EMI CZ 330 with additional tracks
June 1997 UK: Compact disc rereleased on EMI/Harvest CDP 7947312 with additional tracks
June 1999 UK: Compact disc rereleased on EMI/Harvest CDP 7947312 with additional tracks
Available through the Bill
Nelson Record Store
Recorded at Abbey Road
Produced by John Leckieand Bill Nelson
Orphans Of Babylon/Twilight Capers/Kiss of Light/The Bird Charmers Destiny/The Gold At The End Of My Rainbow/Bring Back The Spark/Modern Music/Dancing In The Moonlight (All Alone)/Honeymoon On Mars/Lost In The Neon World/Dance Of The Uncle Sam Humanoids/Modern Music (Reprise/Forbidden Lovers/Down On Terminal Street/Make The Music Magic/Futurist Manifesto/Quest For The Harvest Of The Stars/Autosexual
Bill Nelson - all guitars, lead vocals and percussion
Andrew Clark - all keyboards and percussion
Charles Tumahai - bass guitar, vocals and percussion
Simon Fox - drums and percussion
Be Bop Deluxe - Be-Bop's Biggest: A Be-Bop Deluxe Sampler
Modern Music (Suite), Ships In The Night, Maid In Heaven
US: 12" on Harvest SPRO 8531/2, 33 rpm vinyl
Be Bop Deluxe - Hot Valves EP
Maid In Heaven/Bring Back the Spark/Blazing Apostles/Jet Silver and the Dolls of Venus
Highest UK chart position: 36
UK: 7" EP on Harvest HAR 5117 in October 1976
Germany: Harvest/EMI 016-16 272, pink and green picture sleeve different than UK
Be Bop Deluxe - Ships In the Night/Crying to the Sky
Highest UK chart position: 23
UK: 7" single on Harvest HAR 5104 in February 1976
Germany: Harvest/EMI C 006-06049, sleeve similar to Sunburst Finish cover
Spain: (Barcos En La Noche) Harvest/EMI J 006-06-049, sleeve in spanish
Portugal: Harvest/EMI 8E 006-06-049, "Revelacao Para '76" printed on sleeve
UK: Rereleased in 1984, Harvest G 45 21, "Golden 45s", group picture sleeve
Be Bop Deluxe - Kiss of Light/Shine
UK: 7" single on Harvest HAR 5110 in July 1976
Germany: Harvest/EMI 006-06215, green puzzle piece cover
Shine recorded under the name of Funky Phazor and His Unearthly Merchandise (Be Bop Deluxe without Charlie Tumahai, who was away in New Zealand)
Various Artists - Original Chart Hits
Released in 1976 on the label A Time To Remember
Re-released in 199? on compact disc on the label A Time To Remember, catalog number
V0001976
a Be Bop Deluxe song (unknown)
1977:
Be Bop Deluxe - Live In the Air Age
Highest UK chart position: 10
UK: Originally released on Harvest SHVL 816 in July 1977, Early vinyl editions came with
bonus live EP Harvest PSR 412. Some issued on clear vinyl.
US: Originally released on Harvest SKB 11666 on white vinyl
US: 12" white vinyl promo sampler on Harvest
UK: Compact disc released on EMI CZ 331 in February 1991 with extra tracks
US: Compact disc rereleased in 1995 on One Way Records with extra tracks
Available through the Bill
Nelson Record Store
Recorded Live at London, Leeds & Bournemouth by Rolling Stones Mobile Studio
Produced by John Leckieand Bill Nelson
Life In The Air Age/Ships In The Night/Piece Of Mine/Fair Exchange/Mill Street Junction/Adventures In A Yorkshire Landscape/Blazing Apostles/Shine/Sister Seagull/Maid In Heaven
Bonus live EP
UK: Harvest PSR 412
Shine/Sister Seagull/Maid In Heaven
Be Bop Deluxe - Japan/Futurist Manifesto
UK 7" single on Harvest HAR 5135
Be Bop Deluxe - Live Kicks
US 12" promo sampler on Harvest
1978:
Be Bop Deluxe - Drastic Plastic
Highest UK Chart Position: 22
UK: Originally released on Harvest SHSP 4091 in February 1978
US: Harvest SW 11750 (in Canada on white vinyl)
UK: Compact disc released on EMI CZ 332 in February 1991 with additional tracks
UK: Compact disc rereleased on EMI/Harvest CDP 7497332 in June,1997 with additional
tracks
Available through the Bill
Nelson Record Store
Recoreded at Chateau St. George, Jean Les Pins, France; The Manor, Oxford, England
Produced by John Leckieand Bill Nelson
Electrical Language/New Precision/New Mysteries/Surreal Estate/Love In Flames/Panic
