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Sunday 24th July 2005 -- 11:45 pm A long gap between the previous diary entry and this. Far too long. Work demands have been overwhelmingly intense and I've had little time or energy for anything else. Perhaps this is not so unusual considering how many projects I seem to regularly juggle these days... .but I do seem to have bitten off more than I can chew this time. I've been constantly struggling against physical exhaustion and a kind of mental/spiritual malaise, every day being tinted and tainted with a combination of dread, self-loathing and panic. Just too many things dragging my concentration this way and that, a sense of hopelessness gradually overwhelming whatever optimism I've attempted to muster. I've felt as if my work has suffered as a result too, 'though this may be entirely subjective. Whatever, it still feels like too little energy spread too thin. The task taking up most of my time is the continuous writing and recording of my forthcoming album. For reasons not quite clear, many of the pieces of music have turned out to be long and complex. They are mostly heavily layered, orchestrally textured songs with intricate, fussy arrangements. Each song has taken several days to complete, not just in terms of the writing but also in terms of the actual performance and recording. Mixing the finished recordings has proved problematic too, as there is so much going on just beneath the surface of the music. Getting the correct balance between the myriad interwoven components is not exactly a quick and easy job... so many details to consider. I'm still toying with the idea of remixing a couple of songs, though I'll hardly have time for such a luxury if the finished package is to be ready for the autumn release schedule. There's all the artwork/packaging to consider too. If these songs were ever to be performed in a completely live context, (ie: no use of backing tracks), they would require a large group of very broad-minded and eclectic musicians in tandem with a small symphony orchestra to duplicate the recorded effect. As I originally intended to write intimate pieces that would only require three or four musicians to perform the songs live, it's a shock that what eventually came down my cantakerous muse's pipe ended up being so densely layered and epic sounding. I haven't a clue as to why this should be, it's just as mysterious to me as to anyone else. I'm subject to the surreal dictates of my own unconscious and am often as much a victim of its unpredictability, as well as a beneficiary. The songs' lyrical content has been problematic too, reflecting, perhaps, my troubled state of mind. They're not overtly angst-ridden, heart-on-sleeve, chest beaters, but they do seem to suggest a certain world-weariness and resignation. These are confusing, dualistic, personal songs whose shiny veneer maybe hides something deeper and darker. As I so often say these days, maybe it's just a result of my age and the weird times we live in. Not entirely a waste of time, however, as the abandoned tracks have helped direct me towards some of the other pieces that I feel are much more succesful. These 'keeper' tracks are now the spiritual core of the album, which has revealed, or given birth to, a concept of sorts. (Although it is not strictly a 'concept' album in the old school sense of the term.) But... I have to consider the amount of time this music is taking to formulate and complete itself. If I were to continue at the current rate of progress, all my other creative responsibilities would have to be dropped from my agenda. (Not a good idea.) Not sure that I like being gripped quite so viciously by a single piece of work... but this one seems to be a difficult beast to escape from. I have to admit, however, that there is a part of me that says, 'just dump everything else and spend the next six to eight months concentrating exclusively on the new album.' In fact, I was actually on the point of doing this, including cancelling/postponing the autumn tour, when Adrian, at Opium's office in London, suggested a more practical, pragmatic alternative. He pointed out that it wasn't absolutely neccesary for the album to be one of my extra long, 'filled to the brim with tracks' ones. In fact, Adrian said, it might work equally as well as a 'mini-album' or an ep. This would take some of the pressure off and allow me more time to prepare the video material for the tour and also to deal more comfortably with all the other projects I'm currently juggling. (Against the odds.) An obvious solution, staring me in the face I suppose, but one which I'd somehow stupidly missed... but a very good proposal nevertheless. BUT... even if I do decide that it will be a 'mini' album, (in terms of track count), it could still turn out to be 'full length' as most of the individual tracks are unusually long, so much so that the total listening time may add up to being the same as a 'normal' album. Adrian pointed out that it is probably already as long as Anthony and The Johnsons' recent album (which apparently clocks in at approximately 32 minutes or somewhere about that). But, regardless of these thoughts, I still want to push on, to see where the current thematic or conceptual thread leads me. Luckily, the idea of making it a 'mini-album' provides a much needed safety net... At least I now know that I can 'switch off' the project and deal with the rest of my workload when the time comes to do so. A little bit less pressure, though there's still plenty more to deal with. As an explanation for my sense of urgency and panic I'll list the current workload in this diary entry, in a moment or two, BUT before I do, here is the latest information about this 'album in progress' of mine:- The songs I've decided will be on the 'possible inclusions' list are as follows:- 'The Ceremonial Arrival Of The Great Golden Cloud.’ 'Dreams Run Wild On Ghost Train Tracks.’ 'And Then The Rain.' 'The Man Who Haunted Himself.' 'Tin Sings Bones.' 'Duraflame.' All these are vocal pieces. There are also two as yet unfinished and untitled instrumentals to add to this list... The list does not include everything that I've recently recorded, i.e.: abandoned tracks or tracks that have been completed but set aside for other possible projects (as they proved unsuitable for this one). The album is very much a work in progress at this stage, although it now has a reasonably fixed title. What is the title? Well, unless I radically re-think the album, it will be called 'The Alchemical Adventures Of Sailor Bill.' There are deeply personal reasons for this apparently surreal and light-hearted title, which I may explain at some point in the future. Needless to say, it springs from my usual internal pre-occupation with the absurdity and seriousness, beauty and ugliness of our human condition, and mine in particular. So... the cut-off point with this album will be entirely dictated by the deadlines and demands of my other work... Whether 'mini' or otherwise, there WILL be a new album, depite the pressures. And here, by way of example, is the list of the work I'm attempting, as promised above:- 1. Prepare autumn tour set, including the making, choosing, mastering and assembly of performance backing tracks, both old and new. 2. Design tour advertising material, flyers, t-shirts, posters, etc, for above. 3. Shoot and edit new video material to use as back projection on the autumn tour. (An extremely time consuming job, this one.) 4. Prepare various items and performance events for Nelsonica 05 , (to be held in October), including design and preparation of all visual material, tickets, limited edition screen print poster, etc. 5. Create a Nelsonica 05 convention cd, including the selection and mastering of appropriate musical material, and suitable visual content, sleeve design, etc. 6. Create an exclusive music track for Sound On Sound's magazine's 20th anniversary issue. 7. Give a talk to music college students in September. 8. Prepare tracks, both old and new, for the early August guitar Festival performance in Lewes. (And boy, am I behind schedule with this one!) 9. Choose and assemble an appropriate selection of music onto cdr to send to Ronald Nameth with regard to a possible collaboration on the Ginsberg 'Howl For Now' event documentary film. 10. Contribute an article/written Q+A for a book being written about the above event. 11. Transfer to Mackie removable media hard drive and then mix the very early Be Bop Deluxe Decca audition tapes for possible release in autumn. 12. Design packaging for above. 13. Help to oversee the release of major label back catalogue. (Mercury and EMI.) 14. Select appropriate equipment for upcoming live shows, unwire from my studio and repair where required. Then pack and haul downstairs in preparation for transportation to venues. 15. Schedule a full day's rehearsal for autumn tour and ensure that everything is in place that needs to be. 16. Allocate sufficient time at home to allow a personal rehearsal schedule for the tour material so that the main reheasal is freed up to concentrate on technical/equipment/sound mixing matters, rather than musical ones. 17. Complete the writing and recording and mixing of the new album. 18. Decide track running order, book Fairview to master the final album and design packaging art for it. 19. Attend and possibly contribute towards the performance of Ginsberg's 'Howl' poem, annniversary reading. 20. Begin a possible collaboration with John Foxx. 21. Ditto with J. F. and Harold Budd. 22. Ditto with Cipher. (Theo Travis and Dave Sturt.) 23. Try to get back on track with my collaboration with American comic book artist Matt Howarth. 24. Open up further areas of the Dreamsville site, including the long promised 'Museum Of Memory' feature, the 'Academy Of Art' and the 'Guitar Arcade.' But, as I've already said, the priority for me at the moment is to constantly work on the new album. (11 am to 11 pm, with a 45 minute dinner break, every day, with a couple of guilty Sundays off to give Emiko some kind of life other than sitting downstairs watching tv whilst I furrow my brow in the studio.) So... this is the kind of life I lead right now:- obsessive, unhealthy, anti-social, grumpy, angst-ridden, insecure, depressive, stressful, etc. (Oh, poor, poor me, so many guitars to play!) But also, dreamlike, magical, creatively fulfilling, educational, enlightening and priveleged too. Yes... it's that special. I'm just one of those common or garden, pathetic but fabulously lucky tortured artists that you read about in tacky romantic novels... AND I've got the dysfunctional lifestyle, psychological quirks and expanding waistline to prove it. And now on to other, more serious matters:- Terrorist attacks on London. What can I or anyone else say ? The horror, disgust and revulsion that we all feel about these events requires no explanatory comment from me. Nevertheless, I'll say this, if only to release a little of the pressure in my own angry heart:- That people commit such acts of depravity in the name of religion, (whatever religion), is a sickening measure of the ignorance, stupidity, gullibility and downright self-centred, ugly righteousness of those who think of themselves as 'agents of god'. ('God' is, increasingly it seems, a convenient concept for abdicating individual responsibilty for vile criminal acts.) The indoctrinated dupes who carry out these cruel, pathetic and ultimately ineffectual attacks are deluded lost souls, terminally infatuated with the ecstasy of self-immolation, death and glory, holy-martyrdom and all the other banal, historically tested, psychologically potent appeals to the dangerous idiot within us all. These young fools bought the tired old lie of a righteous martyr's paradise... and couldn't see past the illusions weaved by their hate-filled puppet masters. What a tragic world we live in. As always, the innocent suffer the most. And don't get me started on the political issues. There's ignorance on all sides. Enough disgust from me? More than you need... let's move on. Despite my relentless work schedule, I have conspired to take a couple of Sundays off. A visit to Castle Howard and visits to the East and North Yorkshire coast, Reighton Sands, Whitby, Spurn Point. The latter two locations allowed me a chance to paddle like a kid in the ocean, to savour the waves and breath some fresh air, ('though I wish I had more time to do it properly and without guilt). I justified the time away from my studio by taking along my camera and camcorder to capture images that might prove useful for the tour's video projection, or for this very website. Some of those photo's scattered amongst this diary entry... a couple of seaside days to share with you. My trip to Reighton Sands, or 'Reighton Gap' as it was known to my family in the 'fifties, was only the second time I've been there since I was a child. (My earlier diary entries reference this.) On this latest visit, Emi and I ventured down the steep incline, cut into the cliffs, to the beach. It was the first time I'd walked on these sands since I was a very young boy. Nothing much had changed, apart from some coastal erosion, but the view of Flamborough Head from Reighton Sands was just as striking as I remembered, the beach just as sparsely populated. The crumbling ruins of the concrete World War 2 bunkers, almost exactly as they were in the early 'fifties when my family stayed at a bungalow in Reighton Gap, still stand, braving the North Sea winds and guarding the little pools in which I once, all those years ago, sailed my cream and red painted, battery powered, toy boat, 'St. Christopher.' I wrote 'Hello, Sailor Bill' in the sand with my walking cane and Emi took a photo. Emi and I then stood, trousers rolled up, at the edge of the sea, up to our calves in the incoming tide, which was cold and sharp and clear. We'd done the same thing at Spurn Point the previous weekend, (where I'd photographed the patterns made by fishermen's tractors in the sand on the Humber river side of the estuary peninsula). I love this entire stretch of coastline, its variety, its history, and never tire of it. My late father loved it too, as I've probably mentioned before... in fact, he loved the ocean and the coast generally, wherever we roamed as a family back in those simpler times. I still vividly recall standing next to him on cliff tops on the east coast, or on harbour walls in Ilfracoombe in Devon, watching the storm tossed waves. The wilder the seas, the more my father enjoyed observing them. He could be a difficult, sometimes angry and occasionally volatile, violent man, but also generous, kind, thoughtful and soulful. Certainly contradictory. Those moments standing beside him, in awe of the waves, stay stronger in my memory than his darker moods. One of my latest songs directly references my father's love of the sea. In fact, it starts with a simple statement: 'my father loved the sea, summertime, wintertime, anytime... My father longed to be, a sailor on the sea...' It sounds much better in the context of the whole song. (The song is called:- 'The Ceremonial Arrival Of The Great Golden Cloud.') It's over eight minutes long. Weather cool verging on cold today, cloudy and no sun. The recent warm weather vanished for a time, or so it seems. But it's been frustrating to have to stay in my hot, airless studio whilst the sunshine has been transforming the surrounding landscape into an archytypal English pastoral summer scene these last few weeks. It will soon be harvest time though, fields of barley have turned from green to gold already. Leaves turning before we know it too, I suspect. The seasons change so rapidly. I continue to make music and must optimistically return to the work, pushing on regardless. Minutes, hours, days, weeks, months. Time passes and life sings. All photographs by Bill Nelson. Top of page William's Study (Diary Of A Hyperdreamer) July 2005 Feb Mar Apr May Jun Aug Sep Oct Dec 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2013

Disguise in Love album - 1978 John Cooper Clarke Production/Contribution Menu Future Past BILL: Guitar on three songs, "I Don't Want To Be Nice", "Readers Wives" and "Health Fanatic". Production/Contribution Menu Future Past

Here To Go single - 1987 Cabaret Voltaire Production/Contribution Menu Future Past BILL: Guitar Production/Contribution Menu Future Past

Third Eye album - 1983 Monsoon Production/Contribution Menu Future Past BILL: E-Bow and Electric Guitar on "Wings of the Dawn" and "Tomorrow Never Knows". Also bass on "Tomorrow Never Knows". Production/Contribution Menu Future Past

Maid in Heaven Be-Bop Deluxe single - 20 June 1975 Singles Menu Future Past TRACKS: A) Maid In Heaven B) Lights ORIGINALLY: "Maid in Heaven" was lifted directly off the Futurama album, whereas "Lights" was the same version of the non-album cut that had appeared as the 'B' side of the previous single. NOTES: Maid in Heaven was the fourth 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 Best of and the Rest of Be Bop Deluxe double album (1978), and the Singles As and Bs compilation (1981). "Lights" would appear on CD as a bonus track added to Drastic Plastic (1991). CURRENT AVAILABILITY: The single is long deleted, but both tracks can be found on the Cherry Red/Esoteric Recordings reissue of Futurama (2019) - both in physical form and as a digital download. Singles Menu Future Past

Don't Argue single - 1987 Cabaret Voltaire Production/Contribution Menu Future Past BILL: Guitar Production/Contribution Menu Future Past

Rocket to the Moon Bill Nelson download single - 25 October 2009 Singles Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 1) Rocket To The Moon NOTES: "Rocket to the Moon" 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. "Rocket to the Moon" was premiered at Nelsonica 09 on 19 September 2009, with a special live performance of the song within Nelson's live set. The release of the download was then timed to coincide with the foundation's annual charity ball on what would have been Sara Hoburn's 25th birthday. Ged (Sara's father): "A million thanks to Bill for his support - his warmth and loyalty has really touched our family." The track was re-released on a special ' Bill Nelson (Charity Single)' Bandcamp p age on 30 October 2023. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available to purchase from the Bill Nelson (Charity Singles) Bandcamp page. BILL'S THOUGHTS: "Harks back to the most chirpy and jolly poptastic days of my '70's career. Catchy as a catchy thing too!" Singles Menu Future Past

