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La Belle Et La Bête Bill Nelson album - 25 June 1982 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this reissue TRACKS : 01) Overture 02) The Family 03) Sisters And Sedan Chairs 04) In The Forest Of Storms 05) The Castle 06) The Gates 07) The Corridor 08) The Great Hall 09) Dreams (The Merchant Sleeps) 10) Fear (The Merchant Wakes) 11) The Rose And The Beast 12) Magnificent (The White Horse) 13) Beauty Enters The Castle 14) The Door 15) The Mirror 16) Candelabra And Gargoyles 17) Beauty And The Beast 18) Transition No. 1 19) Transition No. 2 20) The Hunt 21) The Gift 22) The Garden 23) Transition No. 3 24) Transition No. 4 25) The Tragedy 26) Transition No. 5 27) The Enchanted Glove 28) Tears As Diamonds (The Gift Reverses) 29) The Beast In Solitude 30) The Return Of Magnificent 31) Transition No. 6 (The Journey) 32) The Pavilion Of Diana 33) Transformation No. 1 34) Transformation No. 2 35) The Final Curtain ALBUM NOTES: La Belle et la Bête is an instrumental album released on Mercury Records in 1982. The material was recorded at The Echo Observatory, Selby, England in early 1982 as a soundtrack for a stage production commissioned by The Yorkshire Actors Co. It was initially released as a limited edition free album available with both vinyl and cassette copies of The Love That Whirls . It was packaged in its own album sleeve that slipped inside The Love That Whirls cover (on vinyl), or simply as side two of the cassette edition. PAST RELEASES: La Belle et la Bête was reissued on vinyl as a double album with Das Kabinett (Cocteau, 1985), sporting new artwork. It was given its first and only US release on CD (Enigma, 1989) as two albums on one disc (again with Das Kabinett ). La Belle et la Bête was reissued by Esoteric/Cocteau Discs in December 2017 as part of a 3-CD set of Bill's early soundtrack work, entitled Dreamy Screens . CURRENT AVAILABILITY: La Belle et la Bête will be made available as a digital download in the near future. BILL'S THOUGHTS:: "Of course, the big 'hit single' in Cocteau's film canon is 'Beauty And The Beast'. An absolutely magical telling of a magical fairy tale. It's stunningly beautiful to look at and the scenes in the Beast's castle have a dreamlike quality that, once seen, will haunt you forever." _____ "All the music on my Beauty and the Beast album was created for a stage production of Cocteau's classic film. I attended rehearsals of the play, (which was being staged by 'The Yorkshire Actor's Company'), and with a stopwatch timed each sequence of the action, filling a notebook with information about specific dramatic points and so on. "I then spent a couple of weeks in my home studio writing and recording the music whilst working from the notebook and timings I had taken. The finished music, (which was recorded on very basic equipment), was then delivered to the Yorkshire Actor's Company who then used it in their live theatre performances of the play. It was in the form of stereo reel-to-reel analogue tape mixes as there were no CDs or digital formats back then. The theatre music soundtrack depended upon an operator sitting with a reel-to-reel machine, cueing each piece of my music manually, wherever the live action required it. It actually worked extremely well in live performance. "The album uses exactly the same music and mixes as was used in the theatre, though the album was released as an afterthought. The music wasn't created with an album in mind or as a 'stand-alone' listening experience...it was meant purely as an atmosphere creating device and as a sonic punctuation to the physical/visual drama of the stage-production." _____ "In some ways, that period of my life was very exciting as there seemed to be a very open-minded spirit in the air. People were, it seems, a little less less conservative than now and more ready to experiment and foster a more artistic approach to popular music. "These days it seems as if there's a reluctance to open up to beauty and wonder, an element of dumbing everything down to the lowest common denominator. It’s as if cynicism and pessimism has triumphed over good faith and optimism. Cocteau's work celebrates the artistic vision and the inner life and does so without shame, irony or embarrassment. Beauty is the brave hero and the Beast is subdued by her power. A lovely metaphor for the civilising influence of Art." _____ "Context has a lot to do with it. Also, not to beat around the bush, it's an 'art' piece, not pop, rock or ambient. It was also made with very slender resources, minimal recording gear, (four track), and primitive instrumentation. It's music to accompany a theatrical performance, but, if you can dig it, it also works on its own as semi-abstract sonic fragments, little vignettes of sound. It's a bit like painting. Close your eyes and let your imagination project pictures. It might help to see Cocteau's film, (the music fits it almost as well as it fitted the stage production). If you like it, great, if you don't, no problem. "Sometimes I make music for lots of people to enjoy, sometimes for just a few to enjoy. Of course, I personally enjoy making ALL of it and I think of it as just one continuous expression of my creative life. But, some people might say that Be Bop and Red Noise comprise my mainstream, mass market work, the 'ambient' instrumentals are for folks who like to float, dream and chill, and things like Beauty and The Beast , Caligari and Crimsworth are for art gallery and theatre goers... and so on, (add your own categorisations according to taste, personal bias, etc). At the end of the day, they're all just aspects of my personality, reflecting my interests, curiosity and passions. "I've often talked about the wide range of music that I enjoy listening to and the equally wide range of film, art and literature. Add a dash of occultism, esoterica and left of centre philosophy and you'll get an idea of what all this diversity adds up to when I choose tones, textures and forms to express my own inner life. There's no escaping the fact that its deeply personal music and that it only entertains by accident, rather than design. But...when in doubt, simply shove it all in a big box and simply call it MUSIC. Nothing more, nothing less. Everyone knows music...It’s the food of LOVE. And we're ALL forever hungry for that." FAN THOUGHTS : Numbat: "It was much later that I first saw Cocteau's film. Its beauty and gentle strangeness obviously inspired Bill to create his own modest yet sumptuous "sound-play" to suit the Yorkshire stage production of the classic story. I reckon Bill did a fantastic job, using his clunky old analog technology to great artistic effect, lending the whole work a misty, autumnal "old world" feel. Nice one, Bill!!" zeitgeist: "I made the fatal mistake of dimming the lights, so that only a bat could navigate around the room. Then I tripped over the table to put the light up, and retrieve my 'phones. Once again settled, I lay back in the dark, along with the shadows, and relaxed. Then the eerie calls of: 'La Belle..La Belle', the grunts of the Beast, and the dreaded thumping heartbeat section just about put the willies up me." tommaso: "What I really like about this album (and many other of the early instrumental works) is the synths sound. Very unique, as if Bill had put them through some distortion device or something, creating a sound that is at once 'broken' and 'poetic' (for want of a better word). So, not to be missed, surely, and an ideal complementary album to The Love That Whirls ." Albums Menu Future Past