In The World/Dangerous Stranger/Superenigmatix (lethal appliances for the home with
everything)/Visions Of Endless Hopes/Possession/Islands Of The Dead/Blimps/Lovers Are
Mortal/Lights
Be Bop Deluxe - The Best of and the Rest of
UK: Harvest SHDW 410 in December 1978
Axe Victim/Maid In Heaven/Music In Dreamland/Sister Seagull/Sleep That Burns/Ships
in the Night/Blazing Apostles/Kiss of Light/Dance of the Uncle Sam Humanoids/Forbidden
Lovers/Panic in the World/Blimps/Autosexual/Lovers are Mortal/Shine/Quest for the Harvest
of the Stars/Japan/Speed of the Winds/Lights/Blue as a Jewel/Face in the Rain/Futurist
Manifesto
Be Bop Deluxe - Panic In The World/Blue as a Jewel
UK 7" single on Harvest HAR 5147 in January 1978
Germany: Harvest/EMI 006-06 621, TV heads picture sleeve
Belgium: Harvest/EMI 4 C 006-06621, different TV heads picture sleeve than Germany
Be Bop Deluxe - Electrical Language/Surreal Estate
UK: 7" single Harvest HAR 5158 in May 1978, group picture sleeve
Be Bop Deluxe - Adventures In A Yorkshire Landscape
UK 12" Harvest promo
Be Bop Deluxe - Be Bop's Biggest
Ships In The Night/Maid In Heaven/Modern Music (radio edit)
US 12" promo single on Harvest SPRO 8531
Be Bop Deluxe - Shine
US 12" promo single on Harvest
1981:
Be Bop Deluxe - Singles As & Bs
Orginally released on Harvest SHSM 2034 in May,1981
Rereleased on compact disc on See-For-Miles Ltd SEECD 336, licensed from EMI in February,
1992
Available through the Bill
Nelson Record Store
Jet Silver and the Dolls of Venus/Between the Worlds (Alternate Version)/Maid in
Heaven/Ships in the Night/Kiss of Light/Japan/Panic in the World/Electrical Language/Third
Floor Heaven/Lights/Crying to the Sky/Shine (Studio version)/Futurist Manifesto/Blue as a
Jewel/Surreal Estate
1982:
Be Bop Deluxe - Panic In The World/Electrical Language/Maid
In Heaven
7" single
UK: Cocteau COQ 7, green and orange sleeve
1983:
Be Bop Deluxe - Panic In The World/Electrical Language/Maid
In Heaven/Jean Cocteau
12" single, reissued on Cocteau COQ T7
1986:
Bop To The Red Noise
Released on Castle Communications PLC, DOJOLP42
Currently out of print, no plans to re-release.
1987:
Be Bop Deluxe - Raiding the Divine Archive
subtitled The Best of Be Bop Deluxe
UK: Harvest EMS 1130 in March 1987
UK: Re-released in April 1990 on compact disc with extra tracks
Liner notes by Kevin Cann
Available through the Bill
Nelson Record Store
1991:
Bill Nelson - Luminous
UK: Imaginary Records ILL CD 24
Currently out of print, tentatively scheduled for rerelease in the future.
From the 1991 issue of Sound On Sound magazine:
Plans to reform, or "revitalise" as Bill prefers to say, Be Bop Deluxe, had to be shelved after initial rehearsals, not least because of the failure to secure an assured £150,000 budget. However, some of the material written by Bill with that project in mind is now to surface as a new LP on the Imaginary Records label.
"The new LP is called Luminous. Many of the tracks are demos for the Be Bop Deluxe project I started on last year - some of the ideas were quite interesting and I thought it was a shame that they wouldn't be heard. For example the songs 'She's Got Me Floating', 'Burning Down' and 'Two Hearts Beating' were initially conceived for the Be Bop Deluxe project."
"One of the tasks I tried to set myself when I put together the demos for the Be
Bop Deluxe band was not to have things too completed. I thought that I had better
leave space for the individual members to interpret things. What happened was that I
started off doing that, but began adding other parts and ended up with things tied down
and all spelled out -with not much room for manoeuvring at all. But what was interesting
was that because I had started with the intention to keep things simple, the songs have an
entirely different feel from more elaborate pieces."
