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2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2013 William's Study (Diary Of A Hyperdreamer) February 2008 Jan Aug Sep Oct Thursday 14th February 2008 -- 9:00 pm My stepfather George passed away during the early hours of 30th January. Less than 24 hours after being admitted to the Hospice in Wakefield. Emi and I drove over there, as mentioned in the previous diary entry, but George was sedated, barely conscious and breathing with difficulty when we arrived. The deterioration in his condition from only two days previously was quite shocking to see. There were a couple of extremely fleeting moments of recognition from George but it was impossible to ignore that the disease was in its terminal stage. He died sometime around 5:30 am, surrounded by his family. George's funeral was held at Wakefield Crematorium just over a week ago. A short but well conducted service which included music of George's choosing. Afterwards, the mourners gathered at Holmfield House in Wakefield Park for an informal buffet. George's daughter Jennifer, over from Australia where she lives, had assembled a laptop slide show of photographs from George's life. It was placed on a table for friends and relatives to view. George has gone now and nothing can change that but my mother Jean is left to face the tribulations and lonliness of widow-hood and there are serious concerns that I need to help her with. Emiko and I have driven over to Wakefield to support her almost every day. She's beginning to find her old resilience and strength again but it will be some time before she can discover a new path in life. She will be 80 years old this year and has health issues of her own to surmount but, despite her soft, generous and non-confrontational nature, she's a pragmatic, intelligent and aware woman, and certainly not one to give up the ghost. Nevertheless, at this point in time she's terribly vulnerable and needs time and love to regain her sense of self. I'm feeling the responsibility of caring for her keenly, particularly as my younger brother Ian is no longer with us. I've missed Ian even more these last few weeks. This sad situation has really underlined his absence. In many ways he was much tougher than me and his no-nonsense attitude would have been a tremendous asset during the last month or so and particularly in the weeks ahead. But the Nelson clan is not large and I'm now the only remaining offspring from the original union of my father and mother. Of course, my mother has grandchildren, (and let me just put on record that Ian's two sons and daughter have been wonderfully supportive of my mother during her latest bereavement). And mum has a wonderful great-grandson in the form of Luke, (my eldest daughter Julia's son). But, as the only surviving offspring of Jean and Walter Nelson, I guess I'm very much central to my mother's well-being. Poor mum, stuck with me as her only son. I make a pretty poor 'head of the family,' being generally hopeless at dealing with my own problems, but, whatever my shortcomings, I must do my best to help my mother through this difficult time. Awareness of mortality and the brevity and fragility of existence has been with me for much of my life but it has increasingly and painfully been brought into focus these last 18 months via a whole series of bereavements, both of family and friends of family. It inevitably casts a shadow across my own life and emphasises the need to work diligently at my music whilst I'm still able to. Morbid to think that way, I know but think about it I do (and probably far too often than is healthy). Music making has taken a back seat to recent pre-occupations but I have managed to maintain some sort of momentum by working late at night after returning from Wakefield. I've fallen behind schedule with the 'Silvertone Fountains' album, which I'd hoped to have made available by now but this hasn't neccesarily been a bad thing as I've had time to re-think aspects of it. I think I've finally settled on its ultimate form after several atttempts at it. It is, as of today, a 15 track album. Here is its track list: 'SILVERTONE FOUNTAINS.' 1: 'BEAUTY RIDES THE LAST BUS HOME.' 2: 'THE FABULOUS WHIRLIGIG OF NOW.' 3: 'AUTUMN DROWNS APPLES IN GOLDEN TIDES.' 4: 'SILVERTONE FOUNTAINS.' 5: 'LA VIE MODERNE.' 6: 'SLOW CLOUDS.' 7: 'HAPPY IN MY HELICOPTER HAT.' 8: 'DECEMBER WALTZ.' 9: 'THE WORLD SLEEPS LATE ON NEW YEAR'S DAY.' 10: 'YOUNG DREAMS, WHIRLED AWAY.' 11: 'SPEARMINT AND MOONBEAMS.' 12: 'WE VANISH AT SHADOWFALL.' 13: 'THE BELLS OF VILLEFRANCHE.' 14: 'FISH ARE DANCING IN THE FOUNTAIN OF DREAMS.' 15: 'SHOWER OF SPARKS.' There were so many tracks left over after I'd made the above selection that I decided to create a second, companion piece album which I've titled 'ILLUMINATED AT DUSK.' I intend to release the two albums simultaneously shortly after Easter. The track list for 'ILLUMINATED AT DUSK' is as follows:- 1: 'SWITCH ON THE SKY, LIGHT UP THE STARS.' 2: 'THE VIEW FROM MOUNT PALOMAR.' 3: 'DANCE OF THE LUMINOUS DIALS.' 4: 'THE VENETIAN CONJURER.' 5: 'A SPIRIT MAP OF MONTPARNASSE.' 6: 'ANGELS OBEY BELLS.' 7: 'NO MEMORIES HERE TO MAKE YOU SAD.' 8: 'ART IS MY AEROPLANE.' 9: 'SILVER SAILBOAT ON SAMSARA SEA.' 10: 'SPRINGTIME COMES A' DANCING.' 11: 'THE VANILLA SUMMER OF MR. WHIPPY. 12: 'FRANKIE UKELELE AND THE FIRE IN THE LAKE.' 13: 'LAKESIDE.' 14: 'THE ETERNAL FASCINATOR.' 15: 'THOUGHTS WITHOUT FRICTION.' 16: 'SUMMER OVER SOON.' 17: 'LITTLE KISSES WRAPPED IN CHOCOLATE.' 18: 'ILLUMINATED AT DUSK.' Packaging artwork is almost complete for 'Silvertone Fountains' and just begun for 'Illuminated At Dusk.' Mastering has yet to be done for each album and I need to book my good friend John Spence at Fairview Studios to accomplish this. The two albums offer 33 new pieces of music but there are STILL several pieces left over to be used as possible Nelsonica 08 album tracks. No doubt by the time autumn and the Nelsonica convention rolls 'round, I'll have a few more out-takes and misfit tracks to add to the list. For now though, 'Silvertone' and 'Illuminated' represent an intense period of work that began last year with the now abandoned 'Frankie Ukelele' project. This is a very rich and dense seam of music which will, I hope, reward the diligent listener for quite some time to come. For whatever reason, (and the reason is beyond both my control and understanding), music keeps coming down the pipeline and, despite all the work I've done over my career, despite all the previous music I've recorded, I'm still searching for creative satifaction...But it's hard won. Maybe I'll never find it but I'll keep on trying until I can't try any more. Very little else makes much sense to me in this world, more's the pity. 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Issue 1 Issue 2 Issue 3 - September 2005 A DAY TRIP TO NEPTUNE'S GALAXY The Dreamsville Rocket interviews Bill Nelson about his latest work. You've just completed two new albums, 'The Alchemical Adventures of Sailor Bill' and 'Orpheus in Ultraland.' I understand that an extraordinary amount of time and effort went into the recording of these projects. Was the work unusually difficult for you? BN "Well, I think I was trying to raise the bar a little, or at least attempting to explore another facet of my musical personality. The 'Sailor Bill' album uses lots of orchestral instrumentation, strings, woodwinds, reeds, brass and so on. There's also accordion, tympani and tubular bells, as well as the more usual guitar, drums and electronics. It's a heady mix. But yes, it was difficult, a struggle at times, not only because I decided to centre the entire album around a specific theme but because I took on a larger than usual role within the music." In what way was this a 'larger' role than usual? BN "It was inescapably dictated by the scale of the instrumentation used. Most fans know that, on my solo albums, I normally play all the instruments, and that these instruments are the ones found in rock music's common vocabulary:- guitars, bass, drums and keyboards. But with the 'Sailor Bill' project, I also had to play cellos, violas, violins, French horn, English horn, oboe, accordion, trombones, trumpets, tympani, tubular bells and so on. Not literally, of course, just as keyboard parts, but I had to think like the musicians who might actually play these orchestral instruments in real life, try to get into each musician's frame of mind, approach the various instruments as if they were my own natural instrument of choice. A different hat for each overdub, as it were. Also, as the songs are rather long and have constantly changing arrangements, a lot of concentration was required. I had to keep checking on the different sections of the orchestra to make sure all the individual parts were working correctly together, going in the right direction, a bit like being a conductor. Plus, I had the technical, studio side of things to deal with too, the engineer's job, the producer's job, as well as trying to be a composer and lyricist. The tracks are complex and many-layered so the recording process was much more involved and time consuming than usual. A lot of tasks to juggle at the same time. Really, it's the sort of album that should be made over a period of years, rather than months, but, unfortunately, I don't have that luxury. Instead, I simply put in intense hours of work, every day, until the deadline looms." So, what exactly is the theme of 'The Alchemical Adventures of Sailor Bill' and does 'Orpheus in Ultraland' also have a theme? BN "The 'Sailor Bill' album is the carefully 'themed' one. The 'Orpheus' album is a nice collection of songs that were originally written for the 'Sailor Bill' album but either didn't quite fit the concept or were simply extra to that project's requirements. Of course the 'Orpheus' album is intended as a very limited edition Nelsonica fan convention album but, in many ways, it could be regarded as an extension of the 'Sailor Bill' project, albeit with stylistic diversions. Although it's not as consistent thematically, it should still be regarded as a proper album filled with meaningful new work. The songs on 'Orpheus' have certainly had lots of time spent on them and should be regarded as a serious part of my 'folio'. But, to answer the first part of your question, the theme, or conceptual basis of 'Sailor Bill' is the sea and the coastline of England." What made you choose such subject matter? BN "I've actually written and recorded songs and music dealing with similar subject matter in the past, and I'm sure that knowledgeable fans could make up a list of such material. But, when I first ventured into this latest project, I was hunting around for something to hang it on, some kind of inspirational line. After recording a few pieces with different lyrical content, I realised that two or three of them seemed to be dealing with coastal images. The English coastline has always proved inspirational to me, particularly as I have very strong, fond memories of childhood holidays by the sea. My father had a thing for the sea, a kind of existential soulfulness. He liked being near it, watching its changing patterns, regardless of the weather. I can remember he and I standing on the cliffs on the East Yorkshire coast, watching the waves crash in during the winter, or standing at the harbourside in Ilfracoombe in Devon in the 'fifties, watching the paddle steamer put out to sea. In fact, the photograph of myself with my younger brother Ian, that graces the cover of my 'Diary of a Hyperdreamer' book, was taken by my father at Ilfracoombe and depicts that same steamer. There are many similar childhood memories of coastal landscapes that haunt me still. Readers of my diary will also know that I continue to enjoy the coast and visit places such as Whitby quite regularly, all year round." So what sort of images and feelings were you trying to capture in these songs, was it purely the waves, the sky, the seascapes? BN "All of that, yes, but also the look and feel of seaside towns; piers, funfairs, big wheels, promenades with coloured lights. It's a romanticised view, a thing of memory that, typically, belongs more to the 'fifties and 'sixties than today's more worldly era. Terribly emotional stuff for a man of my age, I suppose! The smell of hot dogs and onions, 'fifties rock n' roll music played through tannoy speakers in fairgrounds to accompany different rides. 'Kiss me quick' hats, Fairground folk art, colourful carnival lettering, end of pier variety shows, Blackpool illuminations, Blackpool Tower Ballroom and circus, boarding houses, tram shelters on the promenade in the rain, candy floss, sticks of rock... all those low-brow signifiers of the industrial working class annual holiday, but lighthouses too, salty dog style sea captains retired from the navy and now running pleasure boat rides for day trippers, holiday camps such as Butlins, caravan sites on cliff tops, broad, quiet beaches away from the seaside towns, rock pools where a boy can sail his model boat and beachcomb with his father. Wild flowers growing in the fields along the coast itself, soft hills rolling back inland, farms and old houses that have vanished into the sea as a result of coastal erosion, happy open air sex on a deserted cliff-top in my late teens, curving bays, early morning empty beaches, seashells and starfish, harbour bells, fishing nets, seagulls wheeling overhead, salty, breezy air, ancient ships in full sail, treasure troves, voyages to magical islands, an orange sun setting over a blue horizon. It's almost endless! For me, the English coastline is rich with romance and melancholy." Would you say that 'Sailor Bill' is a melancholy album then? BN "I think so... to some degree anyway. It is also a metaphorical or symbolic album. It symbolises life's stormy journey, the loss of youth and innocence, the nostalgic longing for sunnier, simpler times, the fear for one's own mortality, the beauty and tragedy of universal decay, the inevitability of things and our ultimate inability to do very much about any of it. Nature triumphing over us perhaps? It's about yearning too, a deep ache in the soul, a sense of the constant passing of time. Time eroding our lives just as the ocean wears away the land. All very, very English... part of what makes us English in the first place. There's no getting away from the fact that nostalgia plays a big part in the English identity, for good or for ill." Do you think the current generation has inherited that sense of nostalgia, that sense of fatefullness? BN "I don't know for sure. There's certainly a different attitude amongst the young now. Maybe they have their own nostalgias, rooted in a different set of values. You can't really generalise these things though. But I do think that the spirit of place that crops up in English romantic art, of whatever form, whether it be books, film, paintings, music, dance, etc, is still out there, still tinting our outlook. it's connected with England being a relatively small island too, I think. That sense of isolation, maybe. As a nation, as a society, we built our simplest dreams on the blue edge of this green isle, we built our fantasy retreats, planned our humble escape from the daily grind. Those little seaside towns sprang up, adorned with their glittering light bulb arcades, crumbling palaces of amusements, fortune tellers, sea foods stalls, toy shops and tea rooms... but, sooner or later, the sea will take them all away. Already has done in some locations, to one degree or another. I often think that a half-abandoned seaside town is more fascinating than one at its peak. It's full of ghosts and memories, tiny echoes of something once treasured but now lost. Faded dreams. It's all quite sad and poetic, not just because of the way nature shows itself to be indifferent to our dreams but also because our dreams are so small and child-like, so tenderly naive. I think it's beautiful." Do you also enjoy the kitsch aspect of these things, the awfulness of some of it, you know, when something is so tacky it becomes interesting or amusing? BN "I didn't approach this particular material with any sense of irony or feeling of 'kitschness' (although the kitsch qualities are sometimes acknowledged within my music and some of my titles). As sophisticated as my tastes are these days, I have a genuine affection for the simple attractions of an old-fashioned seaside town and everything that it represents culturally, historically and metaphysically. There's absolutely no sneering 'high art' bullshit involved in my approach to this work all. It's simply a warmly felt, honest, unashamed and personal reaction to my own history and experience, regardless of the subject's humble qualities. I've always looked for the transcendental within the commonplace, within the everyday, beneath the superficial appearance of things. It's not a documentary piece of music in the 'kitchen sink' sense, it's a gentle fantasy, a fabrication, but one based on increasingly misty recollections from my past." You seem to have regularly explored your early life through your music and writings. You don't seem afraid of dealing with this aspect of your life in your work. Did you have a happy childhood? BN "Sometimes happy, sometimes not, like everyone else, I suppose. I know that I always had an awareness of the temporariness of things, the ephemeral nature of life. This awareness seems to be an inescapable part of my nature and, naturally, it works its way into my creative life. Also, I've always had a taste for something just beyond the ordinary, something almost fairy tale like, hallucinatory. Seaside architecture and graphic design, fairgrounds, piers and so on, captured my imagination. As a child, in the 'fifties, I was enchanted by these cheaply fantastical things. The seaside was truly a magical place, sometimes a very strange place." Strange? In what way? BN "Well, here's a simple example: I recall the old freak shows that used to populate Blackpool's promenade, and the mysterious booths of the gypsy fortune tellers who could tell you how long you would live and whether you'd leave this world rich or poor. Even the clowns in the Tower Circus were somehow a little sinister, like escapees from another dimension where all was not exactly as it should be. The comedians at the pier variety shows had that old, 'show-biz', free-spirit kind of wildness, very different from life as I knew it back then. Slightly mad and dangerous, or so it seemed at the time! Anyway, these seaside memories and more are all tied up in the inspiration behind 'Sailor Bill'. I should also mention that, my surname being Nelson, it was impossible to ignore my own ancestor's sea faring exploits!" You said that you've used a lot of 'classical' orchestration throughout the album. Could you a explain a little about that? BN "Well, I have used orchestral textures occasionally in the past, even in the days of Be Bop Deluxe... 'Darkness' and 'Crystal Gazing' are two songs with real orchestra from that '70's period. But, from more recent times, a piece such as 'Bride of the Atom' comes to mind. Anyway, I felt that symphonic textures would best evoke a nostalgic sense of the English coast. I wanted it to feel, in a way, quite 'old fashioned', sort of post-war/pre-war British film industry, Ealing Studios soundtrack type sonics... but mashed up with my guitar and my interest in electronic/digitally generated effects. But there's nothing remotely 'avant-garde' about this album really, nothing 'experimental'. Despite its complexity and densely layered production, it's highly melodic and song-oriented, but richly textured and epic in scale. It's an ambitious thing but accessible." Obviously, you didn't have the financial resources to book a real symphony orchestra to play on this latest material, so, how did you achieve the effect of so many symphonic instruments? BN "I used my recently acquired Yamaha Motif keyboard which has some lovely orchestral sounds on board. I also played the parts in real time, rather than use computer sequencing, to give the feel of real players being involved. There are 'loosely played' elements that add to this and the finished result isn't mechanical. Of course, it isn't quite the same as using a real live orchestra, but the cost of hiring the real thing would have been phenomenal... these are big arrangements too and would have been costly and time-consuming to score. I also decided to give the orchestra a separate personality from myself, so I've named it the 'Lighthouse Signal Mechanism Orchestra', so that it takes on an identity of its own." Are the songs structured like pop/rock songs, but with orchestral overdubs? BN "Not really, although there are some nods to more 'contemporary' music. Many of the songs are quite long, over eight minutes, and don't follow a rock music style repeating pattern, you know, verse-chorus or whatever. Often, the songs develop through several 'movements' and end up in an entirely different place to where they began. Sort of 'cinema classical'. It would be difficult for someone to listen to, say, the first minute of a song and then exactly predict what the rest of the song's overall form would be. There are constant shifts of key and mood. Having said that, there IS a real consistency to the material. It should be thought of as a suite or a song cycle. Not only is the lyric content themed, but the musical motifs and textures 'cross pollinate' throughout the album. Each song is like one part of a single puzzle. It is, in effect, one big, epic piece of music." Would you say it is a difficult album for the listener then? BN "Well, as I said, it is very melodic, so there are definite threads for people to find their way through the orchestral maze. No, I don't think it's difficult at all. I think it's charming, atmospheric and autobiographical, but for anyone expecting tons of orthodox rock guitar solos, perhaps it might seem a bit unusual. But not too much of a challenge I hope. As long as the listener is open to the songwriting side of my work and is prepared to take the album on its own terms, I think they'll find it deeply rewarding, especially over time as there's so much detail to get to grips with. When approaching these pieces for the first time, the listener should be patient and follow the song's course, allow it to develop to its proper conclusion. Don't expect instant gratification, just let all the different parts reveal themselves in their own time. This album could sustain a listener's interest for a fair while, once the initial surprise has been accepted! Above all, it's an album for the heart, from the heart. An emotional album for old fashioned romantics." It seems you spent many more hours than usual on this project. What sort of effect did that intensity of work have on your life? BN "Not good, that's for sure! My health has suffered in several ways, stress levels have been higher than usual, my family has seen far too little of me and I've been constantly pre-occupied with the work, even when away from it. You could say it became all consuming. I've lost the entire summer to this project, being locked away in my tiny studio room, hunched over my equipment whilst the bees buzzed happily outside." Does the album consist entirely of vocal pieces? BN "Mostly, yes. But I have inserted a few short instrumental interludes to bridge certain moods and to provide atmospheric focus as well as creating a bit of a 'breathing space' from the longer songs. The album opens with an entirely orchestral instrumental called 'The Lighthouse Keeper's Waltz' which sets the scene, as it were. A kind of overture for what is to follow." What about 'The Ocean, the Night and the Big, Big Wheel'? It sounds like there's a fairground atmosphere there. BN "Well, that particular song tries to evoke a romantic encounter, perhaps on a pier at night, looking back at the coastline with all its colourful lights, a funfair somewhere in there, with a big wheel and rock 'n' roll music playing as the dodgems and waltzers whizz around. But the couple in the song are tranquil, at ease with each other, peaceful against the funfair background. They're some distance from it, observing it from the warmth of each other's arms. The song itself is gentle too. It uses a mid/slow tempo electronic noise loop as a percussion track but has a big, bright, hook of a chorus, quite a pop song in some ways, but it's rather lovely too. And of course, it features the Lighthouse Signal Mechanism Orchestra. There's also a rather nice, and very appropriate period touch at the end of this track, but I won't tell you what it is. It should be a pleasant surprise for those who are tuned into it, a smile raiser!" How about 'A Boat Named St. Christopher'? Does this refer to a real boat? BN "Well, it is real but it was actually a toy boat that my father bought me! It was red and cream, made out of tin and had the words, 'St. Christopher' printed on its bow. It was powered by an electric, battery driven motor. I used to sail it in rock pools on the beach at Reighton Gap when I was a boy. It lost it many, many years ago but recently found an identical one at an antique fair. A couple of bits missing from it but otherwise in good condition. I was pleased to be reminded of the original one. It conjures up images of my father and pleasant days on the beach. Anyway, this particular tune is an instrumental and evokes the memory of the toy boat." What about 'Illuminated Promenade'? Sounds like this could be an instrumental too? BN "Yes, it is. It evokes Blackpool's 'Golden Mile' with its illuminations. I went there as a very young child, a babe in arms the first time, I think. But I recall the illuminations with great fondness. I remember being wheeled in my pushchair along the promenade on a crisp autumn evening, looking up at the fantastic display of lights as the brightly decorated trams rattled by. This piece of music attempts two things, one is to paint a picture of Blackpool's Edwardian past, when the lights were in their earlier incarnation and times were more 'genteel'. The second is to pay tribute to Blackpool's variety shows of the 'fifties and 'sixties when big band style swing music was hanging on, despite the increasing popularity of rock 'n' roll music. I remember attending traditional variety shows at venues such as the Winter Gardens and The Opera House, as well as seeing rock n' roll acts such as Marty Wilde And His Wildcats, Billy Fury, Karl Denver and Johnny Kidd and The Pirates playing in 'end of the pier' theatres. This particular album track starts off in orchestral mood, with a hint of palm court or tea room ensemble about it, then morphs into a variety show 'big band' feel, complete with trombone solo and electric organ, that sort of, 'mock-jazz' that those pit bands sometimes played in an attempt to sound 'modern.' I had a lot of fun with this track, particularly trying to restrict the jazzier elements to the feel of the period." Would you say that you were satisfied with the album, now that it's finished? BN "I'm not sure anything is ever finished, at least with regard to my own music. I get bored with it, or I run out of time, or equipment fails and I'm forced to draw the line but... there's always something I'd like to change, to improve upon. In fact, I genuinely 'finished' this particular project twice, and then went back to work on it some more. And if it wasn't for the fact that there's a manufacturing/release schedule to adhere to, I'd probably still be refining it, adding new material. But it has to stand on its own merits now and I no longer have any control over its destiny. It is, as they say, what it is. As for being satisfied, I can't really relate such a feeling to my music. I guess I'm never satisfied, which is why I continue to move on, make another album. At this point in time, I just can't say what my ultimate feelings about the 'Sailor Bill' album will be. Can't tell if I hate it or love it, couldn't say whether it's brilliant or an ambitious folly. Eventually, I'll be able to see it more clearly but, right now, I'm still too wrapped up in the process of making it to be able to hear it properly. I just hope that there are some people out there who will be receptive to it and to what it is attempting to convey. I think it's a generous record, a gift to the right person... but they've got to be prepared to spare the time to unwrap it!" BILL NELSON FINALLY COMPLETES HIS LATEST EPIC RECORDING PROJECT After several months of constant work, Bill Nelson has announced the completion of two brand new albums. The first of these is titled 'The Alchemic Adventures of Sailor Bill' and will be released as 'a coastal song suite by Bill Nelson and his Lighthouse Signal Mechanism Orchestra'. The Dreamsville Rocket has obtained an interview with Bill in which he talks about the making of the album and discusses its inspiration and themes. You can read it exclusively in this issue of The Dreamsville Rocket. We also have a track listing for this album and for the highly limited edition Nelsonica fan convention album, 'Orpheus In Ultraland'. The track listing for 'The Alchemical Adventures of Sailor Bill' is as follows:- 01. The Lighthouse Keeper's Waltz 02. The Ceremonial Arrival of The Great Golden Cloud 03. Here Comes the Sea 04. Dream of Imperial Steam 05. Sailor Blue 06. Ship of Summer, All Lights Blazing 07. Illuminated Promenade 08. The Ocean, the Night and the Big, Big Wheel 09. A Boat Named St. Christopher 10. Moments Catch Fire on the Crests of Waves 11. The Sky, the Sea, the Moon and Me 12. My Ship is Lost to Semaphore The Nelsonica 05 fan convention album, 'Orpheus In Ultraland' also contains twelve new tracks, some taken from the overspill of the 'Sailor Bill' album, others created specially for the Nelsonica cd. It is of extremely high quality and destined to become much sought after. Initially, this album will only be given to ticket holders of this year's Nelsonica convention but should any copies remain, after the convention has been held, they will be offered for public sale in the Dreamsville Department Store . However, quantities may be small and there are no guarantees that supply will fulfill demand. The only safe way to obtain one of these collector's items is to buy a convention ticket. By doing this, you also help to support the continuation of Nelsonica into the future and ensure that the music keeps flowing. The track listing for 'Orpheus In Ultraland' is as follows:- 01. The Man Who Haunted Himself 02. Duraflame 03. Suburban Mermaid One Twenty Three 04. Dreams Run Wild on Ghost Train Tracks 05. Tin Sings Bones 06. Tantramatic 07. Every Tiny Atom 08. And Now the Rain 09. Super Noodle Number One 10. Moments Catch Fire on the Crests of Waves (Alternative Mix) 11. Big Broken Buick 12. The Whirlpool Into Which Everything Must Whirl A REVIEW OF "ROSEWOOD - VOLUME II" By Jon Wallinger Fast on the heels of 'Volume I', we are now able to luxuriate in the beauty that is 'Rosewood Volume II'. I will assume by now, that you have all heard 'Volume I' and in a nutshell - if you liked the first one, you will have no complaints about the second incarnation. Although much along the same lines, 'Volume II' has a more upbeat feel. The guitar is a touch more melodic and adventurous, also the percussion is more evident. When first hearing this CD, I had the misfortune of continually getting disturbed. Visitors, phone-calls, having to go to work (you know the score). This is NOT the way to enjoy Rosewood. Although the individual tracks are beautiful in their creation and execution, the strength of this music is its ability to enclose you in its own world. It builds a transparent wall around you, a wall that can keep at bay your stresses and worries. Make time for the music, put aside an hour. If you can, choose a location where you can melt into the music without being disturbed. Watch the sunset. Gaze at the stars. Relax on a deserted beach. Be at peace with yourself and let Rosewood be your guide and companion. There are new layers within the music to discover every time you listen to Rosewood Volume II, because of the dreamland state that evolves whilst listening, the consequence is that the music hypnotises you in new ways on each airing. In My opinion, this CD should be available on prescription! AUTUMN TOUR DATES Sunday 6th November London, Bloomsbury Theatre Friday 11th November Hove, The Old Market Friday 18th November Leeds, Irish Centre Thursday 24th November Manchester, Life Café Saturday 26th November Bilston, The Robin 2 Sunday 27th November Birkenhead, Pacific Road Arts Centre