Nelsonian Navigator - Issue Four- Published September 1996 Back to Top

Sunday 2nd July 2006 -- 11:00 am THE TOKYO CAPER: PART THREE. As previously mentioned, our trip to Japan was dominated by an intense schedule of meetings, mostly connected with Emi's family obligations and with her friends. Her diary was crammed with appointments throughout each day and we hardly had a moment to ourselves. These meetings were sometimes difficult for me as, due to my small grasp of Japanese, I couldn't really join in the various conversations and so had to politely sit there smiling, offering an occasional "Domo Arigato" when someone would re-fill my beer glass. I did, however, appreciate that this was a rare and important opportunity for Emi to meet up with her old friends and I felt content to just sit on the side-lines and allow her as much time and space as she needed to talk with them. She bought a mobile 'phone as soon as we got to Tokyo, (at under 20 pounds it was actually cheaper than renting one,) and within a few hours had set up a network of connections. We were deluged with invitations, so much so that we couldn't fit them all in to our 12 day schedule so some meetings had to be politely declined. Of course, one of the most important reasons for our trip was for Emi to see her mother and two brothers. She hadn't seen them for three years, the last time being when her father died. Emi's mother is in her eighties now and looks frail although her health is reasonable at the moment. She was, naturally, extremely pleased to see Emi. Emi's family have always been very good to me and they all made me feel very welcome. Food and eating plays a central role in Japanese family and social life so there was lots of sitting around tables sampling various delicacies and much uttering of the word 'Oishi', which means 'delicious.' I do enjoy a lot of Japanese food but there are a few things that don't particularly appeal to me. These tend to be things of the glutinous variety, certain sweet things and, whilst I'm a firm lover of seafood, I'm not a fan of the eel-like fish that are sometimes served up and which Emi adores. Not because of their flavour, but because of the tiny bones one must encounter whilst eating them. Good wine tends to be very expensive in Japan and cheap wine is, to western tastes at least, almost unpalatable so I contented myself with Japanese beer which was very clean and refreshing, particularly with all the heat and humidity that we encountered. Every day required us to do a fair amount of walking and also to take train rides on the busy Tokyo local railways and subway systems. At rush hour, these trains are crammed full of commuters. It's amazing how many people are compacted into each carriage, squashed up together like sardines in a tin. It can be a little disturbing to the unwary 'gaijin' such as myself. I'm sure that, in this country, such intense overcrowding would break all safety regulations but no-one seems to think anything of it over there. There's even uniformed, white gloved platform staff who help push people through the doors, squeezing as many of them into the trains as possible. This makes for some rather intimate physical encounters between the passengers. For a still red-blooded male like myself, it can provide one with a pleasant few minutes of travel if one is lucky enough to be crushed up against an attractive Japanese lady or two. (And yes, I really should feel guilty about admitting that!) Less so if it happens to be a halitosis stricken Japanese businessman bearing down upon you. But my, oh, my...aren't the girls out there skinny? It's kind of worrying. Many give the appearance of being virtually anorexic. There seems to be a widespread obsession with being super-thin. I get the impression that this is connected more to fashion's dictates than anything else. One of the first things I noticed upon returning to the U.K. was that women here have dangerous curves and full breasts. Of course, these variations and sexual preferences are cultural inheritances as much as anything else, 'though it seems that many Japanese men hanker after a more 'meaty' physicality and fantasise about western women quite a lot. But then, we English men often find the Japanese female face and form beguiling, so maybe it's our perception of 'difference as exotic' that makes the grass appear greener on the other side of the fence. Oh dear, I fear I'm beginning to sound like a stereotypical, old-school, un-reconstructed, politically incorrect male here, (or one of those cartoon randy old-goats of the Leslie Phillips variety...) Perhaps I should change the subject! Not all of our time in Tokyo was given over to Emi's busy schedule. I was allowed a couple of indulgences of my own. One of these was to accept an invitation to visit the Terada guitar factory in Nagoya, which is a two hour train ride from Tokyo on the super-fast Shinkansen train. We were met at Nagoya station by one of the factory's executive staff, Mr. 'Chet' Nakagawa who turned out to be a lovely guy. Chet treat us to lunch at a small restaurant that served one of Emi's favourite Japanese dishes, 'Unagi', (The eel-like fish I mentioned earlier.) She was very pleased to have an opportunity to eat this. I ate some very good Sahshimi, (raw fish), washed down with Japanese beer. Chet then drove us to the guitar factory. The Terada factory makes guitars for Gretsch, (which is how I came by my invitation), but they also build guitars for D'Angelico, D'Aquisto and several other companies. They seem to specialise in building archtop style guitars. It began as a family business in 1915 when the company made violins and it is still a family run business today. The tour of the factory that we were given was fascinating. I'd expected something very high-tech and modern but was surprised to find a series of quite modest, semi-dilapidated buildings that looked as if they were at least 50 years old. Each building dealt with different stages of a guitar's construction, from stacked piles of raw wood to beautifully finished, shiny instruments. The craftsmen building them are mostly young guys, all with university degrees in guitar-making. Everyone who works there is a guitar player too and they take a tremendous pride in the high quality instruments that they create. I was impressed by the obsessive attention to detail and obvious care that went into each guitar. I also was introduced to Mr.Terada who runs the factory. Terada-San was very gracious and told me a little of the company's history. He also let me in on some new work the factory is planning to undertake but that's to be kept under my hat. Unfortunately, I didn't take any still photo's of the work being done there but I did manage to shoot some camcorder footage which I hope to incorporate into a little documentary video about my Japanese trip which, all being well, I'll screen at this year's Nelsonica Convention. After the factory visit, Mr. Chet Nakagawa became our tour guide and generously took us to see the impressive Nagoya Castle which looked like something from the animated film, 'Spirited Away.' He kindly took a photo of Emi and I standing in front of the castle, (which I've attached to this diary entry). Afterwards, he drove us back to Nagoya station for our two hour trip back to Tokyo on the bullet train. We invited him to look us up if he should visit England in the future. We'd be very happy to put him up and show him the beauty of Yorkshire's moors and coastline. A very nice, warm man. Another guitar related event on our busy schedule was my interview and photo session for 'Player Magazine.' As mentioned in an earlier diary entry, I wasn't expecting anything more than a brief interview and therefore hadn't prepared clothes for a photo' session but, as the magazine said they wanted to create a six-page feature about me and my guitar collection, it seemed churlish to complain. The photo session and interview was held in a professional photographic studio in Tokyo. No-one complained when I kept my dark glasses on, so I was reasonably happy. Actually, from what I've seen of the polaroid roughs, taken as the shoot was being set up, the end results shouldn't be too bad at all. But I genuinely do dislike being photographed these days. I much prefer being behind the camera, rather than in front of it. Another enjoyable part of our trip was the evening when we had dinner with my good friend Nick James and his wife Yoko. Nick has, astonishingly, been living in Tokyo for 17 years now. He originally hails from Selby in Yorkshire, which is where we first met. He was a young guy trying to get into the music industry at that time, his main interest being in studio engineering. But Nick is also a fine musician who plays keyboards and, in recent years, some guitar too. He owns a beautiful Martin acoustic which I envy. Nick and I have worked together in the past, most notably on my old Cocteau Records single 'Life In Your Hands'. Nick engineered that and played piano on it too.These days he's in demand in Tokyo as a producer and composer as well as an engineer and has created musical scores for films and tv there. His wife Yoko is a talented singer and they have a very comprehensive home studio set-up that makes my own equipment seem quite minimal and humble. When Nick and Yoko were married, back in the early 1990's, I was proud to be asked to act as Nick's best man. They married in England at Brayton Church on the edge of Selby. My after dinner speech was pathetic, I developed food poisoning at the after-reception party and ended up in a bit of a state, but it was still a memorable day and the only time I've ever worn the traditional full tie and tails regalia. I seem to recall that I looked rather smart, quite the gentleman toff in fact. Anyway, on this latest visit to Japan, Nick and Yoko took us to a little Italian restaurant where it was good to enjoy a meal without requiring the public display of my rudimentary chopstick technique. (Actually, Japanese people always seem to compliment me on my use of chopsticks so maybe I'm not quite as clumsy as I think I am. Either that or they're just being typically polite.) Of course, I once lived in Tokyo for almost 12 months so it was a matter of 'chopsticks or starve.' Well...I soon got the hang of it. Another evening was taken up by a re-union party of Emi's old workmates. When I first went to live with Emi in Tokyo, she was in charge of Kenneth Turner's flower shop. Kenneth Turner is a renowned English Floral Designer who is highly respected in Japan. The flower company that Emi used to work for, (Floral Vision), was chosen by Kenneth Turner to manage the Japanese branch of his business and Emi was chosen to run his shop for him. I was always impressed by Emi's efficiency and professionalism when I dropped into the Kenneth Turner shop, close to Tokyo Tower. Her staff showed an obvious respect to her and Kenneth himself thought highly of her. Her floral designs were regularly featured in interior design magazines in Japan and I'm pleased that she's kept a number of these magazines for her archives. But it's been several years since the company staff have been together in one place, many of them moving off to start their own flower businesses or going into teaching. On this latest trip though, a special party was arranged to honour Emi's visit to Tokyo and I found myself the only westerner amongst eleven Japanese girls and two Japanese males. There was much warm humour and, (unsurprisingly), lots of good food and drink. Once again, I found myself disadvantaged by my lack of conversational Japanese but everyone was extremely good to me and it proved to be less of an ordeal than I'd expected. What I love about these situations is that Emi is able to converse naturally in her native tongue. She seems quite different from her U.K. persona, when she has to carefully consider how to translate her thoughts into English. Even though she's made great progress since coming here to live with me as my wife, she still feels that she lacks confidence in speaking English and is often hesitant or uneasy about the matter. We understand each other in ways that only two people who love each other can so the technical side of any language problem is not such a big deal for us. But in Japan, Emi's steady, considered speech changes to rapid fire, energetic conversation, filled with laughter and sparks. I get a real pleasure from seeing her freed from the constraints of the English language. On another occasion, we had lunch with a different set of Emi's friends, one of whom, Gan-chan, turned out to be a collector of vintage Japanese toys. When I spoke to him about my fascination with an early 1950's Japanese cartoon character called 'Atom' (or, as he is sometimes known, 'Astroboy') he immediately left the table, hopped on his pushbike and cycled off in the direction of his home. Ten minutes later, he returned with two gifts for me from his private collection. One was a vintage plastic figure of the Astroboy/Atom character, the other was a now ten-year-old reproduction of an almost two-foot high statuette of the same character. I couldn't believe he was giving me these things as they're quite rare and therefore, I presume, quite valuable. I'm very pleased to have them on display here in my home. I'll try to take a photograph of the big one for the diary pages soon. There's still more to tell but it will have to wait until the next diary entry. Once again, exhaustion is taking its toll and I'm losing concentration. The heat here today hasn't helped much either, nor the running around getting Emi's car repaired, serviced and M.O.T.'d. My car's turn tomorrow. So...later. ***** The Photographs attached to this diary entry are:- 1. Buddha Head at a Kamakura Temple. 2. Bill and Emi at Nagoya Castle. 3. A Kamakura Temple Carp. Top of page Friday 7th July 2006 -- 7:00 pm THE TOKYO CAPER: PART FOUR. One of the duties/perils inherent in any trip to Japan is the buying of gifts to bring back for family and friends. This time, because of the crowded nature of our schedule, there was only a little time available for shopping, 'though I managed to grab some extra time whilst Emi dealt with other matters. I put in a lot of walking...hard work, due to the humidity. Nevertheless I managed to grab quite a few things to take home as gifts. The problem with Tokyo is that the city is virtually one giant department store and there's so much on offer. Seeking out things that are suitable for a wide range of friends, not 'over the top' expensive things but sensible ones, practical for packing into suitcases is not an easy task. It's all about context. The shops in Tokyo are so beautifully designed, carefully lit and laid out that even the most mundane goods take on the glamour of jewels.Things that, in the U.K, you would normally pass by thinking them frivolous or slight, become super-stylish objects of desire. The background music in these shops is equally evocative and sleek. No Brit-pop lads with lagers, monkey legs and '70's guitar re-treads here, just spare, minimal, ambient backdrops. Clear notes hanging in the air like chimes from heaven, subtle beat manipulations, all discreet, knowing, swish, elegant, elite. The carefully sculpted sounds add to the sense of exquisiteness in the stores. In some ways, it's style taken to extremes, artificial, phoney, far too obviously studied and mannered. But it does the trick. Some of the things we bought, when we got them home, looked far less impressive in the cynical light of a Yorkshire living room. Of course, there are less sophisticated shopping areas. There are back streets around Harajuku that cater to a very young generation of Tokyo shoppers. Here the music is a Japanese interpretation of rap or reggae. Sometimes hilarious in its misappropriation of those particular genres. The street fashion is often a meaningless mix of styles, no coherence, no awareness of the negative effect that certain combinations of clothes have on the wearer's body. There's one very odd, (though tackily interesting), trend that I noticed. I saw several girls dressed in what I can only describe as 'Kate Greenaway' chic... ('though it's far from 'chic' in reality). These girls look like something from a vintage English nursery rhyme, 'Little Bo Peep' perhaps, all layered lace, bibs and pinafores and mop hats tied under the chin with pink ribbons. When encountering them in the street, it is as if the cast of an English pantomime has left the theatre in full costume. In some ways, it's quite perverse. There's a knowing hint of fetishism in the eyes of the wearers. It's like an inverse 'Goth' look. For all its super-tweeness, there's something dark and sinister about it. But 10 out of 10 for bravery. Japan is full of these surprises and contradictions. For someone such as myself, a person with an interest in trash culture, fine art and the blurred boundary in between, walking down the street for an hour or two can cause one to re-think the world. Whilst we were in Japan, I deliberately severed all connection with the western hemisphere. (Apart from a couple of 'phone calls to my mother.) At the same time, I was wondering what would await me on my return. I knew that there was a long list of projects requiring my attention. These days, being a cottage industry type of chap, music is only one of my pre-occupations. As regular readers of this diary know, my work doesn't stop there. I personally oversee every aspect of what I create. It's very hard work and often deeply frustrating, but its the path I've chosen so I shouldn't complain too loudly. Not so much a control freak but more of a 'vision freak.' I suppose, ultimately, I'm the only person who knows what my work is about. I spend a lot of time trying to explain it to others in the hope of some fortunate connection or other. I DID try not to worry about the project list in the U.K. But my thoughts strayed across the oceans to England and the next few months busy schedule. (And beyond.) I've commented on it before, but it is often quite a struggle. Earning a living from my music, and earning the right to make more albums, is a precarious thing. My age, my personal musical preferences, my refusal to deal with the industry on its own terms, all these things, well...they often work against me. Still, I continue to try it on. To bang my head against that old brick wall. Maybe it's a habit. Eventually, we had to pack and prepare to leave Japan. It was hard, particularly for Emi, to say goodbye to her mother and brothers, but, if truth were told, we were not sorry to leave Tokyo itself. Yorkshire and it's beautiful moors and coastline beckoned us and promised us a spiritual sense of space denied to us in our temporary hole in Shibuya. Quality of life, I guess. At least Emi and I are able to recognise the difference and appreciate our luck at being able to access those places and spaces within our Yorkshire habitat. Beyond price, really. The journey back was longer than the outward one. I drowned myself in alcohol again. After a seemingly endless flight we arrived in Holland. The hours that we then spent at Amsterdam's Schipol airport were hyper-boring. We holed up in a cafe called 'Sandwich Island.' It was dreadful. The staff were hopeless, got conversion rates wrong, short changed us, served up poor food. Then, as we sat at a table finishing our meal, two rats ran across the cafe's floor and between our legs. And all this in a shiny, chrome, steel and glass airport that prides itself on its modernity. We were not impressed. Eventually, Emi and I boarded our transfer flight to England and soon found ourselves flying over the coastline of Yorkshire, just above Spurn Point on the Humber estuary. Spurn Point is one of those special places for me. A place I've visited since childhood. It's magical and romantic, sand dunes, sea grass, shells, wild birds and an old lighthouse. It reminds me of my father and three or four romantic relationships from my haphazard past. To see it from the air, particularly after two weeks in Tokyo, was a wonderful 'welcome home' treat. I watched the Humber estuary twist and flow into the river proper, saw the city of Hull and the elegant Humber bridge pass by below me, and then, in what seemed like a few scant minutes, the pilot announced our descent into Leeds-Bradford airport. There is only one place in the world I'm reluctant to leave when I fly abroad, and that is the South Coast of France. Villefranche-Sur-Mer and it's environs is the only place where I would be happy to stay, to settle, if, by some miracle, I could afford a home there. Anywhere else on this planet, no matter how interesting or entertaining, I can generally leave behind without a single tear. But, the Cote D' Azur aside, Yorkshire claims something of my soul and I have no qualms in surrendering to its charms. Our neighbour Steve was waiting for us at the airport. A good and true friend. We were both pleased to see him. I was by now, of course, inebriated in a haphazardly loquacious fashion. Part articulate, part incoherent. Babbling like an idiot but pleased to be home. Steve put up with this obviously over-tired tirade and drove us quickly and safely home. A stack of bills awaited us and a house that smelled damp and un-lived in. Our neighbours, Jim and Claire, had kindly watered the plants for us and kept their eye on things. Suitcases were opened, clothes assigned to the washing machine and gifts checked for breakages. In a very short space of time, it felt as if we'd only been away for a day or two. then the jet-lag. Several nights of sudden awakening, bedside lamps being switched on and reading glasses donned. Now it feels as if all this happened months ago. A vague memory, a dream. But, that's life. Now... the usual stresses have returned. I'm inundated with emails. There's a 'to do' list that freaks me out every time I think about it. I've been to visit my brother's grave in Wakefield cemetery, laid fresh flowers. Oh, dear...how I miss him, want to see him, hug him. I dreamt about him again. (Last night was the third or fourth time since he passed away.) I visited my mother last weekend but not yet found time to see Elliot, ('though we met in the street just over a week ago). Elle is due to visit from London soon so maybe then. I have gifts from Japan for them both. I managed to get both Emi's car and mine through the M.O.T., (though not without expense). I've photographed almost my entire guitar collection for Player magazine, (with the generous help of Jon Wallinger and Paul Gilby). A three day job in total. Had dinner out at a brand new restaurant in town, (with Paul), 'though it was a restaurant that was suffering from teething problems. (Wrong food arrived, etc, etc.) Spoke with Dean Campbell about the next stage of my signature guitar and am looking forward to seeing what may turn out to be the final design soon. Dean called me 'Gretsch boy.' (He'd read my diary.) Well, maybe I'm just a guitar-whore and he's jealous...;-) All I can say is that it's a good job it's guitars and not women, otherwise I'd really be in trouble! Today I posted a CDR of photos of my guitar collection and home studio to Player magazine in Tokyo, arranged emails of a couple of extra photos for their forthcoming feature on my work, (including a Martin Bostock portrait). I also spoke to Opium Arts about the go-ahead on my deal to licence my 'Getting The Holy Ghost Across' album for re-issue later in the year. (First official release of the album on CD.) Various details discussed regarding distribution, review copies, release dates, etc. I now need to speak with my graphic art buddy Dave Graham about various things, including a new design for the 'Holy Ghost' album's re-packaging. Spoke with my good friend John Spence about mixing the Be Bop live tracks for the EMI RECORDS box set...studio time pencilled in for next week. Will I remember what I wanted to do with this material? It seems unlikely...I listened to it months ago and made mental notes. All lost in fog now. (I also need to talk to John about booking some time at Fairview to remaster 'Holy Ghost,' and SOON too as I need finished copies of the album to put to the media for review by the start of September.) Today I took delivery of a lovely little Greco L-10P archtop jazz guitar that I bought in Tokyo. (Can't wait to use this on something. In fact, more than anything right now, I'd like to start work on a new album but...there's no time available. And I have such a lovely list of titles to inspire me at the moment.) I also need to do more preparatory work for this year's Nelsonica convention, make a start on the 'Ghosts Etched On Glass' film, attempt the 'Romance Of Sustain volume 2' album, work on the 'Arcadian Salon' convention album, create some drawings for the convention, and several more things that I either can't recall or am recklessly trying to avoid. 'Neptune's Galaxy' is due for official release soon too...maybe next week although no-one should attempt to order it until the official announcement is posted on the site. The Dreamsville/Sound-On-Sound store can't deal with pre-orders due to the nature of the computer system used but, once the album is in stock, there will be no problems and people can order at will. It's a superbly apt album for this time of year and will compliment a relaxing day in the garden or by the sea. It also has the power to transform a cold autumn-winter night into something more balmy and paradisiacal. Despite the work pressures, I've managed to write a few diary entries, answer several emails, (but still more to deal with), looked through some household bills, (but not paid any yet), made another couple of trips to the supermarket for domestic supplies and am duty bound to help Emiko with a freelance flower job tomorrow. There is, as diary readers may have noticed, nothing 'nine-to-five' about my life. Only one week returned from Japan and I'm even more exhausted than before I went there. It's a kind of endurance test. Why do I do it? Because I have no choice. The luxury of leisurely contemplation is denied me. It's simply all action, compulsion. Nervous energy, empty mind. Orgasmic Zen. Now I will open the case of my little Greco guitar and play some blues in the heat of my tiny recording room. Summer hums in the dark outside my window. ***** The photographs attached to this diary entry are:- 1. Tokyo train. 2. Shibuya Scene. 3. Bill Nelson Signature Model Campbell Transitone guitar prototype. Top of page Tuesday 11th July 2006 -- 9:00 pm Tokyo has now faded into the mist of memory and I've picked up my workload with a vengeance. It's been almost non-stop since returning home. It seems as if something new appears on the horizon every day. The latest development concerns a deal with Sony Records to license my 1980's 'Getting The Holy Ghost Across' album from them. The terms of the deal, which will allow me to re-issue the album on my own Sonoluxe label, have finally been agreed. When the album surfaces it will be the very first time that it will have been officially available on cd. I'm looking at late October as a possible release date. Of course, I have to pay Sony a cash advance and a percentage of the album's sales as part of the deal, (ironic, as it's my own damn music and it's normally the artist who gets an advance), but those are the terms Sony have laid out. I must comply if I'm to be allowed to re-issue it. (And even then, it's for a limited time only.) Sony do not seem to have any interest in releasing it themselves though. I also have to pay the costs of transferring the original tapes to the digital domain from the analogue masters.Then I will re-master the tracks at Fairview and create, (with the assistance of my pal David Graham), a brand new visual package for the album. I also need to write some new sleeve notes, setting the album in its historical context. Then, once all that is done, the album and its artwork can be manufactured. Putting all this together isn't cheap, in fact the whole process is much more expensive than usual. If I rely on website sales alone, I may well lose money on it. The amount of albums I sell via the site is so small that, if my usual album sales figures were applied to 'Getting The Holy Ghost Across', it simply wouldn't be worth doing. The production/licensing costs add too much to the equation. However, if I can sell some copies of the album, through a distributer, to record shops, I may be in with a chance. (Or at least, hopefully, break even.) The album really needs to come to the attention of those people who are unaware of my Dreamsville site or who may be newcomers to my music. So...the distribution route is being looked into at the moment, as is the possibility of getting review copies to various magazines. It's all a bit of a financial gamble. Let's hope that the regular fan requests for this album to be re-issued are followed up by firm orders. One of the problems of being an independent artist is that it is impossible not to have to deal with these things. Music is the starting point but the process doesn't stop there. There are so many other things to consider and to work on. It's extremely time consuming and often frustrating. But perhaps that's the price of artistic freedom. I've also been debating the title of the re-issue. It's original title in the U.K. was 'Getting The Holy Ghost Across' but this was changed for the U.S.A. release. The package design was changed too. CBS Records, (since bought out by Sony), who originally released the album, were concerned that several right-wing Christian fundamentalist-owned record stores in the U.S. wouldn't stock the album due to it's 'controversial' title and mystical-alchemic-occult art work. It seemed that there was a paranoia about anything that might smack of 'magick'. So, in America, the album was re-titled: 'On A Blue Wing' and an entirely different package was designed, one that could not possibly cause any offence to anyone. (Except the artist, of course. I was not particularly pleased about it at the time.) But with the re-issue, I really want to re-think the packaging, bring it up to date. I intend to reproduce both the U.K. and U.S. front cover art on the inside of the jewel box insert, just for the sake of the album's history, but I do want to try and create something to set the re-issue apart from the original. The 'Holy Ghost' title is quite restricting in some ways... 'On A Blue Wing' is much more flexible in terms of visual interpretation. On the other hand, the 'Holy Ghost' title was my original title for the project, back in the '80's. However, I am no longer involved with the various occult orders that I belonged to back then and, whilst my personal experiences within them were appropriate for my development at the time, that particular path has, in recent years, become overgrown with weeds and I feel less comfortable signposting it for others. But one can't re-write one's own history. (Unless one happens to be a mega pop star with an appetite for fame and fortune outweighing one's integrity. And there are plenty of those around without me adding to the myths.) But it's up in the air at the moment. My starting point is the original title and I'll only revert to the secondary title if the first one doesn't inspire a suitable visual style. I've already searched through my old alchemical books for something that might work, but in a 'lower key' than the original art. I want it to be somewhat more subdued and enigmatic. It's needed quickly though, if the deadline for press/media copies is to be met. The songs on the album are less 'occult' than they might seem, once the listener has the key to their true inspiration. They are, in the main, about my first romantic encounter with Emiko, long before I was in a position to marry her. We had an intense but brief relationship the year before I started work on the album. Because the situation wasn't yet right for us to stay together, there was a lot of tears and heartache. The music reflects that, particularly the song, 'Because Of You.' In many ways, it's a typical '80's album in style, all post-modernist funk, some tracks veering towards a hard, jazzy blues. The late Dick Morrisey plays sax on the album, as does my much missed brother Ian. Some great bass playing from Ian Denby too. But it is, for me, perhaps the one album of mine that declares the era of its creation. It is unmistakably a product of those Linn Drum driven '80's. Studio time at Fairview has, (yesterday), been confirmed for next week, but in connection with an entirely different re-issue project. This is to mix the unreleased live concert Be Bop Deluxe tracks for the forthcoming EMI Records Be Bop Deluxe complete recordings box set. I start work on this project on Monday. I can't say it's something I'm particularly excited about, (regular diary readers will know how, er, 'amoral' I am about dealing with old material beyond a certain point,) but...better that I personally mix it, rather than a complete stranger to the band's history. Nevertheless, I'm very much looking forward to spending a few days with my friend John Spence who will be working with me on the mixes. John transforms even the dullest task into a pleasure. His engineering skills are second to none so I'm certain that the tracks will sound fabulous when the two of us are done with them. Enough of all this 're-issue' stuff...it makes me feel so pathetically old. But...There's NEW music afoot! Much more satisfying... I heard, an hour or so ago, that stocks of 'Neptune's Galaxy' have finally arrived at the Dreamsville Department Store and are available for ordering with immediate dispatch. I've limited this one to 500 copies. If the demand is there, I may press up more, but 'Sailor Bill' has still not yet sold out so I'm being cautious. I'm glad that 'Neptune's Galaxy' has become available before the summer expires though...it's a perfect complement to an afternoon on the beach, or a picnic on the clifftops. Or even a barbecue by the garden pond. In winter, a bath with aromatherapy oils whilst listening will provide the listener with an equally blissful experience. Is this a soft hard-sell? Maybe I should've been a salesman...(But maybe not.) As I've mentioned before, the album is a companion piece to 'The Alchemical Adventures Of Sailor Bill' but it sails on a purely instrumental, drifting, ambient tide. It's a mellow, relaxed seascape of an album and sits comfortably alongside my 'Dreamland To Starboard' and 'Crimsworth' projects with a hint of 'Rosewood' thrown in. Another recently completed album, 'Return To Jazz Of Lights' is waiting in the wings for it's own debut...but NOT until autumn. This is a vocal-based album and quite different to 'Neptune's Galaxy'...Its release is definitely being held back for a few months, 'though it's champing at the bit. I now really feel the urge to start something new, as noted in a previous diary entry, but there are several other projects clamouring for my attention. I have no idea why there is so much music in the air and why my internal antennae seems so eager to beam it down. I seem to exist in a permanent monsoon of sound. It's always stormy weather, but of the most beautiful, ravishing kind. The view from my window is of lightning dancing over hills and valleys, illuminating tiny details normally invisible to the naked eye. Lovely. I received confirmation today, via email, that the CDR containing photographs of my musical instrument collection and my studio arrived safely at the headquarters of 'Player Magazine' in Tokyo. The magazine also confirmed that my photo's were of good enough quality to be used in the article they are planning for an autumn issue. The magazine's visual standards are high so it's a relief to know that everything has worked out o.k. I couldn't have faced another attempt at photographing everything again, it took me so long to do it the first time. It hasn't all been work though. On Sunday, Emi and I drove out to Nunnington Hall, a National Trust property with 15th century rooms. It isn't too far from Helmsley, north of York. The weather was good too. Our visit wasn't purely to see the lovely old house but to also take in the exhibition of photographs of Bob Dylan that were on display in the house's upper rooms. It was a very good exhibition. I would have dearly loved to purchase a print for myself but they were too expensive for me, averaging about 900 pounds but the more expensive ones nearer three thousand pounds. I still adore Bob Dylan. First found his music when I was at art school in the '60's. He's a hero of mine. I did spend a small amount of money though, (seven pounds), on a book in the shop in Nunnington Hall. It was a book about Christies' pop memorabilia auctions with photos of various items that have passed through the Christies' auction rooms over the years. The real reason I bought it was that it contained a picture of the first guitar I ever played, (not the ACTUAL guitar but an identical one). This was a plastic, toy instrument, made by a company called 'Selco' and had an Elvis Presley theme. It was originally bought, in the late '50's as a Christmas present for my brother Ian but he was a bit too young for it at the time and, fatefully, it ended up in my hands. It was made from brown and cream plastic and had a picture of Elvis Presley on the headstock. I figured out how to play the 'Third Man' theme on this guitar, then my dad taught me three or four banjo chords on it. And that was how I began a life-long love affair with the guitar. I would dearly love to get my hands on one of those old Selco Elvis Presley toy guitars again. One really should be in my collection. It's where it all started for me and even seeing the photograph of it in the Christies' book flooded me with a deeply emotional nostalgia. Perhaps I should ask the Dreamsville site's citizens to keep an eye out for an example. There may be one out there somewhere, just waiting for me to claim it. Driving back from Nunnington Hall, Emi and I stopped off at a hotel in Hovingham for a drink before heading home. All in all, it was another of those really nice days that we try to spend together at weekends. Emi is not just my wife, but my best friend and I treasure the times we share travelling around our beloved North Yorkshire. She's the perfect companion for me. Last night provided us with another social occasion. Jane, a good friend of ours, celebrated her 50th birthday. She, her husband Mark, Emi and I, were all invited to the home of our mutual friends, Steve and Julia. Julia had prepared a really excellent dinner for us all. As usual, I ended up merrily mellow. A 'phone call this evening to Dave regarding artwork. Some emails sent to various people, (including Dean Campbell regarding the actual written signature to go onto my signature guitar), but more still to write...and more work to deal with tomorrow. Tired now though...maybe enough for today? ***** The images attached to this diary entry are:- 1: A 'Neptune's Galaxy' advert. 2: A 1950's Selco Elvis Presley toy guitar, exactly the same as Bill's first ever guitar. 3: Bill's studio in an untidy, busy moment. Top of page Friday 14th July 2006 -- 7:00 pm Tomorrow is the 15th of July. Approximately 33 years ago, events transpired that gave birth to the song '15th Of July, (Invisibles)'. This song was part of Be Bop Deluxe's live performances at the time, but the song was not included in the recording sessions that produced the band's first album 'Axe Victim.' The only evidence that the song ever actually existed, (apart from fading memory), is provided by Be Bop Deluxe's very first BBC radio one session on the late and much missed John Peel show. I don't think the band had even consolidated its deal with EMI Records at that time. Thankfully, the BBC kept a recording of the show in its archives and the track was eventually immortalised on cd when it appeared, a few years ago now, on an album called 'Tramcar To Tomorrow', which focused on those long ago John Peel sessions. Some fans may already know about that particular song's origins, how it sprang from a relationship that I had with a certain girl, a girl who inspired the song 'Teenage Archangel,' (Be Bop Deluxe's first, independently made single,) and who also inspired 'Love Is Swift Arrows,' amongst several other, later titles. Be Bop Deluxe had a regular monthly gig at 'The Duke Of Cumberland' pub in North Ferriby, near Hull in the early 1970's. The band were young and naive and we met girls, as young bands do. I was married to my first wife, (Shirley), at the time and shouldn't really have been looking for romance... but I was. It hadn't turned out to be the ideal marriage, either for me or for Shirley. Not Shirley's fault at all really, just me and my usual saying 'yes' when I really meant 'no.' I'd plunged into it far too young and hardly knew what I was doing, 'though as a result, I have a wonderful, intelligent daughter that I couldn't live without. (Julia Tuesday Nelson.) It was, as the old cliche has it, 'just one of those things.' Nevertheless it has become a vital part of my history and an important, formative, invaluable experience. In those days, I had a day job working for the West Riding County Council's 'Supplies Department,' a miserable enough job that offered no real future, other than a daily shuffling of papers from one desk tray to another until old age and retirement when I could look forward to a mantlepiece clock and a briefcase full of good wishes. I tolerated it as cheerfully as I could, along with the well meaning but relatively unambitious people I worked with. No, let me be honest here, I hated the damn job, grateful as I was to have enough income to maintain my two-up, two-down, industrial-age terrace house, nestled just outside Wakefield's high security prison in an area known as Plumpton. (In fact, just across the road from the one-time site of Mariott's Buildings, my grandmother's house, where I was born.) I felt like a man from Mars in that rank and file environment...and people treated me as if I WAS someone from another world. I was greeted with a mixture of suspicion, derision and thinly disguised prejudice. My liberal, non-conformist attitudes were seen as threatening by some of my fellow workers. I was an enigma or a curiosity to them. My enthusiasm for art and music was simply their confirmation that I was weird, oddball, maybe even slightly crazy. I did my best to live with it, believing, somewhere inside, that my instincts were right and that it was they who were odd, mutant, deviant almost, and that I had a much more healthy, broad and open attitude towards life. My life and its daily grind were in some ways responsible for my dreams of an idealistic, romantic, creative lifestyle. Anything to escape. Under all the paper-filing, telephone-answering mundanity lurked the ecstatic, melancholy, heart of a poet. Let's not be coy here, that is what I was and what I still am. (And always have been since the day I was born, despite my occassional protests and faux-modest denials.) I still believe that everyone is a poet, given the right situation, environment, opportunity to express themselves, or whatever. (And poetry, as I've said so often before, is not a 'form' but a quality.) But...blah, blah, blah...easy to say or think this back then in my youth, with no evidence of very much at all. No visible track record, very few marks in the sand. Not like now. Song after song after song, still yearning, searching, harvesting every last straw for the thatched roof of my own private cottage museum. The proof, for what it's worth, is there. 33 years worth of proof or more if needed. 58 this coming December actually, all taken into account. Undeniable then...A life devoted to it, whatever IT is. But...yes, I was right, THAT is what I am, for better or for worse. Poet, artist, imagineer...How wonderful, how privileged, how highly UNLIKELY! Regardless of good, bad or indifferent. I can't judge what it's worth and ultimately don't care. (Or do I?) But there's something there...an integrity of sorts. Maybe nothing more. Around 33 years ago, on the 15th of July, Be Bop Deluxe's gig at 'The Duke Of Cumberland' was cancelled due to summer thunderstorms that caused an electricity cut in the North Ferriby area. The band had made friends with various locals since first playing there. Instead of jumping in our van and heading back to Wakefield, we were persuaded to spend the rest of the day with various locals. We were adored by our regular audience at the Duke and there was no shortage of offers to go and relax with them. I'd fallen head over heels in love with a beautiful, intelligent, dark haired, half-jewish girl called Lisa. We'd met at one of the earliest of 'Duke' gigs. She was stunning and I was smitten. It was as if I'd been granted a miracle. I couldn't believe my luck. Why was she interested in me? An unhappy, married man from a working class background with nothing but a pocketful of dreams. Her family was wealthy, sophisticated, everything that I wasn't. On that 15th of July, Lisa invited me to go with her in her car to her parent's house in Kirkella, an upper class village not far from North Ferriby. I worried about the fact that they did not know that I was married, 'though Lisa was aware of this from the start of our relationship and accepted it. She said not to worry and off we went to her home. The house was called 'West Acre' and was, by my standards at the time, almost a palace. Her parents were gracious and her home was large and luxurious. I recall it vividly, it made such an impression on me. Lisa cooked me lunch, Steak and chips, if I remember correctly. Her father proudly showed me his hi-fi system, built into an expensive antique cabinet and Lisa showed me her bedroom. She kept a photo of me pinned to a set of drawers next to her bed. The house was filled with expensive furniture and objects d'arte. Maybe I wouldn't be so impressed now, but then...I was stunned. It was raining, though warm. Some of Lisa's friends called around to see her and we all sat in a lounge in the front of the house. I could see the lane, outside the front garden's perimeter, with its line of green trees and an old fashioned lampost a few yards or so away. It reminded me of an illustration in an old children's book from my childhood, sort of '30's or '40's upper class, 'proper' English society. I'd grown up on a council house estate and this was magic to me. I felt out of place, 'though I was desperately glad to be sitting next to Lisa, who I adored. One of Lisa's friends commented on how bad the weather was, with the rain and everything. Lisa just smiled, squeezed my hand and said, "It couldn't be better..." And that was the exact moment that the song, '15th Of July, (Invisibles)' sprang into being. Perhaps it was the painfullness of our situation that was 'invisible.' Only she and I knew that I was married, her friends and parents being unaware of it at the time. The song's lyrics start like this: 'It rained all day across the world, and turned the dark trees deeper green...' It goes on to portray the house, Lisa's friends and quotes her comment...and plainly states my yearning for her. For all its innocence and naivety, it's one of the purest, most heartfelt love songs I've ever written. And it's 33 years old tomorrow. I received CDR masters of the 'Holy Ghost' and 'Spangled Moment' recordings from Sony today. When I played them back, I was shocked. I haven't listened to these recordings for many years, (apart from the song 'Contemplation' which I had to reference for the band tour of 2004). My first impression was that I'd dearly love to get my hands on the original 24 track tapes and completely remix them, get rid of that terribly dated 1980's crashing reverb snare drum sound. Too much reverb overall in fact...and not enough bass. It all sounds very brittle and insubstantial. William's Study (Diary Of A Hyperdreamer) July 2006 Jan Apr May Jun Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2013 Ironic that the majority of it was recorded on what was then considered to be state-of-the-art early digital equipment. My current home studio mixes are infinitely superior. But it would be too expensive and time consuming to remix the album, so I will have to content myself with simply re-mastering it. Try to add some weight to the overall sound. Good songs, on the whole though. Better than I'd remembered. If only I could remix them to bring out the vocals more.The vocals are really quite good, 'though at the time I tended towards the opposite opinion, making them subsidiary to the instrumental mix. More fool me. If I could do it all again, (mix the tracks that is), I'd make the entire thing much dryer, more focussed, more vocal centred...and feature the bass guitar of Ian Denby more, AND my late brother's saxophone and clarinet too. One thing I CAN do, and WILL do, is re-think the track listing, especially as I am now able to integrate the 8 song, 'Living For The Spangled Moment' mini-album into the project. The running order would definitely benefit from the years of experience granted to me since the original album's release. I need to bring the entire project into the 21st Century, at least in its presentation. Next week I'm in Fairview, mixing the EMI Be Bop Box Set live tapes, so I'll have to put Holy Ghost on ice for a short while. But it needs to be worked on very soon if I'm to keep things on schedule. So busy. Work on my Campbell signature model guitar goes on apace. I got photo's of the naked, carved mahogany body last night. I also emailed Dean Campbell regarding some cosmetic details and gave him a title for the red paint colour that will be used. I've called it 'Rocketship Red.' There will be 'atom' style fret position markers at the 12th fret too. The model will be known as a 'Nelsonic Transitone.' Looking forward to seeing the final version. I need to approve it before production starts. 'Neptune's Galaxy' finally going out the door of the Dreamsville Department Store. People already posting their response to the album on the website forum. I think that the music is low-key but beautiful. Gentle tides and drifting clouds. Perfect for a summer afternoon. Perfect for dreaming. Now it's the weekend. But no rest...I need to think about the revised 'Holy Ghost' running order. AND new artwork. The weather is so nice outside my window. ***** The images accompanying this diary entry are:- 1. An early photo' of Bill Nelson and Be Bop Deluxe taken around the same time that they first played at 'The Duke Of Cumberland' pub. 2. Bill Nelson in the '80's around the time of the 'Getting The Holy Ghost Across' album. 3. Dutch and Justin, luthiers at Campbell American Guitars with the mahogany body of Bill Nelson's 'Nelsonic Transitone' guitar. A work in progress. Top of page Monday 17th July 2006 -- 10:00 pm Today was the first day of work at Fairview Studios, mixing the previously unreleased Be Bop Deluxe live recordings. John Spence and I managed to get one track completed and in the can. ('Swansong,' originally a track from the 'Futurama' album but, for the first time ever, now presented in its live performance state.) It feels a little strange, working on these 1970's live recordings after such a long time. The mixing process dictates that the individual components of the recording are listened to in great detail, each instrument or voice isolated from the others whilst sound is adjusted and a proper relationship between the parts established. Listening to Simon Fox's drums without the rest of the instruments took me back to those days in Abbey Road Studios, or to Villa St. George in Juan Les Pins, near Antibes, in the South Of France, when John Leckie and myself would spend hours trying to get the drum sound together, microphones moved from one position to another on each drum, equalisation tweaked until a 'good' drum sound was arrived at. Thud, whack, bang! Listening to the drum parts on 'Swansong' today reminded me how complex some of our arrangements were. The songs were much more puzzle-like than I would accept today. My current songwriting is leaner, more focussed, less inclined to show-off. But I was young back then and had the hapless energy and naivety that youth inevitably entails. I'm not favouring one approach over another here, just noting that sensibilities shift with age and experience, for everyone. We have little choice in the matter, (unless we are complete fakes). There was a problem with the recording of the first opening verse of 'Swansong.' Microphone / monitor feedback ruined almost every line of that particular verse...it screeched, squealed and howled in a very unpleasant way, right through it, burying the vocals, and there was nothing that John nor I could do to get rid of it. The more we listened to it, the more unpleasant and ugly it became. In the end, we decided to copy the final verse of the song and paste it in place of the first one. This may be seen as technical trickery by some purists, but it is infinitely preferable to listening to several bars of high pitched microphonic feedback at a level that would induce migraine in most listeners. Maybe on the first two plays, it might be accepted as part of the scenario...but it would soon have everyone's teeth on edge and their hand reaching for the skip button on their CD player. So...with a little digital sleight-of-hand, the offensive verse has been banished and a more palatable one substituted. A particular treat for me was being able to listen to Charlie Tumahai's voice in isolation. He was a very good vocalist and had been the lead singer in bands previous to Be Bop Deluxe, (and in bands afterwards, I think). Charlie sadly passed away several years ago which is why there will never be a re-formed Be Bop Deluxe. Even if Simon, Andy and myself unexpectedly felt the urge to get together again, it simply wouldn't be the same without the happy fountain that was Mr.Tumahai. And that 'if' is a fairly big one, for I can't imagine that Andy would be in the least interested in such a thing. As for me, well...I was fortunate enough to get my retro-band fix in 2004 with the Be Bop and Beyond tour. I'd love to assemble a band again but it would have to be one that could play a lot of new material created specifically for it. Even if it did dip into my song-writing treasure chest for some 'vintage' material here and there. But, as my friends all know, despite my somewhat, sometimes, nostalgic tendencies, when it comes to music, I just love the smell of fresh paint. Anyway...back to Fairview tomorrow to continue working on the live track mixes. 'Forbidden Lovers' and 'Terminal Street' up next. Not the best time of year to be stuck in a windowless studio all day though. It's been blisteringly hot out in the sunshine today. More heatwave to come too, apparently. Yesterday, (Sunday), I decided to make the most of the weather before confining myself to the studio control room for the rest of the week. I bundled Emi into the car and we set off for the East Coast of Yorkshire, driving to Bridlington and then up the coast to Sewerby, then to Flamborough Head, then Filey, Scarborough, then past Robin Hood's Bay and on to Whitby where we had dinner at our usual favourite seaside restaurant, 'The White Horse And Griffin.' Unfortunately, the food wasn't quite up to the restaurant's usual standard, nor the service, I thought. Maybe this was because of the summer seasonal rush, or new staff? I really have no real idea. Still, it wasn't terrible either, so I'll give them another chance, next time we visit. I DID have a positive moment though, when I found a copy of the third part of John Betjeman's biography, written by Bevis Hillier. I'm a fan of the late Sir John B. and of Bevis Hillier's writing too. In fact, my son Elliot's full name is Elliot Walter Bevis Nelson. Walter after my father, Bevis after Bevis Hillier. Visiting Flamborough Head was a treat. Incredibly, I haven't been there since the mid 1960's. I fondly remember reclining on the cliff's edge with my then girlfriend, Lynne Holiday, listening to my little red and white plastic transistor radio...It was playing the latest songs of the day, "When you go to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair..." ('San Francisco' by Scott McKenzie.) There was also a Frank Sinatra hit...either 'Send In The Clowns' or 'Strangers In The Night.' Plus some other half-straight, half-psychedelic pop from various artists trying to catch the wave that was beginning to break on these shores...the kind of music that turns up on those 'remember the 'sixties' compilation CDs these days. (Every supermarket has them.) It seems that my generation has, in recent years, become a prime target for that style of marketing. But what excuse do I have? Damn it...I'm mixing material more than twenty-five years old! Give me strength! But on that warm summer day back in...1966 was it? (Yes, give or take a year.) Well, all seemed wonderful with the world. We youngsters had found our voice, our cause, our raison d'etre. An all-inclusive, arms-held-wide, big welcoming peaceful hug for everyone, regardless of age or background. We'd swallowed that SanFrancisco, West-Coast, peace and love ideology lock stock, barrel and flowers. We looked the part, we walked the part and talked it, ten to the dozen. And the amazing thing is, we actually felt it. We thought we could bring it about, turn the world around, ring the changes. And in a positive, non-violent fashion, everyone included. So, where did all that hope and love vanish to? Look at the world outside our window now..see the horrific hatreds that poison our planet. Even on a basic, local level, its hard not to be aware of several generations of cynical, negative, heartless chancers, grasping, filching, fiddling while Rome burns. What have we lost? What have they missed? Still, despite all that: Yesterday afternoon, a clear blue, BLUE sky stretching down to a blue, BLUE sea. A pure white lighthouse gleaming against all heaven. A skylark singing fit to bust somewhere so high in the blue beyond that I couldn't even see it, but, oh! How I could hear it! White-capped waves lapping far below the yellow-white chalk cliffs, coarse grasses swaying in the sea breeze...Man, it just doesn't get much better or more blissful. I was gone, sent, away with the birds. I WAS that skylark, that little winged insect with bright red wings flitting from wild flower to wild flower. I was every one of those cricket-like bugs rubbing their legs together in some summer-fuelled mating song. I was so HERE and THERE and EVERYWHERE, so deeply in tune with it all you wouldn't believe. I had a ball simply looking and feeling. Wow! And I remembered Lynne and our youth and those times and that music and I was grateful to be alive and to have lived through those times. And AMEN to that then and AMEN to this now. Despite the terrors we endure, despite all that. Ain't life grand when you're in the mood for it to be so? ***** The images attached to this diary are:- 1. Bill Nelson at Flamborough Head, July 16, 2006. 2. Flamborough Head Lighthouse, July 16, 2006. 3. Flamborough Cliffs. July 16, 2006. Top of page Saturday 29th July 2006 -- 8:20 pm The heat goes on, externally, internally and weather-wise. Just returned home from an evening out with Emiko. A meal at Ceasar's restaurant, the best value for money Italian in town. Nothing too fussy, just down to earth cooking and warm, friendly staff who always recognise us and treat us well. I generally try to put a little time aside for Emi at the weekends. She patiently puts up with me working long hours in my studio during the week, so, as much as possible, I give my my weekends over to her. I think I'll drive her out to Castle Howard tomorrow afternoon. It's not far from here and a late lunch at the Castle Howard cafe, followed by a gentle stroll around those magnificently landscaped grounds will be a nice treat for both of us. Especially under these big blue summer skies we're being blessed with right now. But, my, oh my, it has been so HOT! The summer has baked our day to day lives without mercy these last few weeks...a heatwave that now seems to have stretched on forever. Nights have been sticky and interrupted by bouts of insomnia and perversely lusty dreams. Apparently these are a result of the sun shining on the pineal gland on the top of one's head. It's maybe why mediterranean men and women are so erotically charged. Well...I don't know about that but something's up in the land of nod. My studio room has felt like a sauna lately. Or an oven set to 'roast.' Impossible to work during the day, at least from 12 noon until early evening. The sun beams down through my skylight window and fries everything to a crisp, me, the guitars, the mixing desk, my imagination and anything else that I need to make music. I can't open any windows for fear of annoying the neighbours. Haven't got air-conditioning so I either have to work stark naked or abandon recording completely until things cool down a little during the evening. The latter, these middle-aged days, is generally preferable I'm sorry to say! I HAVE managed to finish mixing the Be Bop Deluxe live tracks for the forthcoming EMI RECORDS box set. These mixes were made at Fairview Studios, not far from the river Humber, rather than at the Abbey Road studios of the band's heyday, but the results are equal to anything from the past, if not better. My good friend and long-time recording engineer John Spence has helped me to bring about what I think will be universally accepted as an absolutely classic set of Be Bop performances, none of which have been previously available to the public. There's no doubt that fans of the band will be extremely excited when they hear these live recordings. The memories that came flooding back to me were poignant. Despite my reservations about this old material, there's nothing for me to be ashamed of. And what a band..! Listening to the individual parts in isolation brought home just how distinctive and sympathetic my three fellow musician's were. 'Swansong,' Forbidden Lovers', 'Terminal Street' and 'The Modern Music Suite' have all been mixed to bring out their naked beauty. They sound wonderful, even though the technical aspects of the performances are raw and bleeding. But I'm so glad that they've been preserved for posterity. It's been incredibly moving for me to work on these rare recordings after all these years. Part of me was smiling, part of me was lamenting, but all of me was proud. It was also lovely to hear John Spence say that he was thrilled to become part of Be Bop Deluxe's legacy too. Our collaboration, (and John's experience and technical expertise,) has served the band's history well. Since completing the Be Bop live mixes, John and I have been working on the remastering of the 'Getting The Holy Ghost Across' album, also at Fairview. I've added the 'Living For The Spangled Moment' mini-album to the disc too, (AND an obscure track called 'The Yo-Yo-Dyne'). Dave Graham and myself are still working on the repackaging of this album and have now found a suitable starting point to build the design around. Dave's close understanding of my visual style will, once again, contribute towards a highly appropriate layout. It will look quite beautiful when it is completed. I decided to stick to original track-listings and running orders, partly because my currently hyper-busy schedule hasn't allowed me time to experiment with the hoped-for re-shuffle, but partly because a large number of fans have expressed their preference for the songs to be kept in their original sequence. So...new cover art, new improved mastering, extra tracks, but same running order. In between bouts of heat exhaustion and indoor nudity, I've managed to make a start on the tracks which are to be included on this year's limited edition Nelsonica convention album, 'Arcadian Salon.' It now seems likely that there will be 10 or 11 pieces on the album, if I can stay on top of things during the next few heatwave-cursed days. There will be a couple of brand new numbers, all being well, plus some pieces that didn't make it to 'Return To Jazz Of Lights' because of time limitations. And two or three instrumentals, including 'Sound-On-Sound,' (the instrumental that I composed and recorded to celebrate Sound-On-Sound magazine's anniversary last year). It's shaping up to be an eclectic mix of music, as is usual with the convention recordings...another collector's piece and all the more controversial because of it. I've been having a very nice, surprising guitar week (or two) lately. I won't go into details for fear of embarrassing a couple of 'super-fans' who have been incredibly helpful in helping me to acquire a new instrument or two but...well...A childhood dream of a flamingo pink Fender Stratocaster, (via a Rickenbacker 12-string), has come true, as has a 'full-circle' situation regarding a toy Elvis Presley guitar that once, long, long ago, was responsible for capturing my pre-teen imagination and putting my feet on the path to a lifelong career in music. I don't think I'm permitted to name names here but the people involved will know that it is they of whom I speak. All I can say is that I'm blown away, deeply grateful, totally amazed and sincerely moved by their generosity. I'm blessed with some tremendously loyal and kind fans.They sometimes take on the role of theatrical 'angels' or art patrons. Their involvement often goes beyond basic 'fandom' and enters the realms (and ideals), of a long-ago Golden Age when aesthetically refined connoisseurs once helped artists to bring their work before a wider world. Or is that just me being romantic again? Nevertheless, these instances prove that that spirit of patronage and support is not dead, and that it IS possible to produce a music that does not need to bow down to the rigid limitations of the mainstream music industry. I'm eternally grateful that there are several special people, (some are fans, some are friends, some are business people), who help to create an atmosphere of freedom and creativity around me within which I'm able to achieve my life's work. Without their support and generosity, I'm lost. Different subject:- I noticed, in the latest issue of Mojo Magazine, reference to two new albums (by other artists), themed around sea-going concepts. One is called 'Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys' (odd spelling of the latter word?) This album is apparently co-produced by Johnny Depp, the well known Keith Richards impressionist. The album actually features my Channel Light Vessel dreamboat Kate St. John, as well as the somewhat less erotically charged Bryan Ferry. It also features Sting, Nick Cave, Jarvis Cocker, Rufus Wainwright and various other pop-tastic media stars, the most interesting and worthy of which are David Thomas of Pere Ubu, Van Dyke Parks and Mary Margaret O'Hara. The Mojo reviewer says that the album will "shiver your timbers in the most rewarding of ways..." The other album is: 'Ocean: Songs For The Night Sea Journey' by Jennifer Cutting's Ocean Orchestra. The review says it employs synths and samples alongside accordions, pipes and strings. Well, well...looks like I've been rolling along on the crest of a wave but, of course, my 'Lighthouse Signal Mechanism Orchestra' came into that particular harbour almost a year ago now. Perhaps my ship is equipped with a more finely attuned compass. Oh, well... But what a pity that 'The Alchemical Adventures Of Sailor Bill' didn't receive the media attention that the above two albums seem to be currently enjoying. I may be ahead of the wave but I'm under the radar, or so it seems. Went to see my friend John Foxx last week...he was playing at 'Fibbers' in York. Haven't had chance to meet with him since we both took part in Harold Budd's 'farewell' concert at the Brighton Dome last year, 'though we've exchanged several emails since. John braved the heat of summer (and of Fibbers), to give a vibrant, almost 'electro-punk' show which delighted his audience. He got a great reception, not least from my neighbour and good friend Steve who has been a big fan of John's since the early Ultravox days. And I gained brownie points from introducing Steve to John after the show... It was really good to see John enjoying himself and celebrating an energetic, 'roots' approach to performance. He and I still plan to get together, both with Harold and with each other.The only thing slowing us down is lack of time. One of these days though... This coming week, I must seriously try to overcome the heat (and my exhaustion), and finish recording the 'Arcadian Salon' album.Then I must decide upon a track running order and master the album as soon as possible as there is no time available for me in Fairview Studio from the middle of August on. This thing HAS to be ready for the convention in early October. It's rushing up like a runaway express train, as usual. More than ever, I'm way behind schedule. Haven't begun to make any inroads at all into the autobiographical film 'Ghosts Etched On Glass,' (an excerpt from which I'm supposed to present at Nelsonica 06 as a 'work in progress'). In fact, the list of jobs I have to tackle for the convention is becoming an increasingly scary and, maybe even impossible, task. How on earth can I get all this stuff together in the scant time remaining to me before the convention date? Yes, o.k...I ALWAYS panic but, it seems that each year I take on more and more work, projects that, despite all good intentions, are increasingly difficult to complete without tremendous effort and sacrifice. I guess the recent tasks I've had to undertake regarding re-issues and associated items have thrown the proverbial spanner into the works. I have to admit that my trip to Japan robbed me of two weeks working time also. But there's nothing left for me but to plough on, to do the best I can under the circumstances. No point in working myself up into a paranoid, desperate panic about it all. After all, I love it don't I? And it usually works out o.k...Doesn't it? Well...too hot right now, even though it's late evening. Can't sit here typing. I'll continue this in a day or two when I'm less exhausted and there's more progress to report. And less sweat dripping onto my computer keyboard. POST SCRIPT: SUNDAY 30th JULY 2006 -- 9 PM. Went to Castle Howard with Emi as planned. Lunch was good, sitting in the grounds of the house, watching white fluffy clouds drift by in a high blue heaven. Apparently, Jools Holland and his pals played at Castle Howard on Friday, (I think), a big outdoor bash or something grand. Emi and I are thinking of attending the annual classical 'Proms' concert at Castle Howard, in August. It's a picnic hamper / champers type of affair. Maybe even grander than Jools' big do. We could dress up in our summer finery, get completely, joyously blathered, then slip away into the woods to frighten the peacocks. Pan chasing his favourite nymph through a sylvan glade, and that sort of thing. Libido a-go-go. Let's hope the weather holds up. Last ever 'Top Of The Pops' on tv tonight. Caught the back end of the final show, (when I switched on the television during dinner). Tonight's special, farewell programme seemed to have been full of clips from across the ages. Don't know whether they showed anything from the time when pop music actually resembled pop ART, when it genuinely had something to say for itself. (Jimi Hendrix, Syd-era Floyd, etc, etc.) Whatever, the last five minutes of the programme illustrated perfectly why it has finally been axed by the BBC. Pop music has become irrelevant, hollow and dull and is, to all intents and purposes, dead. I met Jimmy Saville once. (Be Bop Deluxe were on Top Of The Pops at the time, drooling over Pan's People backstage.) I also saw Jimmy standing at a bus stop across the road from the Music Ground guitar shop in Leeds, maybe only a year ago at most. Perhaps I was the only person in the street who noticed. He was nice enough to us when we were on Top Of The Pops. He may even have played our records on his radio shows. Sooner or later though, we all come to resemble decrepit old age pensioners. No pop star remains unscathed. And thank goodness for that. Insufferable narcissists, the lot of 'em. ***** The images attached to this diary entry are:- 1. The fields near the Humber Bridge, Swanland Hill view, July 2006. 2. North Ferriby Foreshore, July 2006 3. An ad for 'Neptune's Galaxy.' Top of page