1994:
Be Bop Deluxe - Radioland BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert
US: Windsong International WINCD 065
Available at the Bill
Nelson Record Store
Tracks 1-4 recorded 1/15/76 at the Paris Theatre
Tracks 5-10 recorded 10/20/76 at the Hammersmith Odeon
Tracks 11-16 recorded 1/19/78 at Golders Green Hippodrome.
Sixteen years ago, I laid Be Bop Deluxe to rest beneath a wreath of rocketships and roses, after having made the decision to explore pastures new. Some thirty albums later I find myself writing these words about music that now seems to me to have been made by someone else.
The words 'innocent' and 'naive' spring to mind... did I *really* worship so feverishly at the altar of rock'n'roll? Are you sure that was me you saw under the blue spotlight, hot-wired to a big guitar and dreaming out loud? O.K., so I left my fingerprints all over the damn thing, so what? I was dazzled, dazed and amazed and that's the way it goes...big noise in Twangtown, a sign of the times.
And still the ghost of Be Bop Deluxe haunts me, despite the charms and crucifixes outside my imagination's door.
I had totally forgotten about these 'In Concert' recordings until now...snapshots of
a band at it's most vulnerable, live and naked and unadorned by the glittering technology
of today...a steam radio sound 'though dry as parchment, for all that. This is the noise
boys make when they reach for tomorrow. Oh, how hard we tried - Bill Nelson, July 1994
1997:
Be Bop Deluxe - Air Age Anthology
UK: Released February 17th on EMI CDEM 1602
Two compact discs, 39 tracks, 12-page booklet. Liner notes by Kevin Cann.
Available through the Bill
Nelson Record Store
Disc One - 73 mins 38 secs
Disc Two - 69 mins 20 secs
1976 - 20 Original Chart Hits
Released May 6, 1997, includes Be Bop Deluxe's Ships In The Night
Available in the Bill Nelson Record
Store
1998:
Be Bop Deluxe - Very Best Of
US: April 7th on the Collectables Records label.
Available through the Bill
Nelson Record Store
tracks include: Adventures In A Yorkshire Landscape/Between The Worlds/Bring Back The Spark/Electrical Language/Fair Exchange/Forbidden Lovers/Japan/Jet Silver and the Dolls of Venus/Kiss of Light/Life In The Air Age/Maid In Heaven/Mill Street Junction/Modern Music/Music In Dreamland/Panic In The World/Piece of Mine/Ships In The Night/Sister Seagull/Sleep That Burns
Be Bop Deluxe - Tramcar To Tomorrow
UK: August 31, 1998 on Hux Records (HUX009),
distributed by Pinnacle
US: March 21, 2001
8 page booklet with band photographs.
Liner notes and track selection by Bill Nelson
John Peel BBC Radio One Sessions from 1974-1978, previously unreleased
Available through the Bill
Nelson Record Store
Recorded May 9, 1974: Third Floor Heaven, Adventures In A Yorkshire Landscape,
Mill Street Junction, 15th of July (Invisibles)
Recorded March 11, 1975: Maid In Heaven, Stage Whispers, Sister Seagull
Recorded February 10, 1976: Blazing Apostles, Crying To The Sky, Peace Of Mine
Recorded January 30, 1978: Panic In The World, Love In Flames
1999:
Various Artists - Harvest Festival
UK: Harvest ICPN 07243 521198 20
5 CD boxed set
Released in July 1999
Available through the Bill
Nelson Record Store
5 tracks by Be Bop Deluxe:
2 tracks by Bill Nelson's Red Noise:
NOTE: This is NOT a new release of previously unheard performances, neither is it a true re-issue. Hux purchased the rights to the tapes used in for the - Radioland BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert, which was released in 1994 and has been out of print for several years. The general consensus about Radioland is that the sound quality was inferior and not worth the money. Tremulous Antenna uses the same master tapes, but the sound has been VASTLY IMPROVED! All of the complaints about Radioland are addressed in this release. Give it a listen and you'll be happily surprised.
Click on the album art above for full liner notes and original air dates for the songs. Or click me.
2004:
Postcards from the Future
Scheduled
release date: 20 September 2004
Pre-orders available through Amazon.co.uk