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Almost 30 Years of Bill Nelson

Yup, Practically Wired in '95 was the first time....the first time KNOWING that I was hearing Bill.

Blah blah blah, repetitive hyperbole; several paragraphs unwritten. This happens to me a lot with music that I've listened to for years or decades. Sometimes I hear it in new ways; I hear new things, and it's always a magical experience, like another expansion of awareness.

There was one time a couple years ago with a guitar part from a PW tune, maybe a bit of sweep picking. It blew my mind. Bill chimed in about how yeah "that's why to have to listen ..." (hard ?, carefully?). A few weeks ago it was 2 songs: Friends From Heaven, and Big Yellow Moon. On separate days I played each one over and over, soaking in the complexities and nuances, pretty much jaw agape at the level of...everything. I swear, BYM is an incredibly elegant piece of music, just intensely perfect in every way.

That's all 😁

25 comments

25 Comments

wadcorp

May 01

Believe I’ve mentioned this somewhere before: my introduction to Bill was with the “Drastic Plastic” release by Be Bop Deluxe. I’d bought it at the recommendation of the owner of my favourite record shop in Gainesville, Florida, Chapter Three Records. Listening to it for the first time, I was blown away.

The next week I was back to Chapter Three Records, telling the owner how great the album was and thanking him for the recommendation. He said, “Well, enjoy it because Be Bop Deluxe just broke up.”

Axe Victim

May 02

Replying to

I was devastated at the time when Be Bop split. But my tastes were changing with onset of the punk and new wave scene here in the UK. But I always stuck with Bill and absolutely loved Sound on Sound, and then when eventually it was released could not believe the change with QDAGOTB. But loved it even more. As an artist Bill was so far ahead of his time, you can't help but admire the man for his bravery in releasing stuff like that. And I've followed his career eversince

Axe Victim

Apr 30

When I attended one of the Nelsonicas when it was at The Duke, I dragged a chair over when Bill was doing his meet and greet and the look on his face was a picture, because as was the norm up until then,you unormally had to stand and meet Bill. I had a lovely chat meeting a true hero of mine and I told him exactly that, I always heard something new in his music. He was delighted, and I then asked him to sign a twenty quid note, which he did laughingly, and promptly did a little art work when he decorated the Queen, which I've still got to this day. What a guy

Alec

Apr 30

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Replying to

Nice memory. I think you posted the note here before?

Jon

Apr 30

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Replying to

I remember your signed £20 note. That was great…glad you’ve still got it!

Tourist

May 01

Replying to

Imagine though, what a journey it would have had, how many hands it would have passed through and just how many people would have seen it, had Axe Victim spent it. Now that would have been cool.

Great story nevertheless..😎

stevedunnigan

Apr 29

My girlfriend at the time worked in a record shop and gave me a gift of the Hot Valves EP (with a sticker on it saying 'not for resale'!). I'd never heard of BBD but immediately fell in love and bought Modern Music followed by the rest of the back-catalogue over the next few months (I was only 15).

Now, nearly 50 years later, I still love Bill's music, both old and new and I'm so grateful that I got to see him play (one last time?) at the Old Haunts launch party in 2019.

Quinault

Apr 29

I seem to remember a story about Luminous......

Anyway, once upon a time, I got a decent job where my college education could actually put money into my pocket. So, I bought a cd player and sought out to gather music worth listening to.

Having been familiar with Be Bop Deluxe, when I saw Bill Nelson on Cocteau, I gave him a try. I have not been sorry.

Now I am retired, and I am glad that he is not.

Edited

Alec

Apr 29

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Replying to

My Luminous story was I’d been in Berkeley, CA having just bought a paperback called The Mind of the Druid by Dr. E. Graham Howe, intrigued by the cover and its title. On the bus, I flipped through the pages and was struck by the chapter called ‘The Language of the Birds’.

Decided to go to Saturn Records, now long gone, on College Avenue in Oakland. The proprietor waved me over and told me he set something aside for me. He handed me the Luminous CD and I was so happy. Such intriguing artwork and it felt like it’d been a while since the last Bill Nelson music.

Boarded another bus and read the song titles. My mind reeled when I read one called The Language Of The Birds.

✊😎

Edited

wompy2

May 01

Replying to

I drove from Hartford to Waterbury to Brass City Records on the hope they had a copy,still in the collection today

awrc

Apr 28

I first discovered Bill’s music in about 1989 or so, after reading his entry in my copy of the Trouser Press guide, thinking “I like the sound of that” then buying “Duplex” in the Virgin Megastore in Edinburgh. Then I got a big boost in 1990 when I had to present a paper at a conference in SF and a friend took me round the local record stores, and I came home with quite a haul of the Enigma CDs.