Powertron Bill Nelson album - 3 May 2024 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this CD TRACKS: 01) Fascinating Noise 02) A River On The Edge Of Time 03) Dreams And Smoke (Flow With The River) 04) The Moon Came In My Window 05) Where's The Wonder? 06) Loose Chippings 07) When I Don't Feel Blue 08) Moments In The Day 09) Fair Winds And Steam Machines 10) Sailing My Boat 11) Laughing Sailors, Raging Seas 12) Drive Shaft Purchase this download ALBUM NOTES: Powertron is an album of predominantly vocal pieces issued on the Sonoluxe label in a limited edition of 1000 copies. The album was commenced immediately after Nelson completed work on The Jewel album when he realised that he then had thirteen albums waiting in the queue for their release. He confirmed plans for "another album" in a Dreamsville forum post dated 3 June 2016. The starting point was the track 'Drive Shaft' which was a left over from the The Jewel sessions. Powertron was later revealed to be the name of this latest project. Powertron features an uninvited guest appearance on the song 'Smoke and Dreams (Flow With the River)' in the shape of Django, the Nelsons' pet cat, who entered the recording room and offered a well-timed 'meow' immortalising himself onto the recording in the process. Nelson himself was unaware of this until he came to mix the track and decided to leave in Django's contribution to the song. Within four weeks Nelson had recorded eleven tracks for the album and announced that he needed to add just one more song to finish it. On 16 July 2016 he confirmed that the album was now complete but that it would be at least four albums down the line in his release schedule out of the 14 albums he then currently had in the can. As it turned out Powertron would continue to be overlooked a number of times in favour of newer recordings and it would take a further 8 years for it to finally appear. The album was mastered at Fairview Studios by John Spence in February 2024 with artwork compiled by Martin Bostock using images selected and manipulated by Nelson as the album approached release. Pre-orders for Powertron were announced by Burning Shed on April 5th with a release date scheduled for 3rd May. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase here in the Dreamsville Store. BILL'S THOUGHTS: "I've embarked on another album using a track abandoned from The Jewel as its starting point. I thought this track, titled 'Drive Shaft' was a bit too rock for The Jewel , so I've decided to follow on from it with a second track titled 'Last Night The Moon Came In My Window', a vocal track with a strong foundation in straight-ahead rock. I'll see how this album develops over the coming weeks and try to keep it on its rock music course as much as possible." _____ "Just finished the mix of 'Smoke And Dreams (Flow With The River)' for the Powertron album and realised that there's a moment in the middle of the song where my cat Django must have entered the studio whilst I was singing and recording the vocal with my headphones on...he 'meows' once, (and quite clearly.) I didn't notice this whilst I was singing but it showed up in the mix. In fact, when I was mixing and the recorded sound of the cat happened, I thought he had actually entered the room but, when I looked around, he was nowhere to be seen! It was only when I repeatedly ran the mix past that point that I realised it was actually on the recording. I guess I could have muted it out at the appropriate moment but decided to leave it in to immortalise Django...his 'meow' goes really well with the spooky, bluesy nature of the song. You'll have fun, methinks, listening out for this moment in the song when you get to hear it." _____ "The Powertron album is now nearing completion. Just one more track required, I think. It's a fairly straight-ahead rock album which should hit the spot for those of you into the more abrasive side of what I do. Not without its lyrical moments though, and a nice step on from Special Metal ." _____ "Powertron was recorded in 2016 but has languished in my archives, unreleased until now, some eight years later. Its genesis came whilst recording tracks for The Jewel album. Amongst these was a track titled 'Drive Shaft' which I considered too brash for The Jewel , but too good to abandon. I decided to create a suitable album to house 'Drive Shaft' and Powertron was the result. It's an album of left-field rock songs, mainly vocal but layered with loud and edgy guitars. It will appeal to those who enjoy the wilder side of my work." Albums Menu Future Past