Luxury Wonder Moments Bill Nelson album - 8 May 2017 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) Blue Dawn 02) Cloudwater Canal 03) Parade Of The Inhabitants Of A Phantom Fairground 04) Spindrift 05) The Elegant Parabola 06) Axiomata 07) Rain Falls On Sleepytown 08) Sweethearts In Swimsuits 09) What Time Is This Space? 10) The Clouded Mirror 11) Like Clockwork 12) Astro-Astoria 13) The Gliding Club 14) The Grand Magician Brings A Blessing 15) And There I Am 16) We Hail The Wind Down Long Arcades 17) Another Luxury Wonder Moment 18) Snow Light ALBUM NOTES: Luxury Wonder Moments is an album of guitar instrumentals released on the Sonoluxe label in a limited print run of 500 copies. The album was first mentioned on the Dreamsville Forum on 6 November 2015. The album grew out of material left over from a vocal album called Amplified Dreams and Wild Surprises which was completed in November 2015, but which currently remains unreleased. In early November Nelson revealed a draft running order for Luxury Wonder Moments comprised of 11 tracks, including one track "Thought Bubbles" which didn’t make it to mastering stage (at least not for this project). By 16 November 2015 the track listing had expanded to 17 tracks, although Nelson was determined to add an extra track before considering the album complete. A few days after announcing this intention, Nelson was unable to make any further progress on the album when his mixing desk finally failed on him, requiring it to be dispatched off for much needed overdue repairs. This would prevent him from completing any further new work until the New Year. Meanwhile, in the run up to Christmas 2015, Nelson confessed that he hadn’t managed to record a new tune for his by now customary Christmas Video Card, and so lifted a track from the Luxury Wonder Moments album called "Snow Light" (which wasn’t on the running order revealed in November 2015). "Snow Light" and "The Christmas Gift" (from Simplex ) were set to various stills of his guitars. The album was mastered on 4 March 2016 at Fairview Studio, by which time Nelson confirmed he had added that 18th track. Artwork would however take over a year to complete, and although Nelson dropped a number of hints that the release of Luxury Wonder Moments was high on the list of unreleased albums, it would take 14 months from mastering to its eventual release. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "Luxury Wonder Moments is, as the title suggests, a rich, lavish album of gleaming instrumentals with an array of sounds, guitars and keyboards. Containing 18 tracks in total, it offers a dreamy, immersive listening experience." FAN THOUGHTS: Palladium: "Really enjoying this extremely classy guitar album. Such a clear, "true", direct sound - a master at work, and one of those albums you'd expect to win awards, in a more reasonable universe. Anyone who loves, say, Silvertone Fountains or And We Fell Into A Dream , should purchase this immediately, if you haven't already." "I must say I find this album very accessible, with much that grabs you straight away, intriguing and lovely melodic detours and surprises, etc." Returningman: "This release is up there with Quiet Bells , And We Fell Into A Dream and Mazda Kaleidoscope , yup it's that damn good. "The first track harks back to "Raindrop Collector" (from And We Fell Into A Dream ) and continues with this mellow vibe throughout the whole album. Genius. Buy it now (if you have yet to take the plunge) dive in and savour the moments." Debtworker: "Really stunning tracks, red hot guitar work." "It reminded me very much of And We Fell Into A Dream - cannot say fairer than that! Beautiful music." JohnR: "I normally prefer Bill's vocal albums but Luxury Wonder Moments oozes class. An entire album where every track is as good as or better than the best of Illuminated At Dusk and Silvertone Fountains . Comsat Angel: "Received Luxury Wonder Moments and listened to it last night. I found it wonderfully peaceful with excellent subtle moments. I loved it just as much as Dr Dream and Kid Flip but for very different reasons." scooter59: "This is the second new release in a row that grabbed me right away and forced a complete listen on first play (rare anymore with so many distractions). "Can't wait for a second play today in the office. I always get one or two people that pop their heads in going, "Who is that?" MondoJohnny: "Got mine yesterday and listened on the way in this morning...and as of now I think that album is the only thing keeping me sane!" "Its got just that right balance of beauty and quirk if you ask me!" andygeorge: "Well, after all the very positive comments on LWM I thought, "hang on, what am I missing here?" I've been playing it again over the holiday weekend and yes, it has 'clicked'...big time! "The Gliding Club" is absolutely gorgeous! Bill at his glorious best, beautiful guitar soaring above the clouds!" Merikan1: "Heavenly. Another classic. Thanks Bill." Albums Menu Future Past

Sex-Psyche-Etc Bill Nelson ep - 29 June 1985 Singles Menu Future Past TRACKS: A) Sex, Psyche, Etcetera B1) Several Famous Orchestras B2) Who He Is ORIGINALLY: The three tracks on this release were non-album tracks at the time, but the A-side was eventually included on the album Iconography (1986). NOTES: Sex, Psyche, Etc is a 12" single issued on Cocteau Records, and was the first release to use the "Orchestra Arcana" moniker. Being under contract with CBS/Portrait, Nelson was prevented from releasing material on Cocteau, and so devised this pseudonym to get around the issue. The first appearance of the track "Sex, Psyche, Etcetera" was actually on a cover-mount cassette that came with Electronic Soundmaker and Music Maker magazine (Issue 7) in April 1985, before appearing a one month later on the 12" single, and then on the Iconography album in 1986. PAST RELEASES: Iconography was reissued on CD (Enigma, 1989) with no bonus cuts, but the two b-sides were included on the 2CD collection of all the Orchestra Arcana material on The Hermetic Jukebox (Fabled Quixote, 2003). CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Currently out of print, but a ll 3 tracks from the 12" will be made available when Iconography receives its Bandcamp digital release. Singles Menu Future Past