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2013 William's Study (Diary Of A Hyperdreamer) January 2010 May Jun Sep Nov Dec Tuesday 5th January 2010 -- 10:00 pm Woke up to even more snow this morning. We're in the middle of one of the longest and most newsworthy cold snaps for several years. 1995 was, apparently the last time anything of this severity occurred...'Snow on snow' as the old carol 'In The Bleak Midwinter' would have it. Actually, now I come to think of it, that's one of my all-time favourite carols. A lovely melancholy melody and beautiful, poignant lyrics. It takes me right back to my earliest schooldays when I was a five-year old, wide-eyed, shy pupil at the Wakefield Academy, (also known, at that time, as 'The Collegiate School'). The school was located in a lovely old building known as 'The Orangery,' which was situated in Back Lane in Wakefield, just across from Westgate Station. Westgate Station had a gothic clock tower then, with a face that seemed to me not unlike 'Big Ben' in London, ('though I'd never been to London and only had picture books to inform me). Steam trains would huff and puff their way across the bridge and viaduct above the school's playground, leaving sooty clouds hanging in the frosty winter air. 'The Orangery,' even in December, looked more like a garden house than a school and the small grassy area at the front of the building was dotted with trees and bushes. (And ancient gravestones too as it was connected by a tunnel, running mysteriously under Back Lane, to the nearby Unitarian Chapel.) Despite the architectural vandalism of modern-day Wakefield, The Orangery still stands,only slightly altered in outward appearance, although it is now used as a sort of arts centre. I'm thankful that the building has been spared the heartless demolition that befell my later places of education: The Wakefield Tutorial School in Southgate, Saint John's Junior School in Kilby Street, Ings Road Secondary Modern School in Ings Road and Wakefield Art School off Wood Street have all long vanished from the city's architectural scene. The latter's demise is of particular regret to me as I spent four very happy years there when beatnik-dom gradually gave way to proto-psychedelia. But 'The Collegiate School' is fondly remembered as my very first experience of formal education and I retain vivid images of my time there. We'd always sing carols in assembly at Christmas and if snow fell during lessons, the entire class would rush from our wooden desks to gaze excitedly through the tall windows at the swirling whiteness. Our tutors didn't seem to mind this disruption and seemed as eager as ourselves to witness the dancing snowflakes. The school was a small, privately run establishment with very few pupils but there was a genteel, enlightened approach to teaching, (or so it seems to me now, looking back). Classes included ballet and music appreciation and, yes, I took the ballet classes in my stride and actually enjoyed them despite never being an athletic sort of child. I was far less fond of the physical education lessons though...Vaulting horses and rubber mats were destined to become objects of fear for me. My parents were working class and lived on a council estate whereas the other pupils at the school came from what would now, I suppose, be considered an upper middle class background. It must have been financially difficult for my parents to send me to a private school as the fees per term would have been almost beyond their modest reach. I once asked my mother why they chose to send me there for my infant education instead of to an orthodox state school. She replied: "your father thought you were too sensitive to go to a state school and a private school seemed more suitable for your temperament." It must have been in 1953 or thereabouts that I was a pupil there... Now it's 2010 and we're living in the distant 'future' I once read about in the 'Eagle' comics my dad used to bring home for me every Friday night in the 1950's. Unfortunately, today's future has little in common with artist Frank Hampson's wonderful Dan Dare imaginings and I'm sure many post-war boys have felt disenchanted with the way things eventually turned out. Nevertheless, snow remains snow, and it looks quietly beautiful from the windows of our house...the horizon and the sky blending together into a seamless frosty grey. Snow in the unfenced front garden flows uninterupted into the lane and the big field beyond. Charcoal trees and hedges, fading to feathery sketches as they recede into the distance. Silent, still, and minus 3 degrees. Today we took down the Christmas decorations. A not insubstantial job as we always make an effort to ensure our home appears festive at this time of year and there are lots of trimmings around the house. This afternoon Emiko and I packed away the sparkling lights in the dining room, living room, kitchen, upstairs corridor, landing, and outside in the back garden. (Two sets strung like jewels across the branches of two fruit trees.) We also stripped the Christmas tree of its garlands and baubles and tinsel and packed it all away until next year. Our Christmas tree is an artificial one that Emi and I bought when we first lived together in England, at a rented property in Gateforth, near Selby. Must be 15 years ago now. We've hung on to it for nostalgia's sake, although it's beginning to look its age. Our collection of Christmas tree decorations, (or 'Wescelcups' as my mum used to call them in the 1950's), is rather special. Some beautiful items that will only increase in nostalgia value as the years go by, all chosen for their particular resonance with my own childhood Christmases. I guess they're potential heirlooms. Taking them down and dismantling the tree brought back the faint sadness I used to feel as a young boy when '12th night' finally came around. Christmas seemed so magical then and its symbolic packing away left a void. Even throughout Christmas itself, all those distant years ago, I would feel stupidly sorry for the tiny Christmas lights that blinked on and off constantly. For some reason, I associated their intermittent flickering with an infinite, heartless succession of little deaths, as if the bulbs were somehow, cruelly, made to suffer by being switched on and off with such rapidity. Perhaps my father wasn't too shy of the mark with his notion that I was a 'sensitive boy!' Today, I ventured away from the house only briefly. Risked the icy, snowy, slippy lane to drive to our local supermarket, intending to buy all-weather screenwash for the car but became wrapped up in conversation with Johnny Moo who happened to be shopping there too. (Johnny was monitor sound engineer on my 'Be Bop Deluxe And Beyond' 30th anniversary tour in 2004 and is a veteran crew member of several Nelsonica fan conventions.) I haven't seen him since Nelsonica 09 so we did a bit of catching up. By the time I got back to shopping, I'd forgotten several items I was supposed to buy and returned home only to slap my forehead in desperation when I realised how my memory had failed me. 'Senior moments,' I think these things are called... Here's another memory lapse: In my previous diary entry, I'd meant to mention a very generous Christmas gift given to Emi and myself by a certain fan. He didn't want his name revealing so I have no idea who he is, (he dealt with two good friends of mine to bring this about), but his gift was to arrange a pre-paid meal for Emiko and myself at one of our favourite restaurants, (in this instance, 'San Martino's' in Harrogate). Emi and I are really looking forward to enjoying his generous gift and will be arranging to go there soon...once the winter weather allows us to travel sensibly to Harrogate! Whoever he is, we are both extremely grareful for his kindness and will raise a glass of thanks to our unknown benefactor when we dine at San Martino's! Another loyal and generous fan sent me a wonderful seasonal gift of two books: 'The Hollywood Eye' by John Boorstin and 'Times Square Spectacular. Lighting up Broadway' by Darcy Tell. In this instance, I know exactly who my benefactor was but won't mention his name here in case I cause him unwanted embarassment. Nevertheless, these books are not the first gifts he's sent me over recent years. This kind person has a knack of locating books and items for me that suit me to a 'T' and I'm extremely grateful for his thoughtfulness and generosity. I've mentioned it before in my diary entries but I'm blessed with some extremely dedicated and kind fans. My website enables me to interact with them in ways that, in past years, would have not been possible. The internet, despite my aversion to aspects of it, has some benefits after all. Soon, I must try to make some sonic marks on the digital hard drive recorder, here in my tiny, snow-bound music studio. I'm still wrapped up in the grey cotton-wool of winter though and have yet to muster the warm glow of inspiration. It will come, in its own time. Meanwhile, I have two albums awaiting release from last year and artwork still to conceive for them. And time ticks on... ***** The images accompanying this diary entry are as follows:- 1: A view from a window of Nelson Acres. 2: A Japanese-styled area of Bill 'n' Emi's garden. 3: Kitchen window lights at Nelson Acres. 4: A potted bush by the front door. 5: Detail of Xmas tree in front room. 6: A view thru' a window of Castle Howard. (Pre-snow.) Top of page

Cinema Menu Created For Nelsonica & Live Shows Films created by Bill to be shown as part of live events Visions, Hauntings, Hallucinations First seen as the backing visuals to the 'Old Haunts' CD preview, the video with a running time of a little over an hour, now has its original backing tracks, taken from a selection of Bill's solo instrumentals from across the years... Piano Meditations This 12 minute video was used as an opening piece to Bill's 'Old Haunts' CD launch party, held at The Clothworker's Hall, Leeds - November 9th 2019. 'Songs For Ghosts' launch party...Part 1 - Flyers First shown at his 'Songs For Ghosts' CD launch party in October 2017. Bill produced an hour-long video containing various aspects of his visual work. The full-length video has been divided into five sections... Here's Part 1 - Flyers... 'Songs For Ghosts' launch party...Part 2 - Photography First shown at his 'Songs For Ghosts' CD launch party in October 2017. Bill produced an hour-long video containing various aspects of his visual work. The full-length video has been divided into five sections... Here's Part 2 - Photography... 'Songs For Ghosts' launch party...Part 3 - Artwork First shown at his 'Songs For Ghosts' CD launch party in October 2017. Bill produced an hour-long video containing various aspects of his visual work. The full-length video has been divided into five sections... Here's Part 3 - Artwork... 'Songs For Ghosts' launch party...Part 4 - Studio First shown at his 'Songs For Ghosts' CD launch party in October 2017. Bill produced an hour-long video containing various aspects of his visual work. The full-length video has been divided into five sections... Here's Part 4 - Studio... 'Songs For Ghosts' launch party...Part 5 - Bill With Guitars First shown at his 'Songs For Ghosts' CD launch party in October 2017. Bill produced an hour-long video containing various aspects of his visual work. The full-length video has been divided into five sections... Here's Part 5 - Bill With Guitars... Wakefield Via Time Machine This hour-long video shows hundreds of pictures of Wakefield dating from the 1800's to the late 1900's. Originally shown as the backing video for the album playback at Bill's 'New Northern Dream' launch party in October 2016, it is shown here with the original soundtrack...a collection of sublime instrumental pieces from Bill's later solo work. Over The Years First shown at the launch party for the 'New Northern Dream' album in 2016. This 49 minute video contains a series of Bill Nelson's photographs throughout the years, together with a selection of his music from the 21st century. Materialisation Phenomena A two-minute clip of the film created for Nelsonica 09 The Dream Transmission Pavilion A two-minute clip from the intro film created for Nelsonica 09 The Departure Of The 21st Century In A Hail Of Memory (Part 1) Part 1 (of 2) of the specially created intro video for Nelsonica 08, the annual fan convention celebrating the music of Bill Nelson. The Departure Of The 21st Century In A Hail Of Memory (Part 2) Part 2 of the specially created intro video for Nelsonica 08, the annual fan convention celebrating the music of Bill Nelson. Cinema Menu