Issue 2 Issue 3 Issue 1 - May 2005 BILL NELSON UNVEILS NEW WEBSITE! For some time now, Bill Nelson has dreamed of creating a website which could serve not only as a research center for fans of his creative work but also as an expression of his personal life and interests. Now, with the launch of the first phase of 'Dreamsville, The Official, Global, Bill Nelson Website', that dream finally begins to materialise. Dreamsville is a digital hamlet that will eventually house all manner of delights, a domain that will allow its citizens a direct insight into Bill's life and work along with the multitude of things that have inspired it. The site appears in a fairly rudimentary form at this moment but will gradually be expanded as time allows. Bill's priority will always be his music and so the development of Dreamsville will, quite naturally, have to fit around this core activity. Eventually, however, Dreamsville will provide a complete and unique resource with a personal touch and attention to detail that can only be found in an artist originated and run site. Like any new town, Dreamsville comes loaded with hopes and aspirations, manifestos and ambitions. Its success, however, will largely depend upon its citizens and visitors. In this respect, each individual fan's enthusiasm and input is welcomed. The town's growth and future life depends very much upon the support of all those who consider themselves to be connoisseurs of Bill Nelson's complex body of work. To help create a sense of community, 'The Dreamsville Inn' has been specially constructed as a means of communication for all loyal Nelsonians, world wide. It is hoped that this pleasant and traditionally 'English' location will provide a hospitable meeting place for considered and intelligent conversation. This very newspaper, 'The Dreamsville Rocket', will be issued as and when news arrives of activities that may interest you. All issues will be archived at 'The Newspaper Office' so that a permanent reference can be built up. You will be able to subscribe to 'The Dreamsville Rocket' for free and thereby be informed of the publication of the latest issue. Those who have followed Bill Nelson's diary over the years will be able to continue with this by regularly checking in the 'study' area of 'Villa Nelsonia' which is accessible from the town plan on the Dreamsville home page. The ongoing 'Diary Of A Hyperdreamer' will be posted there as each entry is created. There will be other areas within the villa for Bill's personal musings too, although these will appear a little later as the site develops. So, there you have it... Welcome to Dreamsville and The Dreamsville Rocket. NEWS JUST IN... Bill Nelson is planning a U.K. tour for October and November of this year. It will be a solo tour which will explore a new direction for Bill. As well as the more familiar use of instrumental material, Bill is intending to create several vocal pieces which can be performed live as a soloist, without the need for a band. These new songs will be designed to sit alongside his instrumental work in a harmonious fashion and will place Bill's live work in an entirely fresh context. Bill's previous solo outings have been exclusively instrumental, (except for a performance of 'Wonder Of The Moment' at 'The City Varieties' in Leeds in the Autumn of 2003), so this project is something of an adventure. Bill will also compose some new instrumentals and put together sections of video to fit. The tour's ultimate concept is currently under wraps but further developments and venues will be announced here when appropriate. A band-based tour, a further development of last year's venture, is being considered for 2006. This too would incorporate a new concept and presentation whilst still touching on some familiar music. ROSEWOOD: On its way! Bill Nelson's latest recording project, a two volume set called 'ROSEWOOD, Ornaments And Graces For Acoustic Guitar' is about to be manufactured. It is hoped to make 'ROSEWOOD VOLUME ONE' available sometime in May. 'ROSEWOOD VOLUME TWO' will be released a little further into the summer. This project concentrates on acoustic guitar instrumentals but is more than just the usual 'unplugged' confections served up as rustic fodder for suburban hillbillys these days. It is a direct linear development from the 'Dreamland To Starboard' album and sets Bill's acoustic guitar in an ambient soundscape that suggests a jazz and contemporary classical context as well as a broader neo-roots music vibe. The track listing for the two albums is given here:- 'ROSEWOOD' VOLUME ONE- 1. Blues For Orpheus 2. Escondido Oleander 3. Lumia 4. Filament 5. Lacuna 6. Cascade. (Improvisation For Three Harp Guitars) 7. She Swings Skirt 8. Mexico City Dream. (For Gil Evans) 9. Ventura 10. The Girl In The Park In The Rain 11. Apollonian Tremolo 12. Giant Hawaiian Showboat 13. Cremona 14. The Land Of Lost Time 15. Sleepless In The Ticking Dark 'ROSEWOOD' VOLUME TWO- 1. 'Tinderbox' 2. 'Aliumesque' 3. 'Little Cantina' 4. 'Rolling Home, (Yorkshire Raga No.1)' 5. 'Sunbeam' 6. 'Bramble' 7. 'William Is Wearing The Cardigan Of Light' 8. 'The Autumn Tram, (Yorkshire Raga No. 2)' 9. 'Hi Lo La' 10. 'Rising Sap' 11. 'Blue Cloud' 12. 'See-Through Nightie' 13. 'Ordinary Storm, Waiting For Rain' 14. 'The Light Is Kinder In This Corner Of Corona' 15. 'Your Whole Life Dreaming NELSONICA The Beat Goes On It is hoped to organise an official Nelsonica fan convention this year. Plans are currently being discussed and a new venue is being investigated. The timing of the convention is dependent upon the eventual Autumn solo tour schedule but it is hoped that Nelsonica can be accommodated. Various new proposals have been put forward to develop the convention and provide fans with an opportunity to share a day out with Bill. Live performance will be included in this event, along with other special items of interest. Keep your eye on 'The Dreamsville Rocket' for the latest developments. BILL NELSON LAUNCHES NEW RECORD LABEL Rosewood' is a limited edition release on Bill's own 'SONOLUXE' label and will be exclusively available from 'THE DREAMSVILLE DEPARTMENT STORE' or from official merchandising stalls at Bill Nelson's live concerts. HAROLD BUDD. A SPECIAL TRIBUTE CONCERT Bill Nelson will be featured in a very special, not to be missed concert for his long-time friend Harold Budd, being staged in Brighton on the 21st of May, 2005 as part of the Brighton Arts Festival. The concert will include performances by Jah Wobble, Robin Guthrie, John Foxx, Theo Travis, Steve Cobby and Steve Jansen, (as well as Bill) plus other special guests still to be confirmed. Check out the Brighton Festival website for further details. This concert can never be repeated and is not to be missed! ROSEWOOD, Ornaments And Graces For Acoustic Guitar, Volume One Bill's personal view of the album's development and its place within his work:- "I'd considered making an acoustic guitar based album for some time... but an instrumental one that would comfortably sit alongside such projects as 'The Romance Of Sustain,' 'Plaything' and 'Dreamland To Starboard.' I also wanted to avoid the obvious 'unplugged' approach. You know the kind of thing I mean, that faintly commercial, middle class, faux-folksy, nouveau-puritanical, rootsy methodism, with its slyly manipulative suggestion of a kind of 'backwoods/backwards' naivety... the easy seduction of an unsophisticated, barefoot girl outside a log cabin with her Ma and Pa away in town to buy feed for the chickens. Or maybe the rustic lure of big beards and banjos, overalls, oil stains and tobacco, the romantic refuge of city boys stricken by an identity crisis. Not that I haven't consciously employed such notions of whimsy within my own music in the past. And I've certainly purchased and enjoyed my own fair share of those kind of albums, authentic or otherwise. So, I'm not coming down heavy on the Hollywood Hillbilly Hordes here. What I'm trying to say is that I wanted to bring something else to this project, other than its essential declaration of woody 'acoustic-ness.' In one sense 'Rosewood' is a reversal of older confabulations, (look it up, it doesn't exist), that easy thrill of taking technology and applying primitivist attitudes to it... old hat now, (and for some time too). Not that approach, definitely not, but a slightly different one. From these hesitant attempts to rationalise my methods, you might surmise that Rosewood was deliberately set aside, conceptualised, cut, dried and prepared, before I even tuned my guitar. As if the hatching of a concept was the alpha and omega of the thing. This wasn't quite the case. I may often begin in such a manner but the music inevitably demands its own violent deviation from such restrictions. It inevitably throws a curve ball. Of course, I always have the option to adhere to the original narrow remit or ignore it completely. I could profitably pursue the clear-cut track of the super-disciplined, minimalist aesthete, or actually have fun and play around with whatever the void throws up. Some would view the latter as a lazy approach but they'd be wrong. It's tougher dealing with the freedom to run anywhere at all in a field, rather than to walk down some pre-ordained white line. The more options available, the harder the task. It can go either way or otherwise. And 'otherwise' is often the best. Just the sheer sensuousness of playing and hearing it play back provides all the joy that I need or would wish to convey... Just because it's there for me and it's mere existence appears beautiful and an accidental miracle of sorts. But... aren't all miracles accidental, God being dead, (other than in the fevered imaginations of the devout?) Despite my half-hearted resistance, I've more than often found that 'going with the flow' leads to far more vital and potent results than pursuing the established art magazine, bourgeois affectations so beloved of the chattering classes... slick, over controlled hang-overs from English '80's Thatcherism. Such restrictive attitudes, to me, are nothing more than cliched expressions of fashion as fascism, (and so on ad nauseum). Music for anal-retentives? Well, suburban coffee table, dinner-party aesthetics are generally guaranteed to bring out the rebel in me. And the boorish, anarchist iconoclast. But then, I'm bound to be biased, aren't I? Anyway... back to the act of ART and all its absolutely irrelevant, transcendent perversions, the stuff we love and adore: Each time I begin an act of music making, I'm presented with a multitude of options. So many different angles and approaches and obsessions, all competing for my time and energy. Another cliche, perhaps, but: The artist's lot isn't so much to create, as to choose. He is adrift in a whirlpool of possibilities. It is a fierce place. 'Choose' is perhaps a misleading term in this instance. To cast the dice, is probably more apt. I am, on the one hand, just a simple guitar player with only one song to sing. On the other, I'm a reasonably well read, thoughtful, self-injurious, open-minded, poetically motivated, conceptually aware artist with selfishly personal, troubled and complex ideas to explore, (or 'issues to resolve,' to put it in pop-psychoanylitical terms). Or, on the other hand, (Oh, yes, I have three, you know), I'm simply in love with the sound of music, the physical feel of a guitar and the crackle and fizz and superficial beauty of my own gossamer thoughts and dreams. The latter, most probably. Or perhaps all of the above. Delete according to taste. With 'Rosewood' I wanted to take a basic, 'primitive' acoustic guitar and deal with it as if it was an electric instrument. This isn't to say that Rosewood is an experimental work. That old Jean Cocteau thing of 'taking a line for a walk' doesn't necessarily denote a dive into uncharted waters... Music's well-mapped oceans are pretty much over-fished anyway. The notion of 'newness' is as much a conservative concept as 'traditionalism.' An establishment perpetuated myth. Pop-Radicalism is rarely new, only like shifting sand, formed by tides of time and place and commerce, rather than absolute cultural need. Often nothing more than the kind of metaphysical lies touted by snake-oil salesmen, hoping to seduce their customers with the heady perfume of miracles and danger. A pirated, fake Chanel, mixed from sour and stale ingredients, masked with vanilla. It wasn't always so... Despite all this nebulous talk of here and there, now and then, Rosewood may be perceived by some to be fundamentally, deliciously retrogressive. Also, pretty, attractive, charming, mellow... . The plink, plonk, twang of nostagia. I cheerfully admit it has much to do with memory and nostalgia... but it remembers a past that never actually existed. The whole thing is a figment of imagination, a chimera, a fantasy projected in Disneyesque pastels. It may appear odd and alien to those few who encountered a head-scratching moment as a result of some of the acoustic interludes on my earlier albums, or to those who still hanker after amped-up '70's guitar heroisms. It may certainly appear odd to those who are a little too young, old, or insular to have explored the kitsch technicolour fringes of retroland, the lush meadows of English pastoralism, the smokey blue neon of '50's soho jazz clubs, the whirr and gleam of Post-Victorian fairy's wings, the rattle, bang and zoom of tin-can rocketships, the fairground colours of canal narrow-boats, the white hot hiss of steam trains, the warm, glowing golden static of Mullard valves in old radios, the Orson Welles-blessed zither's of Eastern Europe, the eternal attraction of a box of Lakeland coloured pencils alongside crisp, blank, white sheets of paper, the inevitable melancholy of impeding old age and autumn, the remembrance of youth and its follies, the tiny diamonds in snow, just after falling, the stars that shine through windows at night after love and sex, the church bells that drift over meadows and frame the first cuckoo of spring, the winding stream that sings and ripples and dazzles a bumblebee's eyes in summer, the bluebells that swoon beneath trees and perfume my dreams, the clouds that shift, change and form the faces of family ghosts in an August blue sky, the sound of my fingers on the strings of an acoustic guitar, the hum of a broken effects unit... All this, is my Rosewood and more. And Rosewood, in case you hadn't spotted it, is also the name of the most typical wood used in the construction of the fretboards of acoustic guitars. As above, so below. It's all surface and as deep as a wishing well." BILL NELSON. APRIL 2005 'Sonoluxe' is the latest name in a long line of Bill Nelson originated and owned record labels. It continues Bill's commitment to operating independently of the mainstream music industry, a tradition that Bill began in the very early 1970's with his 'Smile Records' label. 'Sonoluxe' will provide a quality service for those people who appreciate intelligent, stylish music, music that has no need of the narrow categorisation that so sadly limits contemporary listening habits. Each 'Sonoluxe' release will be a little work of art in itself, designed to give years of enjoyment. The label's first release will be the long-awaited 'ROSEWOOD' project. CARLSBRO TO MANUFACTURE A LIMITED EDITION, BILL NELSON DESIGNED AMPLIFIER! Due to unexpected demand, Carlsbro amplification are to manufacture a highly limited edition version of the amplifier and speaker cabinet personally designed by Bill Nelson and used by him on last year's 30th anniversary tour. Each unit will carry a specially engraved and numbered plate featuring Bill's signature. Once the initial small quantity have been made, no further units will be built. It is destined to be a rare and valuable collector's item. More news of this exclusive project as it develops. TWO NEW DIARY ENTRIES Bill has written two new diary entries, exclusive to Dreamsville. In the first, dated 21st of April 2005, Bill writes about the Dreamsvillelaunch, his10th wedding anniversary and his new plans for an autumn tour, as well as musings on the general election and the joys of a waxed mustache. In the second entry, dated 28th April 2005, Bill writes about ill health, the first cuckoo of spring, the mastering of Rosewood, Buddhist art, property development and the website launch delay. Diary of a Hyperdreamer is open for you to read on the desk of Bill's study in Villa Nelsonica. ROSEWOOD - Jon Wallinger gives his personal view For the last couple of weeks, I have had the pleasure of being in possession of a pre-mastered copy of Bill Nelson's latest instrumental CD 'Rosewood - Volume One'. When I say, "I've had the pleasure", that is exactly what it has been. This latest recording flows on wonderfully from 'Romance Of Sustain' and 'Dreamland To Starboard'. But whilst those albums were centred around electric guitars, the melody maker on Rosewood is the acoustic guitar. Headbangers may be disappointed, because at no stage during Rosewood do you get to shake your curly locks, but if you want my advice, play it after a hard day at work, lie back, put your feet up, close your eyes and let the gentle, haunting sounds massage your mind to a state of tranquillity so often forgotten about in today's world. But it's not just the guitar that sets the scene, there are layers of sounds, very minimal, but what there are fits so well... touches of ethnic percussion in places, bells and wind-chimes. Guitars in reverse appear a couple of times just to remind you who the recording artist is. It is quite a task to pick out individual song titles for special mentions. When listening to this CD, the tracks seem to merge to become a complete recording. You may have read that Bill spent quite some time working on the track selection and running order, the effort was well worth it, creating a complete journey rather than individual trips. There is just one track that I don't think fits particularly well among the others - I won't tell you which one, I'll let you make your own minds up... it will probably end up being everybody else's favourite! So if you enjoyed 'Romance' and 'Dreamland' then I predict that you are going to feel the same about the dreamy, ambient world of Rosewood. Roll on Volume Two... Jon Wallinger