Thursday 12th May 2005 -- Late Afternoon/Early Evening A huge sigh of relief: My 'Dreamsville' site is finally up and working and has received a very generous outpouring of appreciation from its visitors. The response has been even more positive than I could have hoped for and there are vibrant, lively conversations continually buzzing in the virtual saloons of 'Dreamsville Inn Forum '. A genuine community spirit permeates the place. Excellent! The next task is for me to install visuals and text into the other areas of the site. First priority is 'The Museum Of Memory'. I've already gathered a large number of exhibits together for this location, as I've mentioned in earlier diary entries. These items now need to be loaded into the 'Museum' itself. Next in line, after this, is 'The Academy Of Art' and 'The Guitar Arcade'. Other duties have forced this to be put on hold though. Next week will be taken up with preparations for Harold Budd's concert on the 21st. Before that, I have equipment to repair, prepare, pack away and so on. Then a lengthy trip from Yorkshire down to Brighton for rehearsals and the concert itself. At this point in time I still don't have an inkling about the pieces I'm to perform on. Harold is playing it very close to his chest although he has recently told me the titles of the pieces that he's prepared for us to play together. Other than that, though, no clues. Nevertheless, such a last minute approach may add an edge to things as I'll have to invent something on the spot. I have to admit that I'm flattered that Harold has confidence in me to pull whatever rabbits are required out of my hat. But at the same time, (and predictably, for readers familiar with the self-doubts that regularly fuel this diary), I have very little confidence in myself at all. But fear not... the muse will find a way. Said he, setting down his glass of Merlot and adopting an inane grin... Perhaps I really shouldn't get myself quite so worked up about it. After all, I dive in the deep end as a matter of course with my own compositions on a fairly regular basis. (Or am I just foolishly trying to reassure myself with that last comment?) Anyway, it will be what it will be. A long time ago, when Harold and I played in Portugal together, Harold said, "Don't worry Bill, it doesn't have to be the greatest thing that came down God's pipe". But on this special occasion, particularly as it is Harold's public finale, I really want it to be wonderful, not for me, but for Harold who deserves the absolute best I can muster. A shift of shadows, a different and far more mundane topic:- Woes of all kinds on the domestic front. So what's new? Well, here's something: Back in January, I bought a new bathroom suite from MFI. Yes, I know... if only I could afford not to shop there. Anyway, I obtained what I'd thought was a bargain in MFI's January sales. Lots of convincing chat from their salesman who assured me this was the chance of a lifetime, free taps, waste traps and fittings, a Hollywood film starlet of my choice thrown in to scrub my back, complimentary bubble bath, and so on and so forth. 'Lovely', I thought, imagining Sharon Stone's nipples giving me the Soapland treatment. I placed my order and gained brownie points with Emiko. ('Though not for the Sharon Stone fantasies.) Eventually, I arranged for them to fit the damn thing too, not just supply it. "We have qualified fitters, Mr. Nelson,, they can do any extra work you might require, such as tiling, Mr. Nelson... whatever your heart might desire, very good quality, Mr. Nelson... a comprehensive service tailored to your needs, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah...". Out came my credit card and my hard-earned cash electronically whizzed into MFI's bank account. I left the store, trying to ignore the horror stories that several people had told me about their own, or friend's, experiences with the company. "MFI? Oooh... (big intake of breath and shaking of head), "you don't want to go there!" Time passed as we waited for their fitter to set a date. More time passed, weeks, months, an eternity it seemed. I went into MFI's store and raised a quiet storm of complaint. My face turned black, red horns popped from my skull, lighting flashed in my immediate vicinity, my voice dropped a couple of octaves, the sky went dark and I noticed that they had to switch the store's lights on. The MFI assistant appeared indifferent to any of these ominous pyrotechnics, acting as if my frustration was something so commonplace as to be not worthy of anything more energetic than sneering disdain. Actually, I'm trying to paint a picture of myself as a strong and indigant customer here...the truth is I was really quite reasonable, calm and polite. Of course, I should have been much heavier with them. Nevertheless, the assistant eventually wandered off to contact the fitter.... "Wait here Mr. Nelson, just a moment, Sir...". 20 minutes or so later, the assistant returned to say that they'd spoken to their fitter who had apparently said: " Fitting on May 5th...definitely". The assistant confidently wrote on my MFI paperwork:- 'Delivery: 5th of May, fitting: 5th of May'. At long last, I thought. So, On the 4th of May, Emiko and I spent the entire day clearing the bathroom of all furniture, of piles of magazines, of dozens of bottles of cosmetics, colognes, fragile mirrors, framed pictures, vintage radio, etc, etc. We also cleared an area of access from the front door, up the stairs, through the bedroom to the en-suite bathroom. Then we scrubbed the bathroom from top to bottom....Everything ship-shape and ready to go. I put my various work projects on hold so as to be available for the following day's delivery and fitting of the bathroom suite. I'd also bought boxes of tiles for the fitter to fit around the bathroom walls. All of this work agreed with him several weeks previously. AND paid for in advance, as is MFI's rule. (Note: always read the small print, preferably with an electron microscope.) Meanwhile, Emiko dreamed of a new bath that didn't leave rust marks on her skin. I dreamed of getting lathered up in the welcoming vicinity of Sharon Stone's thighs. On the morning of the 5th, Emi and I are up really early, eager and ready for the arrival of both fitter and our new bathroom suite. A few hours later, Emi has gone to work and I'm still waiting. After a while, I start to worry so I call the fitter's number, as given to me by MFI. An answer machine answers. I leave a message. Three-quarters of an hour later, the fitter calls to say that MFI hadn't told him he was supposed to be fitting our bathroom that day. In fact he's doing another job. (I find this unbelievable as MFI had actually spoken with the fitter on the 'phone in my presence some weeks before. And it was he who gave MFI the date of the 5th.) I ask him when he can come to do the job and he says, "call me when the bathroom suite arrives". I say:- "it's arriving today, so are you coming over later to fit it?" He says, "can't do it until next Monday at the earliest, I've taken on other work". (This is Thursday.) In a state of shocked stupor, I put the 'phone down. I eventually recover my composure and call MFI who begin to make outrageous excuses. I demolish these firmly and methodically and ask them what they propose to do to remedy the problem. They eventually say, "well, why don't you just take delivery of the suite and we'll arrange another fitting date". I then explain to them, (as I've already explained on several occasions since ordering the damned thing), that we have absolutely no where to store a boxed bathroom suite with all its fittings, other than in the garden and there's no way I'm leaving it there. I suggest they postpone the delivery until they organise a new fitting date, perhaps Monday or Tuesday at the latest, as now suggested by their fitter. MFI say they'll call me back. Once again I sit by the 'phone, trying to grasp the banality of the situation. When they eventually do call back, they say that they can't stop the delivery as the truck driver doesn't have a 'phone and therefore isn't contactable. They suggest I wait for him to arrive with the suite, then tell him to go away, and take it back to the depot with him. By now, steam is coming out of my ears. I sit in the house all day, fuming and hoping the delivery truck will arrive soon. It doesn't arrive. At four thirty, I decide to go out into town as I have better things to do. When I get back, Emiko has returned home from her day working at the flower shop. She says that the delivery man actually telephoned her at the shop, saying he had a bathroom suite to deliver to our house, but no-one was in. (And this after MFI had told me that the guy didn't have a 'phone in his truck.) Emiko explained the situation and the delivery man laughed... "it happens all the time with MFI" he said. He then took the suite back to his depot. I then await MFI to inform me of a new fitting date. I'm hoping it will be either Monday or Tuesday, as was suggested by their fitter. I hear nothing, not a sausage. On Monday, I call MFI to see if they've sorted things out. They say, "No, but why don't you call the fitter directly?" I do so, wondering why I'm doing their job for them. All I get is the fitter's answering machine. I leave a message, explaining the urgency. No one calls me back. I call again, leave another message. This goes on for a while. By Wednesday, I've abandoned hope and call MFI to tell them that the fitter hasn't answered my calls and ask them to get it sorted out or I'll consider cancelling my order. They say they'll try to contact the fitter. Ten minutes later, they call back to say they've spoken with him and that he can't fit it for at least another three weeks as he's taken on other work. In a daze, I tell them I'll speak with my wife about it. Emi and I then talk through the problems we've had and decide that, although it makes life more difficult for us, we really don't want to give our custom to this company any more. It's simply not good enough. I call MFI back and once again explain that they've had my money since January, it is now almost the end of May, and I still don't have my bathroom suite and that enough is enough... I want a refund. The girl on the 'phone invisibly sniggers and says "Fine, come into the store and we'll arrange it". So today, I locate all my paperwork, receipts, etc and go into the garden to get into my car to drive to MFI to ask for a refund. And here comes domestic screw up number two:- As I swing behind the wheel, I look up to see that my windscreen is sporting a large hole with cracks radiating out from it, right across the entire screen. I get out of the car in disbelief and look at the damage. A real mess... not at all safe to drive. The cause? Our next door neighbour has been erecting a workshop the size of a small house at the bottom of our garden and the builders have, it seems, lobbed a brick or something extremly hard through my car's windscreen. Their last day today, too, apparently. A parting shot? How they did this, I have no idea. It couldn't have been something dropped from the building as my car wasn't underneath it, or the surrounding scaffolding. There was no sign of a brick or a missile either...(They must have removed it.) Whatever it was, it would need hurling away from the structure to hit my car's windscreen. My blood pressure went up along with my hackles but the builders had gone home. On tip-toe, I presume. I urgently had to get into town so I grabbed my things and set off to walk into the village where there is a bus stop. I then waited almost thirty minutes for a bus. By this time, I'd tried to apply my Buddha head to the situation. Stay calm, let go, be cool. The problem with this, of course, is that people often take advantage, thinking that placidity equals pushover. I really should show them the other side of the coin once in a while, but they wouldn't like it and neither would I. Just like many other good-natured folk who try to let go of their anger and frustration and put themselves in other's shoes, when the pressure eventually builds up to bursting, I really blow my top. All those pent-up feelings of exploitation and injustice erupt in a very forceful way. And then those same people who had me sussed as a wuss and who were happy to take advantage of that presumption, suddenly whine and complain that I'm a nasty and vindictive old so and so. Well, tough titty. Sometimes bad behaviour begets the same. Oh, the horror! There's even more bullshit going on around me right now but I'm damned if I'm going to get into it here in this diary. O.K... calm down, William. Don't over-dramatise it for the sake of your audience. Just call your insurance company and see if you can get them to send out a windscreen repairman. Or whatever it is you're supposed to do in these situations. Sometimes, although I'm the first to say money can't buy happiness, I think that if I could afford it, I'd put a certain distance, physically and spiritually, between me and these kind of things. The older I get, the less attractive they become. Man, I'd live on a little island in the middle of some warm stream, away from the herd, counting the buttercups in the meadows and listening to the skylarks sing. The rest of the world could get on with its manipulations and acquisitions without inflicting its shit on me. I'm a fuckin' misfit and shameless with it. Top of page Friday 13th May 2005 -- Postscript to entry dated 12th May Early Afternoon. Last night, the man in charge of the builders was summoned to look at my shattered windscreen. He says he already knew about it. (Well, there's a surprise.) He casually apologised and suggested I get it fixed on my car insurance. I said I'd need to see what the insurance policy covered in respect to that. He said he reckoned the replacement screen would be free but, if there was an excess charge to pay, he'd pay it. I called the insurance company this morning who put me on to Autoglass who told me there would be an excess charge of sixty pounds to pay. I had to pay for it there and then, on my credit card over the 'phone. Unfortunately, they say that they can't get to the house to repair it until late Monday afternoon, which means I can't use my car until Tuesday. (The car can't be moved until the new windscreen 'sets'.) Someone else just told me that I was stupid to do it via my insurance company at all as it will affect my no-claims bonus. I should simply have made arrangements to get the screen replaced directly and given the entire bill to the builder as it was his responsibility. Too late now, of course, as I've messed about on the 'phone all morning, trying to sort it out. Typical. Now I have to catch up with the chores I intended to do yesterday, pick up some dry cleaning, go to MFI and get a refund, pay some household bills, etc. I've had to borrow Emiko's car as a result of mine being out of action, which means I've had to take her to work and will need to pick her up later on when she finishes. Time consuming. On the MFI front, I heard this morning that my brother Ian had also recently bought a new bathroom suite from MFI. and it seems he's had very similar fitter problems, even though he lives in a different part of Yorkshire to me. I won't relate Ian's story here as it is just as complex and frustrating as mine. I'll just say that he too had heard similar stories from other people about poor quality service. It's nice to know we're not alone in this. An entirely different subject:- the latest issue of 'The Word' magazine carries a feature about important albums that have been underated or overlooked. In amongst them is Be Bop Deluxe's 'Axe Victim' album. Nice to see it being acknowledged in this way. The writer makes some interesting points 'though I have to say that the concept for the album was not quite as naive or innocent as he seems to think. The 'glam/Bowie' thing was done quite deliberately... but in a knowing, ironic, almost parodic fashion. Particularly as, at the time of the band's formation, we had no master plan to land a record contract or to become professional musicians. It was, in many ways, just a bit of fun, the concept emerging from my art student background and incorporating the Pop Art and Warholism that had informed my art-school years. Plus, the glam look turned the girls on, as I hoped it might! Oh, yes, David Bowie and Roxy Music were touchstones but they also were seen as a source of pastiche. Remove the whole thing one step further from the point they might have removed it from. Shine a different light into the hollow centre of pop music. At least from a more personal angle. In any case, by the time EM I Records had become interested in signing the band, I was already steering things away from the glam style, but it was EMI who pursuaded me to hang on to the look, (and that specific batch of material), a little longer as they felt that the band's original fan-base would expect that image and style on our first album. Actually, when 'Axe Victim' was released, I'd already written most of the material that would later emerge on 'Futurama'. But, perhaps I'm being overly fussy here... maybe I protest too much. Everyone has to start somewhere and, whilst I'm now somewhat squeamish about the early Be Bop material, I have to admit that it was bright and fun to play... and the dressing up thing was a bit of a lark, a foppish in-joke on one hand and a crowd pleaser on the other. It helped get us noticed so served its purpose. And I met some really sweet girls. It was of its time and its time was ripe. Time changes things and the music must change too... Sometimes on a daily basis, according to mood. This is the hardest thing for some people to deal with. Artists who move on and regularly challenge themselves inevitably have a tougher time of it than those who establish a popular product and simply stick with it. People like to be able to label or indentify things, whether it be the easy familiarity of an Elton John or, (and I admit I'm on controversial ground here), the equally predictable siginfiers of the so-called 'avant-garde'. It seems to me that things at either end of the spectrum have much more in common than they'd be prepared to admit. (These days, the avant garde is just as marketed and targeted a product as pop.) A bit of a hobby-horse of mine this subject, I know, but just stand back from it a student bed-sit's metre or two and you'll see what I mean. At the end of the day it's all disposable, ephemeral, fickle, fashion-shackled and tribally oriented. Music, for all its grand pretensions and aspirations, is ultimately a commodity. (Unless it never escapes from one's bedroom.) The minute it emerges into the world, it surrenders to the possibility of profit, either financially or in terms of perceived 'artistic' status. It gains weight, (like me), and begins to live a life of its own, out of control. Perhaps Harold, with his current vow to quit and to move on into a new phase of his life, has the guts to do what I fear the most... to leave it all behind, drop the weight and walk upright again. But despite my carping, cynical protestations, I'm hooked like a junky on the stuff. Sometimes, I resent this fact so much. Too pathetic and insecure to live without my regular sound fix. A weakness or a strength? Who knows... I can't tell any more. My next album will be called 'Brickie Victim' and will feature songs about breeze-blocks and blocked views. It could only happen to William. Top of page Sunday 29th May 2005 -- 9:30 am (All photos by Bill Nelson) An entire week has passed since Harold's concert in Brighton and only now have I found time to sit down and write an entry for my increasingly late diary. When I returned home, at midnight on the Sunday after the Brighton event, I found my inbox full of emails, mostly accumulated whilst I was away. I seem to have spent all of last week trying to catch up, plus dealing with other pressing problems, all requiring my slightly-out-of-focus attention... many of them of a domestic nature but most of them musical or creative Music is a lovely thing to dedicate one's life to but, in my neck of the woods, it's a 24 hour, seven days a week job. There's always something waiting for me to work on. Not that I'm complaining, you understand. I'm just moaning a little . I like to glamourise my passion, gild it with a little self-inflicted angst. Oh, how we artists suffer! So... here we go, my extremely nebulous and probably unreliable reflections regarding the Brighton concert: A long train journey from Yorkshire to get there on Wednesday, 18th of May. Emi and I have to drag our suitcases from London's Kings Cross Station, dodging traffic and pedestrians along busy London streets, until we reach the Thameslink Station. Then we struggle to carry our cases down flights of stairs to the platform to catch the Brighton train. (No escalator, no lift... only in England.) As usual, we've taken far more clothes than required but, as the weather seems so changable, we've packed items for any eventuality. How I regret it whilst struggling to get those heavy cases down the stairs. We're both getting far too old for this kind of thing. The Thameslink train to Brighton is packed solid with commuters, all looking absolutely pissed off with their lot, overloaded with stress and thwarted ambition. The train is uncomfortable, hot and stops at virtually every station en route. It feels like an eternity in hell before we finally arrive in Brighton, a genuine relief to get there after the tiring day's travel. We're met on the platform by a bright and breezy young lady called Amanda, who is acting as artist-coordinator for Harold's concert. Amanda's cheerful demeanour instills confidence as she whisks us off to our hotel. I've been feeling nervous about the event for days but Amanda's calm personality soothes things a little. Our hotel turns out to be 'The Old Ship', situated right on the sea front, halfway between Brighton's main pier and the old Victorian one that was fatally destroyed by fire and water not so long ago. This latter pier's rusting hulk, stark, ghostly and forlorn, is plainly visible to the right of 'The Old Ship's' main entrance. Sad that it has apparently deteriorated way beyond repair now. The surviving Brighton pier, to the left of the hotel, has a funfair at it's furthest end, complete with a traditional, inverted 'ice-cream cone' helter-skelter. Later, I will take some photographs of this, hoping for a possible album cover image for the future. Or at least one that I can use on the Dreamsville website. The sea-front promenade itself has traditional seaside cast-iron railings, painted in what I like to call 'corporation green and cream' Very similar to the one's found in Blackpool, but a little less art-deco, 'though from a similar period. A few scattered old public shelters along the prom too. Architectural whimsy... my kind of thing. I wonder if Brighton ever had trams, like Blackpool? Within minutes of checking in, Harold Budd calls my room and invites us down to the hotel's bar for a reunion drink. I haven't seen Harold since our ill-fated jaunt to Mexico, maybe over two years ago now. (Our scheduled concert in Mexico City was cancelled after we'd arrived there.) Whilst we didn't get to play in Mexico, Harold and Emiko and I spent a week hanging out in Mexico City's museums and galleries and cantinas, enjoying a pleasant time, despite the fact that 'Gulf War Round Two' had just erupted and was dominating the tv news to depressing effect. (Check out my 'Diary Of A Hyperdreamer Book' to read more about this period.) Since that time, we've each been back in our respective habitats, Harold in LA and the desert around Joshua Tree, Emi and I in our heavily insulated nest in Yorkshire, but we have stayed in regular contact via letters and emails, as always. Harold looks well, dapper and not a single day older than the last time I'd seen him. (How does he do that?) He remains one of my dearest friends and time spent with him is full of laughter and companionship, even if I fall speechless sometimes. The fact that he happens to be a musical and artistic treasure is simply an extra bonus... It's only when I hear him play that I feel absolutely awestruck. One minute, we're laughing at some stupid, inane reference to peas and carrots being served up to us in a pub in Selby over 12 years ago, the next I'm being elevated, uplifted and, yes, educated by the way that Harold touches the piano's keys and brings forth a chord of such exquisite shape and resonance that I could weep with envy. I hear it but don't understand it, nor would I want to... this is a mystery worth preserving. I never ask Harold how or why, I just let it sink in and settle. Somewhere down the line, the lesson that I've learned by this method makes itself known. This is part of the generosity in his art. Harold and Emi and I then decide to have dinner at the Hotel, rather than go out and brave the unreliable weather, which is by now looking windy and damp. The hotel restaurant isn't the best choice... it serves up a fairly dry and mediocre meal, but our happy conversation enlivens the table and the less than sparkling food becomes secondary to the enjoyment of each other's company. Much wine is consumed. Outside the hotel dining room window, a pedestrian crossing's light is sillhouetted against a background of dark sea and grey sky, first a little red electric man lights up, then a green one. The sea and sky broods as the green and red lights alternate. I make a mental note to take a photograph of this before we leave Brighton. Later, as Emi and I retire to our room for the night, we discover that it is crippled with noise: rattling sash windows that sound like distant cannon fire, a taxi-rank beneath the window that echoes to the mad shouts and incomprehensible songs of a seemingly endless chain of drunks, (this unholy racket continues well into the early hours). Then, the noise of a heavy street cleaning vehicle, followed by a garbage truck, followed by screaming, vicious seagulls as dawn breaks. After that, the regular early morning traffic, motorbikes, delivery trucks, police sirens. By 8am, I've managed no more than three hour's intermittent sleep. I get up to attend the first day of rehearsals, feeling terrible. I'm well past the age when I can rise above such things. I need a full eight hours to feel human. One of the problems is that I'm used to a quiet, country environment, backgrounded by gentle early morning birdsong and little else, save the occasional distant cuckoo or skylark. No chance of that here. I stagger about the hotel room, wondering how I'll cope with the rigours of rehearsals. I've not heard anything of the music Harold requires me to play. It's all unknown. The morning weather is windy and wet and so the ever efficient and cheerful Amanda whisks Harold, Emi and I off to the Brighton Dome in a taxi. Us old folks need a wee bit of molly-coddling. The first day of rehearsals is being held here in the Dome, an entirely acoustic rehearsal too, without either monitors or pa system. The Dome is a lovely venue, right next door to Brighton's famous Pavillion It's a long time since I've visited Brighton, way back in the 1970's actually, when Be Bop Deluxe played there a couple of times. The first of those Brighton Be Bop Deluxe concerts was a happy but poignant one for me. A girl, who I once fallen hopelessly in love with some time previously and who had, in both presence and absence, provided me with a muse-like inspiration, had moved from East Yorkshire to Brighton to attend university there. This girl was Lisa Rosenberg who, as long-time afficionados of my music will probably be aware, I'd fallen for in a big way during Be Bop Deluxe's earliest days, when the band first played at The Duke Of Cumberland pub in North Ferriby near Hull, around 1973. It was one of those trancendental affairs that change one's entire outlook... Lisa and I shared a sweet, but all too brief, romantic relationship that survived just12 months or so... I was married to my first wife, (Shirley), at that time, though the marriage was not a happy one. (All my fault really, too young to handle it, too wrapped up in music to pack it in and tow the line, too ambitious to be the nine-to-five husband that Shirley wanted. I'm neither ashamed nor proud of that time, it happened and I did my best, which wasn't particularly good enough.) Anyway, The Duke Of Cumberland gigs provided Lisa and I with an opportunity to be together, albeit fleetingly. (She lived near North Ferriby in the somewhat upper-class village of Kirkella.) In between Be Bop's three sets per gig we would moon and spoon and pour out our hearts to each other in the Duke's rear garden, or on a bench in Coronation Gardens by the village crossroads, or down by the side of the river Humber in North Ferriby, watching the boats drift by on the rising tide, listening to the brass bell on the sand bank warning buoy gently toll, this accompanied by the more distant bells of North Ferriby's church. The band usually had to come looking for me to drag me back on stage for the next set. I could have remained by her side, looking into her eyes all night, music forgotten. In between these monthly gigs at 'The Duke' we would write letters of longing to each other... Lisa sent hers to me at my place of work as our relationship might have been discovered if she'd sent them to my home. At that time I still had a day job with the West Riding County Council's supply department. For my sins, which were many but generally innocent, I was a Local Government Officer. I hated the job... but how easily we are diverted from our dreams. It seemed that this was all that was available to me. And in truth, it was. I doodled guitars and song lyrics on scrap paper whilst sitting at my desk in the office, much as I had when I was at school. The idea of making a living from music seemed way beyond my reach. But I lived for those few gigs the band could get back then. During that time, I wrote floodgates of songs about Lisa and our melancholy, ecstatic romance... 'Teenage Archangel', 'Axe Victim', and 'Love Is Swift Arrows' being the earliest. I was totally transformed by the depth of my feelings for her. Eventually, Lisa moved away from Hull to take up her law studies in Brighton and I wasn't to see her again until my first concert there, quite some time later. I can still recall the surprise and tender nervousness I felt when she came backstage to say hello to me once more, at the Brighton gig in the 'seventies. Be Bop's professional career had started to gain momentum and I had changed the line up from the original one that had played at 'The Duke'. I was thrilled, pleased, flattered, devastated, shaking like a leaf to see Lisa again. And proud of her too. I remember introducing her to Simon and Andy and Charlie, who, unlike the original band, hadn't been witness to our earlier, aching love affair. I was like: 'this is the girl who inspired me to write those songs... Now you know why!' The impression she'd made on my life had been profound. A year later, Be Bop Deluxe played in Brighton one more time and another member of the band's road crew told me that Lisa was in the audience again and that she had asked him if she could come backstage to say hello to me. But this time, my second wife Janice Monks was with me and Jan, who knew all about my old flame, said 'no way!' I can't really blame her for that as she knew exactly how besotted I was with Lisa. So I reluctantly asked the roadie to make an excuse, and not allow Lisa backstage, even though I desperately wanted to see her. I fretted about the situation for months afterwards... nay, years. I guess I've always been, (as must be obvious to those who have gone beneath the surface of my songs), an incurable romantic. Still am, by the way, and damn the consequences. The heart has its reasons. So, Brighton revisited, but now it's the 21st Century, 30 years later and Lisa's faint ghost glows soft in the ever darkening rooms of my memory. But still there, still there, never completely vanquished... First day of rehearsals with Harold:- Now I finally get to hear the two pieces he's prepared for us to play together. I was expecting akward keys for the guitar but the first piece apparently starts in E minor. A moment's relief. Then it shifts to something less comfortable, a key that denies me the safe harbour of open strings. Not beyond my reach though, with a little thought and telepathy. The second piece is in a slightly trickier, key... C-sharp or B-flat, can't recall which now. I jotted it down in a notebook, then forgot about it. Harold skims through each composition with me, he on piano, me on acoustic guitar. All quite naked and vulnerable. He steers me away from going over the pieces too many times. In fact we hardly go into them in any fine detail at all. And this is the first time I've heard them. I do, however, presume to understand his approach... Perhaps this is just Harold's strategy to keep an edge to my performance, to stop it from becoming too slick, too busy The less I know, the more careful, sparingly and thoughtfully I'll play. Scary for me but, obviously, Harold must feel confident that I can provide a spontaneous response to the music. I feel a nano-byte more confident than I did on the train journey down from Yorkshire... but only just. A pleasant meal at a Thai restaurant that evening, with Harold, Guy Morley, (the show's organiser), Amanda, visual artist Russell Mills, (who has designed the stage sets and lighting scheme for the concert), Steve Jansen, (gong and drums for the second half of the concert), and Theo Travis, (flute) I immediately feel comfortable around Theo who is unassuming and straightforward..but gifted. Russell too... he's a lovely chap whose humour belies his tremendous talent as a visual artist. I love being around people of this calibre, even if I do genereally feel as inferior as hell. Next day, after more sleeplessness, we rehearse again, this time with monitors and PA system. Robin Guthrie arrives from his base in France and sets up a lap-top processed guitar. Robin is a lovely guy too. Everyone's lovely. Harold decides I should play on the number he's performing with John Foxx as well as the two pieces Harold and I are doing together. He then adds one more, extra piece for John and I to play with him. So now I'm to take part in four numbers during the first half. Wow! I'm not complaining at all, in fact I'm thrilled and flattered... but I'm also terrified. Another meal with everyone that evening at a restaurant close by the Dome, right next door to a theatre that advertises, on a banner hung outside the theatre's foyer, a production called 'Julia Pastrana, The Ugliest Woman In The World'. The banner next to this one carries the qualifing message: 'Performed In Total Darkness...' I'd told Hal about these banners earlier in the day... I thought their message was hilarious. The idea that the central character was so physically awful to contemplate, so dangerously ugly that the show had to be performed in total darkness, seemed absurdly and surreally funny. More wine back at the Hotel. I'm flagging, finding it hard to concentrate. Another night of hotel room noise with only three hours sleep and then it's sound-check and band rehearsal time. A busy day as we have to work on the long group improvisation that will fill most of the second half of the concert. John Foxx, Harold and I run through the trio vignettes that we are to perform, but not my own duos with Harold. Harold says we don't need to do these, that we have them down fine. I, on the other hand, can't even remember what keys they're in. John sings some very lovely, semi-operatic, sort of gregorian chant style vocals, processed through various vocoder/harmoniser effects. I play some half-reversed guitar chimes under Harold's piano arpeggios, trying to stay out of the way of the top line as much as possible. It seems to work. John is a really nice guy too and I'm pleased to be part of his performance, minimal as my contribution to it is. Jah Wobble arrives from his gig in Paris. I've previously only met Jah once, in Leeds, when he'd involved Harold in his 'Solaris' band project. (This was a few years ago and Harold had invited me along to see the concert.) I didn't really have time to get the measure of him then. Now, I spot him in the 'rest lounge' area of the Brighton Dome where some of us are taking a refreshment break. He's just arrived from his Paris gig in time to run through our band improvisation piece. I go up and say hello and shake his hand. Within seconds I've decided I like him a lot. He has a good sense of humour and seems warm, genuine and down to earth. My kind of person. Harold, earlier in the day, has been rehearsing the string quartet pieces with The Balanescu Quartet who sound magnificent. The quartet's leader, Alex Balanescu, is to join us in our group improvisation. Another musician taking part in the improv section is an old friend of mine from 'up north', Steve Cobby, who will provide lap-top sounds. Steve, who arrives not long before Jah, is his usual, absolutely cheerful self, a valuable and positive force. It's good to see him again. We finally get to run through the group improvisation. Rough and not really ready but Harold seems fine with it all. Some technical problems:- noisy buzzes due to earth loops and lighting interference, but... the tech guys seem to sort it out. I've got Pete Harwood and Dave Standeven with me, not just to look after my gear, but to help out with the other player's equipment too, which they willingly do. Robin has been suffering some strange noises, clicks and pops through his own system. Perhaps part of the overall electrical oddness that envelops us and our equipment. Everyone lends a hand where needed. A supportive atmosphere. I ask Harold if we should run through our duo pieces one more time. He says we don't need to as we're cool. I swallow hard and hope that I'll be cool enough to come up with the right notes. The concert itself is a bit of a blur: I'm feeling the negative results of my lack of sleep and my nervousness has really kicked in. We all sit in the wings to watch the Balanescu Quartet perform Harold's string quartets. Absolutely beautiful... A crowning achievement, I think. Then Theo takes the stage with Harold and they play together, a lovely, poignant performance. Theo negotiating his parts with skill and insight. I reflect on the fact that it will be good to hear Harold's music in all these different contexts, with such a variety of textures... strings, wind instruments, guitars, voice, piano, keyboards, laptop, percussion, bass... The audience really seem to be appreciating it too. Their concentration is tangible. Then it's my turn... I walk onto the stage, Pete hands me my acoustic guitar and I perch on a stool next to Harold's piano, trying to remember how the pieces fit together. Harold glances across at me, we nod to each other and off we go... like a dream, my hands moving of their own accord, the audience fading away, the music spinning its spell around us, binding us together. Just like at the first days rehearsal, I feel exposed, naked to some degree, with just acoustic guitar and grand piano, and so much space in the music itself... nowhere to hide. But things seems to gel, the guitar and piano blend sounds good from where I'm sitting. There's a tenderness to some sections of the two pieces that feels sweet and fine. I'm enjoying it tremendously, despite my nerves. Harold looks like he's enjoying it too. I hope that he is. Then a switch to electric guitar, (my Gus 'Orphee' custom), as John Foxx joins us to sing beautifully, his voice transformed by harmonisers and vocoders. I take no chances, laying right back and allowing John space to do his thing. It all seems to work wonderfully. Then I'm off stage, relieved about the way that things have gone so far. Glad that I didn't keel over from lack of sleep... I go back to the seats in the wings to observe Harold's solo section, he alone at the piano. What a wonderful touch he has. I wrote to him earlier this week and said: '... your solo piano pieces, so perfectly judged and executed. That business about you having no pianistic technique is utter tosh. You have fabulous technique... I have only to hear you play a single note to realise that. Your touch doesn't so much 'make' the note as 'unveil' it. Your fingers point to the invisible and it appears, singing... ' After Harold's solo performance, the interval, a quick glass of wine to steady my nerves, then Part Two. This begins with Steve Jansen performing a five minute version of Harold's solo gong piece, 'Lirio'. Steve brings forth different tones and textures from the gong using mallets, varying the amount of of attack and playing different areas of the gong's surface... it's a deceptively tricky piece to make work, and Steve executes it brilliantly. Then Robin Guthrie takes over from Steve with an ambient, delayed, looped wash of chorused guitar chords, building the atmosphere for several minutes. He's then joined by Steve Cobby, who adds lap-top digital swoops, bleeps and phase shifts, gently distressing and punctuating the piece. Then Harold joins in on piano, then Theo on flute, then Alex on violin, then me on electric e-bow guitar, then Jah on bass guitar and Steve J. on drums, setting a rolling groove in 5/4 time, solid as a rock for everyone else to dance around. Various sound problems on stage though, it becomes increasingly difficult for me to pick out the other soloists. My eye proves more reliable than my ear for this task. I can see Alex energetically bowing his violin so I lay right back, stopping completely in some places, resisting the urge to push harder, doing my best to not impose my personal will on this thing. Let it roll Jah and Steve's groove is relentless, urgent, appropriate. An anchor for us all. Then, a high pitched microphonic squeal emerges from somewhere, feedback but not of the guitar variety. Definitely caused by a microphone. Someone will kill it soon, I think. They don't and it goes on, and on, squealing like a stuck pig, a youth club pa system run amok. Why hasn't someone located the cause and muted or adjusted the microphone? Harold seems to be indifferent to it. He sits, not playing, just digging the groove and enjoying the accumulating chaos. By now, I'm absolutely detached from it all, can't find a way into the music or think of anything worthwhile to add, so I do very little, other than just be there, adrift in the sonic ether. Then, suddenly, it's all over, the big machine grinds to a hesitant halt, the microphone feedback continuing for a few seconds before being finally silenced. We all move forward to bow before the audience. A good feeling but also a sad one for most of us: It's Harold's final farewell to live performance. But what a fabulous way to end a beautiful career. Harold's contribution to contemporary music remains unique and irreplacable. I'm humbled and honoured to have contributed a tiny something to this. After the show, lots of socialising, wine, hugs and exchanges of emails. General happy drunkeness. I'm feeling dizzy with it all. Richard and Adrian from Opium are there, as is Permanent Flame webmaster Chuck Bird and long time fan Eric Tilley who have flown over from America just to see the concert. I'm given gifts by the pair of them: Toy rockets and an autographed photo of a U.S.astronaut who shares my name. Whatever fog I've been inhabiting these last few days becomes even foggier, but with sparks and flashes of electric colour, warm smiles and feelings of empathy. And all I've consumed is wine and music! Emi and I get to bed sometime after 4am. Up early on Sunday morning to catch the train to London. Before leaving, we grab breakfast and I grab some photo's of Brighton's seafront. That pedestrian crossing. Then a taxi to the station and a coffee on the platform before departing for London. Upon arrival in the big city, Emi goes down to Surrey to attend one of her Buddhist meetings, whilst I stagger on alone, like some hung-over, sleepless zombie, along the South Bank, weaving my weary way to the Thames Modern gallery where I treat myself to a solitary lunch and a video of Lotte Reiniger's 'The Adventures Of Prince Achmed'. An exquisite, 1926 animated feature film that I recall seeing on tv when I was a very young boy. Then an afternoon of obscure bookshops and window shopping before I meet Emi for dinner at Trader Vic's bar/restaurant in Park Lane, prior to catching the late train back to Yorkshire. We arrive home just before midnight... exhausted but happy. Since then, it's been a game of catch up. Tons of emails to deal with, some tweaks to the design of the Carlsbro Nelsonic Deluxe amp that is soon to go into production, website postings to attend to, this that and the other... including this diary entry. Busy as ever. None of it means much. All of it means everything. This is what I do, for what it's worth. Rosewood out now. Finished copies sounding and looking good. Not pop music but not beyond understanding. It's a heartfelt album, all the way. Well, that's one way of rationalising it. But does it need to be rationalised at all? Of course not. It's what it is. Nothing more to say about it than that. Other than an outpouring of joy. Now: New technical breaks and breakdowns in my studio. My stand-alone cd burner hardware has developed a fault and needs repairing. As a result, I'm currently unable to burn cds of my home mixes until it's fixed. When will this be? Knowing my form, someway down the line from here. Also, my Line 6 Vetta 2 combo amplifier returned from Brighton damaged... the master volume control broken off, a snapped spindle. (Probably happened in the van.) The amp will need to go back to Line 6 for a new volume pot, spindle and control knob fitting. These are distractions I could do without. I really need to be working on the new songs for my autumn tour, recording a new album to release at that time too. Plus I need to shoot new video footage to create a stage backdrop video. And design a tour programme, t-shirt etc. There's also several Dreamsville website things to deal with, more design work to complete for Carlsbro, the Nelsonica fan convention to try and pull together... No time to rest, as usual. Re Nelsonica: The venue I'd hoped to hire for this year's convention turned out to be horrendously expensive. I would have been looking at well over £8,000 plus to use the rooms I had in mind. It would have been a very nice venue, with comfortable facilities, but, it was way outside the budget. I'm now looking at an alternative venue and awaiting prices but... it may be that I have to rely on the old Duke Of Cumberland again this year... we'll see. If that proves the case, I'll research a better venue for next year's convention instead. That way I'll have more time to check out different options. With the workload I've had so far this year, plus the two Rosewood albums, the urgent need to build a new website, etc, etc, my convention plans have become somewhat last-minute. Hopefully, I can pull something together, even at this late stage. I'm still aiming at the end of October. Fingers crossed. Had an email from Matt Howarth, enquiring about the music for our Neon Cynic project. I've not sent him a CDr of the music I've created so far. I meant to and should have done this ages ago. I'll try to get something off to him this coming week. He's apparently finished all the visuals and has coloured the entire comicbook novel. The only thing that's needed now is my accompanying music. Here at home, (on the 'domestic' front...) these last three days, we've had two of Emi's friends from Japan visiting us. I've been driving them around the Yorkshire tourist spots. Howarth yesterday... (adventures in Bronte land), and today we're off to Whitby. The intention is to introduce them to 'The White Horse And Griffin' and its seafood delights... if I can drag myself away from this diary and actually get dressed, that is. Must hurry It's a bank holiday weekend and the roads will be a nightmare. Caravans, pensioners, 'recreational' vehicles, 'people carriers' full of screaming kids, whimpering dogs and snarling husbands. The usual highway of life. Luckily, I know some back roads and scenic routes. Top of page William's Study (Diary Of A Hyperdreamer) May 2005 Feb Mar Apr Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Dec 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2013

