ORIGINALLY:

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A) was from the upcoming Sound-On-Sound album
B-sides) were both non-album tracks

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NOTES:

Furniture Music was Nelson's first solo release since the Northern Dream album in 1971, and it appeared one week ahead of the Sound-On-Sound album, providing a glimpse of the abrupt change in style that Nelson's Red Noise project represented compared to Be Bop Deluxe.

Red Noise comprised a semi-fluid line up, which on their debut single featured a trio of Andy Clark, retained from Be Bop Deluxe on piano and synthesisers, Rick Ford on bass guitar, and Nelson playing drums, Mini Moog, electric guitars and vocals.

Furniture Music was available in red vinyl (limited edition) as well as black vinyl, with both editions coming in a picture sleeve. Interest in the single was sufficient to take it to No. 59 in the UK charts.


PAST RELEASES:

B1 was also available on the US version of Cocteau Signature Tunes comp (out of print).
B2 was also available on The Strangest Things comp (out of print).

 

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CURRENT AVAILABILITY:

All 3 songs were added to the remastered Sound-On-Sound CD from Harvest in 2012, which is now out of print in physical form, but available as digital download on Amazon and iTunes..

BILL'S THOUGHTS:

"It was a relief [to go solo]...the doors were opened, windows too, and everything seemed possible. No need to explain myself to others, no need to adapt my ideas to musicians who might have found it difficult to understand where I was coming from, no compromises required other than those which I personally felt justifiable, no need to reflect anything other than my own hard-won experience, my own true story. No need to follow fickle fashion or the desperate dictates of an industry that, even then, was floundering and becoming lost.
Going 'solo' gave me permission to express my personal, private world, my own 'vision', without need for discussion or dilution. In a word: It brought me the FREEDOM to be 100% creative!"
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"I simply took the idea of 'white noise', (which is the presence of every possible frequency happening at the same time), and changed it to 'Red' to suggest something fast and fiery and also to hint at the socialist/communist image we adapted, partly from the Beatles Shea Stadium stage outfits, partly from Maoist Chinese revolutionary suits but also nodding towards a retro-futuristic Orwellian dystopia."
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"Remember...the same heart and mind that created Northern Dream and all the Be Bop Deluxe variations also created everything else I've released. From Northern Dream to Sailor Bill and all the stops in between, the one consistent thread is that mind and the idealistic pursuit of excellence. I've never experimented just for the sake of experimentation...I'm simply trying to define and refine my musical vision."

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