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Think And You'll Miss It/Beat Street Free download single Click image for cover Artwork A free Christmas single for you to download and enjoy - Released Dec 2012. A-Side: THINK AND YOU'LL MISS IT B-Side: BEAT STREET Both tracks are exclusive and currently unavailable on any album. Written, performed, recorded and produced by Bill Nelson. All rights Bill Nelson 2012.

Eros Arriving Bill Nelson single - 23 April 1982 Singles Menu Future Past TRACKS: 7" Single: A) Eros Arriving (Single Version) B) Haunting In My Head 12" Single: A) Eros Arriving (Single Version) B) Haunting In My Head C) He And Sleep Were Brothers D) Flesh ORIGINALLY: A) is a remix of the song from the upcoming album The Love That Whirls. B, C, & D) were all non-album tracks. NOTES: Eros Arriving was the lead single from, and issued ahead of, The Love That Whirls album. This was Nelson's second and final double 7" in gatefold artwork, including 4 previously unreleased tracks that were all recorded during The Love That Whirls sessions. Note: there is an Australian pressing of this single on which "Eros Arriving" plays out to a natural end rather than fading out. PAST RELEASES: All four songs were included on The Two Fold Aspect of Everything comp (out of print). B, C, & D) were included on a US/Canada ep entitled Flaming Desire and Other Passions . C & D) were also included on the 1986 and 1989 CD issues of The Love That Whirls . CURRENT AVAILABILITY: B, C, & D) were added to the remastered 2005 CD of The Love That Whirls . Singles Menu Future Past

Working For The Yankee Dollar single - 1979 Skids Production/Contribution Menu Future Past BILL: Producer and Keyboards on the b-side, "Vanguard's Crusade". Production/Contribution Menu Future Past

Are You Receiving Me? single - 1982 Yukihiro Takahashi Production/Contribution Menu Future Past TRACKS: A) Are You Receiving Me? B) And I Believe In You BILL: Guitar and backing vocals on the track 'Are You Receiving Me?' Production/Contribution Menu Future Past

Listen album - 1983 A Flock of Seagulls Production/Contribution Menu Future Past BILL: Producer on one song: a new re-recording of "(It's Not Me) Talking". Production/Contribution Menu Future Past

Battle Of Big Soup album - 1993 Bogus Brothers Production/Contribution Menu Future Past BILL: Producer, additional guitar. Production/Contribution Menu Future Past

Ships in the Night Be-Bop Deluxe single - 16 January 1976 Singles Menu Future Past TRACKS: A) Ships In The Night B) Crying To The Sky ORIGINALLY: "Ships in the Night" was an edited version of the Sunburst Finish album cut, whereas "Crying to the Sky" was lifted unchanged from the same album. NOTES: Ships in the Night was the fifth Be Bop Deluxe single issued during the band's existence. The single was issued in a generic record company sleeve. UK Promo copies exist with the words "Demo Record Not For Sale", and a large 'A' printed on the label. US Mono/Stereo promo copies were pressed to encourage airplay on both AM and FM radio. PAST RELEASES: Both tracks would be included on the Singles As and Bs compilation (1981). CURRENT AVAILABILITY: The single is long deleted, but both tracks can be found on the Cherry Red/Esoteric Recordings reissue of Sunburst Finish (2018 ) - both in physical form and as a digital download. Singles Menu Future Past

The Unrealist Bill Nelson album - 21 February 2018 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) Elliptic Waterfall 02) Colour Floods The Bay With Blue 03) Powerglide 04) The Impatient Hour 05) Fractious Electrons 06) Through Drifting Clouds 07) A Circus To Remember 08) Loose Box 09) Falling Water 10) Little Motors Move The Moon 11) Wonder And Excitement 12) What To Wear Now, What To Wear Next 13) Your Hand Today Holds The Future Of Tomorrow 14) Wonder Street 15) Waves ALBUM NOTES: The Unrealist is an album of improvised guitar instrumentals issued as a download-only album on the Tremelo Boy label available through Nelson's Bandcamp page. The Unrealist album was created between June and November 2017 from material recorded immediately after completing work on Songs For Ghosts . As he completed the track listing for the Songs For Ghosts album, Nelson realised he still had more to explore in this vein. Starting with these new "overflow" tracks, he went on to record another double album's worth of songs for the project. He then separated out the instrumental tracks, which became The Unrealist album. Assembly of the resulting album, including the recording of the final couple of tracks featured on it, was undertaken in the first two weeks of November 2017. Having a new website to experiment with, Nelson adapted his normal practice of posting news and updates to the Dreamsville Forum , preferring instead to create illustrated journal entries that he would post directly to the new site. The material was initially given a series of tentative titles, No Ghosts Here , Spooky Annexe , Singing in the Ether , and Lovely Apparitions , all signalling its links to the Songs For Ghosts project. However, once Nelson had elected to separate out the material and concentrate on completing an instrumental record, it would be re-named Wonder Street in honour of the album's newest composition (completed on 7 November 2017). Fleetingly, Nelson considered calling the album Guitar Stories , before changing his mind a couple of days later to Lumiluxe , while also confirming its proposed track listing. Within 24 hours though, Nelson changed the title again, settling on The Unrealist . During the mastering stage one track, "Deep Blue", was removed from the album as Nelson "felt disconnected from it in some way", reducing The Unrealist to 15 tracks. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "The Unrealist is an instrumental album featuring 15 prominent electric guitar, keyboard and percussion tracks in a mainly rock setting but with some gentler, more reflective pieces plus a couple of abrasive avant-garde moments, (and, of course, the occasional jazzy mood). It will hopefully appeal to those fans who enjoy my extended guitar improvisations." _____ "Some of the songs on here are, I suspect, destined to be greatly favoured by fans. Forgive me for sounding immodest, but this album is chock-full of prime, rock-pop material (and quite a few left-field excursions) and therefore worthy of your intelligent and enthusiastic attention. All ongoing but almost there!" _____ "The track "Fractious Electrons" may prove a bit challenging for some listeners...it's an abstract, slightly chaotic and mad thing. Closest similar track in attitude would be "The Revenge of The Man in the Burning Ice Cream Van" but this is less linear. I like it! But, there are other, sweeter, more melodic tracks on there too, (for those listeners less inclined towards the avant-garde). It's a very varied and interesting set of tunes." _____ "A casual, free roaming instrumental album for guitar lovers." FAN THOUGHTS: merikan1: "One of my favourites. I cannot recommend this one highly enough. To me, it encapsulates the core BN instrumental styles. It would make a great introduction if you are wanting to introduce someone to Bill's instrumental music." Steve: "Just playing The Unrealist for the FIFTH time in a row - so - track 12 (What To Wear Now, What To Wear Next) is particularly fab..." Coach Matt: "One of Bill's best I believe. He was not kidding when he said, more good music is ahead. I find this album very sensual, pleasing and yet invigorating. Plenty of Bill Nelson sounds we all come to enjoy. And with the lovely ebow injections." mo497: "Pure instrumental guitar bliss from the maestro! Lots of tasty licks mainly in a rock vein, but 'Falling Water' is an evocative masterpiece and one of Bill's most beautiful recorded performances." Albums Menu Future Past