Silver Moon single - 1986 David Sylvian Production/Contribution Menu Future Past BILL: Guitar on the title track. Production/Contribution Menu Future Past

Website Recommendations A collection of links to websites recommended by Bill and Dreamsville residents Equipment Campbell American Guitars Carlsbro Amplifiers Eastwood Guitars Gus Guitars Gretsch Guitars Line 6 Patrick Eggle Guitars Peerless Guitars Timber Tones Plectrums Artistes Bill Frisell Chet Atkins Duane Eddy Les Paul The Shadows Jean Cocteau Orson Welles Harry Smith Harry Partch Austin Osman Spare Frank Olinsky Magazines Frieze magazine Guitar Player magazine Juxtapoz magazine Sound On Sound magazine The Wire magazine Tricycle magazine Heroes Dan Dare Hopalong Cassidy Roy Rogers Nudies Rodeo Tailor Recording Burning Shed Cherry Red Records Fairview Studios Holyground Records Miscellaneous Martin Bostock photography

I Hear Electricity/Kiss You Slow Free download single Click image for cover Artwork Special FREE download single - Released Dec 2008. A-Side: I HEAR ELECTRICITY (The Panic In The World Universal Chord Shifter With Apache Overtones). From the album 'Fancy Planets' B-Side: KISS YOU SLOW From the album 'The Dream Transmission Pavilion' Written, performed, recorded and produced by Bill Nelson. All rights Bill Nelson 2008.