Wild & Moody album - 1984 Yukihiro Takahashi Production/Contribution Menu Future Past BILL: Vocals, Keyboard, Guitar and Bass. Production/Contribution Menu Future Past

Pedalscope Bill Nelson album - 26 June 2014 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) Pedalscope One 02) Bicycle Building 03) Dream Cycles One 04) Velorama Pastoral 05) Dream Cycles Two 06) Bumpcycle 07) The Cycle Factory 08) Pleasure Bikes 09) Dream Cycles Three 10) Uphill 11) Downhill 12) Cyclebumps 13) Workcycles 14) Pedalscope Two ALBUM NOTES: Pedalscope is an album of instrumental music issued in a one off print run of 500 copies on the Sonoluxe label. All but 4 tracks on the album were written for the film Velorama (directed by Daisy Asquith), a nostalgic look at cycling, that was being made in celebration of the 2014 Tour de France. Work on the music began in January 2014 with Nelson working without the benefit of the finished film to compose to, and to a very tight deadline. (The film premiered on 28 March 2014.) With the music for the film delivered on time, Nelson then prepared additional material to complete the work on Pedalscope . These appear as tracks 11-14. The soundtrack was released on 26 June 2014 and was sold out on 29 July 2014, but within a week was available as a digital download from Bandcamp. In November the Velorama film was made available on iTunes to purchase digitally. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . IF YOU LIKED THIS ALBUM, YOU'LL PROBABLY ENJOY: Picture Post , Map of Dreams , Simplex , Neptune's Galaxy , All That I Remember , Albion Dream Vortex , The Years , Model Village BILL'S THOUGHTS: "Well, today is the day when I can officially reveal the exciting project I'm currently working on: As part of the Tour de France festival, I'm collaborating with BAFTA award nominated documentary film maker Daisy Asquith on a film titled 'VELORAMA'. The film is a celebration of UK bicycling throughout history using rare, historic footage sourced from the British Film Institute and Yorkshire Film Archives. Daisy is editing and assembling this footage and I am composing and recording the soundtrack music. The archive footage will cover various themes such as leisure cycling, cycling to work, wacky uses of bicycles, bicycle building, sport and so on. Some of the footage will go right back to the early 1900's, and all points from then up to now. The project first started last year when various creative teams were competing in a bid to secure funding for a film to be screened as part of the Tour de France event. I was asked to be composer on one of these teams but, at that time, there was no guarantee that we would be awarded the job. However, we did win the bid and the project is now underway." "The music I have made so far is rich and complex. I understand that there will be no spoken narrative so the music needs to be strong and illustrative. I very much like what I've come up with so far and only hope that Daisy will too. I've put in long hours and taken great care over the choice of sounds and tried to pack the music full of potential visual edit points." _____ "Well, part of the brief from the film's director favoured something along Kraftwerk lines...but I have to admit that I wasn't really sure of that approach, mainly because Kraftwerk had already made an album inspired by the Tour de France and, as much as I enjoyed Kraftwerk back in the '70s and early '80s, I harbour no nostalgia for that style...unless quoted as a kind of kitsch homage. However, I did my best to hint at that sort of thing whilst attempting to hold true to tonalities that were a little closer to my own sensibilities. One of my approaches was to combine the techno thing with a hint of the nostalgic British orchestral sounds from the original British Film Institute archive footage which furnished the visual component of the film. Inevitably, whatever one's intentions, and the problem of realising them in the real world, the end result is its own thing and emerges independent of the artist. It's this unexpectedness which makes these projects truly interesting." _____ "You may be surprised but it wasn't me who came up with the title! It certainly seems like something I would have dreamt up, but it came from within the creative team. Lots of different titles were bandied about. I'd suggested calling it Pedalscope and 'When Britain Dreamed of Bicycles' and was trying to put the word 'Velocipede' into a title too. (A Velocipede is a bicycle in olden day language.)" FAN THOUGHTS: BenTucker: "It's a real breath of fresh air, and has a sense of wonder and new directions. I bet the film makers felt like they'd struck the national lottery jackpot, getting music like that for their film." "Bicycle Building": "my favourite at the moment, due to the glorious sound and the multiple directions it takes. Very evocative, quirky, "visually" colorful, Cinematic with capital "C"." G. Vazquez: "It sounds amazing! Like a Kraftwerk's "Tour de France", but played by a human being, with a beating heart inside his chest!" Paul Andrews: "What a jolly soundscape it makes. There's a certain whimsical optimism throughout." felixt1: "I think Pedalscope could well turn out to be one of the gems. It's not Picture Post , it has a different vibe. But it does share a sense of optimism and sunshine. Is that Jan Hammer playing keys on "Bumpcycle"? "Bumpcycle" is awesome!" "Pedalscope definitely has a 'Get up and go' vibe. It’' been a particular pleasure to have it playing, while I work. The sun has even come out again..." alec: "Pleasure Bikes": "It is such a pleasurable journey this track, that it's a film unto itself with shifting light, shifting vistas, shadows of clouds moving across landscapes." Ed: "It's quirky, surprising, inventive, highly hummable, just a touch nostalgic, and I'm sure it's going to be a fine soundtrack to the film, which I aim to watch very soon (thank heavens for YouTube!)." mr manchester: "Pedalsope shot into my personal BN top ten. Reminded me a lot of the sounds heard on albums like Map of Dreams and Chance Encounters (maybe I'm delusional). There are some truly exceptional tracks on this album. I'm not familiar with the titles yet, but there were a few moments that I swear I could hear a Pathe-like voice-over. A very evocative album." damian dale: "The music is wonderful though, and makes me want to pedal to town. Now where did I leave my bicycle pump?" "Thanks for another musical gem, Bill!!" Albums Menu Future Past

Acquitted By Mirrors - Issue Six - Published August 1983 Back to Top

Acquitted By Mirrors - Issue Ten - Published July 1984 Back to Top

The Romance Of Sustain Bill Nelson album - 14 August 2003 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) This Very Moment (Version 1) 02) Artifex 03) Appolinaire 04) It Just Doesn't Rain Like It Used To 05) Rocket Rabbit's Secret Dream (Osram Energy Device No. 1) 06) Transoceanic 07) For Stuart (Triumph And Lament) 08) Gloria Mundae 09) Steamboat In The Clouds 10) Real Men With Ray Guns 11) Locarno 12) Wondermonster 13) Full Sail 14) Black Fish/Silver Pond ALBUM NOTES: The Romance of Sustain (Painting with Guitars Volume One) album was the first to appear on the Universal Twang label, another short lived 'private' label created exclusively for Nelson's prolific output. Issued in a single pressing of 1000 copies, the album first went on sale as a pre-release on August 14 at A Private View event, staged to premiere the DVD Flashlight Dreams and Fleeting Shadows , held in Gateshead. The CD was then available at merchandise tables at gigs and Nelsonica '03 and Nelsonica '04 , and the Rooms With Brittle Views website. The album comprised guitar-based instrumental music which would go some way to define the artist's work for the 21st Century. The Romance of Sustain album includes Nelson's tribute piece to former Skids and Big Country guitarist Stuart Adamson, "For Stuart", written for a special benefit gig staged in Adamson's memory. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download in the Dreamsville Store . IF YOU LIKED THIS ALBUM, YOU'LL PROBABLY ENJOY: Plectrajet , Six String Super Apparatus , Tripping The Light Fantastic , Fantastic Guitars , The Awakening of Dr Dream , Practically Wired , Plaything , Custom Deluxe , Modern Moods For Mighty Atoms , Wah-Wah Galaxy BILL'S THOUGHTS: " Romance of Sustain (Painting with Guitars Volume One), was primarily a collection of instrumentals that I'd intended for use in live performance." "It doesn't exclusively contain material I've featured in my live performances. It does have a few solo performance tracks, ("For Stuart" being a major one), but it also contains things which have never featured in my concerts." _____ "I wonder how many people 'got' the title of The Romance of Sustain ? Just thinking now that, for many fans, it may seem a rather peculiar title...but it has a definite meaning. If you are a guitarist, you will probably understand that one of the 'Holy Grails' of guitar playing is tone and sustain. By that I mean the way that a guitar string resonates and transmits the tonality of the instrument to the ear, over time. Guitarists are forever in search of that perfect sound, the note that continues to hang in the air after a string has been struck by the plectrum. It sustains and creates a lyrical, legato effect, almost vocal, or viola-like. The search for sustain and tonality has become legendary and different guitars, amps and effects have taken on an almost magical quality if they have proved successful in the guitarists' search for individual note sustain. In that sense, there's a 'romance' or fantasy attached to the sound of the guitar...this evasive, elusive, perfected dream of a vibrating string. Hence my choice of The Romance of Sustain for an album dedicated to the sound of the electric guitar." _____ "The piece "For Stuart' was made as a tribute to the late Stuart Adamson and deliberately contained several phrases from Stuart's favourite Be Bop Deluxe songs, because Stuart was such a huge fan. Stuart also traced and bought the original Hoyer guitar I'd posed with on the 'Axe Victim' album cover. The Skids also asked me to produce some recordings for them, including their 'Days In Europa' album. I remember Stuart asking me to show him how to play certain Be Bop Deluxe licks whilst we were in Rockfield recording that album. However, I always encouraged him to develop a sound and style of his own, which he did and perfected so well with his work with Big Country." FAN THOUGHTS: Parsongs: "A Classic. Period." Panoramicon: "I almost feel envious of those who are just discovering the works (more like the universe) of Bill. Wherever you roam therein will reveal wonders; some magnificent, some sublime, but always unique. It's one Muthalode of a life's work, but rich and satisfying in its extent. I'm listening to the track "Artifex" off of The Romance of Sustain , and as usual I sit with a bemused MonaLisa smile on my boat-race. Yeah, warmth, beauty and wonder." Iron Man No. 28: "One of the great things about the way you record music, Bill, is the layers and the detail. Painting With Guitars (and other elements), if you will. Suddenly the listener can hear something new and unexpected on a familiar album or even a familiar track." peterc62: "For me the best bridge between 20th and 21st Century Bill Nelson music is The Romance of Sustain ." Sue: "I think every track on Romance of Sustain is as good as it gets. It's an inspired album of unadulterated brilliance." Westdeep: "Whenever I hear the opening notes of "For Stuart" I still get goose bumps - sublime." "In my opinion this is Bill at the top of his game. An absolute essential for any collection of his work. Get it now!" machman767: "For Stuart nearly had me in tears." John Izzard: "Forgive me if you've already heard it, but I'd recommend you buy Romance of Sustain , if only for one track! This, of course, being "For Stuart (Triumph and Lament)". It's no surprise that this track gets frequent mentions in both Bill Nelson and Big Country circles - the track being both written for, and dedicated to, the late and great Stuart Adamson. The track is crammed full of Be-Bop references, which any fan of Bill's earlier works would find irresistible. Someone else said that it brought tears to their eyes...Well, mine too and no doubt countless others. It's that good. I'd suggest this is one of those tracks that justifies the cost of an entire album in itself! Don't get me wrong, Romance of Sustain is one of my preferred albums of Bill's more recent offerings (and I like 'em all), but I'd still buy RoS if it only included "For Stuart" and 14 other tracks of morse code!" slipperyseal: "The 'Modern Music' guitar in "For Stuart" is probably my favourite Bill Nelson moment ever. Goosebumps every time I listen." steve lyles: "I put on Bill Nelson's "For Stuart" track and was struck by how it really sums up Stuart Adamson's musical vision with Big Country...and really captures the "essence" of what Stuart and his music was all about." Lonnie: "Full Sail": "About 2:38 into the song he rips a cadenza that shouts JOY TO THE WORLD!! (at least that's what I always hear)." glint: "The period that gave us Romance of Sustain , all the way up to the Rosewoods , represent the some of THE greatest stuff I've had the pleasure of overdosing on. If Bill had streched out the recording process over a few years, instead of months (or weeks?), would these albums still retain that magic and flow? It seems that he is very in touch with the muse, and how she likes to work him. We, as fans get to benefit by being able to hear such a large, glittery catalogue." paul.smith: "This is one of the top albums in my collection - my journey to acquire this album makes Jason's journey to aquire the Golden Fleece look like a trip to the shops." juninho: "Bill's best release this century...so far." Albums Menu Future Past

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2013 William's Study (Diary Of A Hyperdreamer) January 2011 Feb Mar Apr Dec Saturday 22nd January 2011 -- 3:00 pm One of my recordings, ('Zoom Sequence' from 'After The Satellite Sings'), has a voice sample that says, "Time becomes a loop...". Bob Dylan once sang, "Time plays strange tricks when you're tryin' to be so quiet...". Nick Drake sang, "Time Has Told Me". Sandy Denny sang, "Who Knows Where The Time Goes" and "It'll take a long, long time...". What has that got to do with this? Well, here we are, it's already the 22nd of January 2011 and my first diary entry of the year is, typically, overdue. Time seems to have not only passed quickly but somehow become compressed, twisted and folded. No matter how good my intentions are with this journal, time zips by at light speed. Whilst the gaps between entries become longer and longer they, weirdly, seem to have hardly any duration at all, at least in my own mind. Yes, time plays strange tricks and just when I was trying to be so quiet. Perhaps in growing older our thoughts slip through the temporal cracks more easily, as if the thinning out of our being makes us ever more prone to Time's sneaky side-steps and unpredictable glitches. Maybe we're all unconsciously engaged in the act of vanishing, both conjurors and conjured. Ok...Christmas came and went, wrapped in a blur of shopping madness and the usual nostalgic anticipation of childhood miracles, until the inevitable 'well...what was that all about?' despondency kicked in. Actually, it was ok. I brought mum over to our house on Christmas Day and Emi prepared a traditional Christmas dinner. Mum stayed here with us overnight, (bravely enduring the extremely cramped quarters of our spare bedroom), and Elle and Elliot came over on boxing day. Amongst their other Christmas gifts, I'd bought them each a 'Recording King' acoustic guitar, decorated with rather kitsch and colourful graphics. Elle's featured a cowgirl motif and Elliot's boasted a Hawaiian surfer design, palm trees and a big ship. As far as playability goes, I guess they were fairly basic...but were really intended as kitsch art-objects to prop up in a corner of a room to make the place look pretty. So...visually, 10 out of 10. I can't recall much of what we did on New Year's Eve...not that I celebrated to the point of drunken amnesia...just that Emi and I did little more than sit in front of the television trying to stay awake. Channel after channel of dumb, bland, dull as dishwater programming. Enough to turn even an intelligent teenager into a grumpy old man. Oh yes, television plays strange tricks when you're trying to be so quiet.... Since then? A flurry of activity to do with the re-releasing of a number of albums from my back catalogue. Activity in terms of mental energy more than physical at this point in time. As I think I've noted here before, Cherry Red's 'Esoteric' label are planning to assemble a career compilation boxed set: 6 cds containing examples of my music from the early 1970's up until recent years, all packaged together as a career overview. This last week, I've been occupied with trying to create a suitable title for it. A very long list of possible titles to begin with, then the tough process of attempting to cut it down to size. Not there yet with this really, 'though Mark Powell, who runs 'Esoteric Records' and is the person behind the re-issue program, has come out in favour of 'Further Adventures On Planet Earth.' I'm not sure whether this might be a wee bit too lengthy, 'though I did actually like it when it originally occurred to me. Perhaps I should post a selection of titles on my website forum and get fans to vote on it. Then again, maybe not. Creating art by committee is not something that I've ever found of much value. Maybe it's better to stick my own neck out for what I believe in rather than to delegate and diffuse ideas via some sort of popular consensus. A very nice thing happened a week or so ago. I was contacted by Dave Gascoigne of ROSEWELL AMPLIFIERS. www.rosewell-amps.co.uk Dave hand builds '50's style classic amps that look and sound like vintage models. Models that would normally cost over a couple of thousand pounds. Rosewell amplifiers have all the style and vibe of vintage amplifiers, with the singular, hand-built excellence of high-end boutique American product, but are actually hand made here in the UK, (and in Yorkshire at that), to a far more realistic price than any equivalent US amp. The Rosewell custom model I now have sitting beside me here in my studio is, quite simply, a gem. A tweed covered combo, in the style of a mid '50's Fender, but with so much more going for it. It has three 10" genuine vintage speakers, (not modern re-issues), and is all tube throughout. Dave rates it at around 35 watts but it is an extremely loud 35 watts. And sweet as a bell. Plugging my D'Angelico semi, my Peerless Monarch archtop, my Gretsch White Falcon or my Guild X-500 archtop into the Rosewell produces rich and warm jazz tones that bring to mind the sounds of Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell and Joe Pass. Just the right tonal balance of lows and highs. Wind the amp up and you get beautifully textured blues and rock tones. Add an overdrive or distortion pedal and the thing screams like a jet-pack angel. A pallette of classic guitar tones in one box. Now, whilst many fans will have been aware of my enthusiastic use of digital guitar processors for the last 20 years or so, I've never ruled out the benefits of a traditional valve amp. I'm not the sort of player who thinks one approach is 'better' than another. It's always a 'horses for courses' situation as far as I'm concerned and I try not to draw hard and fast lines (or erect unnecessary barriers), with technical equipment, or with the music itself. The Rosewell amplifier adds another dimension to my sound palette. An authentic, physical tonality that couldn't be replicated any other way. There's a possibility that this particular amplifier, which Dave designed exclusively with me in mind, might be made available as a signature model, literally with my autograph personally added to each one produced. At the moment, Rosewell amps are built entirely by hand by Dave in his workshop. As such, they are made to order, rather than rolling off a factory production line. This means that each amp takes a few weeks to complete, but the wait is very much worth it. Ironically, despite my extensive use of digital gear, I now have, unbelievably, here in this tiny recording room of mine, 9 guitar amplifiers and just 4 digital guitar processors. For readers of this diary who are interested in such things, my amps are as follows: 1: The aforementioned, custom-built Rosewell Combo. (My latest acquisition and a really fabulous and authentic sound.) 2: My custom built Carlsbro Nelsonic Amp and Cab which I designed in conjuction with the one-time Carlsbro 'custom shop' team. (As used on the 2004 'Be Bop Deluxe And Beyond' tour.) 3: A small 'Booker' valve combo with art-deco radio-style wooden cabinet. 4: A Line-6 Vetta 2 combo. (Also featured on the 'Be Bop Deluxe And Beyond' tour.) 5: A '70s era Pignose mini-amp. (Used on various Be Bop Deluxe recordings.) 6: A '70s Vox mini-amp. (Also used on Be Bop Deluxe recordings.) 7: A very rare, vintage early 1960s 'Shaftsbury' 'tv front' style combo with two elliptical speakers. 8: A rare and unusual Carlsbro 'Tower' combo that resembles a space-age humidifier more than a guitar amp! 9: A late 1950s Selmer 'Little Giant' mini-combo that is missing it's gilt-plastic Selmer logo but not its vintage sound. So...Not bad for someone who has recorded and performed so often with digital processors! Whilst on the subject of recording, I've been dipping in and out of one of my upcoming but as yet unfinished album projects. 'Lampdownlowland' is an album I've mentioned before in these pages. I have two more currently unfinished tracks to add to that album... Both are 'non-linear' pieces which began life as abstract instrumentals but which now contain lyrics and a vocal top line. They're interesting, atmospheric, constantly evolving songs but I haven't yet got to the point where I feel they're ready to mix. I've had quite a few other things to deal with though, which may have contributed to my current distracted state. I'm not even sure if I will retain 'Lampdownlowland' as as title for the album, although it will contain a song bearing that title. We'll see... The almost three weeks of unbroken snow we experienced before Christmas now seems like a distant memory. Nevertheless, it has turned really cold again and we've been forced to keep the central heating switched on for far longer periods than usual. Yesterday and today have felt particularly chilly, especially here in my studio where the only source of heat comes from the equipment it contains. I've been trying not to get too stressed about what 2011 might or might not hold. This time of year always feels grey and slightly depressing. I've not yet made any hard and fast decision about whether to stage a Nelsonica convention this year but I think that, if a small number of live concerts could be arranged at nice or 'interesting' venues, it might be good to take a break from the demands of Nelsonica and give some time over to other things. The next new release will be the long-overdue 'Last Of The Neon Cynics' project, the collaboration with American comic book artist Matt Howarth. As I've mentioned before, this was begun a few years ago but due to the intensity of my work rate, has developed at a very slow pace. It's almost ready to manufacture now but requires me to write some sleeve notes and work with David Graham on the physical package design. I read several pages of my 'Painted From Memory' autobiography last week, just out of curiosity to see how it felt now that it has assumed book form. Immediately, I spotted several things that I would phrase quite differently, or expand on, if I was able to go back and work on the book again. A few little typos I hadn't spotted previously too, plus a missing chapter heading and number. If I ever decide to reprint, these are things that could be picked up and corrected. But at some point in the near future, I really ought to make a start on volume two which will cover the 1960's and '70's. Strangely, the closer to the present my story gets, the more blurred it becomes. I can recall my childhood with an uncanny clarity but the 1970's are somewhat foggy. I'll need to dig into my substantial but highly disorganised career archives to help me with that particular era. That's all for this entry, though there may be another one fairly soon. I'm awaiting confirmation on an upcoming event which might prove exciting. I'll not say any more for the moment but...stay tuned! ***** Images attached to this diary entry are as follows:- 1: Bill's studio with Peerless Monarch guitar and custom built ROSEWELL guitar amplifier. 2: A closer view of the ROSEWELL amp. 3: An even closer view of the ROSEWELL with 'GOLDEN AGE' ribbon microphone. 4: Spare bedroom with a handful of guitars. 5: A closer view of the above guitars, left to right:- a Gibson Les Paul Custom, a Peerless Deep Blue Custom, a rare Musima Record archtop semi, a Gretsch White Falcon, a Greco parlour-sized jazz archtop, a Peerless Monarch jazz box and, on the sofa at the back, an old Arnold Hoyer 'Man In Black' acoustic archtop. The teddy bear in the background is as old as Bill...it was bought for him by his parents when he was born, 62 years ago. Top of page