Satellite Songs Bill Nelson album - 3 October 2004 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) Times Of Our Lives 02) Like Rain (Rust's Dim Lustre) 03) Sphinx 04) Hollywood Still Burning 05) Garden In The Sky 06) Somewhere Else Is Here 07) Infinity Meets The Moment 08) The Rise Of Pandemonium And The Fall Of Kingdom Come 09) The Wind Blows Silver And The Bees Hum Gold 10) Evening Tide 11) Forever Blue Sings The Sky 12) Sweet William's Epiphany ALBUM NOTES: Satellite Songs is a vocal album issued in a single pressing of 1,000 copies on the Sonic Masonic Records label. The album was intended as a band recording using musicians that occasionally had appeared with Nelson, billed as the Lost Satellites. Had it proved financially viable, Nelson had his sights on returning to Fairview Studios for the recording of Satellite Songs . In the event, Nelson had neither the time nor funding to fulfill these plans, and ended up recording the album alone at home. But the band would perform with him that autumn on the Be Bop Deluxe and Beyond tour. Satellite Songs was put on sale at the start of the Be Bop Deluxe and Beyond tour, simultaneously with both Custom Deluxe and Dreamland to Starboard . After the tour had finished, the album was sold exclusively through S.O.S. The album eventually sold out in 2006. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . IF YOU LIKED THIS ALBUM, YOU'LL PROBABLY ENJOY: Orpheus in Ultraland , Fancy Planets , Joy Through Amplification , Special Metal , Blip! , Blip 2 , Fantasmatron , Captain Future's Psychotronic Circus , Electric Atlas , Golden Melodies of Tomorrow , New Northern Dream BILL'S THOUGHTS: "Forever Blue Sings the Sky": "Moody romanticism, a lovely melody and some complex jig-saw puzzle guitar." _____ "Nearer to rock music in style is Satellite Songs . A kind of contemporary take on what Be Bop would possibly have been doing today, had I kept the band together." FAN THOUGHTS: wadcorp: "A stunner of an album. When I discovered Dreamsville & was reconnecting with Bill Nelson after a long absence, this was one of the very first I picked up when I ordered. I was hooked from the first play. Great tunes throughout." james warner: "A companion piece to the Be Bop and Beyond retrospective concert of 2004, this album of vocal tracks seems like Bill's personal reflections on where he had been and where he was then. The songs hint at things remembered and lost, a grudging acceptance of things as they are and hope in the final revelatory track, "Sweet William's Epiphany", a long ethereal journey punctuated by bursts of energy." ModernMusic: "To my ears, I have always thought that Satellite Songs contains many throwbacks to BBD...the extended soloing on the first track, "Times of Our Lives", for example, is one that is very reminiscent of the Live in the Air Age guitar playing. Subtle throwbacks throughout that entire album but refreshingly new!" Panoramicon: "Times of Our Lives": "A quintessential Bill tune, evoking bright, sunny memories of (my) youth in England. If this is nostalgia, I'm all for it. Great chorus (I sing this out loud in the car while driving, much to the chagrin of my daughter in the back). But then, what does he give us? First, a fine melodic solo 'fore the final chorus, and then...oh my, a vista opens up above three simple strummed chords and we get two (two!) beautiful solos. The phrases like poignant, fading memories; red-shifting into the past like those distant galaxies in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. I could also mention the terrific swaggering guitar on "Sphinx", the reflective beauty of "Sweet Williams Epiphany"...so many albums, so much wonder...Bless you Bill!" Mozo: "S.S. is one of the best Nelson releases ever! Especially for all the hep cats out there who keep a yearning for the pre-Red Noise era Bill. "Hollywood Still Burning" rocks with the best of any Be-Bop released. And I still say that "Sweet Williams Epiphany" is a condensed version of Bill's career in a nutshell. That's my story and I'm sticking to it." stpetelou: "This is a wonderful collection of music from Bill. Some of the songs sound to me as if they could have been from the late BBD era and Bill plays some fantastic guitar throughout. The song "The Wind Blows Silver and the Bees Hum Gold" is worth the price alone!" tommaso: "Well, for me it HAD the WOW factor! So catchy melodies, beautiful arrangements, and Bill REALLY singing tunes again (this last aspect I really missed on Atom Shop or Whimsy ), just like in the old times. "Time of our lives" must be one of my all-time Bill faves, just as "Evening Tide"." RJR: "BN's most underrated tune? "Sweet William's Epiphany" from Satellite Songs. Superb!!!" "This CD is an absolute goldmine of excellent pieces." aquiresville: "Sweet William's Epiphany": "Gorgeous Nelsonic pastoral guitar progression, with Bill's wonderful sweet-and-high singing, and those wonderful thundercloud Superstar shred-solo breaks, it's a beautiful example of Past-and-Present Bill, all rolled into a nine minute slice of musing (Yes, it even includes some "found voice" Orchestra at the end -- "Every atom, belonging to me."). It's truly one of my Favorite Songs, for the moment. Thank you, Bill!" Parsongs: "One of my favorite "vocal" albums, it's on my player quite often. Not a bad song on it; all hits. "Sweet William's Epiphany" - one of my favorite songs by Bill. I wish it could go on forever. The extended ending is there too." chromiumlad: "I absolutely love Satellite Songs . One that grabbed me instantly and never let go." Alan: "Satellite Songs is a brilliant album all the way through. The music and the vocals are stellar, if I may say." "Definitely a must have. This CD has great lyrics, vocals and instrumentation. If you don't have it yet, buy it soon." Albums Menu Future Past

Nelsonian Navigator - Issue Six - Published September 1997 Back to Top

Tomorrow's Just Another Day album - 1983 Yukihiro Takahashi Production/Contribution Menu Future Past BILL: Guitar and Vocals. Production/Contribution Menu Future Past

Stand By: Light Coming... Bill Nelson album - 16 August 2019 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) Flicker And Fade 02) Ghostland 03) I Really Don't Exist 04) Headlamp Moon 05) This Is Not A Dream 06) Falling Into Blue 07) The Angel With Television Eyes 08) Rusty Bells 09) Stand By: Light Coming... 10) My Shadow Cast By Midnight Moon 11) The Way My World Works 12) No Room In My Head 13) As Quickly As A Kiss 14) Like Autumn Leaves We Fall 15) Fading Away ALBUM NOTES: Stand By: Light Coming... is an album of songs issued on the Sonoluxe label in a limited edition of 1000 copies. The Stand By: Light Coming... album was recorded between January and April 2019, in parallel with a separate project, currently unreleased, called Cathode Paintbox. It was the first new Bill Nelson CD to be sold through Burning Shed , who took over from Sound on Sound as the official on-line outlet for Bill Nelson's music following an announcement to this effect on 1 February 2019. This new arrangement allows Bill Nelson fans to pre-order his new music in advance of its official release date, an arrangement that Sound on Sound hadn't been able to offer. The recordings making up this album are likely to be amongst the last completed on Nelson's trusted recording and mixing set up that have served him so well since 2002. This operational change stemmed from Nelson's Mackie D8B mixing console having become unreliable and expensive to repair. Consequently this necessitated a major shift to a computer-based system, requiring Nelson to invest considerable time in becoming familiar with his new equipment. Amongst the guitars used on these recordings were two new acquisitions – a Backlund Super 100 MDX purchased by Nelson's fan base in honour of his 70th birthday the previous December and a Musicvox Space Cadet that Nelson acquired from the funds left over from the donations received for the birthday gift. The album began life with the working title of Vulcan Street but by Mid-February Nelson was having second thoughts about this title (and eventually its original title track). Having wrestled with this issue for 2 months Nelson finally abandoned the original album title on 16 April 2019 and from the 25 pieces composed since January 2019 assembled a 15 track album with the title Stand By: Light Coming... One of the tracks included on this album, 'My Shadow Cast By Midnight Moon', is an outtake from Auditoria recorded in 2018. The surplus material from the January to May 2019 sessions were then either used for The Last Lamplighter companion release or rejected altogether. Stand By: Light Coming... was mastered at Fairview by John Spence on 11 May 2019 with a pre-order announcement by Burning Shed on 27 June 2019. With the album successfully mastered, Nelson turned his attention to the album artwork. Assembly of the sleeve design fell to Martin Bostock working with images that Nelson had selected as the album neared completion. Stand By: Light Coming... sold out in March 2021. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "Stand By: Light Coming… is a 15 track, vocal-based album recorded in my home studio earlier this year. If there is a point of unity to the album's diverse sounds, it could be said that it generally uses the enigmatic nature of 'time' as its theme. Images of watches and clocks abound in the lyrics which deal with the increasing rush of time and the rapid retreat of the past into nostalgia. Vocal and electric guitar-driven, it plots a path of aggressive melancholia and offers a meditation on impermanence." _____ "Finally knocked the new album into shape. Have arrived at a running order and chosen which tracks should be used and which left off. So, 'STAND BY: LIGHT COMING…' is now ready to go to Fairview studios for John Spence to master prior to manufacture. I'll need to fix up a date for the mastering as I think John is pretty busy at the moment. "There will be 15 tracks on the album in total but, even so, there are still 10 tracks left over, either as 'rejects' or simply because there wasn't enough room for them." _____ "Some changes to the content of the album...I discovered a few songs left over from the 'Auditoria' sessions that I'd forgotten about and will try to incorporate a couple of them into this latest album. One of these is the song 'The Woman Of Tomorrow' which I've revisited and remixed. I guess things aren't finished until they're finished..." _____ "Stand By: Light Coming... surprised me by the way it revealed its inner meaning. Hearing the songs in their correct order at Fairview showed that the songwriting 'theme' as such is all about Time. Time passing, our perceptions of time, the need to make the most of the time we have left to us, and the way that time and memory are inextricably intertwined. Images of clocks ticking through the night abound in these songs. "The other thing that emerged from listening to the album is the deep sense of melancholy in many of the songs, and the frustration and anger that life 'runs out like sand', (to quote a lyric from my 'Quit Dreaming And Get On The Beam' album from the early 1980s.) Maybe I've had an awareness of the brevity of life from a young age. I can remember thinking about this kind of thing when I was still a very young child... "So, 'Stand By: Light Coming...' can perhaps be described as 'music for aging melancholiacs.' It has a lot of sadness, but a sadness tinged with joy...like dark clouds surrounded by golden rays. It should ring rusty bells for people of a 'certain age' but may also bring younger listeners to a more acute awareness of how precious every moment of life is. A cliché, I know, but life is all too brief, even if we're lucky enough to live long enough to make a real mark on it..." FAN THOUGHTS: Bill Connor-Clark: "This is possibly the best CD Bill has produced for years, the fantastic opening track is a gateway to a CD that is all killer and no filler." Alan: "I just listened for the first time, and what a powerful album this is. A great first release for the year! Our Bill does Bill Nelson better than anyone. I'm looking forward to the album further revealing itself over time." Michael: "Have had two listens and first impressions are that, wow, this is really chock-full and Bill seems to be pulling out all the stops. I'm hearing similarities to Satellite Songs and gasp...Blue Moons and Laughing Guitars . I don't know if the Brits have this expression, and maybe it's me being an American southerner, but this is a 'humdinger'!" lee_elliot59: "My copy arrived last Saturday and it's been my work commute companion all week. Gotta say, this one knocked me over immediately and is up there will my favorite Bill albums. Ironically, I can't get 'No Room In My Head' out of my head. What a deliciously funky track." Neill Burgess: "Loving the new album, Bill! Lots of really great tracks (especially enjoying the opener). I know we all keep saying it, but how on earth do you maintain this level of creativity?" Albums Menu Future Past

King of the Cowboys Bill Nelson ep - 29 October 1982 Singles Menu Future Past TRACKS: A1) King Of The Cowboys A2) Shadowland B1) Carnival B2) Spring ORIGINALLY: All three tracks were non-album tracks exclusive to this EP. NOTES: King of the Cowboys EP was the second in the series of Cocteau Club EPs issued exclusively to members of Bill Nelson's Official Fan Club, and was included in Acquitted By Mirrors Issue 3. All four tracks were recorded at the Echo Observatory. PAST RELEASES: Up until 2020, none of the 4 tracks on this EP had appeared on previous Bill Nelson compilations, nor as bonus tracks. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: All tracks are available on the retrospective compilation album Transcorder (The Acquitted By Mirrors Recordings) . Singles Menu Future Past

Rosewood Volume Two Bill Nelson album - 29 July 2005 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) Tinderbox 02) Aliumesque 03) Little Cantina 04) Rolling Home (Yorkshire Raga No.1) 05) Sunbeam 06) Bramble 07) William Is Wearing The Cardigan Of Light 08) The Autumn Tram (Yorkshire Raga No.2) 09) Hi Lo La 10) Rising Sap 11) Blue Cloud 12) See-Through Nightie 13) Ordinary Storm, Waiting For Rain 14) The Light Is Kinder In This Corner Of Corona 15) Your Whole Life Dreaming ALBUM NOTES: Rosewood Volume Two was written and recorded alongside Rosewood Volume One , and like its predecessor, comprises a similar selection of acoustic guitar instrumentals. Issued in a single print run of 1000 copies, the album took approximately 7 years to sell out. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . IF YOU LIKED THIS ALBUM, YOU'LL PROBABLY ENJOY: Rosewood One , And We Fell Into A Dream , Quiet Bells , Dreamland to Starboard , Illuminated At Dusk , Silvertone Fountains , Neptune's Galaxy , New Northern Dream BILL'S THOUGHTS: "A perfect companion piece to Rosewood Vol. One , still based around acoustic guitars but with a slightly different feel, featuring more percussion and a slightly more 'mainstream' approach." _____ "On the Rosewood albums, there's a combination of miked-up acoustic guitar parts and acoustic through my Line 6 Vetta 2 amp's effects, (fed direct to the mixing desk). I wanted to use both a natural and treated acoustic sound. In that respect, it's not really a pure acoustic album but then, nothing I ever do on my albums could be considered particularly pure or fundamentalist." _____ "The Light is Kinder in This Corner of Corona": "A pastiche Tex-Mex acoustic twanglomania from the Rosewood Volume 2 album. Tongue in cheek but warm and wonderful. Reminds me of US tours back in the '70s and the illusions we post-war English boys harboured about the romance of American border towns...not the most sophisticated track from the album but one of the sweetest." _____ "I'm very proud of the Rosewood albums...They're definitely on my small list of 'albums I'd like to be remembered by'." FAN THOUGHTS: TomR: "This is really excellent. On first play a much jauntier record than Vol 1 . There are not many players than make me think of Roy Smeck, Steve Howe, John McLaughlin and Andy Roberts in the space of sixteen bars. I've laughed out loud a few times already, and that doesn't happen with a CD very often." John Izzard: "As others have stated, I found it much more immediate than Volume 1 . Some real surprises in there too. It twists and turns, introducing new ideas and themes, almost all the time. Yet for all of its diversity, it remains a coherent and ultimately lovely piece of work." paulnery: "Vol II is less calm than Vol. I . Some tension can be noticed in the tracks...and the tracks are faster, people can dance to these tunes...While Vol. I is more Yin , Vol. II is more Yang." "The Light is Kinder in This Corner of Corona": "is very nice, reminded me of The Shadows in some moments. Beautiful instrumental." alec: "Listening to Rosewood Volume 2 for the third time and I'm struck by how, though it's instrumental, I hear voices in some of the pieces -- like the first piece for example, "Tinderbox"." PhilK: "Seriously though it is a beautiful piece of music, I initially started to pick favourite tracks ("Sunbeam", "Blue Cloud", "Bramble") but by the third listen I came to the conclusion it is an album to listen to completely rather than odd tracks out of sequence." Mr.Ilektrik: "Both albums are beautiful, I can't pick a favourite out of the two albums or even pick out favourite tracks. They are ALL wonderful ornaments & graces." JovialBob: "I've just been playing Rosewood while some friends were here, and they wanted to know who was responsible for the wonderful music, so there's another two fans to add to the ever growing number..." swampboy: "I have grown to really love both discs, and find the guitar sound very appealing, but isn't that just like Bill, to give us something that is both familiar, yet unique. I was really hesitant to buy either of these discs, as I wasn't sure if I'd like Bill doing acoustic, but I find myself returning to them again and again. I've heard a lot of acoustic guitar over the years, but nothing that sounds quite like this." wadcorp: "The Rosewood volumes should be next on the list of 'Catching up to Bill' albums?" "Without question. Those discs contain some of the most amazing acoustic guitar. You will not be disappointed." Albums Menu Future Past