All That I Remember Bill Nelson album - 25 July 2016 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) All That I Remember 02) The View From Lantern Hill 03) Memory Time No. 1: A Wakefield Adventure 04) The Wonderful Wurlitzer Of Blackpool Tower 05) Spacefleet (The Golden Days Of Dan Dare) 06) Memory Time No. 2: The Rock N' Roll Years 07) Christmastide 08) Strolling With My Father 09) Scale Model (Assembly Required) 10) Reighton Sands 11) Memory Time No. 3: Eagle, Beezer, Topper, Beano 12) When Boys Dream Of Guitars 13) The Ilfracombe Steamer 14) Memory Time No. 4: A Dansette Fantasy 15) Heading For Home In A Hillman Minx 16) As If It Was A Moment Ago ALBUM NOTES: All That I Remember is an instrumental album issued on the Sonoluxe label in a limited edition of 500 copies. The album was the third to appear in Nelson's Super Listener Series, and was presented in a digi-pack sleeve. The album was first announced on the Dreamsville forum on 17 July 2015, approximately 1 year ahead of release. At that stage Nelson had completed three tracks and had established the basic concept behind the work, formed from "nostalgic memories of younger days." One of the named tracks, "Old Boats" appears to have not made the final cut of the album, or perhaps it went through a change of title. In its early stages it was planned to include a couple of vocal pieces, but this idea never materialised, and Nelson stuck purely to instrumentals to convey his memories. Work on All That I Remember continued at pace, with the track listing confirmed on 11 August 2015, and tentative plans to issue the album around Christmas 2015. However, by October 2015 Nelson re-scheduled his plans for the album to be issued in February 2016 with the intention of staging a launch party for the album's release. Bill ended up choosing a different release for the launch party, so All That I Remember was released on 25 July 2016, becoming the first to be sold through a re-vamped SOS web shop. By 3 August 2016 it was announced that the album had completely sold out. Due to its autobiographical nature, Nelson decided to produce a 22 page set of listening notes, wonderfully illustrated and lovingly scripted, which help paint the historical back drop to the compositions. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "All That I Remember is a very personal and autobiographical album. "It's entirely instrumental...a musical painting (or sonic movie) of an early period of my life. "But that's not to say that the music is always literally illustrative of the past. It has a post-modernist quality that often allows things to develop on their own, for purely musical reasons, rather than slavishly holding onto an entirely conceptual, 'retro' agenda. It features deliberately artificial, neo-classical stylings alongside, (and intensely fused with), electric guitar, plus a few subtle electro-techno touches. "There are moments that might make you think of The Years or The Alchemical Adventures of Sailor Bill , but they're really only hints and tints and far from the big picture, (which stretches wider than this). "It's a complex album, a bit of a puzzle, yet quite easy and explicit in other ways. As always, I'm playing ironic games with the listener's expectations, throwing diverse genres together, making odd juxtapositions. Is it music that requires intelligent thought to appreciate fully? I have no idea but, it's not an album for those who might be looking for an instant rock music fix. And yet, I have to admit it has some elements of that in it too. "It's not just a very personal album, it's indicative of the complexity of my own multi-faceted musical inspirations." _____ "The album contains a certain amount of nostalgic irony with a deliberate musical 'kitschness' to it. It's meant as a loving tribute to some older musical forms and has no existence in anything but whimsy and dreamy reminiscences. I intended for it to sound slightly 'antique' and just a little bit kitsch. It's post-modernism coupled with a kind of cute take on surrealism. You have to see the 'wink' in it to fully grasp where it's coming from." _____ "The listening notes help to fill in the background to each track, emphasising the autobiographical nature of the album and illustrating it with additional images, different from the CD package ones. All this will hopefully add to your enjoyment of what I consider to be a major statement album." _____ Bill's Listening Notes for the album: 'All That I Remember' Listening Notes FAN THOUGHTS: Palladium : "I listened to All That I Remember this morning in a relaxed, receptive mood - the music really took hold, as it were. I suspect it'll be rated over time as one of Bill's richest and sweetest recordings. I get a lot of pleasure from it - there seems to be a superabundance of an effortless poetic something-or-other saturating every track. I don't know what it is, but, boy, it puts me in a harmonious & heartfelt place." "I recommend that you read the detailed listening notes, track by track, as you listen to this album for the first time. I'm glad I did - a remarkably rich, evocative, cinematic experience. (I don't usually read while listening to music, as I find one distracts from the other - but this is an exception, probably helped by the fact that it's instrumental and deeply atmospheric)... It's an absolutely amazing, beautiful album, I should add." "Currently hugely enjoying this album. It has a lot of different moods and textures, but it works so well as a coherent, organic whole (as it were) - incredibly evocative, with some staggeringly lovely guitar. Current favourite tracks: "The Wonderful Wurlitzer of Blackpool Tower", "Christmastide", and "Reighton Sands"." james warner: "Another personal trip into the past in musical form from Bill, conjuring a strong sense of nostalgia with no words. Guitar and keyboards take turns at lead over the course of this album with number of tracks featuring the synthetic orchestra sound of The Alchemical Adventures Of Sailor Bill album." BigManRestless: "I'm mainly a fan of vocal-based songs, but I think this album, on first listen, may be my 2nd favourite instrumental album from Bill, just behind Practically Wired . A few more plays and it might overtake it. Very, very impressed!" Peter: "All That I Remember arrived over the weekend, and tonight I am sitting down for my first listen...I am half a dozen songs in and am truly loving what I am hearing. (I couldn't even wait until I had heard the whole album to say something about it!) Fantastic stuff, Bill! From the first warm, embracing notes of the title track, I have been entranced. Thank you for this one!" "I love it to pieces. It is just full of those moments when I am stopped dead in my tracks and just think, "Oh, wow...that's BEAUTIFUL". Bill's ability to do just the right thing at just the right moment never ceases to amaze me. Nicely done, Mr. Nelson." TheMikeN: "Nostalgia is an odd ingredient in brand new music, particularly when it comes alongside Bill's oft-expressed intention to look to the future in all his work. The dichotomy is explained by the fact that the music moves forward here and only the visuals (the pictures in Bill's head) were nostalgic. This is not a musical tribute to music of the past – it's a soundtrack to the colourful imagery Bill associates with his childhood and adolescence. The pictures in his head are fresh, so the music is fresh. What's not clear is whether the memories are poignant or joyful. Mr N assures us that there is tongue in cheek for much of what is here, but some of the melodies are so delicate that even I can feel the loss of those innocent times. None of us can have simple feelings about happy times that are lost in so many ways because the majority of the important players are no longer with us. Bill's 'golden memories' are thoughtful and subtle but they still inspire a chuckle. Listen to this alongside everything from Model Village , Chance Encounters and even "Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape". For less detailed, more abstract musical imagery, And We Fell Into A Dream is a great place to go as well." Alan: "Today, I had time to sit down, read the listening notes, prior to listening to each track, and all I can say is, "Thank you, Bill Nelson." I appreciate you're letting us see a glimpse of your life through music. Many artists are reluctant to let their fans have a view of who they are, but it's one of the things that makes you a genuine person, as well as a true star. I've always liked the photograph of you and Ian, with the steamboat in the background. That photograph, as well as others, shows that you were a very good brother. As an aside, I'm glad that All That I Remember was a full album. I was afraid from the title that it may be an EP... Seriously though, keep doing exactly what you're doing. (Not that you need my permission). Oh, and on the final track, I heard some of the same type of guitar that originally drew me into your music all those years ago." wadcorp: "It's a sonic sea, deep & expansive. There are wide open vistas of English countryside, early morning walks by the seaside, and journeys down roads not traveled since one's youth. You're walking through a small town in "The Wonderful Wurlitzer of Blackpool Tower", past a grand old merry-go-round. You're not in the present any more, but flashing back to the experience as it was when you were young. "Spacefleet (The Golden Days of Dan Dare)" whisks you into a future, as imagined in the 1950s. Sweeping skyward with excitement & optimism. Undercurrents of jazz flood into the coolness of "Strolling With My Father." Imagine a smoky, dark nightclub, populated with the coolest of the cool. Seagulls call as you stroll by the edge of the water in "Reighton Sands." The music goes beyond setting the mood, and sets the place. You are there. All the tunes are very evocative of place, as well as of time. This is a journey of remembrance. Fans who enjoy The Alchemical Adventures of Sailor Bill will find this one right up their alley. A major entry into the Bill Nelson canon." major snagg: "I'm listening to this fabulous CD as I type this. What a stunning album." Returningman: "A highly personal album rather like an invitation to a private viewing of Bill's thoughts and distant memories. "Reighton Sands" for me is the absolute highlight of the album. Gentle strummed chords and ocean sounds provide the background texture to another guitar masterpiece. Ethereal and perfect, a sound that spirits you away to a place far far away. Bill mentions the possibility of "an epic box set, a life captured in sound" at the end of the notes, on the strength of Vol 1, I hope this project achieves fruition." Albums Menu Future Past

(It's Not Me) Talking single - 1981 A Flock of Seagulls Production/Contribution Menu Future Past BILL: Producer Production/Contribution Menu Future Past

Special Metal Bill Nelson album - 8 April 2016 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) Special Metal 02) Heaven Takes No Prisoners 03) Planets We Once Knew 04) Say Hello, Electric Ghost 05) The Fading Light 06) Edge Of Nothing 07) All Our Yesterdays 08) Fuzz Rocket Fantasia 09) Rocking The Dreamboat 10) When Beauty Came To Call 11) Life And Death 12) Up On A Star ALBUM NOTES: Special Metal is a mixture of vocal and instrumental pieces issued exclusively as a digital download album (April 8th, 2016), and the first release on the Tremelo Boy Records label. The album was first mentioned on Dreamsville on 20 January 2016, and was created during a period when Nelson's main mixing desk was away for repair. The desk used in its place was an old desk with a number of faults, but luckily this didn't present too high of a hurdle. Work on the album was completed on 9 February 2016 when Nelson revealed a 14 song track list. However, at the mastering stage, 2 tracks, "Symbiotic Situations" and "Into the Blue Beyond (Fabulous Beings)", were removed, leaving a 12 track album. There is also at least 1 track, "Moon in My Window (Light in My Lamp)", that failed to make it to the proposed track listing that came out of these sessions. It remains to be seen what – if anything – happens to the 3 jettisoned tracks. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "Special Metal is not a heavy metal album, although it features some abrasive guitars in parts...it is, in the main, a vocal album with rock overtones and with a few twists and turns here and there. I've not laboured any of the material on it, working very spontaneously with both music and lyrics. It has a nice rough edge and some reasonably sophisticated ideas too. I may have to dumb it down a bit!" _____ "This one I just see as a fun thing, not a, 'furrowed brow' album, not a major 'bleeding heart' statement, just a little rock n' roll diversion, a quick and noisy set of recordings for those who might be interested in such things." _____ "It's turning out to be a melodic rock album with some raw guitar playing in it, but it also has a couple of more ballad style tracks plus my solo version of "When You Wish Upon A Star", which is simple and sweet. I chose the title, more for the images it conjures than any literal interpretation." _____ "It's coming along nicely at the moment, despite me having to work around various shortcomings with my 'standby,' B-team mixing desk. To a certain degree, the problems limit what I'm able do with the material, but those compromises won't be immediately obvious to the uninitiated. It all brings a little less sophistication to the sound, (though I don't think you'll really notice the difference), and makes for a more direct approach to the basic performance, which, in turn, brings out things which might prove interesting enough in their own right." _____ "With over half the desk's on-board effects not working, there's a general lack of polish...but it still sounds very much like me. I'm working rather quickly though, everything more or less first takes, especially vocals which I'm literally throwing down, improvising lyrics as I go, which makes for some strange, stream-of-consciousness, disjointed weirdness, (sort of), and some random melodies. But, really, it's not so different to my usual rock type songs." _____ "I'm in the lucky position to be able to indulge ALL facets of my music via my recordings, including rock, jazz, pop, ambient, electronica, country, folk and neo-classical. Don't make the mistake of thinking that only one of these genres represents me or has become my main direction. The truth is, they all represent me and it's sometimes nice to make an album from the point of view of having a bit of frivolous fun with it. Everything doesn't have to be deeply serious or brow furrowed all the time, there's room for occasional lightness and play, little romps around the garden." FAN THOUGHTS: Prey: "Bill is BACK! Wow...this old man can still doo eet! Rockin' dude." zebrapolish: "Downloaded. Played first 30 seconds. Holy Shit!!!!!!" "This is an instant favourite and I'm only two tracks in! Will be a gibbering wreck by track 12 if this keeps up." Andre: "The opening number sets off the engines, and it flies from there." wonder toy: "I am sooo happy. From note one. Where have you been hiding these songs, Bill? All it took was the Mackie to frustrate them out of you? World class musician hidden from the world, surviving the brutality of the music industry on his on terms and snubbing the stage at the same time. Powerful stance that will be talked about for a long long time. This is transcendent ." Tourist in Wonderland: "A definite rock & roll vibe to the first and last sample tracks (tracks 1 and 10), cool retro vox, great cutting guitar solos, all very shiny chrome in a non-harsh way, super-sexy vintage r & r which has definitely been souped-up to number 11 with a Bill Nelson modern twist... "The Fading Light"...man, that's just blown me away, absolutely beautiful...and if you're into guitar, well let's just say, that's what great guitar is for me...yeah, it's just wonderful, sad, wistful, reflective...just beautiful...a track that could easily sit on The Alchemical Adventures of Sailor Bill ...a brother/companion to "Moments Catch Fire on the Crests of Waves" maybe?" captainknut: "You call it an "outsider album". Well, I call it exactly the type of your music that I love the very best. I pray at the altar of your rockier side." james warner: "While this is not a 'Metal' album, by any stretch of the imagination, there is a definite growling and chugging feel to the guitar work throughout. It definitely rocks!" MondoJohnny: "You love to confuse us! First Jazz of Lights , which you say isn't really jazz, and now Special Metal which isn't really metal! I note the perverse pleasure you take in subverting genre!" "I really really like it a lot actually. It feels fun! It's a great vocal album!" "I really like the vocals on Special Metal ! They were really standout to me!...Kind of more quirky and vital sounding. Not quite similar to your 80's vocals exactly but something kinda like that? That same sense of cool and fun comes through in my opinion." "I remembered you saying this one was a bit of a trifle for you, which gives me a chuckle. Your standards are so high Bill. This could easily be another artist's pride and joy!" GettingOnTheBeam: "My favorites on Special Metal so far are "Fuzz Rocket Fantasia" and "Heaven Takes No Prisoners". But, as is typical with Bill's music, I am sure others will grow into favorites with time." "For me Bill is at his best when he records albums like Joy Through Amplification , Special Metal , and Fancy Planets . They are edgier, the songwriting and lyrics are great, and guitar is front and center." Runicen: "It's great to hear Bill cut loose and shred." "Great record with some tasty guitar work. Bill, you may have put the Vais and Satrianis of the world on notice. You make it sound effortless and fun! Definitely better than "side project" status though. I would like to state that I can listen to Special Metal alongside Be Bop Deluxe recordings and I hear the same guy on both; not in any sort of derivative or repetitive sense, but in that the river has yielded another turn but remained the same body flowing on. The ageless quality of the voice definitely makes it feel like only a few days have passed since the recording of Futurama . Health problems or no, Bill, this is some amazing work and you have every right to be proud of it. Thanks for sharing the ride." slipperyseal: " Special Metal is bloody brilliant. I may ask permission from Bill to play "when you wish…" at my funeral." major snagg: "I've been following your music since BBD & RN. I'm especially enjoying SM ( :oops: ) not that kind…this is a family forum." Albums Menu Future Past

Rain single - 1991 The Rain Poets Production/Contribution Menu Future Past BILL: Producer and Guitar. Production/Contribution Menu Future Past