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2013 William's Study (Diary Of A Hyperdreamer) December 2011 Jan Feb Mar Apr Saturday 24th December 2011 -- 9:00 pm Good grief! My previous diary entry was in April of this year: Spring! Now we're well into December, (it's Christmas Eve as I post this), and 2011 has flown by at light speed without sight of any further diary entries until now. These increasingly long gaps between entries are, even for me, something of a concern, and this is certainly the longest gap yet. So, why the radio silence? Well, constant, off-mike activity of one kind or other I suppose...Maybe more frustrating distractions than usual, much of them taking up valuable time and diverting energy away from the creation of these pages. Plus, (I'm almost afraid to admit), an equally increasing disinclination on my part to transfer my day to day life to text, whether typed publicly on-screen or inked privately on paper. It has always seemed inconsequential and of little interest but, as the years roll by, it feels even more so than ever. My inner life manifests more naturally in the music I create, which occurs spontaneously without either presumption or resentment. It seems to require little in the way of explanation. I'll just say that it's grown-up enough to speak for itself, and to choose who it speaks to. Actually, I did attempt to write a entry in May of this year but it ended up languishing in some dusty corner of my computer's hard-drive, unloved and eventually forgotten. For the record, the following snippet is all that survives. It's dated Monday 2nd of May 2011 and reads: “A long, blank, bank-holiday weekend, plus Friday's televised Royal Wedding of the lovely Kate to the rather lucky Prince William seems to have put paid to several productive plans I had...the UK's gears appear to have have ground to a halt on an excess of sticky sentiment. Lots of domestic practicalities to sort out but everything is set against me. The main focus of my energies right now should really be my upcoming solo instrumental concert on May 7th in Sheffield at the 'Showroom' Cinema. I've only this last week assembled the concert's backing tracks over at Fairview studios with John Spence, (who will be mixing the front of house sound at the venue next Saturday), but I still need to find time to sit down with the set list and a selection of electric guitars so as to familiarise myself with the complexity of the arrangements. The 'top lines' of the majority of these pieces are improvised during the concert itself but it's useful to at least go through the motions, here in my ultra-compact studio, so that I build up a subliminal mental map of where the various key changes and mood shifts occur. Also, which damn pedals might produce the required, spur-of-the-moment sounds...it's as much about tonality and atmosphere as note choices. There are one or two new pieces to be performed too, particularly a long opening piece, complete with video.” Well...that's as far as that particular diary entry went. In the rapidly rolling and tumbling months since then, I've almost forgotten about the Sheffield concert. Nevertheless, as far as I recall, it went well and attracted a full house. The cinema's screen, behind me, provided a huge canvas for my videograms to be projected on, and I was told that it all looked, (and sounded), extremely impressive from the auditorium. As is far too often the case though, the onstage sound monitoring was not conducive to relaxation on my part. Getting sufficient clarity on stage from the pre-recorded backing tracks is an all too familiar headache. To be able to interact comfortably with these tracks requires something more akin to a full-range studio monitor speaker system, rather than the stereotypical rock-band wedges. It's frustratingly difficult to get right because everything I hear on stage emanates from these very basic monitor speakers. There are no guitar amps on stage, no other musicians or live band, no acoustically separated drum kit or individually amplified back line...just a pre-recorded, pre-mixed, fixed-forever in time backing track, fed to those relatively crude blackspeaker boxes at my feet. Even my live improvised lead guitar parts are sent to the very same speakers, (speakers which are designed to punch a vocal through a band's on-stage racket, rather than faithfully reproduce every nuance of a carefully recorded and detailed full-range backing track). All I can tell you is that it makes for an often muddy and uncomfortable performing experience, more shackled to guesswork than free improvisation. But, hey-ho...it's only rock 'n' roll, is it not? Despite the above confusions, the concert was enthusiastically greeted and I received many positive compliments from members of the audience over the following weeks. I guess it's impossible for me to hear what the audience hears...or to pre-judge their expectations. My own are often unreasonable and impractical...maybe I need to be less demanding. This year saw the delivery of a new guitar amplifier to my home. It's the revised, re-modelled signature combo made by Dave Gascoigne, the mastermind behind 'Rosewell' amplifiers. It's essentially the same technical spec as the earlier tweed version mentioned in a previous diary entry but this one is different cosmetically, having a more retro-futurist look to it. It is two-tone, dark-red and off-white and really looks the business. (See attached photo'.) Looking forward to trying it out on stage with a full band... The annual Nelsonica event had to be put on ice this year as I'd been encouraged to go out on tour instead. The master-plan was for the tour to occur in November of this year. However, I was told that it would not be possible to take the 7-piece 'Gentleman Rocketeers' band out on the road due to budgetary constraints, so I had to re-think the line-up and reduce it to a more economically viable five-piece. Not as easy as it might seem. In many ways, this would be untried territory, a technically uncertain undertaking as, for the last few years, I've become reliant upon a SEVEN-piece line up, one that, other than a couple of musician changes, I've been fortunate enough to perform live with since 2004. The same number of musicians have proved reliable and effective at Nelsonica events too, as well as at the now rather controversial 'Legends' DVD recording in March of this year. And what a peculiar project that turned out to be. Despite being told that the 'Legends' series was going to be on television in June, (which is the only reason I accepted the offer in the first place), nothing has happened other than a rush-release of a DVD of the performance. As it happens, 'The Gentleman Rocketeers' DVD went quickly into the BBC's top ten music video charts and seems to have been a big hit with fans (though I still can't bring myself to watch the damn thing...plus I'm still out of pocket with the project, due to the artist-unfriendly nature of the deal). Anyway, back to the tour: pragmatic choices had to be made for the reduced in size band: a new, experienced keyboard player, (Richard Cottle), was recommended to me and then put on stand-by, rehearsal rooms were pencilled in to prepare material for the, (allegedly), confirmed November UK tour and I began to look at potential material choices. I was also asked to come up with a concept, name and graphic art for the proposed extravaganza, and was told that this was urgently needed for promotional purposes... I cobbled something together very quickly:- I decided to call the five-piece band 'Combo Deluxe,' (an intentional and rather obvious reference to Be Bop Deluxe but with the word 'combo' suggesting something more compact than the 7-piece GR line-up). I then named the tour 'Return To Tomorrow,' (to make a connection with the older material that I'd been told was part of the tour's remit). I then designed a flyer for it, (as also did my graphic artist collaborator David Graham). Our two flyers were immediately sent, (via Opium Arts), to the promoter...Everything was in place and a sigh of relief was due...or so I thought. Two days later I was informed that the promoter had unexpectedly decided to postpone the tour until next year. The reason I was given was that there were 'too many bands out on the road in November.' But, surely, in a sane world, wasn't that rather late in the day to decide this? Surely that sort of consideration should be taken into account before getting so far into preparations? I very much suspected, (and still do), that there was far more to the alleged 'postponement' than met the eye. By now, of course, I'd abandoned all plans for a 2011 Nelsonica in favour of the UK tour so there was no time left to re-schedule the annual fan-convention. (Several months of planning are needed to put these Nelsonica events together.) As you might imagine, this unexpected postponement was a frustrating waste of time and energy. In a last-minute attempt to recover lost ground, I decided to work towards an art and memorabilia exhibition combined with an solo (plus trio), instrumental concert at Leeds University's Faculty Of Music in the university's 'Clothworker's Hall,' a beautiful venue well suited to my instrumental concerts. I'd performed there on previous occasions and very much enjoyed the experience. I was provided, (by the Faculty Of Music), with a stunningly beautiful Steinway grand piano, AND an even larger Marimba than the one I personally own but find so difficult to transport. My own Marimba is now rather careworn but was originally bought from Abbey Road studios in the late '70's/early '80's, where it had appeared on several Beatles recordings, way back when... I also took along a small selection of percussion instruments: a small gong, a selection of chimes, shakers and so on, plus, (of course), a large and interesting selection of guitars, an ebow, a small transistor radio, a now ancient Casio VL-1 Tone pocket synth AND, (very important this), my custom-built Gus G1 midi-equipped guitar. The latter has become an essential part of my kit with the 'Orchestra Futura' trio, (Dave Sturt on bass and laptop and Theo Travis on saxophone and flute), who were also appearing at the Leeds concert with me. Dave and Theo employ live looping, digital delays and treatments in their playing so it generates a very eclectic and spontaneous performance. The concert's accompanying exhibition celebrated more than 40 years of my career and placed on display several years of ephemera and memorabilia, including framed posters, artwork, (some going back as far as the psychedelic 1960's), personal letters and other previously unseen items from my musical life. I was helped in assembling and exhibiting this material by members of the Nelsonica team who did a wonderful job of mounting the visual material on the walls of the exhibition room adjoining the concert hall, as well as assisting with ticketing and so on. Due to the tour postponement, the Leeds event, (which I titled 'The Art School Ascended On Vapours Of Roses'), ended up being the only live performance to mark this year's 40th anniversary of my recordings. The tour itself became a missed opportunity. It's a shame that little focus was given to the anniversary...it could have been used as a springboard to draw attention to the body of work I've created over all these years. Rather too late now, of course. Truth is, 40 years may seem little more than ink on a page to some people, but it's a significant slice of my life as an artist. Not all was lost...A much more appreciative and welcome celebration of those 40 years came in the form of the luxurious box set of 8 CDs released, (this December), by Esoteric/Cherry Red Records. Titled 'The Practice Of Everyday Life,' this more than 150 track compilation, drawn from almost the entire span of my recording career, is the jewel in whatever crown I might presume to be wearing. Although not 100% comprehensive the box set compiles a feast of tracks from 1971 through to more recent years. I invested a fair amount of time and energy in this particular project, as archivist, interviewee, and advisor. The real mastermind behind it all though, is Mark Powell. Mark founded the 'Esoteric' record label and has been responsible for setting in motion a professional re-issue programme focussed on many of my back catalogue recordings, (mostly material drawn from the '80's and early '90's). The 40 year celebratory box set compilation, ('The Practice Of Everyday Life'), covers a wide territory...from my first solo album, 'Northern Dream,' through Be Bop Deluxe and Red Noise, including rarities, to my '80's Cocteau Records solo era and then beyond, including a selection of tracks from the last 10 years or so. It's an epic journey. The set has been beautifully packaged with brilliant attention to design detail by renowned graphic artist/designer Philip Lloyd- Smee. I'm extremely pleased with the way the whole thing has been handled and am proud of the end result. It will be, I expect, a big hit with fans and will stand as a testimony to my enthusiasm for making music, as well as chronologically illustrating the still unfolding development of my work over the years. Simultaneously with this, EMI Records have released a compilation set of Be Bop Deluxe's studio albums, comprising five CDs. The fifth CD in the set contains some previously unavailable recordings, including several of my original home demo cassette recordings of songs which were eventually recorded by the band itself. I was involved in the preparation and shape of this compilation too, particularly in the mixing of several live recordings that have, until now, never been previously available to the public. The set, (which is jewel-cased rather than boxed), is titled 'Futurist Manifesto' after a 1970's recording released by the band. These complex re-issues have taken up quite a lot of time, both in terms of preparation and promotion. I spent several days giving radio and press interviews to help spread the word to a wider audience. A very enjoyable part of the promotional work was giving an interview to Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie for their BBC 6 Music show. Two really knowledgeable and likeable fellows who genuinely care about music and have the talent to talk about it in entertaining and intelligent terms. Whilst the primary focus has been on these re-issue projects I have devoted a lot of time to new recordings. 'Fantasmatron,' 'Signals From Realms Of Light' and 'Model Village' are the three new albums that have been released this year. Two more albums have also been completed and are ready for release early in 2012. These are: 'Songs Of The Blossom Tree Optimists' and 'The Last Of The Neon Cynics.' (This latter album is the long-awaited collaboration with American comic-book artist/writer Matt Howarth.) But already on the drawing board for 2012 are a further two albums. One is a rock-style vocal-based album currently titled 'JOY THROUGH AMPLIFICATION: THE ULTRA-FUZZY WORLD OF PRIAPUS STRATOCASTER.' The other new album will be a long-form instrumental affair which, as yet, has no title. Both these albums are, at this moment in time, incomplete so I'll need to set aside some time to work further on them. My involvement with the day-to-day Dreamsville website forum seems to have increased. The site's registered membership continues to grow and I receive a larger number of private messages (or 'PMs' as they're known), than ever before. This results in a full-to-the-brim inbox which I find difficult to keep up with. It's simply become impossible to answer every single PM I get, though I try my best. I tend to focus more on the public forum on the site, engaging with fans there on a daily basis. In fact, I spend every morning just dealing with website related work. Have recently created a new Christmas videogram for the website...it's titled 'The Christmas Book' and uses images from a children's annual I had in the 1950s, when I was a very young boy. These videogram Christmas cards of mine are always nostalgic and sentimental but designed to re-create the festive spirit of more innocent times. I am, though, as usual, way behind with my Christmas shopping and the writing and posting of real Christmas cards. I've already missed the deadline for overseas cards so will have to send email greetings to my friends in other countries. There's still a lot of preparation to be done with regard to family this Christmas too. I'm bringing my mum over to us on Christmas Day and she will stay here through Boxing Day when Elle and Elliot will join us. Also on Boxing Day, my nephew Julian, (my late brother Ian's eldest son), his wife Lindsey and baby daughter Bethany will be paying us a visit. I need to clear the spare bedroom for mum to stay over on Christmas Day night. At the moment it is filled to the rafters with large framed artworks from the Leeds exhibition, plus cases of memorabilia and musical equipment, not to mention piles and piles of clothes. Where all this stuff will go is both a mystery and a problem. My guitars and musical gear occupy so much space in our modest-sized house...and there are more books on shelves and stacked on the floor than our village library could hold. Speaking of books, my recent bedtime reading has been comprised of the following: 'Austin Osman Spare: The Life And Legend Of London's Lost Artist' by Phil Baker; 'John Piper and Myfanwy Piper: Lives In Art' by Frances Spalding; 'Here And Now! The Autobiography Of Pat Martino;' by Pat Martino with Bill Milkowski; 'Go Ahead John: The Music Of John McLaughlin' by Paul Stump; 'Romantic Moderns: English Writers, Artists, and the Imagination from Virginia Woolf to John Piper' by Alexandra Harris, and 'We Called It Music' by Eddie Condon. The latter book I read a long time ago, in 1962 when in my early teens, I think, but recently picked up a copy at Ray's Jazz bookshop at Foyles in London and am enjoying re-aquainting myself with it. A very sad loss, only a couple of months ago: My cousin Ian Boyle passed away suddenly as a result of illness. Those of you who are long-term readers of my diary will recall how I re-gained contact with Ian and my other cousin Walter, (who now prefers to be known as James), after many years in the wilderness. Both were born to my father's sister, (my Aunt Nell), and had a profound influence on me when I was a child, particularly as they were both creative people and both musicians. (See my autobiography for more on that.) Cousin Ian was a painter and a talented jazz trumpeter and, in recent years, I'd helped him to embark on a home-recording hobby which he seemed to enjoy very much. He attended the 2009 Nelsonica convention in Harrogate and also came to some of my UK concerts, including the Bloomsbury Theatre show in 2004. We spoke on the telephone quite often, (though not, now, sadly, often enough), and I enjoyed his dry sense of humour. He lived a long way from here, near Cantebury, so it wasn't easy for he and I to get together socially. I liked Ian very much and was shocked and deeply saddened to hear of his passing. I'll remember him with great fondness and miss his warm and witty 'phone calls. And, even more sadness: Mike Levon, the man who was behind Wakefield's legendary HOLYGROUND record label, also passed away suddenly in September of this year. Another unwelcome shock. I had been in touch with Mike only a few weeks before his passing. I had recorded my 'Northern Dream' album at the 'Holyground' studio in 1970. (It was released, as a very limited edition, on my 'Smile Records' label in 1971.) The Holyground studio was literally a spare bedroom at Mike and Shirley Levon's Cass Yard abode, just off Kirkgate, in Wakefield. It was recorded with a simple home-made mixing desk and a two-track tape recorder. I'd first become involved with Mike and the local hippie scene in the 1960's and had donated my musical services to two independently released albums which were recorded by Mike at his Holyground 'studio.' The albums were titled 'A to Austr' and 'Astral Navigations.' There was a very small, but minty-fresh, creative local scene back then...students from Bretton Hall College mixed with various Wakefield 'heads.' 'Heads' was the slang term applied to anyone who had: A: smoked marijuana, or at least tried to get high by smoking a banana skin, (a myth which originated from Donovan's song 'Mellow Yellow'), or B: actually read 'The Politics Of Ecstasy' by Timothy Leary, or C: owned a copy of Richard Farina's 1966 novel, 'Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me.' At the time, I qualified on all counts, except that I'd never smoked dope...and the banana experience was once tried and forever abandoned as little more than a 'yellow herring.' I was also a subscriber to the 'International Times' newspaper, (or 'IT,' as it was known), and also 'OZ' magazine and various other counter-cultural publications. These were proverbial 'happy hippy days' and my youthful experiences at Holyground are still fondly remembered, as is Mike Levon and his wife Shirley, Chris Coombs and all the other colourful denizens of Cass Yard. I was terribly sorry to hear of Mike's passing and attended a memorial event at Wolley Hall on the outskirts of Wakefield where I met several old faces from those times. Mike's life was warmly celebrated by everyone and I was very glad that I was invited to attend the memorial. He will be missed by many of us. And so, another Christmas, right on the doorstep, then, one week hence, New Year...2012. The economy is still going downhill here in the UK, despite the Government's attempts to talk it up. I'm no fan of this lot at all, too smug and authoritarian. It might just be politics but the personalities involved are a complete turn-off. Can't see things improving in the short term...or even in the long run, to be honest. All I can do is stay true to whatever drives me and continue to attempt to make music, and thereby some sort of sense of the world... There are several things/events that I've omitted from this diary entry, but this will have to do for now as it has already taken up more time than I have available. There are gifts still to wrap, and I'm exhausted. Perhaps I'll try to create more regular diary entries next year, (well, at least more than I've been able to do THIS year.) So...all for now. A VERY Merry Christmas to all readers of these pages...and every good wish for 2012! bill nelson: december 2011 ***** The images accompanying this diary are as follows:- 1: Promo flyer for the abandoned November tour. 2: The cherry blossom tree in Bill's front Garden...Spring 2011. 3: A photograph of Be Bop Deluxe enjoying dinner in Villa St. George, Juan-Les-Pins, South of France, during the recording of the 'Drastic Plastic' album in the late 1970s. (Pic by John Leckie.) 4: Bill Nelson signature model Rosewell combo guitar amplifier. 5: Personal greeting card from Bill and Emiko, 2011. 6: An alternative 'Rocket Rabbit' shot by Martin Bostock. Top of page