As for “Practically Wired”. I picked that up in my local Best Buy in N. Virginia the week it was released. At that point it was unusual for me to buy from physical stores (and very unusual for it to be on the shelf in Best Buy) because my review website I ran at the time was doing quite well in terms of earning me credit at CDNow whenever people read my reviews and clicked through to buy stuff. It wasn’t exactly big bucks - my best ever month earned me $128 - but most months I ended up getting enough to buy anything new that I was interested in.

Axe Victim

Apr 29

Replying to

I first came across Bill in 1975 with " SITN" and haven't looked back since. I've lost count of how cds etc I've got. But I try and always go for the physical copy and there's not a day or week without a bit of Bill.blasting out of something here at home or the car

AlanH

Apr 29

Replying to

Exactly the same here. Despite an extensive collection of Bill CDs & downloads, there's always another one to discover. Great, isn't it? 😃

DogBoy

May 01

Replying to

Another latecomer... having a lot of catching up to do ...waiting for Noise Candy to come out was this Big Thing at the start of my listening....anyway, to continue a bit: it was ....well, I was going to say "accidental" that I stumbled onto Bill, but I don't look at "Life, the Universe, and Everything" that way anymore. So, it was quite by synchronicity and serendipity that one day in a Page One (old brick/mortar book/music joint in the U.S.) I happened upon an obscure electronic music review magazinelet , like a cross between a mag and a pamphlet. One review was about PW , saying this guy I'd never heard of was up to more of his wonderful ways with all manner of sounds and effects and wizardry (I forget any exact words used). It just so serendipitated that there was some Bill Nelson cds in the store, which I sampled and latched onto.

Now, looking back, happenstance, coincidence, and the old way of thinking just don't fit the bigger picture. Here was someone whose music grabbed me like very little music does. Music is one of the most important things to me, and the music of Bill's that I select is possibly the most important, say, if I had to choose one artist I couldn't do without. One deep, abiding undercurrent is the obvious esoteric/spiritual/occult/whatever ya wanna callit . It's obvious that here is someone who has peered beyond the veils, and that sort of experience embodies itself in everything a person does, and so obviously (since I'm "like that" too) the music is transportive and transformative, right along with all the high-level musical craftsmanship, artistry, and personal expression. "See you in the next world" is something I often say, and now it's even like "oh yeah, maybe I already knew you before this place/time", that kind of otherdimensional thing.

From here I tangent off into any number of rabbit holes, so I'll stop. 😀

Edited

Axe Victim

Apr 28

I hear something new in Bills music everytime I listen to it

DogBoy

May 01

Replying to

I LOVE that about music and personal evolution. There's always more.

Andrew John Mather

Apr 28

Early in ‘my listening career’ (coz that’s what it’s been) I decided to stick by my purchases. So I have kept all my(our) lps and singles(not many bought actually) and DG and others are correct - repeated listening to music (yes even ‘rock n roll) brings new delights. Obviously BN is one of the greatest music givers….the little laugh/in take of breath before Axe Victim actually says it all as does the track itself - how many years we can enjoy music is also a matter of luck…it’s perhaps driven me mad all this rock n roll but it’s just what the doctor ordered and I like it!

Alec

Apr 27

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So, Dogboy, how was it that of all the Bill Nelson releases was it Practically Wired that you knowingly heard first? My first encounter with that one was seeing it on display at Rockaway Records in Los Angeles, which was a couple of blocks from where I used to live. I was surprised to see it, excited about a new product available.

DogBoy

May 01

Replying to

Ah, I just explained that in a reply to awrc a minute ago. It was an ordinary, everyday miracle 😆

DogBoy

May 31

Replying to

A more direct answer is " PW and The Summer of God's Piano' were the two BN cds at the store when I first read about him there". Immediately, I knew that this was music strange and wonderful to my ears; an instant connection to new areas of sound. What a difference between these two albums, too, I wondered "who IS this guy?". Then I think it was 'Chance Encounters ' as a used cassette. This was when it wasn't easy to find everything at our fingertips. the next ones were Blue Moons etc., Atom Shop, After the Satellite etc. Those did until Noise Candy came out and I started getting everything new. BBD never grabbed me the way his later work did, except for a few tunes.

Edited

AlanH

Nov 20, 2024

I know just what you mean. Just when you think you've explored a track in detail, something else catches your ear and you have to listen AGAIN...

Tourist

Nov 19, 2024

...and for me, it was repeated listenings of Moments Catch Fire On The Crests Of Waves, from the wonderful The Alchemical Adventures Of Sailor Bill (last weekends prime player), probably my favourite Bill Nelson release.