Monday 29th August 2005 -- 9:00 pm August is about to end. 2005 seems to have moved towards autumn at a terrific pace. I've not realised just how quickly time has flown and I'm now in even more of a panic than before. This year has been an unrelenting attempt to hit deadlines and targets that I'd somewhat optimistically set myself several months ago (and which were listed in the previous diary entry to this one). Did I miscalcuate just how much I could achieve in that time? Or am I simply slowing down with the weight of the years? Somewhere along the way, summer seems to have happened to everyone else whilst I've been stuck in my little workroom, assembling one dream or another, trying to make my imagination tangible to others with the aid of smoke and mirrors. The thing which is draining me most intensely, but also, conversely, proving to be the most rewarding, is the ongoing creation of my 'The Alchemical Adventures Of Sailor Bill' album. This, for me, has been the most important task of the year. It is only now, after working on the album for a long time, that I'm beginning to understand exactly what it's real meaning is. At first, there was a general fishing around for direction and some songs I intially recorded for the project seemed to go off at too much of a tangent. I was searching for a style that might lend itself to my solo live performances on the forthcoming November dates. This approach, it turns out, was a mistake. I found that particular 'angle' less than satisfying for some reason. It just didn't feel as if I was hitting the right emotional target. It was only when I totally abandoned the idea of making these songs 'practical' (in live performance terms), that the sparks began to fly. The move away from performance oriented material to pure studio soundscapes opened the creative channels for me and I suddenly felt free of the 'keep it live' restraints I'd saddled myself with. Then, with the realisation that a 'theme' of sorts was presenting itself in a couple of the pieces, I struck out in an even more singularly defined direction. I made the decision to build the material around a symbolic nautical/coastal theme which put things into clearer perspective and, before long, the album's current title emerged from the mud. The use of ocean, shoreline, ship, lighthouse, harbour, pier and seaside fairground images seems, somehow, to manifest, or symbolise, my present emotional and metaphysical state of mind (and life's journey generally). These images also resonate with a romantic, nostalgic wistfulness which suits my current feelings of melancholy. They also demand a little more than the usual rock music vocabulary and tonal palette, something more epic, enigmatic and subtle. It was only when I totally abandoned the idea of making these songs 'practical' (in live performance terms), that the sparks began to fly. The move away from performance oriented material to pure studio soundscapes opened the creative channels for me and I suddenly felt free of the 'keep it live' restraints I'd saddled myself with. Then, with the realisation that a 'theme' of sorts was presenting itself in a couple of the pieces, I struck out in an even more singularly defined direction. I made the decision to build the material around a symbolic nautical/coastal theme which put things into clearer perspective and, before long, the album's current title emerged from the mud. The use of ocean, shoreline, ship, lighthouse, harbour, pier and seaside fairground images seems, somehow, to manifest, or symbolise, my present emotional and metaphysical state of mind (and life's journey generally). These images also resonate with a romantic, nostalgic wistfulness which suits my current feelings of melancholy. They also demand a little more than the usual rock music vocabulary and tonal palette, something more epic, enigmatic and subtle. The next turning point came when I decided to unify as many of the songs as possible by building them around orchestral textures, rather than the more usual rock music instrumentation. Some pieces go further with this premise than others, of course, but I've had to curb the temptation to please some of my audience by adding a veneer of guitar to pieces of music where no guitar veneer is required. One piece in particular immediately sounded less than it should have sounded simply because I overdubbed a guitar solo where it wasn't appropriate. You'd think that, by now, I'd not give such a thing a second thought but, for a brief and undisciplined moment, I almost turned a perfectly beautiful piece of music into a horrendous rock anthem, worthy of Queen or one of their ilk, simply by adding a 'rock out' guitar part, merely to elicit a predictable response from what I'd mistakenly thought of as 'the average listener'. I wiped it straight away after playing it back. Too easy, too cheap. I'm more than just a guitar player, damn it (and not much of a guitar player at that, in my opinion). This, I now realise, is not an album for the average listener. Nor is it a product for the average 'me', whatever that might imply. Just as I've had to abandon all pretext of ever performing this material live, I've had to also abandon any thought about what anyone else might make of it when it is eventually released. In fact, the ever sharper focus I'm bringing to bear on the music has made the creative process much more difficult and challenging. Despite this, it has proved to be an unusually rewarding, if somewhat time-consuming, exercise. There's now almost a hint of a concept album or opera about the project, 'though not in the usual linear story telling mode of such genres. The lyrics, in fact, are fairly minimal, quite direct but visually evocative. The visual dimension is reinforced by the music which has, in places, an epic 'largeness' that I hope will paint a suitable oceanic picture in the listener's mind. There's a very odd chemical marriage of antique and modern in the soundscapes of these pieces. I've made no attempt to rein in my sentimentality, my nostalgic yearnings and there's no deliberate stab at dissonance or commonplace minimalism. It's all richly romantic, densely textured, fantasy-fuelled writing that evokes the feel of old Hollywood or, better still, Golden Age British cinema, movies. BUT... at the same time, because of my lack of formal musical education, there's something else at work in the music, something that seems to exist apart from academic considerations of form, style and era. Simple but not minimalistic? Innocent but not naive? I don't really want to speculate too much in fear of driving the spirit of it away but... it's perhaps this intuitive element that gives the work an odd sort of quality. It feels, somehow, 'present'. I think this is simply because I'm writing from such a personal, idiosyncratic, untutored position. Stubbornly determined NOT to do what other's might prefer me to do or would advise me to do. Maybe this is music that no one else would want to make, (except me, of course). Maybe it's what's left on the table when everyone else has eaten and gone to bed. It's the residue of something already consumed, but a residue transformed into an entirely unexpected confection. A rich feast? Or maybe it's just warmed over scraps. For me, it is, at this moment in time, all consuming. I'm besotted with it and it refuses to let me rest. The hours I've given to it are never going to return to me. I've had moments of elation writing and recording this material, and moments of doubt and despair. It has not, by any stretch of the imagination, been an easy ride. Certainly not one of those albums that fall easily from the blue empty void onto the composer's table. I've yet to finish the project or even to listen to a possible sequence of tracks but, I'll hesitantly say that it is possibly one of the best things I've ever done. Of course, I reserve the right, being the artist, to damn it to hell at a later date if the wind changes direction. But, so far, I'm feeling that this is a wee bit special. Last week, however, a disasterous event: My plug in 24 track Mackie hard disc drive decided to shunt weeks of recorded work off into another dimension. I'd almost completed the recording of a new song, over which I'd laboured for four solid days, (a song that might possibly have provided the high spot of the album), when I turned off the recording equipment in the usual way. When I next turned it on, the hard drive showed no files present... basically a BLANK drive. I stared at the screen in utter disbelief. Where were all the songs? Weeks of work? AND my brand new supersong of which I'd felt so pleased? Also on the drive had been 'The Man Who Haunted Himself,' a song I'd already mixed down to DAT tape but which I'd decided needed a more considerate re-mix before it would be fit for the album. All this and more, it appears, vanished in a digital puff of smoke. I was absolutely gutted, depressed, heartbroken. Calls to my friend Paul Gilby got me connected to Mackie themselves who, after some over the 'phone prodding and probing, seemed to confirm that all was indeed lost. I then noticed that the hard disc recorder's real-time readout was showing that there was only 3 minutes 44 seconds of available recording time left on the empty drive. If the drive was truly empty, surely it would show more time available for recording than this? The Mackie techs then seemed to think that this might indicate that the song files were still present on the drive but that their index page had become corrupted, thereby making it impossible for the machine to open any particular song file. So... later this week, Paul is generously going to take the hard drive to a specialist company in London to see if the music files can be recovered. If so, I may get my precious material back and finish the song I felt would be so important to the new album. (And remix the 'Haunted' song.) Fingers crossed. If this process doesn't recover the apparently vanished songs, then I'll have to use the earlier mix of 'Haunted' and attempt a total re-recording of the new song I've lost. It won't be at all the same, however, as the original was so complex, so detailed, so full of 'happy accidents', that it would be impossible to reproduce exactly the same combination of magic and chance that created it in the first place. I can't evenn remember all the delicious melodies and counter-melodies that made up the orchestral sections of the piece, let alone reproduce all the minute adjustments to tone and timbre that each instrument had been subjected. The vocal performance was unique too, a product of time and place, never to be quite as convincing again Plus, the proper moment for its creation has now passed, my enthusiasm cruelly dampened and diminished by the original's loss. But we'll see... I've not completely given up hope yet. Since then, I've been working on the machine's internal drive and not risked using the malfunctioning external plug-in one. I've almost completed another new song. Not bad going, time wise. It's called 'Here comes The Sea (The Captain's Lament)'. Another big orchestral score and a few guitar parts scattered here and there, but nothing 'guitaristic', just appropriate colour where needed. No gratuitous applause seeking. The album's opening track will be a pure instrumental though, something to set up the correct atmosphere for the songs. This piece is called 'The Lighthousekeeper's Waltz' and has a sort of 'overture' effect. But enough talk of this. The album has already turned me into even more of an anti-social semi-recluse than usual. I need to get it finished and off my chest, clear the decks, (to use a nautical pun). I have stolen the odd day or two from my work to appear human, (although I'm told that I always appear distracted and distant on these occasions) My daughter Julia and my grandson Luke came up from London and we all went to a quite spectacular air show together. Absolutely terrifying... but thrilling. Took some camcorder footage for videogram use. Great to see Julia and Luke though... he's a real bright spark and a credit to Julia's patience and love. Also, my mother's 77th Birthday. Mum's such a gem and I'm a terrible son. I don't spend nearly enough time with my mother. Or my children. Or my wife. ('Though I have spent most of this bank holiday weekend attempting to take Emi out and about.) It's all music, bloody music. And very little else. Now... back to the mixing desk. Need to push on... I'm way behind schedule. All photographs by Bill Nelson Top of page William's Study (Diary Of A Hyperdreamer) August 2005 Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Sep Oct Dec 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2013

Giants of the Perpetual Wurlitzer Bill Nelson ep - 29 December 1984 Singles Menu Future Past TRACKS: A1) The Strangest Things, The Strangest Times A2) Phantom Gardens A3) French Promenade B1) Golden Mile B2) West-Deep B3) Threnodia ORIGINALLY: All six songs were initially non-album tracks, two of which were exclusive to the 7" EP. NOTES: Giants of the Perpetual Wurlitzer is a 6 track EP of instrumentals issued on Cocteau Records. This was the sixth in the series of Cocteau Club EPs issued to fan club members, and the only one to appear in a picture sleeve. The EP was included in Issue #11 of the club magazine, Acquitted By Mirrors . Note that "Threnodia" is misspelt as "Threnolia" on the sleeve. PAST RELEASES: A1 was released on the Enigma compilation of the same name in 1989. A2, B2, B3 were all later included on Chance Encounters in the Garden of Lights album (Cocteau, 1987). CURRENT AVAILABILITY: All tracks are available on the retrospective compilation album Transcorder (The Acquitted By Mirrors Recordings) . Singles Menu Future Past

Discography Menu Compilation Appearances (containing tracks that were exclusive upon their release) The following compilations do not link to full entries yet...They will soon. Fairview @ 50 2017 CD/DVD set Sound On Sound Magazine: 20th Anniversary Bonus Disc 2005 DVD Voiceprint: Sampler 2002 2002 album Echoes Living Room Concerts: Volume 2 1996 album All Saints Calling 1994 album The Mellotron Album - Rime Of The Ancient Sampler 1993 album Heaven And Hell: Volume 2 - A Tribute To The Velvet Underground 1991 album Cocteau Signature Tunes 1986 album From Brussels With Love 1980 album Discography Menu

Could This Be Heaven? single - 1979 Original Mirrors Production/Contribution Menu Future Past BILL: Producer Production/Contribution Menu Future Past

Chameleon Bill Nelson album - November 1986 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) City One 02) Science And Sacrament 03) Machine Voodoo 04) Chameleon 05) Circular Tour 06) The Shape Of Things To Come 07) Astro Logic 08) Tropicus 09) O Vee 10) On The Beam 11) Mex-Arcana 12) Man Machine 13) Hip-No-Tize 14) New Dream Island 15) Blue Sky 16) To The Sea In Ships 17) Blonde And Built To Last 18) To A Child 19) Rosalia 20) Golden Shrine 21) Playback 22) Designer Dance 23) On The Beach 24) Like A Dream 25) Mitsukini ALBUM NOTES: Chameleon is an instrumental album of "library music", initially released on the Themes International Music label. On its release Chameleon was extremely difficult to obtain, as albums of library music (for use in production of TV and radio programmes) were always pressed in limited numbers and unavailable outside of their intended market. Precise information as to its release date is difficult to verify, but its existence was first mentioned in the fan club magazine Acquitted By Mirrors towards the end of 1986. PAST RELEASES: After years of being unavailable to all but the most avid collectors, Chameleon was re-issued in 2002 (Fabled Quixote). Note that the original vinyl release included spoken titles (not by the composer) at the beginning of each track which were omitted on the CD reissue. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "Very simply recorded, slightly quirky, short pieces...a little bit whimsical and often quite jolly...not so serious as Simplex or Chance Encounters." _____ "You have to keep in mind that this was made as a Library Music album. Library music is created to be used as television or radio background music and will more often than not end up with a narrator speaking over the music...sometimes the music is chosen to lend a mood to a documentary film, so there will possibly be other sounds laid over the music by the TV studio technicians, as well as narration. For this reason, one of the rules of library music is that it should contain no prominent melodies or a strong lead instrument. It has to function as aural wallpaper, a background atmosphere rather than a dominant musical motif." FAN THOUGHTS: REG: "Vinyl copies of Chameleon are a REAL rarity. I was lucky enough to acquire my copy from a friend who worked for an advertising company. When the firm went bust he snaffled their copy of Chameleon for me. A couple of years ago I got Bill to sign the album and if I remember rightly he said at the time that he had never even seen a copy of the record, so it must be genuinely scarce." Peter: "It dates from that period when Bill was relying less on the "guitar and vocals" as the backbone of his work, leaning heavily towards keyboards, drum machines and samples. It is an interesting period, especially the later works, as Bill's compositions grew more elaborate and rich. One can hear Bill maturing as a composer, discovering and building the incredible range of musical tools that have made him such a truly unique and amazing artist. Lots of wonderful songs here...spanning ambient to "dance". Well worth any real fan's time -- over and over again!" Westdeep: "Ebay was primitive in those days but I was easily able to fill the gaps at a reasonable price all excepting a mint copy of the Chameleon LP which I still haven't told the wife about!" Albums Menu Future Past