A to Austr album - 1970 A to Austr Production/Contribution Menu Future Past BILL: "Global Village" Bill Nelson played guitars, including steel and Hawaiian. Production/Contribution Menu Future Past

The Jingler Free Christmas download single Click image for cover Artwork FREE Christmas download single - Released December 2009. THE JINGLER Currently unavailable on any album "I was hoping to make a short Christmas video for Dreamsville but, unfortunately, time is against me. But....instead, I've recorded a sweet little Xmas instrumental track which I will ask Paul to make available as a free download for everyone. It's a cute, 2 minute piece titled 'The Jingler'. (Complete with sleigh bells, of course!) Merry Christmas everyone..." Performed, recorded and produced by Bill Nelson. All rights Bill Nelson 2009.

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2013 William's Study (Diary Of A Hyperdreamer) April 2007 Jan Feb May Jul Sep Oct Nov Dec Tuesday 24th April 2007 -- 9:00 pm Was it really as long ago as Februrary that I posted my previous diary entry? Almost the end of April now and the gaps between writing seem longer and longer. Unfortunately, because of this, each subsequent entry contains a punishingly large amount of text. Unavoidable if I'm to allow the reader to catch up on what's been going on in my life, I suppose. But a less than desirable situation, I'm afraid. Let me see if I can possibly limit this diary entry to essentials, even though I suspect that it's the less essential ramblings that provide my readers with the most revealing and entertaining experience. There's an element of voyourism involved in scanning these pages after all. (Isn't there?) Perhaps there's also an element of exhibitionism involved in the writing of them. So...a kind of symbiotic relationship. Well, let's not worry unduly about that. Just accept it as one more aspect of the artist/audience dynamic. AIl part of the act. Yesterday was emotionally difficult. April 23rd marked the first year since my brother Ian passed away. It would also have been his 51st birthday. The fact that it feels like only yesterday that I first wrote about losing him in this diary is a testimony to the fact that I'm far from over it. It's exactly 12 months ago yesterday but still so vivid and fresh and shocking. So sharp it cuts to the heart. Emi and I attended a memorial service for him at a church in Wakefield on Sunday the 22nd. Ian's wife Diane was there, along with Ian's daughter and two sons and several good friends of Ian's. My one-time painting tutor from my Wakefield Art-School days in the '60's, Peter Murray, was there too. He is better known, these days, as the founder and current director of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park where Ian worked happily for several years. Also present was Ian's good friend and musical collaborator, John Nixon. John informed me that the cd album that he and Ian had been working on will very soon be available for purchase. He is awaiting an immanent delivery of stock from the manufacturers. Of course, the memorial service poured salt into what is still an open wound for many of us. It was an emotional and at times uncomfortable event. Painful to get through. Ian would probably not have been particularly enthusiastic about the idea, being very much 'anti-churchianity' and highly sceptical of anything to do with religion or for what passes as 'spirituality' these days. His acid wit regarding such things would have turned holy water to dry dust. In this respect he was very much like my late father who regarded any religious matter as a fair target for a thorough tongue-thrashing. Certainly, there were moments of what Ian would have interpreted as high absurdity. I could hear his voice, twisting the sermons and hymn lyrics around until they shrieked with Dadaist humour.The two of us, if we'd been standing side by side, would have had all on to contain ourselves, outraged one minute, reduced to giggles the next. Not nice for those sincere and devout people who find solace in this kind of thing. And, as the service was for several people who had lost loved ones, there were members of the congregation who, I'm sure, sincerely benefitted from the event. It's far easier to pour scorn than have faith, I guess. Nevertheless, regardless of any religious cynicism, Ian is still around in the lives of those of us who love him. Whether this 'around' is created by supernatural means or by the heartbeat of personal memory depends on one's philosophical point of view. His framed photograph hangs on my studio wall, just above and to the left of my keyboards, (as I've probably mentioned before in this diary). In the photograph he is blowing his saxophone with what, in the literature of my youth, would be referred to as 'gusto.' And this was how he lived his life, with GUSTO, with abandon, with an appetite for the joyous, laughing moment. And, (it has to be said), sometimes without thought for his own health and well-being. How well I know and understand that temptation, being far from immune to self-abandonment myself. (Shhh...don't tell anyone.) But we choose our personal path and follow it, regardless of the judgement or advice of others. We live our OWN lives our own way, for better or worse. After the memorial service, we all, (family and friends), went to the cemetary and stood around Ian's grave, waiting for him to show up and make fun of us. A big bouquet of flowers, sent by my cousin Ian, (after whom my brother is named), was laid on top of the grass in front of the grey marble headstone with its silver lettering and musical note motif. The trees that line the little avenue that leads through the cemetary to Ian's resting place were abundant with spring blossoms. If our hearts could have charmed him to appearance, he would have been there amongst us in 3-D and technicolour. Actually, no doubt about it, for a moment, He WAS there.. ("Fuck off," comes Ian's voice, "no bloody resurrections for Christ's sake!") Then, my mother, Ian's three children, (Lucy, Louis and Julian), Emiko and I drove up to 'The Kings Arms' pub at Heath Common, on the edge of Wakefield. I've written about this place before, how it was a haunt of my art-school years in the '60's, how it is 'woody' and 'stoney' and full of ghosts and gaslamp atmosphere...how I sometimes had a drink there with my brother in years gone by. Yes, I've written about it, I'm sure... Anyway, we all ate a meal together in the modern conservatory built onto the rear of the pub. I much prefer the older part of the building with it's unspoilt, oak panelled, gaslit, low ceilinged dark, tobacco-stained rooms, but there were no available tables for us all to sit together so the conservatory had to do. I felt that this provided a much needed opportunity to sit down and relax with my nephews and niece. They don't really know me quite as well as I'd like them to...not their fault, mine entirely, being so insular and pre-occupied with my music. I guess I'm not the easiest person to get to know. Still, I hope that I can correct this shameful fault in some way, I hope that my nephews and niece can grow to understand their father even more from my own fond memories of the childhood years (and beyond), that Ian and I shared. Ian's eldest son, Julian, is to be married in June of this year. Emi and I and Elle and Elliot are all invited and we're very much looking forward to attending the wedding. The Nelson family NEED something to look forward to at the moment, something connected with joy and hope for the future. There's been far too much sadness. Another positive note: My stepfather George is now out of hospital and on the way to recovery. The major surgery he underwent has left him skinny and frail, but he's on the mend. The current priority is to fatten him up. All the foods he was once advised to avoid he's now been told to devour as often as possible, (the things we all love but fear are not good for us). Until he reaches a weight appropriate to good health that is. My mother is much relieved to have him back at home and I'm relieved to see at least a little of her burden lifted. She worried terribly about him when he was in the hospital but, hopefully, things will improve for them both from here on. I drove to Wakefield again yesterday, (Monday 23rd), to take my mother up to the cemetary once more, but this time to deliver personal bouquets and birthday cards to Ian. Just mum and I there, in the light April rain and wind, cleaning and arranging flowers. What remains of the Wakefield skyline of my long lost childhood slipped in and out of my peripheral vision like a half-glimpsed ghost. I took a tissue, soaked it under the nearby water tap and used it to wipe clean some bird shit from Ian's headstone. Strange that whenever we go there on this particular date, to remember both his coming and his going, (a shocking irony), it will always be spring and the trees will be heavy with blossom. Just as they were on Monday. Nature continues to renew itself in the midst of our sadness, indifferent to the human condition and yet in perfect harmony with it. If I was a poet of any sort, perhaps I'd suggest that this was some kind of cruel but beautiful mystery. But what has been stemming the flow of this diary? What negative magic has banished words from these pages for so long? Depression? A stupidly intense work schedule? Well, yes, a lot of the latter and perhaps too much of the former. Dark night of the soul and all that. It seems, despite all efforts to the contrary, that I can be as angst-ridden and self-pitying as the next man. (Maybe even more so, given a chance to conjure a little love from out of the void.) A studio filled with brightly coloured toys does not neccesarily a Disney mentality make. Sometimes we're crippled by longings beyond easy articulation. Enough.... My Leeds University School Of Music concert is immanent, this coming Saturday in fact. (28th April.) I've spent at least three months physically working on it, ('though I'm sure the actual performance won't reflect this mad effort). Pointless or not, it's been non-stop: Long, long hours, every day, making new pieces of music, devising video backdrops to go with them, etc, etc. (11 new video pieces in total.) The audience won't ever realise just how much hard work has gone into this. It will probably appear seamless and effortless, just another concert. But it has taken SO much out of me. But why? And for what? Where's the point? I really can't answer that one. I genuinely don't understand why I should apply so much energy for such a meagre result. It's really not a sensible thing to do at all. Some might say that it borders on obsessive behaviour and is extremely unheathy. The latter point is clear to me: I've put on weight, sitting day after day in my little studio surrounded by buzzing electrical fields, getting no exercise, hunched over either a mixing desk or a computer keyboard. Absolutely crazy, stupid behaviour. Look...see? I'm still hunched here, tap tap tapping away. Went to 'The Clothworker's Hall' in Leeds today...the venue that I'm performing in on Saturday at Leeds University School Of Music. The purpose of the visit was to allow John Spence the opportunity to see the space he will be mixing my live sound in. Paul Gilby met us there too. He will be projectionist for the concert. It's a beautiful environment...perhaps much more suited to an acoustic classical recital than the guitar/electronica I will be unleashing there. A careful manipulation of sound levels will be needed to get the best of the space, acoustically. Not too loud, I think. The piano provided for my use sounds nice, a good action and a full size grand to boot. I won't be playing it a lot, but just a little. Same with the marimba...a hint of colour here and there. A tinkle and a twinkle, tap, tap, tappity tap. The totally improvised piece I'm hoping to perform with Steve Cook on keyboards now has a proper title. It will be called 'Seance In Suburban-Semi.' The title alludes to a seance I personally conducted at a suburban semi-detatched house in Stanley, on the edge of Wakefield at a Christmas party during the 1960's. I faked the 'results' of the seance to great effect. It scared the participants to the point where they ran shrieking from the house. The improvisation that Steve and I intend to embark upon on Saturday will have as much uncertainty and spookiness as that long ago party prank. Hopefully, the audience will remain in place, despite the uncertainty of the musicians. Here is the set list for Saturday's concert, minus the encore section. (Hopefully, there will be one!) Leeds University School Of Music Concert: April 28th 2007. 'Memories, Dreams And Gleaming Guitars.' SET LIST. 1: 'This Very Moment.' 2: 'Blue Amorini.' 3: 'Skylark's Rise.' 4: 'Beyond These Clouds,The Sweetest Dream.' 5: 'A Day To Remember.' 6: 'Fuzzy Dux.' 7: 'Only A Dream But Nevertheless.' 8: 'Steamboat In The Clouds.' 9: 'The Girl On The Fairground Waltzer.' 10: 'If I Were The Pilot Of Your Perfect Cloud.' 11: 'Neon Lights And Japanese Lanterns.' 12: 'Secret Club For Members Only.' 13: 'I Was A Junior Spaceman.' 14: 'Seance In Suburban-Semi.' (No backing track.) Loop piece. 15: 'A Dream For Ian.' Now a brief run through of other things before closing. This has already become a longer entry than planned. Spent a wonderful Easter weekend with my good friend Harold Budd and his family who were visiting Yorkshire. Went to Castle Howard, Harrogate and York...and a hidden village called Bolton Percy for Sunday lunch at 'The Crown' pub. Sam Smith's ales and Yorkshire pudding. All served in a tiny, unspoiled village pub with a tobacco-stained ceiling and hearty local chaps sporting natty waistcoats and World War Two Spitfire pilot's mustaches. A welcome break from my work schedule and, to tell the truth, a much needed one. Despite the guilt I felt at switching off my studio for a few days, the chance to sit and relax with Harold was such an easy joy. Prior to that, I'd taken in David Lynch's new film, 'Inland Empire,' at the local art cinema. Loved the rabbits...(Tremendous sound design too.) Blossoms out in our garden now, a riot of pink and white. Absolutely beautiful. So much still to prepare for Saturday's concert during what remains of this week. The video creation has dominated the last couple of months to the exclusion of music. I have new videos, new backing tracks, but little knowledge of what I will play over them. Improvisation in the main. I can't deny that I'm nervous. Performing live isn't one of my favourite things, yet the challenge taunts me. It will be, as always in these situations, very much touch and go. Weather dependent, mood permitting, wind in the right direction and so on. Unfortunately, it's not a simple matter of trotting out tried and tested, crowd-pleasing favourites. It's more like looking at a guitar for the first time in my life and thinking, 'what the heck am I supposed to do with this?' Performing live is sometimes a frightening experience for me. No matter how much I succeed in giving the audience the impression that I'm in control, behind the facade, it's all hanging on a very slender thread. The other day, my mother gave me a pencil. It was a magic pencil because it once belonged to my father. The pencil came from the 1950's and had been hidden away in a drawer for many, many years. My dad had brought it home from the place where he worked, a radio and television shop in the Hunslet area of Leeds during the 'fifties. On the pencil was the name of the shop that he managed back then: 'R. BROUGHTON AND SONS.' The shop stocked radios, tvs, washing machines, cycles, electrical goods and, (to my great delight as a young boy back then), toys, including Hornby Train sets, Dinky Toy model cars and Meccano. This long lost, ancient promotional pencil not only bears the name of the shop my father managed but it's address of 40-42, Waterloo Road, (now long gone), and a list of its stock in trade. It also bears my father's teeth marks where, after using it to mark out some measurement or other, he'd placed it in his mouth whilst sawing DIY wood in his garden shed, or maybe in the garage with me watching him. It probably sounds nostalgic and overtly romantic to say this but, the recent rediscovery of that old pencil brought my father and I suddenly close together, even though he passed away in his seventies, in 1976. It goes to show that even the most mudane of objects can become a modern-day holy relic, a bridge to another shore, given enough time to mature... At a certain point in our lives, we each become a museum surrounded by weeping willows. ***** The photographs attached to this diary are:- 1: The river and railway viaduct at Knaresborough, North Yorkshire. 2: The Rose Gardens in Wakefield park. 3 and 4: My father's old pencil with the name and address of the shop where he worked printed on it. 5: Emiko's Buddha-flower-blossom arrangement. Top of page