Sunday 25th September 2005 -- 9:00 pm I've begun to look at the calendar with the same feeling of horror I get when looking in the mirror. It's scary and something I'd rather avoid dealing with... but no choice. Time is of the essence and deadlines are looming in all directions. The mastering session for the two new albums is set for the 29th. This coming Thursday. No more changes to the recordings are permitted now so things have to stay as they are. Nor am I allowed to change the running order of the songs as I've given my erstwhile art and design assistant, Dave Graham, the go ahead to typeset the text for both projects. In fact, we're close to having the packaging art finished although I've just now sent Dave more images for possible inclusion; photographs I took at Whitby and Robin Hood's Bay earlier today. I made the trip specifically to gather photographic images and camcorder footage. I'm supposed to have video projection material ready for the November tour dates too but, at this moment, there's neither tour material, nor tour concept, to work with. I've simply not had enough time, what with everything else I've had to do these last twelve months. I think one of the problems is that everything seems to become focussed on a single point of time in the year, (i.e. autumn). There's the fan convention with it's now obligatory album, visual work and live performance, plus the tour schedule and it's equally obligatory new album and staging. But, it's not just that... Alongside these major projects are other tasks, some associated, some completely separate. Many of these seem to occur at the back end of the year also. Naturally, it all ends up being a sort of juggling act, a crazy attempt to keep various balls in the air at once. But, I shouldn't really blame anyone but myself. I guess I'm the sort of girl who can't say no. Hope I'm not in a terrible mess. I just feel drained and empty at the moment. Some information has been missing from this diary of late due to writing it in a rush, particularly when other things have been on my mind. In some ways, the music making part of my life should be the easiest. Why should I complain about workloads? It's a privilege, a sort of 'calling', a natural by product of my being. It's unavoidable, automatic, self-evident. It's essence. On the other hand... it's dangerously unhealthy, sometimes questionably unhinged and, whichever way you look at it, time consumingly hard work. For anyone else to understand just how hard, they'd need to be with me throughout an entire year, spending the same time as myself (in this tiny room that I'm audacious enough to refer to as my 'studio'), working constantly without reference to real time or real life, being totally immersed in the creation of something that begins with blind faith and usually ends up with what I can only describe as either self-doubt or godless despair. The former is preferable to the latter but neither are much fun. I wonder how many people would continue to put up with it, the boredom , the insecurity, the selfishness, the obsessive and remorseless attempt to elevate a meagre musical ability beyond its sorry limitations? (And why the hell do I do it?) How quickly would the fun wear off, the glamour be exposed for what it really is? A few months, or, as in my case, more than thirty years? And yet, despite all this angst-ridden, pathetic, mock dramatic chest beating, I still can't give it up. Sometimes I'm actually disgusted by the hold this thing has over me, how weak I've become in its grasp. Too eager to swoon, that's me. Too desperately in need of love from strangers... But, oh, how wonderful to be given the chance to try, to be given the gift of creating music from such dreamy weakness. What a stunningly beautiful two-edged sword I've been handed! Praise the lord and load the water pistols. You know, sometimes dealing with words is almost as much fun as making sounds. Almost. Everything is drama and our lives vain fictions that rarely advance beyond a short run at some local theatre. But, during the brief time that the footlights burn, we play the part to the hilt, believing every red velvet moment, playing it as if our lives depended on it. Which, perhaps, they do. Gilded fictions, beautiful illusions, fables made real by our sheer desperation. So what activities of mine have I forgotten to include in the last episode or two of this diary? Well... I omitted to mention my quite probably broken foot. It happened like this: A couple of weeks ago, I was reminded that, earlier in the year, I'd accepted an invitation to officially open a new recording studio at the College of West Anglia in Kings Lynn. The opening was scheduled for September 15th. At the time of accepting, I'd no idea that September would see me pushing things to the limit in terms of project completion. When I received the reminder about the opening, at the start of September, I realised that it had completely slipped my mind. However, determined not to let anyone down, I made plans to travel down to Kings Lynn to do the honours and to talk to the students. The night before the journey, I was dashing around the house trying to prepare clothes for the trip. I hadn't got my house slippers on and clumsily hit my right foot on the edge of either a door or a bookcase nearby, my toes taking the brunt of the blow. Instant pain but I thought it would fade after a few minutes. It didn't. That night, sleeping was difficult. The slightest contact of the bed sheets with my toes brought on more pain which kept me awake. The next morning I was a wreck, limping about the place and grimacing. My toes and foot were black and blue, badly bruised and it felt as if a couple of them might have been cracked or broken. For a moment, I considered calling Jon Lawrence (the tutor who had asked me to open the new studio), to beg off the engagement but I felt that this would not be a good thing. So I decided to go ahead as planned. Getting a shoe onto the injured foot was another problem. I had to force myself through the pain barrier but, once my foot was in there, I grabbed a walking stick from my collection and set off for the station by cab. Luckily, Emiko had taken time off from work to accompany me so she was able to support my injury, spiritually if not physically. It was a long journey from Yorkshire to Kings Lynn, involving a change of train at Peterborough and then again at Ely. It rained all day as we sat on station platforms awaiting our connections, gazing out at the grey skies. I felt like an old, old man, limping around, clinging on to my walking stick. I was also embarrassed to have to explain to the college staff why I appeared so decrepit. A stupid injury. Nevertheless, I managed to get through the event which involved an interview with local media, the opening ceremony itself and a question and answer session with the students. The tutors and staff were all very kind to me and I was glad that I'd made the effort to get there, despite the physical difficulty. Jon kindly gave us a lift to the station where we waited fifty minutes for the train before making the long trip back home. More long waits for connections at other stations required medicinal administrations of wine from platform bars to ease the pain. By the time I got home, I was pleasantly inebriated. Now, over a week later, the foot is looking much better although still bruised in some places and my little toe continues to be uncomfortable, particularly when walking. But on the mend. Last Friday brought me another invitation. This time to travel to Liverpool where Gretsch guitars were holding a promotional roadshow event. The show was at the Cavern Club, appropriate considering the late George Harrison's endorsement of Gretsch guitars. Fans of my own music will already be aware of my passion for Gretsch instruments and will have seen them grace the stage of my concerts over the last few years. Once again, Emi accompanied me on the train journey to Liverpool, another unusually long trip, especially considering the distance. Not a high speed intercity train though, just a sprinter type that stopped at many stations en route. We were met at Liverpool station by Fender/Gretsch artist relations whizz Hoda Armani, a lovely man who did his utmost to make us feel comfortable and welcome. After treating us to dinner, we were taken to the Cavern Club where a very tempting array of Gretsch guitars glittered from the stage, including the new 'Billy-Bo' model, an adaptation of Bo-Diddley's unique custom built Gretsch Jupiter Thunderbird guitar that Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top has helped Gretsch to adapt from Bo's original design. As I said... tempting, very tempting! I was introduced to Gretsch's current main man, Mr. Mike Lewis who was going to give the audience gathered at the Cavern a talk about the history of Gretsch guitars. Not only did Mike do this in an entertaining and informative manner but he 'illustrated' his talk by playing guitar instrumentals to backing tapes, in a similar fashion to the way I do at my solo concerts. Not only was Mike knowledgeable about Gretsch guitar history, he could play the hell out of them as well. He opened with a wonderfully affectionate instrumental version of The Beatles 'Please, Please Me', but finished his talk by playing one of my all time favourite instrumentals, Santo and Johnny's 'Sleepwalk'. Mike has an adult understanding of the roots of rock guitar and his playing was direct and soulful and I sat there with a big smile on my face. He even played some Duane Eddy, Chet Atkins and Eddie Cochran licks so it was worth the trip just to hear him perform, as much as to see all those juicy guitars. I wanted to stay longer, pick up some instruments to try out, talk to people more, but the trains back to Yorkshire were a somewhat inhospitable. We were left with two alternatives, catch the 9:30, change at Manchester and arrive home just after midnight, or catch the 10:30 and get home around a quarter to two in the morning. My foot was still playing me up too so we opted to catch the 9:30 train. Hoda bundled us into a cab and saw that we got to the train in time. Eventually arrived back at Rancho Nelsonia around 12:20, feeling tired but happy, not least because of Hoda and Gretsch's generosity with the occasional glass of vino! Another recent(ish) thing of mine which I seem to have overlooked in the diary, was my concert at the Lewes Guitar Festival, not far from Brighton. The event took place in what was once a small but very pretty church. There was a full house and I spent some time after the concert chatting with fans and friends, a very pleasant evening altogether. Someone asked me what guitars, if any, I might still lust after. Well, as I once said, you can never have too many guitars and there are certainly a few out there I wouldn't mind getting my hands on, from the cheap and cheerful to the seriously luxurious. Of course, Gretsch have a few models that would be nice to own, including the 'Jupiter Thunderbird' adaptation mentioned above, but also a Syncromatic 400 acoustic archtop, the big one without cutaways, a real swing band of a guitar. Then there's the 6120 model that apes Eddie Cochran's guitar with the P90 style neck pickup and transparent pick guard. Then there's the White Penguin, or the Duo-Jet. Of course, what would really constitute a dream come true would be to work with Gretsch towards a custom instrument. I already have strong ideas about styling and so on... but, pointless going into details, it's just a dream. Another guitar would be a re-issue sixties Fender Stratocaster in Fiesta Red, just like the one Hank Marvin played in the Shadows heyday. But with a rosewood fretboard , rather than a maple one. (I think Hank's had both at different times.) The semi-hollow Partick Eggle Vienna is very tempting too, a kind of larger version of my Berlin model, but with 'f' holes. And of course, a full sized, big bodied D'Angelico archtop would be fabulous for my sojourns in the jazz joints of my imagination. As far as cheap and cheerful guitars goes, well, there are things like the De Pinto Belvedere Deluxe, which is a cool retro styled guitar that doesn't cost the earth. The same company's 'Galaxie 4' guitar is fun looking too. Another U.S. company, Eastwood Guitars, do some great reproductions of 60's era cheapo guitars. They have a wonderful version of a Guyatone LG 200-T solid body which looks great in white and costs only 399 dollars direct from their site. They also do a nice reproduction of two Airline guitars... the one with full set of pickups and trem is a real mad scientist of a guitar. Nice in red, this one, or white. Of course, all this is sheer greed on my part... an addiction, but one that I manage to turn into music, somewhere along the line. Enough of guitars, I'm starting to drool. The weekend has been mostly spent dealing with artwork tasks. I'd already spent most of last week sourcing images to use for the 'Sailor Bill' album. It can take a while to find ones that are interesting, and just as long to discover where the actual 'feel' of the album might lay in visual terms. There's a fair bit of trial and error to start with. Some of my earlier image selections were too much on the jolly or jaunty side. Whilst looking at the ones I'd accumulated, I played back the 'Sailor Bill' album to see if they fitted. The album's moody and melancholic nature ruled out some of the more modern, zippy images and I ended up making the decision to go down the 'antique' route. A call to Dave on Saturday morning to prime him on the general direction and things got properly underway. The initial searching around now done, we're currently in the fine tuning stages (apart from the possible addition of today's coastal photo's to the package). The album will be mastered this coming Thursday and the artwork should be ready to go off to the pressing plant along with the master by the start of October. Same goes for the Nelsonica album, 'Orpheus In Ultraland'. Before long, these two intensely detailed projects will be set aside as 'finished'. All that will remain is the process of getting them into peoples hearts and minds. Last week, I gave an interview about the creation of the albums. The interview will appear in the forthcoming issue of 'The Dreamsville Rocket' on-line newspaper and is intended to prime the imagination for the music's arrival. The 'Sailor Bill' album requires 'slow ears...' It isn't an album that reveals itself in a hurry but, with a little care and patience, should reward the diligent listener for some time to come. A quaint and old-fashioned album but not for the narrow minded. I'm hoping to have a playback/preview party for friends and members of the Dreamsville-Nelsonica team. I'm thinking of holding this at Fairview studios so that the album can be heard on some pro-standard studio monitors. Another side project now completed (and I may have mentioned this before in the diary), is my contribution to a book that is being published by Leeds University. This is a book about the Beat Generation, written to coincide with the university's School Of Music celebration of the 50th anniversary of Allen Ginsberg's 'Howl'. I've written, for the book, a piece about my own encounter with the Beats and the inspiration that they generated in terms of my work. And, amongst even more new work ('though I'm keeping real details under my hat for a short while...) is a project I've undertaken for Sound On Sound magazine's anniversary issue. I can't say any more at this point in time (sworn to secrecy) but Dreamsville will inform you of what this involves soon. Stay tuned! Bob Dylan documentary on TV tomorrow evening. Must make time to watch this... essential viewing for me, being a great admirer of Dylan's work. Recently finished his 'Chronicles Vol 1' autobiography which Emiko bought me last Christmas. Only recently got around to reading it but it was an interesting book. Not much time for reading now, though, still far too much to do. Nelsonica rushing up, as is the solo tour. I ought to start thinking about the material I'll perform... God knows how I'll get that AND the accompanying video together in the few weeks that are left before things get underway. If I'm exhausted now, what state will I be in by the start of November? I hope things work out. Looking forward to a break in December... 'though Christmas will take up a fair amount of time and energy. Before I know it, it will be new year and a new set of projects to get to grips with. As tough going as it sometimes is, the joy is in the making of all this stuff. Well, I must enjoy it to devote so much of my life to it. All photographs by Bill Nelson Top of page William's Study (Diary Of A Hyperdreamer) September 2005 Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Oct Dec 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2013

Acquitted By Mirrors - Issue Eight - Published January 1984 Back to Top

Holey Moley, It's A Parallel World Bill Nelson download single - 15 December 2010 Singles Menu Future Past TRACKS: 01) Holey Moley, It's A Parallel World NOTES: "Holey Moley, It's a Parallel World!" is a track Bill composed and recorded exclusively for the Sara's Hope Foundation . The charity's aim was "to provide holiday breaks for children living with cancer, giving them smiles, hope, and precious memories". Fans could download the song in return for a modest donation to the charity. "Holey Moley, It's a Parallel World" was announced first by Ged Hoburn of Sara's Hope Foundation on 30 November 2010 in a Dreamsville post that reflected on the events at Nelsonica 10, at which a charity auction was held on behalf of the foundation. Nelson confirmed his plans to release a new track for Sara's Hope Foundation in a diary entry dated 1st December 2010, two weeks ahead of its release. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Currently unavailable but may be made available again as a charity download at some point. BILL'S THOUGHTS: "This vocal track will not be available elsewhere...it has been exclusively created to raise funds for Sara's Hope Foundation. It's a whimsical, mid-tempo sexy little number with a catchy, 'sing-along' chorus...I think you'll like it!" To Sara's Father, Ged: "I'm proud to be a patron of Sara's Hope Foundation , Ged. You and your family are helping to provide a very special service for the children (and their parents), who are suffering the effects of this cruel disease. I hope that Dreamsville citizens and fans generally will download this year's special Bill Nelson track and donate something, no matter how small, to this worthwhile cause." Singles Menu Future Past

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2013 William's Study (Diary Of A Hyperdreamer) January 2009 Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Saturday 3rd January 2009 -- 6:00 pm For the last seven days, I've not been out of the house. And for the first five of those, I haven't been out of pyjamas or dressing gown...and for the first three of those, not even out of bed. Yes, I'm laid low with a nasty 'flu bug again, the third I've succumbed to since the completion of Nelsonica 08. I feel as weak as a kitten. Each time I've caught a different type of virus. The first one, in late November, early December, seemed to be focussed on the chest area more than anywhere else. It was pretty rough but the worst of it vanished after a couple of weeks, leaving me feeling drained. Not long after, Emiko suffered an inner ear viral infection which caused her to lose her sense of balance. She found it impossible to stand up or walk for a couple of days and couldn't go to work. A visit to the doctor and some prescribed medicine helped her to recover over a period of a week and she was back on her feet sooner than expected. I then, (typically), developed similar symptoms...dizziness, moments of panic whilst out and about. These subsided after a few days but I suspect it was exactly the same viral problem as Emi's, though not quite as acute. All this illness put us way behind with our seasonal preparations. The last couple of weeks before Christmas became a frenzy of dashing around, trying to find gifts for family and friends and then the last minute posting of cards. Far too stressful... Also, Emi had managed to secure a temporary and much needed job at a gift shop in town, so she wasn't available to help with Christmas duties, therefore it all fell to me, though that has been the situation for the last few years, even before she was made redundant from the flower shop. As readers of this diary already know, my childhood Christmases were magical, traditional affairs, (as they were for most children of my generation). I've faithfully attempted to preserve that vintage Christmas spirit for my own family, but I have to admit it becomes harder to maintain as time goes by. Perhaps I'm getting too old, or too cynical. This year, our own decorations didn't go up until a few days before Christmas and I didn't find time to display any of the cards we'd been sent until Christmas Eve. That was when I finally dragged the stepladder from the cobwebs of the utility room and pinned the Christmas cards to the wooden beams of our living room ceiling. This has been the first Christmas since my stepfather's death, last January, so I was naturally concerned about my mother being left alone. It's been a tough year for her, one way or another. Emiko and I had been invited by our friends, Julia and Steve, for Christmas dinner over at their house. It's become something of a tradition as we've (very splendidly), dined there just about every Christmas Day since we've lived in the area. I'd explained to Steve and Julia that I felt I should look after my mother this Christmas but they generously suggested that we bring her along to their house for dinner too. Mum can be a little shy with people she doesn't know so well, so when I brought up the subject with her she seemed, at first, a little uncertain. I assured her that she would be made very welcome and that our friends had three splendid dogs for her to pet. My mother adores dogs and this seemed to tip the balance towards the positive and she agreed to accept the invitation. I drove over to Wakefield to pick mum up on Christmas Day morning, then drove her back to our place before setting off down the lane to our friend's house for dinner. As usual Julia and Steve had prepared a huge feast...traditional fare with all the trimmings, a warm welcome and their family and friends along to share the day. Mum ended up being adored and fussed over by the dogs and I ended up in our friend's music room with their children and Julia's mum, (who is a talented pianist). A fun filled hour or so followed with me jamming on guitar alongside Julia's two youngest sons, (Eddie and William), on the drums. Then a run through of some old standards and evergreens with Julia's mum leading on piano and me trying to spontaneously figure out the melodies on guitar. A very mellow, woozy, enjoyable Christmas Day afternoon. My mother stayed over with us that night and then on boxing day, my daughter Elle and son Elliot came to our house for food and drinks and gift-giving. Another pleasant, warm family occassion. We took my mother back home to Wakefield later that night. She seemed to have really enjoyed herself. The following day, I began to feel out of sorts. I had developed a sore throat and sensed the onset of yet another 'bug.' The day after that, it shed all pretence of being an imaginary condition and revealed itself as a fully blown flu' virus and I felt so rotten that I couldn't get out of bed. Today, (one week on), I'm far from being free of it but I think I can finally sense a minute improvement, even though my body still seems pre-occupied with the mysterious manufacture of endless amounts of vile green alien goo. Nights are spent coughing and retching and days are filled with perpetual nose-blowing and throat-clearing interrupted by moments of vacant staring into space, numbed and distanced from the wider world by dull aches and sudden shivers. Emiko has caught this latest bug from me too, for which I'm feeling most guilty. Django and Tink, our telepathic cats, look up at us, concerned, then curl up in our laps like living, breathing hot-water bottles. Emi went back to work today which was, I think, a foolish thing to do, considering the state of her health at the moment. In fact, she's just now telephoned to say that she's about to come home early as her cough is so bad. I'm not surprised. These viruses seem to be everywhere and virtually unavoidable. The pre-Christmas crowds were full of people coughing and sneezing. It's impossible to stay clear of airborne germs in tightly packed shops. One other side effect of this latest flu bug is that I haven't bothered to shave for a week and am now sporting a full beard. It's several years since I last grew a beard but this time I've been surprised by its colour. My bristles are no longer dark but are now what I think is referred to as 'salt n' pepper,' (with the balance tipped far more towards the 'salt' side of the equation). Strange this as the hair on the top of my head shows relatively few signs of grey. I'm now trying to decide whether I should keep and maintain this beard. In the mirror it gives me a rather scruffy, tramp-like appearance, a sort of Dharma Bum persona, a ragged, crazy Zen monk look, even a bit Bukowski, which is quite at odds with the 'glam' image of my early career. Yeah, maybe I'll keep it for a while and see what music hides in it! I need to record here some of the other events of the last two months as my previous diary entry was October of last year. Nelsonica 08 was the main event during this time. The stresses and strains of getting everything in place had dramatically built up during the few days before the event. When the actual day arrived I was feeling totally drained before I even drove to the venue. I was little more than a bundle of nerves when I first took the stage but the audience, (the biggest attendance so far), were warm and wonderful. The live performances, (both solo and band), were extremely well recieved despite some hilarious mistakes due to the amount of material the band and myself had tried to learn in the two days available to us. There were some onstage technical and sound problems too, which caused a certain amount of confusion but none of this seemed to matter somehow. I felt shattered but happy at the end of it. Everyone commented on the quality and scale of the convention's decorations, which really transformed the room. The whole thing was run professionally with thought and care and a lot of love. I've said it before but Nelsonica feels more like the gathering of an extended family than a mere fan convention. This fact has very little to do with me but everything to do with the good people who attend the event and the organising team themselves. I just tag along with my guitars...and chat a bit. Anyway, the day was considered to be a great success and the best Nelsonica yet. This is extremely gratifying to know but always puts more pressure on the team and myself to come up with something to top it next time...which is never an easy task, bearing in mind how much we pack into the event as it is. I'm always super-critical of my own input anyway and usually find fault with my performance regardless of how well received it is. I suppose I have to accept that I'll never come up with a performance or recording that will satisfy me 100%. But that doesn't stop me from trying. Another feature of Nelsonica 08 was that it doubled as an early celebration of my 60th birthday. Fans were extremely kind and generous, bringing cards and gifts which I took home and saved until my actual birthday rolled around on the 18th of December. I've never had so many birthday cards in my life. Amazing! On the morning of my birthday, I had an enjoyable time unwrapping the thoughtful gifts I'd been given at Nelsonica. Such perfect gifts...it would be unfair to name just a few of the people and too time consuming and complicated to name everyone, but I'm attaching a photograph of all the gifts alongside this diary entry. There were some absolute gems amongst them too, things which I'll treasure for a long time. Emiko had bought me, (for my birthday), an Airline Lap Steel guitar in red with a black pickguard. In Japan, when you reach sixty, it is traditional to be given something in red, so this guitar was an appropriate gift. I've already got a track part completed which features the Lap Steel. I added a vocal too, before the flu' kicked in. All this helped to make my birthday a special one, even though I'm still having problems trying to grasp the fact that I've actually reached the venerable age of 60! Seems like only yesterday that I was unwrapping Christmas presents as a 1950's child. Another post-Nelsonica, pre-Christmas task was the making of a special, seasonal audio-visual piece for the Dreamsville website. This one was titled 'The Silver Bells Of Christmas Valley' and, whilst being quite simple, it turned out to be a charming little video Christmas card for fans. Seems to have been well received. I also wrote and recorded a single which I gave away as a free download on my site, a Christmas gift from me to everyone who has supported my music this last year. It's called 'I Hear Electricity.' Has a nice vocal too, as does the 'b' side: 'Kiss You Slow.' And, whilst on the subject of downloads, I'd also recorded another new song, titled 'A Million Whistling Milkmen' which I've donated to 'Sara's Hope Foundation,' a very worthwhile charity run by a good friend of mine who is also a loyal member of the Nelsonica organisational team. If you haven't already done so, check out the following website to find out more: www.sarashopefoundation.co.uk The 'Milkmen' song has been made available as a 'flac' lossless download, and can be obtained in return for a modest donation to the Foundation. It's a nifty piece of pop music and won't scare the horses. And now it is 2009, already rushing towards 2010. We should be in science-fiction land, enjoying the shining, clean, peaceful future we were promised in the fantasy comic books of the 1950's...but the reality is a continuing bloody conflict in the middle east, threats of religious wars and terrorism, the ongoing collapse of the global financial system and a very bleak midwinter to get through...and whatever dark clouds may lurk beyond. So much uncertainty. Music and art may seem, to some, to be a frivolous luxury in such difficult times. But art at its best helps us to transcend these things, to slip through the cracks to a place where regeneration dances amongst blasts of electricity. Here is a landscape of hope in a world of eternal beauty. Here is the best of us, the most worthy of our endeavours. These bright dreams, I'd venture, are worth preserving. Diary Of A Hyperdreamer wishes its readers a HAPPY, HEALTHY, PEACEFUL 2009! ***** The images accompanying this diary entry are as follows:- 1: Bill's photograph of Django the cat, admiring a minimal flower arrangement created by Emiko. 2: A vintage pack of 'Monopole' guitar strings, retained by Bill from his 1960's guitar playing days. 3: A previously unseen polaroid photo' of Bill playing live in his very early Be Bop Deluxe 'glam-rock' days, probably at 'The Fforde Greene' pub in Leeds or 'The Staging Post' pub in the same city. Possibly early 1973 but certainly no later.(Nick Dew in the background on drums. Note Nick's stage makeup, quite some time before Kiss did something similar!) 4: A few of Bill's favourite guitars photographed in the rehearsal room prior to Nelsonica 08. 5: Some of Bill's 60th Birthday cards on display in his home. 6: Bill's 60th birthday gifts from fans and the Airline Lap Steel guitar that Emiko bought for him. Top of page