Blip! More Listening Notes Go to Album Listening Notes to accompany the album Blip! by Bill Nelson General introduction: Towards the end of 2012 I began work on a series of recordings which were ultimately intended for release as a double album titled 'Grand Auditoria.' The idea behind 'Grand Auditoria' was that it would touch on the diverse musical styles explored throughout my life as a musician. I hoped each track would reflect a different genre from my past, but with a contemporary twist. These were not to be re-arrangements of old songs but brand new compositions. The album would feature rock, pop, jazzy instrumentals, acoustic pieces, neo-classical orchestral compositions, minimalist electronica, ambient and avant- garde experiments, and so on. It would be a way of celebrating the breadth of my music over the years and, hopefully, illuminate the threads that tie it all together. As each track for the project was completed, I set it to one side and immediately began work on the next. I didn't dwell on the end result of each piece, didn't even listen back to it beyond the final mix but eagerly moved on in anticipation of the next track. Gradually, over some months, enough pieces were completed to fill the album's proposed two discs. I called a halt to the recording process and listened through to the accumulated tracks to choose a running order. To my surprise, (and somewhat to my horror,) I realised that what had actually emerged from the months of 'heads down' writing and recording was not at all what I'd originally had in mind. True, there was a certain amount of variety in the material but it appeared to have followed a far more 'pop and rock' direction than I'd originally hoped for. Worryingly, I had no idea why this was the case. I couldn't recall any particular inner or outer reason for it straying into such territory. Somehow, it just turned out that way, seemingly of its own accord. Creating music in such an intensely focused and seamless manner can instigate a sort of trance- state in the mind of the musician or composer. Hours melt into days into weeks into months and life beyond the studio door becomes an intrusion. I often feel as if I'm existing in an intermediary realm between sensible, pragmatic reality and something far more nebulous, otherworldly and strange. No matter how poetic or romantic that particular description may sound, I am not entirely convinced that such a realm is a desirable or healthy place to locate one's life but, worryingly, it seems that I've long ago lost the will or ability to escape. Eventually I had to concede that 'Grand Auditoria' had been weirdly hi-jacked by something just beyond my reach and it became clear to me that this was now quite a different album from my original concept and as such required a new title to suit its altered nature. So... I temporarily put the 'Grand Auditoria' idea to one side for possible future use and decided to re- think the album's title to better embrace the music that had emerged from the months of recording. Almost immediately after making the decision to shift my creative gears the word 'blip' came to mind. It made me think of an unexpected event emerging from an ocean of possibilities, a bubble on the surface of a calm pool, a 'blip on the radar,' a happy surprise, a little explosion of air and light against a dark background. The word seemed to resonate with the way this music had 'popped up' out of the void, and it evoked a sound, an acoustic-organic, but also synthetic-electronic sound. It was this coincidental sound inference which led me to the idea of creating short instrumental pieces to link the main vocal tracks together. This, I realised, would be a similar approach to the abstract guitar instrumentals I'd used to link the songs on the 'Joy Through Amplification' album, though this time I would be working with more whimsical, analogue synth textures. I immediately began to record some brief 'linking' pieces, recording them quickly and resisting the temptation to polish them too vigourously. The intention was that they would be be simple, direct, relaxed...light, concise and, hopefully, fun. Just as with the 'Ampex' interludes on the July 2012 'Joy Through Amplification' album, listeners are free to treat them as an album within an album or, alternatively, a set of 'sonic sorbets' to refresh their ears between main courses. Once these interludes were recorded and set in place within the general running order I then made the decision to release the album as a single disc, rather than as a double, choosing certain tracks for inclusion over others, tracks which I felt offered the listener a more cohesive, developmental journey from the beginning of the album to its conclusion. The tracks which were 'left over' from this process have been gathered together to create a limited edition, hand-signed CDR album, which I am giving as an exclusive bonus to those fans who have supported the 'BLIP!' pre-release launch party by attending the event. This limited edition pressing bears the title 'The Tremulous Doo-Wah-Diddy, (BLIP 2.') It further illuminates the process by which these recordings came about. It also has some more loosely arranged songs with longer improvisational sections. Well, that's the background to the album. Now here is a track by track breakdown: 1: 'BATS AT BEDTIME.' 'Bats At Bedtime' wouldn't have felt out of place on the 'Joy Through Amplification' album. It's perhaps my favourite track on the album, which is why it's right up front. I've incorporated non-musical sounds into my music for many years and this track features the sound of the jack plug on the end of an electric guitar cable being shorted out by tapping it on the edge of a metal table which supports my mixing desk in my home studio. The same sound also works in unison with the bass drum in the first verse of the song. One of the guitars is heavily fuzzed and features a broken, asymmetrical solo with both fuzz and octave divider effects. As well as the bass and drums and layers of guitars, an imaginary, utterly synthetic Indian orchestra enters for the bridge section. The opening lyrics make a surreal, 'wink-wink' reference to 'The Wizard Of Oz,' as follows: "I am the great and powerful Oz, I am the wizard of what once was, I am ecstatic, drunk and giddy, I am the tremulous doo-wah-diddy-wah-diddy..." After an instrumental section the lyrics continue: "I drive a blue car through the stars, in search of miracles and small surprises, boost my mind into bloom of Spring, bumble bees and bats at bedtime..." More Indian orchestra, then a segue into a gentle coda with chiming guitar and ambient choir. 2: 'YOU DO LIKE MUSIC?' (BLIP No 1.) This is the first of the short Blip interlude instrumental tracks. It's based on a found voice sample which speaks the tune's title. Perhaps this piece connects with my 'Captain Future's Psychotronic Circus' album in that it conjures up a whimsical sci-fi carnival atmosphere via its plastic, '60s Farfisa organ and space-age waltz time rhythm. It's patently a track with its tongue set firmly in its cheek, a candy-floss, sugar pink confection, an antique seaside postcard apparition, a steam-driven fantasy written for a parade of pavilion ghosts. 3: 'WHERE YOU IS, IS WHERE YOU ARE.' A combination of layered electric guitars, hard drums, distorted Hammond organ, bell-tone electric pianos, a subliminally pulsing string section and lyrics which suggest that we are only ever in the moment, even though our minds are constantly turning over past events and anticipating future ones. A sample of the lyrics: "I see the moth fly to the flame, I see myself in all but name, sometimes I feel like John Coltrane, like a saxophone in the pouring rain..." The ecstasy and exuberance of the artist versus the banality of the weather. A pair of wah-wah infected, neo-psychedelic guitar solos puncture the chiming backdrop, tubular bells enter later as the lyrics sing cheerfully of "ghosts in your window pane..." 4: 'BELL WEATHER.' (Blip No 2.) The second of the eleven Blip instrumental interludes. The title of this one goes some way towards describing its mood. Glockenspiel, a high pizzicato bass, synthetic strings, a brief, light-filled change of mood. Some things exist only in passing moments. 5: 'YOUR NAME COMPLETES THIS FREQUENCY.' A sort of techno-psychedelic fantasia embracing reversed guitars, fragmentary electronics, artificial strings, hovering synths and a lyric whose chorus states, "It seems to me that recently, your name completes this frequency..." A short, acid inflected pop-trip into luminous realms of the mind. 6: 'A DREAM OF THEE.' (Blip No 3.) Pulsing synths, sitar decorations, retro TR808 percussion, mini-moog squiggles suggesting a Blade Runner-like off-world exotica and a voice sample which anchors the title in a vague, mock-religious, nowhere-land...A chirping bird of an instrumental. Evaporates after only one minute and forty two seconds. 7: 'THE FABULOUS MR FUTURISMO.' Begins with a brief soundscape of abstract noise, leading into an angular piano, radio dial and orchestra riff. The lyrics sing thus: "The Captain's captured his caution horses/kept their treasure in crystal cages...The fabulous Mr Futurismo/waves from his window high in the sky..." A full orchestra joins the piece stating an oblique melodic theme. Elements akin to 'The Alchemical Adventures Of Sailor Bill' album begin to colour the mood before the lyric sing : "Where were you when the snow was falling...where were you when the sun was rising..." Later there is mention of "pie in the sky." (Is that a God shaped pie or a corporate McDonalds one?) The mood shifts to describe a girl with a 'wiggly walk.' Guitars join the orchestral flow as the song winds its way to a rusty needle-static coda, distressed and patinated. But just who is this nebulous Mr Futurismo? A time-travelling philanthropist from some utopian world of Far Tomorrow? A techno-gnostic being from beyond space and time? Or, your next door neighbour who has the secret ability to levitate through the ceiling of his 1930s semi-detached bungalow and hover like an angel under silver suburban stars? Well...only you know the answer... 8: 'SPARKLETTE.' (BLIP No 4.) Another brief instrumental interlude, this one hinting at the textures and moods of the 'Model Village' album, but with a central glockenspiel motif. Also connects with certain tracks from the 'Picture Post' album. The title comes from the name of a vintage soda water syphon company. I do enjoy creating music inspired by the minutiae of memory! 9: 'YOUR SEXY THUNDER.' Another of my personal favourites from this album. Possibly a song about sexual dalliance, or at least flirtation. It begins with a stuttering electric guitar and a brief blast of electronic sound before mutating into a kind of twisted heavy metal riff over an asymmetric, crippled drum pattern. Features wah-wah guitar, a non-linear arrangement and lyrics which state: "I saw your luxury lingerie in a dream inside my head, you were in my most mysterious thoughts, here in my celestial bed...Your sexy thunder, was always under my skin..." Chorus changes to a more major key mood with Blackpool Tower organ overtones. Wailing, ecstatic wah-wah guitar spurts crazily. Mad piano ending. This too could have fitted nicely on the 'Joy Through Amplification' album. 10: 'METEOR BRIDGE.' (Blip No 5.) A mysterious start leads to a rattling percussion loop and a squirmy mini-moog melody followed by a cute, bleeping bridge and more moog style leads lines...brief piano section followed by mock '80s synth horns. A track filled with deliberately cheesy, '80s synth irony. The title is a play on 'Meter Bridge,' the area of a recording studio's mixing desk which houses its VU meters. Is this real or is it Memorex? 11: 'IN A CLOUD OF STARS.' Keyboard intro, joined by pulsing string quartet then french horn, oboe, xylophone and choir, leading to melodic, harmonised vocals. The opening lyrics state: "Restless are the ides of March, the wind that howls beneath God's arch...but here at home by hearth and fire, I fan the flames of heart's desire..." A neo-classical hymn to nostalgic, romanticised domesticity, or something like that. 12: 'BRIGHT AND GLITTERING.' (Blip No 6.) Another brief instrumental interlude. This one has a rather spooky feel with electronic percussion, electric piano, flanged synth and a sampled voice which repeats the phrase "Bright and glittering in the smokeless air..." An airship gliding by, high in golden sunlight. 13: 'WHIRLWIND WINTERS WIND THE CLOCKS OF SPRING.' Floating synths, reggae organ, sub-bass, filtered guitar, hand-bells, mellotron-flutes and lyrics which begin "There's a half moon in the sky, a full moon in her eye, but right now the sun is shining in her garden...Birds are singing in the trees, her skirts are blowing in the breeze, and I'm down on my knees to please my darling..." As John Peel might have said: 'a song in praise of fair weather and sturdy thighs.' 14: 'FLUTTERBYE.' (Blip No 7.) The title is a play on the word 'butterfly,' which infants sometimes charmingly pronounce as 'flutterbye.' This short instrumental evokes the shining flight of a cabbage-white butterfly as it dances, Tinkerbell-like, amongst the flowers of an idealised English country garden. Mini-Moog lines and a delicately arpeggiated keyboard backdrop hark back to my earliest synth recordings on albums such as 'Sounding The Ritual Echo' and 'The Summer Of God's Piano.' 15: 'PAINTING YOUR SKY WITH MARVELLOUS BIRDS.' A gentle, trippy ballad decorated by speeded-up backwards guitars, clockwork percussion, electric piano, floating synths and, on an extended coda, a twisted sample of an orchestra which, with the addition of further guitars, gradually transforms into something a little more sinster. Opening lyrics are "Soft treble sings in amber light and all is well beyond the night..." 16: 'PURE IMAGINATION.' (Blip No 8.) This retro-styled instrumental interlude has an almost cartoon like atmosphere...toytown reggae with a munchkin-like sampled voice. Lead lines are handled by a series of mini-moog tones evoking some of the synth sounds used on Be Bop Deluxe's 'Ships In The Night.' A short burst of musical surrealism. 17: 'NO TWO THOUGHTS.' A strange one, this. Opening lyrics state: "Weird thoughts wind my clockwork brain...and no two thoughts are ever the same..." Sung over a repetitive, filtered choir sample,Wurlitzer piano and electro-bleeps. The chorus shifts gear and becomes pseudo-romantic with smooth synths, chiming guitar and lyrics which sing of 'lantern light.' A love song for shiny robots. The song ends with a short coda which changes the landscape yet again. 18: 'AEOLIAN MAGIC.' (Blip No 9.) The word 'aeolian' comes from the greek god 'Aeolus,' the god of wind in greek myth. An 'Aeolian Harp' is a stringed instrument whose strings produce sound when the wind blows across them. This short keyboard instrumental does not attempt to evoke a wind harp but used a sampled voice which speaks the track's title over a brisk percussion track, electric piano, synths and orchestra. Another blip on the radar. 19: 'DARLING STAR.' Opens with electric guitar, keyboards and e-bow. First verse lyrics sing: "Sunday morning's little swimmers, seek thou swift the sleeping egg..." Reverse guitars and choir lead to the repeated refrain "Holy River...Holy River..." Features guitar solos which change texture and direction throughout and a trippy looped guitar coda. I didn't quite realise until after recording the song that it is probably about the mystical nature of conception and the urge of life's essence towards incarnation and birth. Sometimes interpretation comes after the event of creation. 20: 'DAZZLE.' (Blip No 10.) The title is spoken by a sampled voice over pulsing synth and jigsaw-puzzle toy xylophone patterns on this short instrumental interlude. 21: 'AFTER ALL THESE YEARS.' Another of my favourites on the album and, in some ways, one of the 'straighter' more orthodox tracks. Predominantly guitar driven, this is a philosophical sort of song with lyrics which state: "Man goes to the mountain, the mountain disappears...Man goes to the fountain, with all his hopes and fears...Behind the wizard's curtain, nothing to be found, of this I am quite certain, our clocks are all unwound..." The song contains two nice, contrasting guitar solos and coda with guitars that peal like church bells. 22: 'I DANCED IN A DREAM.' (Blip No 11.) The final instrumental interlude and the last track on the album...A sampled voice states the track's title over a hybrid acoustic guitar/harpsichord pattern whilst a distant choir and curious backwards sounds decorate. Little melodies emerge from synths to dance freely over all. Ends with the words "And everything glowed with a gleam..." Music and Lyrics Copyright Bill Nelson 2013 All Rights Reserved. More Listening Notes Go to Album

At The BBC 1974 - 1978 box set - 30 September 2013 Be Bop Deluxe Collections Menu Future Past TRACKS: CD1 John Peel Session, May 1974 01) Third Floor Heaven 02) Adventures In A Yorkshire Landscape 03) Mill Street Junction 04) 15th Of July John Peel Session, March 1975 05) Maid In Heaven 06) Stage Whispers 07) Sister Seagull 08) Lights In Concert, January 1976 09) Life In The Air Age 10) Sister Seagull 11) Ships In The Night 12) Maid In Heaven 13) Third Floor Heaven 14) Blazing Apostles CD2 In Concert, October 1976 01) Maid In Heaven 02) Bring Back The Spark 03) Kiss Of Light 04) Adventures In A Yorkshire Landscape 05) Fair Exchange 06) Ships In The Night 07) Twilight Capers 08) Modern Music (Medley) 09) Blazing Apostles CD3 John Peel Session, January 1977 01) Mill Street Junction 02) Adventures In A Yorkshire Landscape 03) Still Shining In Concert, January 1978 04) New Precision 05) Superenigmatix 06) Possession 07) Dangerous Stranger 08) Islands Of The Dead 09) Panic In The World 10) Lovers Are Mortal 11) Love In Flames 12) Blazing Apostles John Peel Session, January 1978 13) Superenigmatix 14) Panic In The World 15) Possession 16) Love In Flames DVD Old Grey Whistle Test, July 1975 01) Maid In Heaven 02) Sister Seagull Old Grey Whistle Test, January 1976 03) Fair Exchange 04) Ships In The Night Old Grey Whistle Test, November 1976 05) Forbidden Lovers 06) Down On Terminal Street Sight And Sound In Concert, February 1978 07) New Precision 08) Superenigmatix 09) Possession 10) Dangerous Stranger 11) Islands Of The Dead 12) Lovers Are Mortal 13) Panic In The World NOTES: A 3CD + DVD box set which very nicely brings together most of the band's BBC recordings for the John Peel show, In Concert, and The Old Grey Whistle Test. The set comes with a nicely illustrated if short booklet with sleeve notes from Nelson and recording information for each session or show. Be Bop Deluxe's BBC output had appeared on a number of previous releases (see Past Releases below), but this was the most comprehensive collection that had appeared officially, and is unlikely to be surpassed or supplemented in future. Notable inclusions on this set are the previously unreleased John Peel Session from January 1977; the two previously unreleased tracks from the January 1978 John Peel Session; the three previously unreleased tracks from the Sight and Sound In Concert recording from February 1978 (including two tracks that were never broadcast); and the thirteen tracks from the OGWT /Sight and Sound performances from 1975, 1976 and 1978, twelve of which were previously unreleased. There are also five tracks that prior to the appearance of this box set were only available as digital downloads. The only confirmed omissions (using Ken Garner's In Session Tonight book as reference) are the band's 1973 session for John Peel, which is assumed to be lost, and another John Peel Session from 1976 that was included on the Tramcar to Tomorrow CD in 1998. PAST RELEASES: More than 50% of the material presented in this box set had appeared on previous releases on either CD or as digital downloads, but much of this was long out of print by the time At the BBC 1974-1978 was released. The majority of the In Concert/Sight and Sound material had already appeared up to three times: on the Radioland CD (from 1994), its remastered equivalent Tremulous Antennae CD (from 2002), and the two In Concert downloads (from 2010), thus making these past releases completely redundant. Of the John Peel Session material, all but five tracks had appeared either on the Tramcar to Tomorrow CD issued in 1998, or the John Peel Session download (from 2010), but the former contains exclusive material in the form of the 1976 Peel Session omitted from this box set. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Currently out of print, but the included material may appear as part of Cherry Red's re-issue program. Collections Menu Future Past