William's Study (Diary Of A Hyperdreamer) May 2006 Tuesday 9th May 2006 -- 8:20 pm Two weeks and two days have passed since my brother Ian died. Although I frequently note, in these diary entries, how quickly time flies, the last two weeks have gone by at hyperspeed. Life has been a blur, a world in a spin, glimpsed through a watery lens. I'm tempted to say 'dreamlike' but it's been more like a waking nightmare. I am still struggling to grasp the reality of it, to understand just what has happened and why. The 'why' evades me. Ian's funeral was held on Tuesday the 2nd of May. Exactly one week ago today. Already. I should try to capture a little of that painful event here in my diary, both for posterity and my own failing memory's sake. The funeral service was held in a little church in the village of Walton on the edge of Wakefield, (not far from Ian's home), followed by burial at the city cemetary in Wakefield itself. Ian's wife Diane had been a little unsure about Ian's wishes in this regard, whether he would have preferred a cremation or burial. She said that she seemed to recall Ian saying that he'd never felt comfortable with the idea of cremation. I remember that Ian and I, in our distant youth, talked about the subject sometimes. We talked about it in the casual way that young men do when life seems to stretch on infinitely ahead of them and death seems nothing more than a vague, abstract concept. Nevertheless, neither of us were favorably disposed towards cremation and thought that a burial, in pleasant surroundings, would offer more comfort to loved ones and leave some form of an indication to others that we'd existed in this world. So, with all this in mind, Diane decided that Ian would have opted for a burial. My mother and myself felt that this was more appropriate too. It provided us with some small comfort that there would be a place where we could visit him from time to time, a kind of 'bridge' to his ethereal world, even though he would always be close inside our hearts. This need came as a surprise to me as, in recent years, I'd adopted the attitude that there would be no survival of spirit, soul or essence when life ends, just a slow dissolution of the elements, a scattering of atoms in the void. A poetic, zen-like emptiness. But of course, religious belief isn't for the departed but for those who are left behind to grieve. Any comfort, no matter how scant, furnishes our consolation. We grasp at any passing detrius the ocean of mortality throws at us, in the hope of staying afloat. My cousin Ian Boyle travelled all the way from Cantebury to attend the funeral. He stayed here with Emi and I from Sunday through to Wednesday. My brother Ian was actually named in honour of my cousin Ian, who is the youngest of our father's sister's two sons. (Dad and his sister passed away many years ago now.) My brother's middle name, Walter, was also chosen to honour family members. 'Walter' was both my father's name and my father's sister's eldest son's name. Sadly, cousin Walter was away in Venice so couldn't attend my brother's funeral. The passing-on of family forenames seems to extend to me too: I'm named after my father's younger brother, Bill, who was killed in a motorbike accident before I was born. The Nelson family history has many lost chapters. It is shrouded in mists and forgotten memories, as I discovered when I began work on my autobiography a few years ago. Trying to piece together a complete picture is almost impossible. My mother, though originally from the Griffith's side of the family, is the oldest living repository of our family history but, as she admits, she has limited recall of the facts. My autobiography does what it can with what little information is available but a perpetual twilight mist hovers over certain aspects. Perhaps I'll never know the full story. My two daughters, Julia and Elle, travelled up from their homes in London to attend the funeral. It was the first time that the surving members of the Nelson clan had all been together in the same place for quite a while, the last time being a Christmas gathering at my home some years ago when cousins Walter and Ian, my mother, my youngest daughter Elle, my son Elliot, brother Ian and Diane, joined Emi and I for a pleasant day of family talk and seasonal celebrations. I can remember my brother Ian's laughter on that day. As usual, his ability to make people feel at ease in his company was clearly evident. Emiko created the family's funeral flower arrangements. It was nice to have that personal touch and I think that Ian would have been pleased that Emi took care of his flowers, rather than a stranger treating it as just another job. Emi made a very large arrangement with Lillies and Roses from Diane, an arrangement spelling out the words DAD in delicate, tiny blue blooms with cream roses from Ian's children, a posy with roses and other flowers from my mum and an alto saxophone constructed from flowers from myself and Emi. I created a short verse to go with the message on the card that accompanied the floral saxophone. The verse part of the message read: "Go blow your Saxophones of Golden Eternity, wild and free in The Blue Beyond... Go blow your Saxophones Of Golden Eternity, safe and sound inside our hearts..." I felt that it had something of Kerouac and The Beats about it that Ian might have enjoyed. Jack Kerouac shared Ian's sense of the immediate moment being all that mattered. The days leading up to the funeral were filled with grief and a kind of dread. We all knew that the day of the funeral itself was going to be a grim one, an inescapable confrontation with our loss. I travelled over to Wakefield to see my mother almost every day. Although we were all devastated, we knew that my mother was suffering in a way that only a mother does when she loses her youngest son. Mum is 77 years old and fighting her own battle with illness. That she should have to face this kind of grief too is so very sad. But my mother is an amazing, beautiful person, (and yes, I'm aware that all sons think that of their mothers). She has borne the weight of so many problems throughout her life, as many mothers do. My father's long illnesses, his confinement to a wheelchair after suffering the amputation of both his legs, her own medical problems, the worrying, wayward nature of both her sons, my two failed marriages and their unpleasant side-effects, etc, etc. Through the years she has always cared more about other people's sufferings than her own. She has never complained, never been judgemental. Mum has always been steadily supportive, a perfect example of unconditional love. Her generosity, strength, dignity and compassion are self-evident qualities, recognised by all who know her. And she thinks the world of Diane and Ian's children. And I realised, this last couple of weeks, that they think the world of her too. On the morning of the funeral, Elliot and Elle and Julia travelled in Elliot's car whilst my mother, Emi, cousin Ian and I travelled in one of the two funeral cars, Diane and Ian's family led in the other, directly behind the hearse bearing Ian's casket. The emotional moment of the arrival of the hearse at Ian and Diane's house that morning, prior to setting off for the church, is beyond my ability to describe. I'll never forget it. A conformation of everything I'd tried to deny. The little church was filled to capacity with Ian's friends. As part of the family, the church's front pews were reserved for us and Ian's flower covered coffin was displayed a couple of feet away from where we sat. Here was the hard reality of it all: my brother, the one person (other than my mother and late father), who had been a stable part of my life for so long, was now about to be laid to rest forever. Sitting there, looking at that polished, crafted, dreadful symbol of finality, I remembered so many things that we'd shared, both as children and as adults. The sadness engulfed me, drowned me, crushed me. The vicar, whose first name, I believe, was Rupert, (somehow appropriate as Ian and I grew up with Rupert The Bear stories), read a few Biblical passages. I could almost hear my brother, a passionately non-religious person, groaning, " Get ON with it!" Ian would have favoured an Irish style wake or a New Orleans style musical blast off with Bachanallian revels and joyous memories. He wasn't really one for morbid melancholia. That curse, it seems, has been left to me. Then Ian's sister-in-law Angie read a tribute to him, after which, as part of the service, some recent recordings of Ian playing saxophone with his friend John were played to the congregation. The music unlocked the floodgates.The grief was unbearable. Everyone wept openly. So poignant and sad. After the church service, the funeral procession slowly wound its way out of the village and headed towards Wakefield and the cemetary. We travelled in silence and tears. I kept getting glimpses of the hearse ahead of us as it turned this way and that through the blossom filled, tree-lined lanes that had been so familiar to Ian in life. In the car in front of us, Diane, Julian, Louis and Lucy followed Ian on his last ride. I can only begin to imagine how painful it must have been for them, losing a husband and a father so suddenly, and at such a relatively young age. The morning weather had started out reasonably spring-like but, when we arrived at the graveside, the sky had turned a uniform grey and a cold wind animated the priest's vestments as he stood at the head of the grave that had been dug to receive Ian's casket. Ian's family, my mother and myself were beckoned forward to stand at the edge.The coffin was lowered down to rest at the bottom.The grave was much deeper than I'd imagined but I could clearly read Ian's name and the date of his birth and passing on the polished brass plate that was fastened to the lid of his coffin. I really can't begin to describe the emotions and thoughts that flooded me at that moment. Here was my little brother, whose coming into the world had been part of my own life and whose exit from it will haunt me forever. Ian was born at home, at my parent's ground floor flat, number 28, Conistone Crescent on Eastmoor Estate on the 23rd April 1956. When mum went into labour, the midwife had suggested that my bed would be more comfortable or suitable for Ian's birth than my parent's one, so I was moved into my parents bedroom whilst mum occupied mine at the front of the house. (The move was softened by a pile of comic books that my father had bought for me.) As a result, Ian was actually born in my bed, in my bedroom. It was in this same room that we would spend so much time playing with our toys when we were kids. I remember Ian being a big fan of Gerry Anderson's 'Supercar', as was I. My dad bought the family an early domestic tape recorder, a two-tone grey plastic Phillips model with a 'magic-eye' device that flashed whilst recording to show the level of sound. Ian and I recorded little 'plays' on that machine, often re-creating 'Supercar' or 'Stingray' stories. I can still hear his high-pitched young voice saying " Stand by for action! Anything can happen in the next half-hour!" (A phrase from the opening sequence of 'Stingray.') I wish I still had that recording. Our bedroom was filled with model cars, aeroplanes, trains, toy spaceships, books and games. We shared that room for many years, our theatre of youth, filled with the symbolic contents of our nascent imagination. And now, here I was, gazing down at all that remained of that life, those far memories, reduced to just a name and two dates etched on a brass plaque. I could feel my mother shaking as she clung to my arm next to me. I was shaking too, an icy combination of the cold wind and the deep emotions we were suffering. It seemed unreal, surreal, film-like. Ironically, Wakefield Cemetary features briefly in one of my favourite films, 'This Sporting Life' and Wakefield Trinity football ground, which plays a big part in the film, is almost next door to the cemetary. Richard Harris played the central role in the film, a hard-living, down to earth character. I'm sure Ian would have appreciated this connection and felt it appropriate. I can remember long-ago visits to Wakefield cemetary when I was very young. Walking trips on Saturday mornings with my mother to place flowers on the grave of my great grandfather, John Henry Griffiths, (who died when I was three or four, I think). My great grandmother is buried somewhere in there too and also my father's brother Bill, mentioned previously in this diary entry. I've been unable to locate their graves in recent years and my mum can't recall exactly where they were buried. I think they had extremely small, modest headstones. Maybe just initials and a date. The area where I seem to remember my great grandfather's grave being located has several such small stones, now heavily worn away by the weather. Impossible to decipher. I'll try to locate them through the cemetary archives later this year...they must have official records of the graves, maybe a plan to help me locate them. I'd like to take flowers to my ancestors. They've been neglected for so long. My brother Ian's grave is in a newer part of the cemetary, across the quiet road called 'Sugar Lane,' that runs off from the main, busy, Agbrigg Road. Sugar Lane divides the newer cemetary from the older part. The older section is mostly filled with Victorian and Edwardian graves, some of them marked by grandiose monuments, obelisks and angels. The 'newer' part, opened in 1961, is simpler, without the gothic trappings. Ian rests at the end of a tree-lined walk on the right hand side of the path. After the burial, everyone went on to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park where a reception had been organised in Ian's honour by his former colleagues, including park director Peter Murray, (one of my painting tutors from Wakefield Art School days), and Ian's sister-in-law Angie who has worked there for many years. Ian's children had prepared a slide show of photographs of their dad, taken at different points in his life, which moved everyone deeply and reduced me to tears again. Ian's eldest son Julian, after giving a moving and eloquent speech which impressed everyone there, proposed a toast to his dad. Ian would have been so proud of his children. I had the opportunity to speak with many of Ian's friends including members of 'Bolt From The Blue', the band that I'd enjoyed playing a few gigs with back in the late '80's (or very early '90's). Ian had been a member of the band, as had an old art school friend of mine from the '60's, drummer Martin Foye. (Martin sadly passed away in the 90's, another one gone too young.) 'Bolt From The Blue' had been very kind to me back then. At the time of those gigs I'd been struggling to survive. My problems with business management and the music industry were at their peak and I had virtually no income at all. My life was filled with stress and fear. It was suggested that, if I performed a handful of gigs with Bolt From The Blue in local pubs, I could make a little money to help me out of some of the financial mess I was in, or at least pay an outstanding bill or two. I hadn't played live for quite a while and was understandably nervous about performing, but I ended up having fun with the band. The first performance I gave with them was in Wakefield at a pub called 'The Post Haste.' I recall playing covers of Van Morrison's 'Dweller On The Threshold' and Muddy Water's 'Got My Mojo Working.' The local Wakefield Express newspaper kindly wrote a generous review about the show. We even travelled to Manchester, if I remember rightly, to do a gig in a pub there. It was an enforced return to my roots, a reminder of what it was all about. The generosity and care that Ian and the rest of the band showed me has never been forgotten, so it was good to meet up with some of the original members again at the Sculpture Park last week, despite the terrible circumstances. Amongst many other people attending the Sculpture Park reception were musicians who had been part of my 'Lost Satellites' band: Dave Standeven, Steven Cook and my long-time friend Jon Wallinger. They all have fond memories of Ian from the 'Be Bop Deluxe And Beyond' 30 year anniversary tour that we undertook in 2004, and from the annual Nelsonica fan conventions. As they're much valued friends of mine, it was extremely supportive for me to see them there. Two more, very dear friends were also present to honour Ian: John Spence who had worked with Ian in various musical situations over the years and Paul Gilby who had worked alongside the Lost Satellites on the 2004 tour. It was so comforting to have all these familiar faces close by at such a difficult time and everyone recalled their experiences of Ian generously. Another warm and welcome gesture was the presence of several loyal fans and regular members of the 'Dreamsville' on-line community. Everyone was extremely kind and I was touched by their considerate and compassionate concern. At the end of the afternoon, people began to drift away. In a manner that Ian would have approved of, I was feeling somewhat woozy from the wine that had been served up by the Park's staff. I was hoping it would act as a kind of anaesthetic but it simply heightened the unreality of it all. Paul and Elliot provided transport to get Mum, her husband George, Julia, Emi and I back to our cars which had been left at Ian and Diane's house that morning. We then collected my grandson Luke from his grandmother's house, (my first wife Shirley). Once Luke was on board, Julia, Luke, Elle ,Elliot, Emi, Mum, George, my cousin Ian and my friend Paul Gilby, drove out to Heath Common, another old village on the edge of Wakefield. We all went to 'The Kings Arms' pub, a place that still has gaslight and stone-flagged floors. I used to go there as an art student in my teens and have also visited it several times with my brother in the past. After the day's stresses and strains it was theraputic to sit and eat and drink together in this old haunt with its history, both local and personal. My little grandson Luke, with his positive, wide-eyed wonder, inspired a smile for us amidst the sad recollections. I too, inadvertantly provided some humour by accidentally setting my hair on fire whilst standing beneath one of the pub's wall-mounted gas mantles. The first we knew of it was when we smelled something burning. Then the top of my head felt very hot. I managed to move away from the gas light just in time. I could almost hear my brother Ian laughing at my folly. That evening I sat up with cousin Ian, talking about this and that. He's a lovely guy, good company, intelligent and knowledgable, (as is my other cousin, Walter). The next morning, cousin Ian set off on the long drive back to Canterbury. We plan to get together again before too long...a summer break. I went back to the cemetary last Friday with my mother. It was a warm, sunny, spring day...a clear blue sky overhead, the trees leading to Ian's grave heavy with pink blossom. Such a contrast to the day of the funeral and so much new-life and fecundity evident in the immediate environment. By coincidence, Diane had also chosen to re-visit the spot at exactly the same time. As mum and I arrived, Diane was just helping her mother and father from her car. Diane's mum and dad are lovely people and it's plain that they both were very fond of my brother. I was conscious that we might be intruding on their privacy but my mother said not to worry and we joined them at Ian's grave. Emi's flowers were still in place though the more delicate ones had either become wilted or blown away with the winds and occassional rain of the previous day. The floral saxophone, magically, seemed reasonably intact. I fetched water to nourish the remaining flowers in the hope of keeping them going a short while longer. After a while, when Diane and her parents had left, Mum and I walked around the older side of the cemetary, looking at the old gravestones in the hope of maybe locating John Henry Griffiths, (mentioned above), my great grandfather on my mother's side of the family. He was, in the 1920's and early '30's, a lamplighter, going around the Wakefield streets at twilight, lighting the gas lamps, then going around again at dawn, putting them out and knocking on people's windows with his lamplighter's pole to wake them up to go to work in the local textile mills. My mother tells me that she sometimes accompanied him in the evenings when she was a young child. She has told me of walking the rainy cobbled streets with him and watching the gas mantles burst into light as he switched them on, one by one. A poetic and beautiful image. However, his resting place still eludes us. After dropping mum off at her home, I bought a copy of 'The Wakefield Express' as I'd been told that there was an article in it about Ian's passing. Ironically, in another part of the newspaper, (as I was later informed), there was a photograph of myself, printed as part of an article about a local radio station that was apparently planning to broadcast my instrumental recording 'Radiant Spires.' How I wish that the only announcement in the paper could have been about Ian and myself performing somewhere together, as we'd done at the Wakefield Arts Festival at the end of the '90's, instead of the sad news that Friday's Express carried. That we won't be able to share a stage again in that way is an extra blow for me, something that will hurt every time I perform solo from now on. Since the funeral, there's been an attempt by us all at some kind of adjustment, an attempt to come to terms with things. Not at all easy. Impossible right now. I travelled to London on Saturday to attend the London Guitar Show at Wembley Exhibition Centre where I'd promised to appear on the Campbell American Guitar stand. Readers of this diary will know that Dean Campbell and his team are developing a signature model guitar for me. I picked up the prototype of the signature model and brought it back home, along with an intense blue 'Precix' model that has a vibrato arm fitted. It was actually the first time I'd met Dean 'in the flesh', (despite many emails and 'phone conversations), and I was made to feel very welcome by him. He's a warm, genuine, lovely guy and couldn't have been kinder to me. His care helped ease what was going on behind my smile and he, plus his colleague Dan, plus Music Ground's Rick Harrison, (who travelled down on the train and back with Emi and I), helped me through what might otherwise have been a difficult day. And so here I am, one week after the funeral, still in a dark cloud despite all attempts at moving on. Too soon, of course, but I have to try to pick up my workload again. The song 'Steam Radio Blues' that I was working on just over two weeks ago needs to be finished. It's just a matter of the mix really. But then I have to write and record more songs for the 'jazzy' album. I realise that it will be impossible not to write something about this recent tragedy and sadness. In fact it may be a way forward for me, an attempt to exorcise some of the pain. I also hope to make a special tribute album for Ian later in the year, something that might directly benefit Ian's family. I have some ideas regarding this that I need to work on, but will announce more about it when things begin to fall into place. Meanwhile, the sun shines outside my window, the swallows have arrived from Africa and swoop around the rooftops of the house. A cuckoo can be heard in the distant yellow meadow and fat bumble bees buzz amongst the flowers by our front door, oblivious to human suffering. Next month, Emi and I will fly to Tokyo for two weeks to visit Emi's mum and two brothers. And the work of making music will continue. Life goes on, though much more tenderly and tearfully than before. Finally, I'd like to thank all those good people, family, friends and fans, whose words and deeds have brought a measure of comfort and kindness to what has been an extremely difficult time. Everyone's life is a work of art and everyone's life is precious. Heartfelt love to all. ****** The photographs accompanying this diary entry show: 1. Emiko working on Ian's flowers. 2. The floral Saxophone. 3. Ian (in foreground), and Bill behind. Photo taken at Reighton Gap on the East Coast Of Yorkshire during a 1950's holiday. Top of page Thursday 25th May 2006 -- 8:20 pm It's now just over a month since my brother Ian passed away. I'd like to think that I've begun to accept the situation and am coping reasonably well...but the truth is a little different. There's an underlying depression at work here, dark and muted but insistent, insidious. So, how does one deal with bereavment of this kind? What's the precise formula? I presume that there isn't one. It just takes time. Maybe several years and, even then...I'm still in shock. Was else can I say? I'm doing my best? I've immersed myself in work this last week or so. Concentrating on the 'Return To Jazz Of Lights' album. The hard work doesn't remove the sadness but at least temporarily distracts me from it. It has to be said that some of the more melancholy pieces on the album, even though they were written before the events of 23rd of April, seem remarkably apt with hindsight.There are several poignant, prescient moments. This album has been an unexpected struggle...perhaps even more so than 'The Alchemical Adventures Of Sailor Bill.' Maybe it doesn't have Sailor Bill's sense of absolute completeness, or maybe I personally don't have a sense of completeness right now. The whole album seems to comprise one big fragmented statement and could be judged tenderly flawed, 'though for special reasons. It's subtle imperfections may be interpreted by some listeners as seductive come-ons. ( Well...I DO hope it slides the pants off you.) So, yes...It's another personal, unique thing, sentimental, but with a dash more irony than Sailor Bill. It has a bizarre mix of inspirations / influences, containing elements of jazz, big band swing, jive, lounge, electronica, easy listening and Vegas show music, shot through with what, I guess, an objective ear might describe as archetypal Bill Nelson ' whimsicality.' It's somewhere to the left of post-modern...not easy to describe in precise terms at all. The truth is, I don't really know what to make of it. But it's finished, as of this last, exhausting hour. I've decided upon the final song selection and running order and now have to arrange time at Fairview to master the damn thing. It's gone through several mutations. It started life as a throwaway side-project, a light-hearted six song ep or mini-album, everything recorded quickly, something that I hoped might be reasonably painless to put together. But, despite those modest intentions, over the last few months it has taken on a peculiar life of its own and I've had no choice but to follow wherever it led. The project grew from six tracks to ten.Then to 12 and now, this week, to 15. (Although I've recorded 18 songs for it in total.) Listening back to the 15 track version last night, I decided it was too long and have spent all of today re-working the running order to get it back to a more easily digested 12 track album. I think this latest 12 song version works better. The six songs left over from my final selection will be moved to the list of possibilities for this year's fothcoming Nelsonica fan convention cd. In that respect, the project has gone down almost the same path as Sailor Bill. Last year's Nelsonica cd, 'Orpheus In Ultraland', provided a home for tracks that didn't make it onto the Sailor Bill project. Ironically, people snapped that one up faster than the Sailor Bill album. Anyway... The final selection, as of this moment in time, looks like this:- BILL NELSON: 'RETURN TO JAZZ OF LIGHTS.' 1. 'Return To Jazz Of Lights.' 2. 'Fearless Beauty. (Kisses and Cream.)' 3. 'Mysterious Chemicals Of Love.' 4. 'It's A Big World And I'm In It. (The Great Rememberer.)' 5. 'October Sky.' 6. 'For You And I.' 7. 'Velocity Dansette.' 8. 'Now Is Not And Never Was.' 9. 'Windswept.' 10. 'Always You.' 11. 'Steam Radio Blues.' 12. 'All These Days Are Gone. (For Ian.) ' As I noted above, the six songs that didn't make it to the album will be held over for this year's Nelsonica limited edition album. Their titles are:- 'Premium Standard Number One.' 'Distant Towns With Different Lights.' 'Memory Skyline.' 'The Girl In The Galaxy Dress.' 'Take It Off And Thrill Me.' 'The Song My Silver Planet Sings.' There will be a few more tracks to add to the convention album, including the song that proved very popular on last year's concert tour, 'Snow Is Falling.' (But how that will fit with the above 'jazzy' stylings is another mystery.) So...for the moment, that is ALL the music I have to offer, other than the completed though not yet mastered 'Neptune's Galaxy' album. As usual, there are other concepts percolating in the coffee shop of dreams but I'm feeling genuinely tired right now and need a break. Perhaps the trip to Tokyo in June will give me a breather of some kind, 'though it won't be particularly relaxing. To be honest, I'm not looking forward to the journey at all...I don't enjoy flying, especially long haul flights to Japan that involve several hour's stop-over, awaiting connections at some Europen airport or other, (in this case, Amsterdam). But cheap tickets require one to endure such tedium. I'll take my camcorder, still camera and small sketchbook/watercolour set with me. Perhaps there may be a moment's grace during our Tokyo stay when I can capture the tranquility of a Zen temple garden amidst the city's hustle and bustle. I fear there will hardly be time to relax though, as Emi needs to hook up with long-missed family and friends. It will be a very busy schedule, once we arrive. I bought a book dealing with aspects of the history of Wakefield, yesterday. Wakefield, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, is my birthplace. In the book, there is a section dealing with the history of Wakefield's 'yards.' Amazingly, there is mention of Marriot's Yard, around which Marriot's Buildings were located. (I've searched for years to find reference to this personally important location.) Marriot's Buildings was where my grandmother lived and where I was born. (Now long since demolished.) The book quotes from an ancient report written by a medical official in the 1800's. He comments on the unsanitary conditions of the housing there and briefly describes the setting. When I was born there, in 1948, Marriot's Buildings and its yard had not changed at all from those dark Victorian times. There was still no hot water, no electricity and only a communal outside privy with newspaper for toilet paper. An old tin bath for the once-a-week bathnight and a stone floor that would later, briefly, receive the 'luxury' of linoleum. Unbelievable. Nevertheless, I remember the place with clarity and great fondness. As I've often mentioned in these diary pages, my autobiography contains elaborate descriptions of that dwelling, exactly as it was when I was a very young infant, not yet able to walk but definitely able to retain strong visual impressions of my surroundings, albeit from ground level. How I wish I could trace some photographs of the building as it was around the time of my birth. Or at ANY time before its demise. My old pal John Spence called me last night. We spoke for quite a while, talking about my brother, (and life and its struggles in general). John has come to play an important part in my life over the years, not just because of his talents in the realm of studio engineering, but because of his understanding of me as a human being. I value his friendship tremendously and feel priveleged to know him. I'm still receiving kind messages of sympathy from various people. So many that it is proving difficult to answer every single one of them, although I'm still attempting to. I've certainly felt the spiritual embrace of many good hearted people these last few weeks. A lot of love has come my way and I'm very grateful. I've been reading some Buddhist texts before sleeping. In the mornings I've watched the clouds passing overhead, glimpsed through the bathroom skylight as I lay in the bath. I've also watched the recent torrential rain hitting the vast pool of water in our garden, making rippling circles of light on the driveway. Our garden and drive doesn't drain and becomes a virtual lake when the weather turns wet. One of dozens of flaws that this place has. It needs lots of money spending on it at the moment, but things are tight and it will have to wait. I live in a perpetual state of 'make-do', and that includes the recording of my music. It's a never ending compromise. But, isn't everything? I've been playing the first prototype of my Campbell American 'Transitone' signature guitar and have refined my initial ideas for the instrument's development which I'll be passing on to the campbell company soon. It is, unsurprisingly, a very unique instrument and will become even more so as its development continues. Meeting Dean Campbell himself at the London Guitar Show a week or two ago was a real pleasure. I actually saw Bert Weedon there too, 'though just from the back as he walked the show's corridors with, (I presume), his wife. He looked very frail. His 'Play In A Day' book was purchased for me by my father when I got my first guitar. I did absorb the info in the tutor book about which way up to hold the instrument and how to attach the strap but, beyond that was a mystery to me and remains so to this day. I have fond memories of Bert on 'Five-O'Clock Club' on television in the late '50's, early '60's. He used to have very thick, crinkly, shiny hair in those days. It's very white, faint and wispy now. Top of page Jan Apr Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2013