Nelsonian Navigator - Issue One - Published July 1995 Back to Top

Infotainment single - 1990 The Rhythm Sisters Production/Contribution Menu Future Past BILL: Producer, Guitar, Sitar and Keyboard. Production/Contribution Menu Future Past

William's Study Diary Of A Hyperdreamer 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2013

Museum of Memory A collection of pictures from Bill's personal archives Pictures of Bill and his family as a youngster. Select image for expanded mode and description. Early pictures of Bill's family. Select image for expanded mode and description. Bill's Childhood locations. Select image for expanded mode and description.

Thursday 16th June 2005 -- Mid Evening. Damaged my left hand last week, mainly middle finger, by accidentally hitting the bannister on the stairs whilst rolling up my shirt sleeves. Yes, I know, a dumb thing to do but, as pathetic as it sounds, it hurt like hell. The blow pushed the finger inwards, against the joints and tendon. It's been painful, swollen and red and I couldn't play guitar for a few days. Difficult to grip things and to drive without discomfort too. Finally on the mend but still a little tenderness. I seem to be either much more clumsy in my late middle age or simply more accident prone than of yore. Two envelopes from Harold arrived in the post last week, one containing photographs of the desert house within which he composed the 'Bride In The Trees'/'Widow In The Trees' pieces that we duetted on at the Brighton concert. The other envelope contained a letter with Harold's thoughts on his 'retirement', his reflections on the concert itself, and more general chit-chat. Harold's letters are always a joy to read and I consider myself fortunate to receive them. Whilst on the subject of communications, I received a long and generous email from artist Russell Mills recently. Good to hear from him. I'm going to try to contribute a few 'off cuts' of music to a sound assembly project he's working on. Lots of interesting people involved in it. Hopefully, I can donate some prima materia to the communal sonic soup. Also recieved an email from Kate, (St. John), and spoke with her on the 'phone. As I've mentioned before in this diary, I'm very fond of Kate, she's one of those rare people who I can relax around and talk openly about anything. I hope to ask her and Theo Travis to join me for parts of my London concert this coming November, if I can come up with some music worthy of the two of them. Actually, the writing of new music is not going too well right now, and not just because of my hand injury. After I returned from Brighton the other week, I listened back to the unfinished tracks I'd been working on prior to Harold's concert and suddenly decided to abandon them. They just didn't tweak my nipples. Not a writer's block, just a barking up of the wrong tree. You'd think that, after completing the Rosewood project, I'd be full of confidence and optimism... but I'm not. All I can hear is its flaws. Perhaps I need to lose my current 'weight of the world' worries, rid myself of the various doubts and fears that have been bothering me, just let things flow more. I've often given this same advice to friends who have hit a similar sort of creative obstacle but, typically, I find it hard, if not impossible, to deal with myself. I just seem to be overburdened with self-doubt and existential angst at the moment. Or is that my regular condition? Anyway... I've consigned the unfinished pieces to the, 're-consider several months hence' bin. I've now started on an entirely new piece, a vocal one, for both the tour and the tour album. I've completed a couple of mixes of it but... not sure if it's right yet. So, still more tweaking to be done and then a backing track mix of the song to be made for the shows. The song is called 'AND THEN THE RAIN', yet another melancholic rain song, the sort that seem to have become a regular part of my musical vocabulary. This particular one could be said, (by some), to be a 'classic' Bill Nelson romantic rock/pop tune. (Is there such a thing?) There's nothing stylistically new about it but it certainly fits into a certain melodic niche that a lot of people tell me they like. Not that I composed it with that specific result in mind. Like everything else that happens to me, it just happened. More worryingly, I'm pretty much ambivalent about it right now. I'll see how it stands up after I've forgotten about it. Let it settle. Because my digital recording system allows me extra control, further options, I tend to spend far more time recording each piece than I did with the old analogue tape system I used for so many years. An inclination to fiddle about presents itself. And then, because I spend longer working on each piece, I become bored, indifferent or immune to it. There's a lot to be said for working quickly with limited means. It certainly speeds the process and stops the rot setting in. Not that I'd really go back to the old technology, even though I do, ultimately, prefer the warmth of tape. The major creative problem I'm having at the moment is caused by the pressure to come up with lyrics. Perhaps it's because I'm not in a vocal-oriented state of mind right now. My passions are pulling me more towards the instrumental end of the spectrum. In fact, not just the instrumental end of the spectrum but the very abstract end of it. The bit that verges almost on silence. Nevertheless, I've been pursuaded to present some vocal songs, (as well as instrumentals), at the autumn concerts so I have to come up with something worthwhile. Maybe, I'm panicking unduly, but panicking I definitely am. What I really need is a holiday or at least a healthy break away from all of this. (How often have I said that?) I don't seem to have stopped for the last few years now, a constant chasing of my own tail. Is it so surprising that I'm feeling exhausted? My own fault, of course, no-one to blame but me. But... Because of the amount of work I've produced over the years, people often think it comes easy, that it's stress free and constantly on tap. If only that were the case. The reason I've produced so much stuff isn't because it's easy, it's because I work very hard at it and with a passion, to the point where I regularly endanger my physical health and mental well-being. Sounds dramatic, I know, but it often feels like I'm emptying my life and soul into these things. I love doing this work, but it's much more of a struggle than people might realise. Adrian at Opium asked if I could suggest four tracks from my catalogue that could be given to the agent to play to promotors to give them some idea of what my solo concerts are like. I certainly can do this, if it helps, but I'm pretty amazed that, after the extremely well attended 'Romance Of Sustain' solo tour I presented in 2003 and last year's sell out solo+band tour, that it's neccesary for me to 'audition' for promotors in this way. Or am I presuming too much? I'm not exactly expecting two weeks at the Albert Hall, after all. Maybe these people are too worried about losing money to really make any, too concerned with certainty to take chances. It's almost boringly predictable, safe bets all round. As my father used to say: ' jobs for the boys.' How unexciting, how banal. Unfortunately, such attitudes don't sit comfortably with my own. It's way too sleepy slow for me. Still, musn't grumble. I'm just as effective and happy in my little studio as out on the stage, probably more so. If the tour happens, it happens, if it doesn't, I've certainly got plenty of other things to get on with. My CD burner still not fixed. My fault for not unwiring it from the studio set up and hauling it over to Leeds to get it repaired. Must do this soon. Must also do same with my Line 6 Vetta combo which is still sporting a broken volume control. Domestic repairs needed all over the house, too...not just my studio equipment. Serious repairs. Trouble is, I get terribly distracted by the ongoing creative stuff. It grabs me by the throat and won't let me think about anything else until it's had its wicked way with me. And not just that but administrative stuff too, little niggly things that take up time and make the things I really want to do more pressurised than they need be. Life at this end of 'the business' is far tougher than when I used to play the commercial game. God knows if it's art or not but, whatever it is, it's bloody hard going sometimes. One area of progress: A new keyboard is on order, a Yamaha Motif ES 88. To replace my busted Emulator E4 K workstation. I should try to sell the latter, even though some of the keys need replacing. I've used it for the last ten years or so, some great sounds in it plus it operates as a sampler. It would be a fine instrument for someone who was prepared to get the keys fixed. Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to getting the new keyboard in the hope that some unfamiliar sounds will spark fresh creative ideas. Car troubles this last week. Both Emi's car and mine have been in the repair shop for work to get the vehicles through their MOT's. An expensive business. Cars are generally a nightmare, especially old, high mileage ones like ours. Four-wheeled money vampires. A nice series started on tv last Sunday, about the English landscape and how it has influenced artists throughout history. Beautifully photographed and uplifting. Of course, Yorkshire figured highly in the first episode. God's own county, as they say. I never tire of having that glorious landscape on my doorstep. I consider myself blessed to live amongst it. It's not all glorious landscapes though. Royal Ascot horse races are being held in York this week. A Royal pain in the arse, I call it. (Arsecot?) It disrupts the roads around here dramatically. An entire week of being stuck in traffic on some routes. (And when I say 'traffic' I mean mostly those flashy, 'look how much cash I've got' sort of cars, the type I gave up for lost 20 years or more ago.) Still, I've been able to giggle at all the drunken, flimsily clad women tottering around town on their high heels with their spotty boobs hanging out. Bolly dollys a-go-go. Cheap as chips and twice as greasy. Pink and purple and yellow and green...and that's just their faces. You can tell I love 'em though. Flirty tarts dancing to dated disco music around their tacky pink handbags at after race parties all over town. Pissed as arseholes. Absolutely! Desperate! The men are as just bad too, puffed up like red faced baboons in grey morning suits and top hats. Makes the place look untidy. It's hilarious to see the fuss being made about the event locally. Shove the Queen (and the few other Royals that bothered to show up) into the equation and everyone starts strutting around as if they're suddenly in on something of earth shattering importance.. 'It's The Queen, you know... Yes, my dear, here in our town, on our doorstep...' (Actually, she's staying in our village, just a short walk from our house, so shove that down your majestic pipe and flush it. Of course, me and ol' Charlie were down the local boozer the other night, riffing about Abba. We're the same age, don't cha know...) What this event has proved is that most people are so transparently desperate for celebrity that any slight brush or association with it will be gobbled up greedily. Endless lines of local traders clambering over each other to genuflect in front of the old boiler. Sad really, if it wasn't such a comedy. Still, keeps 'em in idle chit-chat if nothing else. Maybe I'm cynical and jaded, the 'been there, done that' attitude. I shouldn't begrudge them their little stab at self-aggrandisment. God knows life's dull enough for most folks around these parts. Let 'em enjoy their brush with 'royalty' whilst it lasts. Mind you, the weather has been less than cheerful for the event most of the week. Certainly dampened the silly hats down a bit. Then again, it's made those exquisitely flimsy dresses even more amusing. Wish I'd have had my camera handy to show you what I mean. What's the word you're looking for to describe me? Incorrigible? Rude? Disrespectful? Scandalous? Anarchic? Jealous? (Gimmie a break!) Probably something much stronger if you're a saddo royal limo chaser. If nothing else, this event has provided me with a useful stage on which to act out my grumpy old man scenario. Royalty and advocates of blood sports...ripe for scorn in my book. Still, the betting shops and bookies will be happy. Plenty of pseudo-posh dosh being squandered, despite the current local opinion that the event has been something of a failure. Not enough people bothered to show up apparently. A case of Southern snobbishness and indifference meets Northern greed and shiftyness. Hotels and other local businesses were hoping to be run off their feet, dreaming of train-loads of cash flowing in from the migrating Southerners. Local prices went up with local expectations. Trouble is, the buggers stayed home in droves, (thankfully). Well, it's crowded enough 'round here at this time of year without mock-toffs and posh totty adding to it. Obviously, I've never been one for frequenting the old betting shop... can't afford it of course, being a tortured artist and all that. And probably wouldn't if I could. My Dad used to like the 'gee gees 'though. But personally, those high voices and beards never appealed to me. Actually, Dad used to occasionally win some money on the horses. Even though he was far from being a wealthy man and couldn't place large stakes. But he had a certain way with 'accumulators', the winnings from one race being immediately placed as a bet on the next, and so on. A sort of a 'system', he claimed. He was pretty good at it. Won enough to pay for our family's entire holiday in Blackpool once. The bookie behind the Pleasure Beach banned him from placing bets there ever again, told him not to come back. Dad cleaned him out, it seemed. Oh, how we laughed. It was extra sticks of Blackpool rock all round. My Dad liked soccer too but that never appealed to me either. I do know the name of one football player though... Stanley Matthews. Little guy with big shorts and Brylcreemed hair from what I recall. A 1950's schoolboy hero for some. Actually, (and obviously), I'm playing the fool a bit here... I did actually go to a soccer match once. My Dad took me to a game in Blackpool, when we were on holiday there, (but not the time when he got banned from the bookies). He hoped I'd be enthused by a real live soccer match but I was bored rigid. Much preferred going to the Tower Circus or listening to Reginald Dixon play the mighty Wurlitzer in The Tower Ballroom. Or go for a spin on a promenade childrens ride called 'Fairyland'. My mother says I really liked that one. Sounds about right. I was, so I'm told, a sensitive kid and according to my school chums something of an odd-bod. And there's me thinking that it was everyone else that was strange. Times change but maybe not so much. Watched Fellini's delightful and shouty 'Amacord' on DVD the other night. Music by Nino Rota. Great name that, 'Nino Rota'. I really like Fellini's colour sense and the way that his camera moves against the wonderfully choreographed crowd scenes. 'Juliet Of The Spirits' is one of my Fellini faves. And 'Eight And A Half' of course. Great opening scene in that one. Lets go fly a kite but dreamy-weird. I'm reading 'In The Half Light' by Anthony Lawrence. The author is a poet and this is his first novel and it's a cracking one. The entire book is imbuded with the quality of poetry, a flowing, beautiful, compulsive read. I highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys intelligent, unusual, imaginative and elegantly written prose. This is a book that doesn't treat its reader like an idiot. I was initially attracted to it by the cover image which is subtly haunting. These days, in my opinion, book graphic design has overtaken album sleeve design for inventiveness. Recently bought a 'moleskine' blank notebook and a graphite pencil from Salt's Mill. Had a late Sunday lunch there again last weekend. Emi and I love visiting the place. The combination of Hockney's work and the historic 'utopian model village' setting creates a very civilised atmosphere. The excellent book shop in the gallery previously had several copies of my 'Diary Of A Hyperdreamer' book on the shelves, but they've sold out now. (I know because some Japanese friends whom we took there recently wanted to buy copies but the assistant at Salt's Mill said they'd all gone.) Anyway, I intend to carry the moleskine notebook with me in my shoulder bag at all times, to use as a sketchbook. Always to hand should inspiration strike. Of course, I'll either forget I'm carrying it or I'll be too busy trying to create music for the autumn tour to get any sketching done, more's the pity. Must write to John Foxx soon. Harold and John and I should try to get together to record something. Despite Harold's retirement. I meant to contact John a week or two ago but seem to be constantly distracted by one thing or another. I really should make more of an effort to stay in touch with people. By 'people,' I mean those whose sensibilities would encourage me towards a less pessimistic outlook. Those who would inspire me to take a few more sunlit chances. Positive creatives who understand all this stuff. But, left to my own devices, I retreat into shadow, spitting and hissing to no effect at all, other than to alienate those who might otherwise share their time with me. Darkness and light, and not much of the latter. Something's up, but what? Depression again? Maybe... but as I said, it doesn't get any easier. Come on, William, you're raving. Buck up... just get on with it! Sound of helicopters passing overhead, ferrying the wealthy to and from their royal race meeting. There must have been thirty or more 'copters parked in a field near the race course at the start of the week, just opposite the allotments. Less now though. Some local farmer will probably be making a few extra bob by allowing them to land there. I've seen the pound signs in so many people's eyes these last few weeks, the sudden lust for personal glory. Can't say it's a surprise. Police everywhere too... What this nonsense is costing us locals is anyone's guess. Outrageous, probably. Never mind... Back to normality next week. The right wing nouveau-rich will be back in their kitsch little boxes where they clearly belong. What a relief! All that frilly, fluffy pink bad taste makes the place look untidy. Pip pip! Cheerio chums! Top of page William's Study (Diary Of A Hyperdreamer) June 2005 Feb Mar Apr May Jul Aug Sep Oct Dec 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2013

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