Acquitted By Mirrors - Issue Nine - Published April 1984 Back to Top

The Love That Whirls Bill Nelson album - 25 June 1982 Albums Menu Future Past TRACKS: 01) Empire Of The Senses 02) Hope For The Heartbeat 03) Waiting For Voices 04) A Private View 05) Eros Arriving 06) The Bride Of Christ In Autumn 07) When Your Dream Of Perfect Beauty Comes True 08) Flaming Desire 09) Portrait Of Jan With Flowers 10) The Crystal Escalator In The Palace Of God Department Store 11) Echo In Her Eyes (The Lamps Of Oblivion) 12) The October Man ALBUM NOTES: The Love That Whirls is album that mixes vocal and instrumental pieces issued on the Mercury label. It was recorded between April and November 1981 at Ric Rac Studios, Leeds, England and Rockfield Studios Monmouth, Wales. The album was Nelson's first full length album of songs since Quit Dreaming and Get on the Beam , most of which was recorded in 1979. The album reached No. 28 in the UK charts and was promoted by the singles Eros Arriving and Flaming Desire , both of which briefly spent time in the UK Top 100 singles chart. The Love That Whirls represented a change in sound for Nelson's solo work when compared to his most recent previous output, as it featured a brightly polished production and a state of the art drum sound. All instruments were played by Nelson apart from "vibraslaps" on "Empire of the Senses" (played by Jan Nelson) and drums on "The October Man" (played by Bogdan Wiczling). When originally released on vinyl and cassette, the first 10,000 copies of The Love That Whirls came packaged with a limited edition free album, La Belle et la Bête , Nelson's second soundtrack work for the Yorkshire Actors Company. PAST RELEASES: The Love That Whirls was initially issued on CD on Cocteau (1986), and featured a remix of "Hope for the Heartbeat" in place of the vinyl version. For the Mercury reissue (2005), both mixes were included, with the remix as a bonus track. When issued on CD in the U.S. in 1989, fans were presented with an altered version of the album. Both the fan favorite "Empire of the Senses" and the single "Flaming Desire" were deleted from the original running order, while four songs from period singles were added. This was done in an effort to make sure the track listing on the independent (Enigma) CD reissue did not overlap with the CD of the major label (CBS) U.S. compilation album, Vistamix . 1989 U.S. CD of The Love That Whirls : 01 ) When The Birds Return (From the Sleepcycle club EP) 02) Hope For The Heartbeat (Remix from the U.S. promo single) 03) Waiting For Voices 04) A Private View 05) Eros Arriving 06) The Bride Of Christ In Autumn 07) Flesh (From the Eros Arriving double single) 08) He And Sleep Were Brothers (From the Eros Arriving double single) 09) When Your Dream Of Perfect Beauty Comes True 10) Dancing On A Knife's Edge (From a club EP of the same name) 11) Portrait Of Jan With Flowers 12) The Crystal Escalator In The Palace Of God Department Store 13) Echo In Her Eyes 14) The October Man CURRENT AVAILABILITY: In 2005 Mercury reissued The Love That Whirls as a remastered CD, producing the definitive edition of the album, which is still available. The package was well presented with sleeve notes and photographs, and contains the original version of the album as released in 1982, together with five bonus tracks taken from singles issued contemporaneously with the album. Note that all of the bonus tracks on the Mercury had previously appeared on the Cocteau compilation The Two Fold Aspect of Everything (a collection that sorely deserves a reissue). Extra songs on the 2005 CD: 07) Flesh (Eros Arriving b-side) 08) He And Sleep Were Brothers (Eros Arriving b-side) 15) Haunting In My Head (Eros Arriving b-side) 16) Hope For The Heartbeat (remix) (promotional single) 17) The Passion (Flaming Desire b-side) BILL'S THOUGHTS: "Let me explain the title. It's actually based on a fact, rather than a poetic fantasy. It has two direct connections...the first is to the 'whirling dervishes.' These are Sufi dancers who use the whirling dance as a form of prayer and worship. They are taught to love everything and their whirling dance is an expression of that love and a means of attaining divine ecstasy. Hence 'The Love That Whirls.' "The other connection is to avant-garde film maker and occultist Kenneth Anger who, in 1949, made a film titled 'The Love That Whirls.' The film was destroyed by the film processing laboratory who took it upon themselves to judge the film 'obscene.' "So, you see, these things are not just random words...they are connected to certain things that interest me and inform the mood of the album." _____ "Ironically, "October Man" is one of the tracks from that album which has, for me, stood the test of time. (In that I can still play it live today without feeling as disconnected from it as much as some of the Be Bop stuff makes me feel). It somehow escapes that '80s stylistic thing. "Crystal Escalator", whilst quite different from "October Man" and difficult to perform live, retains, for me, a space-age, dub vibe which I still can listen to without embarrassment. It conjures up a certain art-deco department store in Leeds that I was familiar with in the 1950s, and the escalators that seemed so magical to me as a child." FAN THOUGHTS : Radium Girl: "I'm a bit lost for words actually, when I think about describing my feelings for The Love That Whirls . I find it very strange that it's so hard to express...being that it is one of my favorite albums ever recorded. Maybe that's it - it's so personal and the entire album, beginning to end is embued the most gorgeous sonically induced imagery...it feels like a very special gift that I was given from Bill. I haven't stopped listening to it since. An essential record for me." novemberman: "Yeah this is the album that made me change from having a passing interest in Bill Nelson to a fan. I still have my original vinyl copy complete with Belle et Bete , guess what I'll be playing tonight. 30 years old & a classic of its time!!" play my theremin: "I'm an admirer of Bill's songs, lyrics, and vocals ahead of his playing, exceptional though it is. I don't enjoy the Be Bop Deluxe stuff much perhaps for this reason. It seemed something happened around the time of The Love That Whirls that, for me, took him away from the band-member dynamic and let him flourish and mature as a singer/songwriter/producer, and he's gone from strength to strength in that...in my opinion, and there are too many favourite vocals to list." Parsongs: "Wow!! The drum machine was percolating and the e-bow was soaring. There was a lot of processing on these tracks, all done with a lot of taste. The marimba was a very unique touch as well. I had never heard the e-bow used so much or played so well. Bill is a natural with this device which is not easy to master - I can tell you from my own experience!!" paul.smith: "Empire of the Senses": "always grabbed me when I first bought the album - that vocal passage of 'sound' rather than words that goes up and down in a sort of falsetto style...very evocative and haunting." Andre: "Empire of the Senses": "has the wildest marimba solo you will ever hear." peterc62: "Empire of the Senses": "is a great song - I love the Marimba and Vibroslap sounds. This was the first BN album my wife admitted to liking which allowed me to bombard her with loads of other stuff." Iron Man No. 28: "Japanese director Nagisa Oshima had recently made the films In The Realm of the Senses (1976) and Empire of Passion (1978); Bill's title "Empire of the Senses" conflates the two." ChristianX: "This album has stayed with me and is part of who I am today. PS - Does anyone else cry when the guitar solo from "The October Man" kicks in at the end of The Love That Whirls or am I the only one? Gets me every time..." chromiumlad: "Sometime in 1985, I was 14 at the time, my uncle made me a tape of The Love That Whirls with the instructions "Play This Loud". I did many many many times. I still have that tape. Then the same uncle introduced me to Sylvian's 'Gone to Earth.' And a few years later when I got my first CD player I immediately (well as soon as I found them) bought The Love That Whirls , Sound on Sound , and Quit Dreaming and Get on the Beam . I have been enthralled with Bill's work ever since." Chimera Man: "The Love That Whirls led to a fascination and loyalty that has lasted 33 years." Jet Silver: "This is the first (of quite a few) Bill Nelson album I ever purchased. On the strength of hearing one song on the radio and the intriguing cover image, imagine my surprise upon getting it home to discover a second album of instrumental music as well as a sheet of 'Cocteau Records' related merchandise to procure, (if only I had...). The music inside the cover of course was worth thrice the price of admission and was a touchstone to a musical world that has become far more richer and wonderful than I could have ever imagined 30 years ago." Albums Menu Future Past

The Sparkle Machine Bill Nelson album - 11 December 2013 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) The Awakening 02) Full Of Desire 03) Blaze Ye Now The Golden Trail 04) The Boy Who Lived In The Future 05) Eros Ghost Trails Gleaming Echoes 06) Colossal Figures Shrouded In Clouds 07) The Martian Boulevardier 08) Jimi Sifts The Sands Of Time 09) Whirlpool Meditation 10) Saturnalia 11) Hermetica Automatica 12) Velo-Sola 13) Jupiter Commander 14) The Sparkle Machine (Phenomena 77) ALBUM NOTES: The Sparkle Machine (Several Sustained Moments) is an instrumental album issued in a single print run of 500 copies on the Sonoluxe label. The material for The Sparkle Machine was largely created alongside that for Albion Dream Vortex , with material assigned to either album as Nelson saw fit. The first mention of the album was in late October 2013, at which point the track listing had been decided on, and given a rush release on 11 December 2013. Demand to acquire the album was sufficient to force SOS to take it off sale 8 days later, as they needed to catch up with orders received, and to ensure that existing orders could be fulfilled. After the Christmas holidays were over the album was put back on sale, and eventually sold out on 7 January 2014. It was reissued as a digital download on Bandcamp on 2 May 2015. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: " The Sparkle Machine is an instrumental album with a heavy emphasis on the electric guitar and features some densely packed, exploratory improvisation. It could also been regarded as a psychedelic space rock album though it spreads its wings wider than that definition might suggest. I think it's fair to say that it also acts as a 'virtual' stepping stone between Albion Dream Vortex and next year's release of my recent collaboration with jet-ace guitarist Reeves Gabrels." _____ "When I say 'space rock' I don't mean of the Hawkwind variety...(though no slight meant to them...they're absolutely splendid space captains!). My version is rather more loose, slips through a number of wormholes and emerges somewhere in a universe where the barriers between rock, improvisation, electronica, classical and jazz have never existed. It's just expansive music with the electric guitar pushing hard at the edges. But don't worry, if you've ever liked electric guitar trips, you'll love this one!" _____ "Actually, I never think in terms of a 'best' guitar. I have a very eclectic collection of guitars and they each have their own character and qualities. I'll sometimes choose to use one simply because of how it looks and the 'mind set' it puts me in on any particular day. It's rather like deciding what shirt or jacket to wear depending on my mood and the weather. Obviously, a guitar's sound plays a part too, the warmth and jazziness of my Guild X500, Peerless Monarch or D'Angelico will generally inspire and suit a jazz tinted solo. My Gretsches, my Stratocaster and Hallmark Stradette will bring out the twang, country and '60s instro side of my playing. My Les Paul, Campbell Nelsonics and some of my Eastwood, Airline guitars will encourage a more rock, blues or vintage rock n' roll approach, and so on. To a certain extent, it's horses for courses but also not as strictly regimented as that might seem. Sometimes it's interesting to play something opposite to what a certain guitar might dictate. To mix things up a bit. In fact, I tend to use more than one guitar on any given track. Sometimes there will be three or four different guitars on a tune. I'm a bit like a guy with a private harem...I love all my guitars and try to get around to each one on a fairly regular basis!" _____ "It's a musical equivalent of a big old oak table laden with a huge variety of delicious food and autumn fruits and shining golden goblets of rich, warm wine. Beautiful maidens breathing in your ear and a log fireplace ablaze with sensual love energy. Hey...when you've got that, who needs listening notes?" FAN THOUGHTS: TimeSlip: "Truly enjoying The Sparkle Machine Bill. I have to say it contains some of your "wildest" riffs. I noticed that your liner notes list the guitar brands you play on this album. You could probably make a stick with string tied on it sound good..." major snagg: "Oh deep joy, this is a magnificent album, which goes beautifully with your last two awesome albums, The Dreamshire Chronicles and Albion Dream Vortex . Wow...Guitar Heaven..." alec: "Full of Desire": "The guitar seems to catch flame in places in that one. A flaming desire so to speak." CoachMatt: "Has anyone ever get fixed on one of Bill's tunes ? I do a lot, and now, I am fixed on "The Martian Boulevardier" !! I can just listen to it over and over again!! Just flows so nicely. I enjoy the beats and rhythms of that tune. I can just picture this high end, OO7 acting Martian, just strolling around and acting cool !!" felixt1: "I think this is possibly a perfect re-introduction for the old Be Bop Deluxe fans, certainly as far as guitar instrumental albums by Bill, go." swampboy: "Any newcomers to his music could use these as a starting point and go on from there." AJ: "I didn't think for a moment that anything could beat Albion Dream Vortex this year. The Sparkle Machine has done it for me. How he does it so well and in such volume is beyond my comprehension. 2013 has to be the best BN year ever. Utterly stunning." BenTucker: "Loving every moment of this dazzling, dramatic, life-affirming album." "If this doesn't represent a high point in guitar music for the decade, then I don't know what does! Just breathtaking, spectacular, beautiful..." Albums Menu Future Past

Naughty Boys album - 1983 Yellow Magic Orchestra Production/Contribution Menu Future Past BILL: Guitar, e-bow and synthesiser guitar. Production/Contribution Menu Future Past

Culturemix album - 1995 Culturemix Production/Contribution Menu Future Past BILL: Collaborator and Producer Production/Contribution Menu Future Past

The Tremulous Doo-Wah Diddy (Blip! 2) Bill Nelson album - 15 June 2013 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) The Kiss Of History 02) Away 03) 17 Electric Women 04) Gooseberry Jam 05) Paradox Jukebox 06) Naughty, Naughty 07) Dr Synth's Disco Demento 08) Fruity Ornaments 09) A Fountain In The Middle Of Nowhere 10) The Queen Of Atlantis 11) Whoop-Be-Doopy-Doopy! 12) Thundercloudy 13) The Buddha Boys 14) Glisten ALBUM NOTES: The Tremulous Doo-Wah Diddy (Blip! 2) is a CDR album of vocal pieces recorded for the Blip! project, but which failed to make the final running order. Limited to less than 200 copies, Blip 2 was produced in recognition of the support Nelson received from fans for attending the launch party of Blip! , and was issued free to all attendees on the evening of the event. Each copy was individually numbered and autographed by Nelson on the printed labels, bearing the Sonoluxe catalogue number CD026. The album came in a clear plastic sleeve with neither artwork nor track listing (although the latter was available on the Dreamsville forum). The limited nature of Blip 2 caused some dissension on the Dreamsville forum before the event had even been staged, and as a way to placate those who didn't attend the event (and therefore couldn't obtain the music), the album was released as a download through Bandcamp on 1 July 2013, complete with full artwork. At Nelson's very next public appearance, at the Hepworth Gallery in Wakefield on 20 September 2013, a few 'spare' copies of Blip 2 were available to buy at the merch table, which merely served to re-stoke the previous debate. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "I've spent much of today sorting through the recordings that, for one reason or another, didn't quite make the final running order for my forthcoming BLIP! album. I'm currently in the process of choosing a track list for the free, limited-edition, personally-signed BLIP 2 out-takes album that will be given free to fans who purchase a ticket for the exclusive BLIP! launch party event in June. "The surprising thing for me, (if not for you, dear fans), is that this 'out-takes' album sounds equally as potent and vital as the main BLIP! album itself...However, this bonus, personally autographed out-takes disc will only be available as an individually burned and personally signed CDR for those of you who purchase tickets for the special BLIP! launch party event." _____ "14 tracks may seem relatively modest, (at least compared to the 22 tracks on BLIP! ), but several of the pieces are long-form and develop slowly over a relaxed period of time, morphing and meta-morphing like the view seen from a train travelling through a timeless landscape..." _____ "One of the tracks, titled "Paradox Jukebox", features quotes from "Do You Dream in Colour?", "Ships in the Night", "Sister Seagull" and "Crying to the Sky", all set to a sequenced synth pattern with heavy guitars and a sweetly melodic vocal line. It's as smooth as silk and as weird and funny as Uncle Fester." _____ The front cover: "It's actually a photograph of a vintage guitar...but dramatically twisted and altered by myself via computer software!" FAN THOUGHTS: andygeorge: "Paradox Jukebox": "What's all that about Bill? Thought my CD had warped back to the seventies all by itself, caught me right off guard! Loving it...I heard "Quit Dreaming", "Sister Seagull", " Crying to the Sky" and "Maid in Heaven" in there. I must say it's excellent! Lots of guitars and trademark Nelson shenanigans going on here, liking it a lot!" "As good as Blip! is, and I've been playing it daily since the gig, Blip 2 for me is the better of the two...Loving "A Fountain in the Middle of Nowhere", could have fallen off Gleaming Without Lights , beautiful guitar work...just love it when Bill flows so freely and effortlessly like this. And "Paradox Jukebox" is also a fav... So, those that are hesitating...GET IT NOW!!" Prey: "I have only heard Blip 2 so far and I'm thinking...if this is the second string group of tunes how can the first be better? If this were a sports team I'd be shaking in my boots that I just faced the little guys and barely survived, what will the real deal do to me?!" Captain Custard: "Is Bill the only person who's productive career expands the older he gets...The quality does not diminish. Blip! is great, Blip 2 amazing. When Blip 2 was part of the package for those of us lucky enough to attend the launch, it may have been seen as a freebie, a disc of not such good tracks, but we'll bung'em in anyway and give it away. A bit like a kid with a lucky bag...'Oh I'll eat the rice paper flying saucer, but you can have that crap plastic whistle'...but oh no, Blip 2 is full of really listenable, ahead of its time music. Well done Bill, you've done it again." MondoJohnny: "I don't know...I almost feel like I like Blip 2 more than Blip! . It has such a quirky eclectic feel to it. I wonder what it is exactly that makes me like it so much. I guess its sort of that Blip! all seems like "goes together" whatever that means. Ok, here it is. Blip! is a treasury of precious objects, where Blip 2 is more a menagerie of strange animals." RJR: "Blip 2 seems to have found a home somewhat instantly. Good, good stuff. "Glisten" is truly remarkable." Dar: "Glisten": "It's TOO good. Makes me want more like it, and made my interest level in the rest of the tunes drop off. Also, the 10 sec intro to "Fruity Ornaments" had the same effect. Things so astonishingly beautiful that all else pales beside them." G. Vazquez: "I'm quite enjoying the album. It has a great vibe. I think the first songs I was most impressed at are "The Kiss of History", "Away" and "The Queen of Atlantis". So: be smart, do buy Blip 2 !" Puzzleoyster: "For me again it has to be " Buddha Boys" from Blip 2 . I count around nine Different sections of bliss musicality on this track and keep on counting. Money alone cannot buy this. Awesome is not enough and most likely never will be. It is for me an artist nailed on the top of his game." Albums Menu Future Past