Electric Atlas Bill Nelson album - 16 November 2015 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) Atoms And Electrons 02) Tonight Picasso Dreams 03) Drift Of Narcissus 04) The Moment Has Gone 05) Searching For Utopia And Other Shangrilas 06) All Hail The Witching Hour 07) Mutually Enchanted 08) Golden Moments 09) I Dream Of Lightning 10) Alice In The Palace Of Stardust And Pearl 11) High Beam Sensation 12) Bubbles In The Cosmos 13) Mind Is A Harbour From Which Dreams Set Sail 14) Bright Magic ALBUM NOTES: Electric Atlas is a vocal album issued in a one-off print run of 500 copies issued on the Sonoluxe label. With seven songs in the can, Nelson revealed plans for the album (which was then untitled) on the Dreamsville forum in March 2015. By early April the album had a working title of Bright Magic , and was completed in May. The album title was changed to Electric Atlas in August, and was released on 16 November 2015. After just five days of being on sale Electric Atlas was taken off sale with the remaining copies sold through email enquiries. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "It's been a while since I've released a vocal album so I think that needs to be addressed. I have one vocal album in the queue, as mentioned elsewhere in these threads. Its title is Bright Magic , but I've kind of gone off that as an album title. So, I've now decided to re-title it Electric Atlas . It contains the same songs and even has a track titled "Bright Magic" so there's really no change other than the album title itself. "One of the reasons for that change is that Bright Magic suggests similar artwork to that used on Swoons and Levitations, i e: some sort of magical/conjuring image. I don't really feel I want to repeat that, so the title Electric Atlas sends things off in a different visual direction. I'm not sure quite what direction yet but we'll see what turns up." _____ "The meaning of the title of the album, in case anyone is wondering, is a two-fold thing: An atlas, as in a book of maps, which we can use to chart the world and our path through it whilst we inhabit this mortal coil, but brought into a contemporary context with the 'electric', (ie: digital), connotation suggesting something more akin to a sat-nav unit. And 'Atlas', as in the mythological giant, holding the world on his shoulders, as we all must do whilst incarnate, ie: Man as the creature who must carry the weight of the world by the electrical virtue of global communication and shared information." _____ "Well, I know very little about music in the 'traditional' sense, (if there is such a thing). I have no understanding of music theory, am unable to read or write music down, have given up of ever understanding much about it in an academic sense. So, does that put me in the 'non-musician' category I wonder? Well, I guess I'm on the side of non-musicians when it comes down to it. "I believe there is such a thing as 'the talented listener', people who can hear good music and appreciate it fully without having a formal background in music at all. Music is, ultimately, in the soul, not on paper nor in the head...it comes from deep in the heart and travels to other hearts without the need for explanation or mediation. It just is. And those of us capable of recognising this can appreciate and enjoy our music without ever needing to make a single sound of our own." FAN THOUGHTS: Mayor of Dreamsville: "I was sitting in my little home studio, headphones in position, deeply engrossed in Electric Atlas , when my little boy Zac trots in (he's 2 at the end of this month), he saw me with the headphones on and was dying to have a go, so I sat him down and let him listen to the track that was playing ("Mind is a Harbour From Which Dreams Set Sail"). After listening and smiling away for a while, he removed the headphones, looked at me and said, "Nice!" So, there you have it, Electric Atlas has had its first official review and it is NICE. On a personal note - this CD is an absolute gem, right up my street and highly recommended!" Peter: "From the get-go, this one just grabs you and shakes you. It is a well-named album, as it is like a tour through the Bill Nelson world. From snarling rockers, to dreamy soundscapes, Bill's in good form on this one (as always!). "Mind is a Harbour From Which Dreams Set Sail" stands out for me...along with "Drift of Narcissus", though there are a bunch of gems here. Superb, Bill!" Tourist in Wonderland: "Always great to hear a vocal album from Bill and to be honest, I think he strikes a very good balance between instrumental and vocal output, in the fact that there are obviously more instrumental only recordings released, which is fine...but, when a vocal offering does eventually surface, it's a real treat and met with rare anticipation and excitement...it's all good stuff! "Seriously, I think Electric Atlas is right up there with Bill's best recordings...Stereo Star Maps , Alchemical Adventures , Gleaming , Golden Melodies , Return to Jazz of Lights , Theatre of Falling Leaves , to name a few...Yes, I think Electric Atlas can easily sit at the same table as this exalted company!..." fricker: "Wow! Great album Bill, lovely to hear you singing. Full of lots of surprises is this album and I am loving it. Well done especially with your health probs of late, to listen you would never know. Thanks." Dar: "If I had to pick a favorite thing, it would be the uncanny ability to keep pouring out the well-articulated melodies. Guitar tone would be a close second. Along with impeccable groovesmanship, well, we're most of the way to nearly-guaranteed sonic bliss." TheMikeN: "There's no one theme or approach: some songs just rock while others are edgy and rhythmic but with guitar that finds so much room to move and explore that there is time for jazz to glow brightly from the disc. The moods, styles and genres flow in and out of each other because Bill has placed himself in easy reach and total control of all of them. Let's face it, if you are going to record and release new music for 45 years, what you're going to gain is the ability to be completely at ease within any rhythmic, melodic and lyrical structure that feels good at the time you invent it." alec: Bill Nelson Album of the Year?: "I'm tempted to say Electric Atlas at this point because all the luxurious feelings I get listening to "Tonight Picasso Dreams", and for Bill satisfying my Nelson/Foxx collaboration fantasy with the first track, "Atoms and Electrons." Quinault: "It certainly does live up to the glowing comments. I waited in anticipation, not knowing what to expect, and yet when it finally came - it exceeded my expectations! And my Bill music meter is set pretty high!" Merikan1: "Electric Atlas is simply fantastic. It has all of the elements that I love in your music. It's all there in one package... It would be a great introduction to your recent music." Albums Menu Future Past

Acquitted By Mirrors - Issue Eleven - Published November 1984 Back to Top

Discography Menu Productions and Contributions Clicking on a cover below will take you to a full page devoted to that release...more details will be added to each page in the fullness of time! Fiat Lux - Hired History Plus Producer 2019 album (originally recorded in 1982/1983) Units - Animals They Dream About Co-Producer, Synthesisers, Guitar, Drums 2016 album (originally recorded in 1981) Dave Sturt - Dreams & Absurdities Guitar, E-bow, Co-writer 2015 album Sea Of Wires - Leaving The Electric Circus Guitar, Co-producer 2010 album Harold Budd, Bill Nelson & Fila Brazilia - Three White Roses & A Budd Collaborator 2002 ep Dr. Jan (Guru) - Alienshamanism Guitar 2000 album Honeytone Cody - Believe In The Promise Of Tomorrow Producer 2000 ep Honeytone Cody - Pink And Clean Producer 1998 ep Nautilus Pompilius - Yablokitay Producer, Various instruments 1997 album Various Artists - The Mick Ronson Memorial Concert Guitar 1997 album Gillcover & The Monkey - 360º Producer, Keyboards 1996 album Audio Active And Laraaji - The Way Out Is The Way In Guitar 1995 album Culturemix - Culturemix Producer, Collaborator 1995 album Su Lyn - Lines Of Desire Producer, Guitar, Bass 1995 album Joe Hisaishi - Earthly Paradise Guitar, Vocals 1994 album Bogus Brothers - Battle Of Big Soup Producer, Guitar 1993 album Roger Eno With Kate St. John - The Familiar Producer, Guitar, Percussion, Synthesisers 1992 album Ramon Tikaram - Chill And Kiss Guitar 1992 album Harold Budd - By The Dawn's Early Light Guitar 1991 album Jean Park - Lovesnake Producer 1991 album Rain Poets - Rain Producer, Guitar 1991 single Rain Tree Crow - Blackwater Guitar 1991 single Rain Tree Crow - Rain Tree Crow Guitar 1991 album The Rhythm Sisters - Willerby Producer, Guitar, Sitar, Keyboards 1991 album Various Artists - Heaven & Hell Volume 2: A Tribute To The Velvet Underground Producer, Keyboards (on the 'Mock Turtles' track) 1991 album Various A rtists - Loose Routes: Two Guitar 1991 album Various A rtists - Loose Routes: One Guitar 1991 album The Mock Turtles - Magic Boomerang Producer 1990 single The Rhythm Sisters - Infotainment Producer, Guitar, Sitar, Keyboards 1990 single Cabaret Voltaire - Code Guitar 1987 album Cabaret Voltaire - Don't Argue Guitar 1987 single Cabaret Voltaire - Here To Go Guitar 1987 single Crazy House - Burning Rain Guitar 1987 single Crazy House - Still Looking For Heaven On Earth Guitar 1987 album David Sylvian - Gone To Earth Guitar 1986 album David Sylvian - Silver Moon Guitar 1986 single The Armoury Show - Castles In Spain Co-writer 1985 single The Associates - Take Me To The Girl Guitar 1985 single Yukihiro Takahashi - Stranger Things Have Happened Vocals, Keyboards, Guitar, Bass 1985 single Sandii & The Sunsets - Viva Lava Liva 1980 - 1983 Lyrics 1984 album Yukihiro Takahashi - Time And Place Guitar, Vocals 1984 album Yukihiro Takahashi - Wild & Moody Vocals, Keyboards, Guitar, Bass 1984 album A Flock Of Seagulls - Listen Producer 1983 album Monsoon - Third Eye Guitar 1983 album Gary Numan - Sister Surprise Producer, Guitar, Keyboards 1983 single Gary Numan - Warriors Producer, Guitar, Keyboards 1983 album Gary Numan - Warriors Producer, Guitar, Keyboards 1983 single Yukihiro Takahashi - Tomorrow's Just Another Day Guitar, Vocals 1983 album Units - New Way To Move Producer, Guitar, Synthesizers 1983 mini-album YMO - Naughty Boys Guitar 1983 album A Flock Of Seagulls - A Flock Of Seagulls Producer 1982 album Fiat Lux - Feels Like Winter Again Producer, Guitar, Keyboards 1982 single Jobson And Nelson - Ieyasu Collaborator 1982 compilation cassette Monsoon - Tomorrow Never Knows Guitar, Bass 1982 single Monsoon - Wings Of The Dawn Guitar 1982 single Yukihiro Takahashi - Are You Receiving Me? Guitar, Vocals 1982 single Yukihiro Takahashi - What, Me Worry? Guitar 1982 album Masami Tsuchiya - Rice Music Guitar 1982 album A Flock Of Seagulls - Talking Producer 1981 single A Flock Of Seagulls - Telecommunication Producer 1981 single Last Man In Europe - A Certain Bridge Producer 1981 single Nash The Slash - Novel Romance Producer 1981 single Snips - La Rocca! Keyboards 1981 album To Heaven A Jet - Airfields Producer, Bass 1981 single Stranger Than Fiction - Losing You Producer 1980 single Moving Targets - The Boys Own Producer 1980 single Original Mirrors - Could This Be Heaven Producer 1979 single Skids - Charade Producer, Keyboards 1979 single Skids - Days In Europa Producer, Keyboards 1979 album Skids - Masquerade Producer, Keyboards 1979 single Skids - Working For The Yankee Dollar Producer, Keyboards 1979 single John Cooper Clarke - Disguise In Love Guitar 1978 album Lightyears Away/Thundermother - Astral Navigations Guitar 1971 album Lightyears Away/Thundermother - Gagalactyca Guitar 1971 album A To Austr - Musics From Holyground Producer, Guitar 1970 album Discography Menu

Auditoria Bill Nelson 3-CD album set - 01 December 2018 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download CD1 - These Stars Are Fire 01) What Furnace Is Thy Brain? 02) My Dreamy Life 03) The Latest Delay 04) Icing On The Cake 05) Summer Comes In Colour 06) Raindrops 07) Weatherproof 08) These Stars Are Fire 09) Auraville 10) A Song Of Heart And Mind 11) Bugging Me 12) Contrary Wise 13) Let Me Dream You From Afar 14) Wide Awake/Half Asleep 15) All Hail The Dreamer (Miss Futurama Smiles) CD2 - Mysterium 01) Beyond Yonder 02) When Midnight Falls 03) Forevertron 04) Holy Of Holies (Waiting For The Night) 05) Mysterious Mysterium 06) Orson's Ghost 07) Back Of Beyond 08) Who's That Floating Above The Trees? 09) Mystere 10) Astra 11) Luna Rosa 12) Ghosts Of Ancient Orchestras 13) Only One Blue Moon 14) A Long Time Ago 15) Alone In A Lunar Light CD3 - Plus U ltra 01) Dali's Dream Of Venus 02) March Of The Metaphysicians 03) The Science Of Extraordinary Things 04) In The Neighbourhood Of Normal (My Style Of Writing) 05) Aqua Celeste 06) There Is A Moment 07) Whirlaway 08) From Another Place 09) The Eye Of Heaven Shines 10) In The Land Of Far Beyond 11) Super-Hyper Hocus Locus 12) Waiting For The Midnight Flyer 13) Plectricity 14) Rockers Of The Rosy Cross 15) An Ordinary Man 16) The Last Transmission ALBUM NOTES: Auditoria is a triple album of vocal pieces and instrumental tracks issued on the Sonoluxe label in a limited edition of 500 copies. The Auditoria album was recorded between February and August 2018, and was especially created to tie in with Nelson's 70th birthday event, Plectronica – Bill Nelson at 70, staged at Leeds University Clothworker's Hall on 1 December 2018. The album began life as a single album initially given the title Stylus , but was barely a month into production when it grew into a double album with a revised title These Stars Are Fire . Never one to let his plans remain fixed for too long, Nelson continued recording more material for the album and expanded his plans a second time, resulting in These Stars Are Fire becoming his first triple album (of entirely new material). With over 40 tracks completed for the project Nelson was forced into replacing his trusty drum machine, an Akai MPC 2500, that had served him so well over the past decade or so. As a replacement unit, Nelson invested in a new Akai model, an MPC X. By August, Nelson had accumulated an astonishing 55 new recordings for the project, at which point he was settling on the final track listing and considering how the 3 CD set should be packaged. Not only had the album been expanded into a triple, Nelson also assigned a new title to the work, Auditoria . However, each album within the package would be given individual titles. Disc 1 of the set retained These Stars Are Fire as its title, with disc 2 named Mysterium . Nelson had several alternate titles for disc 3, with his initial choices being either State of Play or This Way or That . Soon both titles were abandoned in favour of Secret Knowledge , only for that title to be replaced with Plus Ultra . The album was mastered by John Spence at Fairview between 29 August and 31 August 2018, although not without a nerve-wrecking incident that threatened to derail the entire mastering session. The frustrating tale involves a jammed DAT tape, a malfunctioning back up disc, and in general - gremlins! For a detailed account of these unexpected hurdles see Nelson's journal entry here . With the album successfully mastered, Nelson then turned his attention to the artwork. Initially he had intended that the album would be housed in a triple fold out digi-pack. But concerns over the costs of that design caused him to re-think, settling instead for 3 individual jewel cases to house each album, all contained within a card slip case. Assembly of the sleeve design fell to Martin Bostock working from images that Nelson had selected in early September 2018. Among the material listed for possible inclusion on Auditoria, but omitted from the final track listing, are a number of currently unused pieces, namely: "The Clock that Tells the Time", "Drifting Through Your Dreams", "The Woman of Tomorrow", "The Driving Force", "Through These Windows Wonder Comes", "Billy's Blues", "My Shadow Cast By Midnight Moon", and "Everycat". It remains to be seen what Nelson does with this surplus material. Auditoria was initially made available exclusively to attendees of the Plectronica – A Celebration of Bill Nelson at 70 birthday event held on 1 December 2018. All copies sold that evening had been signed in advance by Nelson. The remaining 325 copies went on sale through SOS on 3 December 2018 and sold out in less than 24 hours. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "Feeling very positive about everything on the sessions so far, though I've yet to call a halt and sort through all the finished material to choose the album's final running order. I'm really enjoying the process though and feel completely at one with my guitars which, in their various guises, are providing me with lots of inspiration. The album will cover a lot of the musical territory I've traversed over the years. There's rock, pop-rock, left-field jazz, ambient, experimental, a touch of acoustic, some synth based stuff and plenty of vocals and instrumentals. I intend to mix it all up and not divide the three discs into separate generic categories...a surprise on every track for every listener." _____ "Many of the vocal pieces have surreal, 'stream of consciousness' lyrics that contain their own illogical kind of logic. An example: "The driving force is in the fuse/Eddie sings the 'Summertime Blues'/The square of the hypotenuse is not my style..." And so on... " _____ "The track I remixed [today] is titled "The Science of Extraordinary Things". It's a vocal piece in an almost '70s country waltz style but mutates into a jazzy coda which then mutates again into a kind of abstract sonic assault. A track that, on one level, is quite straight but, on another level, utterly bizarre. Don't know whether to love it or hate it. Emi, it seems, loves it for some reason. Says it reminds her of Be Bop Deluxe. (She hasn't heard the chaotic racket on the end though!)" _____ "It's not a perfectly honed, tightly arranged album. It has many rough edges and spontaneously improvised components, but it is, nevertheless, an interesting amalgam of many facets of my music, a kind of cornucopia of styles...maybe something for everyone?" _____ "It's a very rich feast though...I would recommend that listeners don't attempt to take the entire three discs in in one listening session. Just enjoy one disc at a time, allowing it to sink in. It's one of those albums that will grow with repeated listenings, some of it is easy, some of it challenging, but all of it will be satisfying, over time. " FAN THOUGHTS: Skyrocket : "Loving it! Some very beautiful stuff on all 3! Been listening to it a lot! Fave of the whole set at the moment is CD2, track2, 'When Midnight Falls'...Just beautiful! Too short!" Axe Victim: "Bill never fails to amaze me, and always produces quality albums. Auditoria has been on constantly since I was fortunately able to get a copy at Nelsonica. Beautiful sounds, layers & textures. I have recently had some bad news and this album has been a huge help to me when I've been in the deepest and darkest of places and because of this I will treasure this piece of work/art/music. Thank you Bill." Palladium: " 'Immersive' seems an overused term these days, but I think it applies to Auditoria . Also, after noticing the varied styles, it now seems a very cohesive trilogy to me. I think the packaging helps in that (I was lucky enough to get the physical album) and certainly colours the way I experience the music - in a subtle way at least. I've been listening to it a lot; it really does create a whole universe you want to spend time in to recharge the batteries of poetic sensibility, as it were (and to get away from the more depressing and tedious aspects of everyday living!)." Mr. Curt: "Any amount of Mr. Nelson never seems enough. Single, EP, album, multi-album, MEGA-ALBUM - he's a prolific whiz that will never stop. Bravo, sir!" Albums Menu Future Past

Nelsonica 03 Live Archive For the third annual 'Nelsonica' convention, Bill again put his band The Lost Satellites together to perform a one-off gig, held for the second year at 'The Duke of Cumberland' in North Ferriby near Hull. A slightly different line-up from the previous year, as it saw the return of Nick Dew on drums for the first time with Bill since the 'Axe Victim' days. The band rehearsed for just three days and performed 12 songs, including a cover of Fleetwood Mac's 'I Need You Tonight'. The band consisted of... Bill Nelson - Guitars & Voice Nick Dew - Drums Ian Nelson - Saxophone Ian Leese - Bass & Backing Vocals Dave Standeven - Guitar Steve Cook - Keyboards Jon Wallinger - Keyboard & Acoustic Guitar Elle & Elliot Nelson also performed as support act, with their band Honeytone Cody. Here's a few pictures from Martin Bostock...if you have any you would like to add, please get in touch!

Return To Jazz Of Lights Bill Nelson album - 14 October 2006 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) Return To Jazz Of Lights 02) Fearless Beauty (Kisses And Cream) 03) Mysterious Chemicals Of Love 04) It's A Big World And I'm In It (The Great Rememberer) 05) October Sky 06) For You And I 07) Velocity Dansette 08) Now Is Not And Never Was 09) Windswept 10) Always You 11) Steam Radio Blues 12) All These Days Are Gone (For Ian) ALBUM NOTES: Return to Jazz of Lights is a mainly vocal album issued on the Sonoluxe label in a one off print run of 1000 copies. The cover features a photograph of Nelson's wife Emiko taken on her 20th birthday on the driveway of her parents' house in Japan in the 1960s. The final track "All These Days Are Gone (For Ian)" is a tribute to the artist's younger brother Ian Nelson, who passed away on his 50th birthday on 23 April 2006. The album was first made available at Nelsonica '06 before going on general sale through S.O.S two days later. Return to Jazz of Lights sold out in January 2014. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download in the Dreamsville Store . IF YOU LIKED THIS ALBUM, YOU'LL PROBABLY ENJOY: Secret Club For Members Only , Here Comes Mr Mercury , Arcadian Salon , Silvertone Fountains , Illuminated At Dusk , Mazda Kaleidoscope , Rosewood One , Rosewood Two , Luxury Wonder Moments , BILL'S THOUGHTS: "As some of you have discovered, (possibly to your surprise), it's not REALLY a jazz album at all, but an album that simply is inspired by jazz. At its root, it is an almost genre-less collection of melodic, positive and heartfelt songs. You'll hear touches of many of my musical interests in there, from pop and rock to blues and electronica..." _____ "As for 'jazz', there's a jazz influence in nearly all of my guitar work, even the old Be Bop Deluxe stuff! I've listened to jazz since I was a teenager, even before that, as my father played some jazz as a saxophonist. I love the genre, (which actually covers a LOT of different ground). I try to find a way to have some jazz sensibility in everything I do, without it being limited to just jazz." _____ " "Windswept" is one of my favourites on the album. I was writing that song around the time my brother passed away and it suddenly took on a new significance. One of the things I'm particularly proud of with this album is the vocals. I think I've found a comfortable place for my more 'mature' voice with these songs. It's an album that, for me at least, marries emotion and intellect in a harmonious way and without strain or pretension. It's a very direct, unmasked statement." _____ "The front cover photo' of Emiko was taken in the drive of her parents house and the Jaguar car in the background belonged to her father, (who also took the picture). The original photographs were somewhat over saturated and rather 'orangey' but I manipulated them in photoshop to create a sort of '50s/'60s technicolour movie tint. I wanted them to look as if they were stills from an early James Bond movie, something that the viewer might read a storyline into." On the cover: "The Verve/Blue Note thing was exactly what I had in mind, and my lovely wife Emiko is the perfect model. Isn't she beautiful?" _____ "I can't tell you how pleased I am at the number of positive comments I've received regarding the Return to Jazz of Lights album. It's gratifying to know that so many of you have picked up on and enjoyed its moods and also understood the general onward thrust of my music over the years. It's thanks to fans such as yourselves that I gain the confidence to follow my muse and take these leaps into what, for me, is always exciting territory." _____ "I was working up here in my studio last night. Downstairs I could hear that Emiko was playing the Return to Jazz of Lights album on the dining room stereo. After a while, it finished. A couple of seconds later, Emi appeared in the doorway of my studio room. Visibly moved, she just said, "It's SO beautiful." Well, she' bound to be biased to some degree...I am her husband after all and she IS on the cover, but she genuinely felt moved by the album. I couldn’t wish for a better appraisal. When the one you love most deeply digs your work, that's all that really matters." FAN THOUGHTS: Holer: "Bill has done it again, transcending a whole genre and taking another huge creative leap into unknown territory. Ever since the Romance of Sustain album, it seems to me, each official release seems to confound expectations as to what Bill will do next, and Jazz is certainly no exception. Whereas Sailor Bill slowly revealed (and continues to reveal) its intricate pop melodies over repeated listenings, Jazz drilled directly into my pleasure center immediately. This record has amazing energy and I can easily picture Bill and a tight little combo tearing through these tunes with vigorous abandon in a smokey jazz club. I doubt if I can add anything brilliant too all that has already been said here. Suffice to say that this is as strong a set of songs as Bill has ever produced and it’s a most worthy addition to his ever growing catalog." "Bill's vocal chops are quite extraordinary lately. Not only Arcadian Salon , but especially on Jazz of Lights . A true singers album, and I think has some of Bill's best vocal performances ever." felixt1: " Return to Jazz of Lights only comes close to what some may call Jazz on the opening title track, the rest of the album is essentially pop. It's an album that stands out in that it has its own individual style. A life affirming vibe on this album." "The guitar playing throughout the album is just sublime. The tone that Bill delivers is on a level that only the very best achieve, so warm!...It's Jazz, but it's Bill Nelson Jazz!" paul.smith: "This wonderful album is a must have...it's got less to do with jazz and more to do with Bill - if anybody is put off by the title - forget it...it's a nod to jazz in my humble opinion...and a wonderful nod at that...but it's one of Bill's best ever as far as I'm concerned...so get the bloody thing before it goes...mad if ya don't." swampboy: " Jazz of Lights turned out to be a total delight. I should have known that it wouldn't be a straight jazz album. While it is primarily a jazz album, it also features blues, pop, and other guitar styles over jazz backdrops. The song "Windswept", may be the most beautiful melody Bill has ever composed. The whole album pumps and jumps along nicely, with a wonderful energy that leaves a warm afterglow after the last song fades out. Miss this one at your own risk!" MondoJohnny: "I figured it would probably be a strictly instrumental album with really long meandering jazz tracks, with out much form, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Great album, and I find myself humming the tunes as they are stuck in my head all the time now!" Mick Winsford: "It's a great CD. Don't be fooled by the Jazz reference in the title - there are strains of Jazz for sure but its not the dominant style. The closing track "All These Days Are Gone (For Ian)" is simply pure class." Sandwich Man: " Jazz of Lights is so cool. After seeing Bill do his guitar seminar and play bits of videos of his guitar heros, it brings a real insight into this album. It's smooth, beautifully constructed like Sailor Bill and the songs are varied. Bill, how can you keep producing such great works? Totally different direction but so wonderful. The bar is raised yet again! In fact I'm going to stop typing this and listen to it again." Marshall: "Have to say it's hands down one of Nelson's best records in some time--which is exactly what I said about Satellite Songs ! In fact, his vocal records over the last two or three years have been absolutely spectacular, unexpected career highlights in an amazing career...it's instantly accessible and yet richly textured at the same time, with mind-boggling guitar playing and lush, catchy melodies." jazzman1: "My Favourite Bill Nelson albums now are Jazz of Lights and the Rosewoods . I love Bill eclecticism and diversity. I hope Bill lives long and prospers, because true individual artists are very thin on the ground in this time of production line mass produced wannabes." kreiger: "One song got my heart: "Velocity Dansette". I wonder why no one in this forum has talked about it... it's incredible! It's one of the best musics Bill has ever recorded - and this is something. The lyrics, the guitar, piano, drums, they are all wonderful. Above all, his voice in this song is something to sit back and listen. Thank you, Bill!" Catherine Bradder: "I just love Jazz of Lights , and I'm sat listening to it now, relaxing and dreaming and loving the music, it's all oh so rich. Just simply rich to sink into and enjoy. Thank you." Panoramicon: "I was (gently) blown away. Driving the rural backroads the other day and I placed Jazz of Lights in the deck for the first time; suddenly I'm back in the 'Sixties with my Dad talking about the jazz music on the radio, as he attempted to explain to me how to follow the melodies' shifts and swerves. Through "..Chemicals" and "October Sky", "Windswept" and "Steam Radio Blues" and on, happily navigating the winding roads with the music playing loud, it all came back to me. How your music manages to do this is still a sweet mystery to me, but I sure appreciate it. Dad (long gone now) was a clarinet player way back but everyday life and work took it away from him and he sorely regretted losing his chops, but I really believe he would have enjoyed this album. Even from a young rebel like you! Dig those crooning vocals, and your guitar lines never cease to pop an occasional warm tear from the corner of my eye. I'm always afraid to sound like just another sycophantic dweeb when I post but...wherever you want to go with your music...just go - you're just so damned coool!" chromiumlad: "I even hear touches of lounge and exotica in Return to Jazz of Lights . I feel the really quality stuff from that genre, like Les Baxter and Martin Denny, had lots of the same devil may care attitude of tossing up and intermingling styles and sounds from all sources. That spirit of adventure is one of the things I've always loved about your music Bill. And I have only noticed it increase with each album, especially since around the Atom Shop and Noise Candy times. Thanks once again for the music and inspiring words." Mungo: "Folks, I'm delighted. I got RTJOL a week ago and I just love it, but more to the point, so do my cows. I got 89 of Ayrshire's finest dairy cattle in Scotland and I've been playing them RTJOL during milking for a week. Not only has production gone up 6%, an enormous amount, but they are all mellow and behaving themselves. Even Jessica, who is a cantankerous and evil old crow at the best of times, has a jolly swagger in her back end when I play "Fearless Beauty". The last time I saw an effect like this was when I played Barry White to them years ago, but that made me grumpy so I gave it up. Bill, many thanks for more wonderful music and for increasing my income. It looks like I'll be able to get shoes for the bairns feet this Xmas after all." Peter: "Very evocative and timeless, it takes me back to many places I have passed through in my life, reminding me of people, places and experiences. "All These Days Are Gone" is a gorgeous tear-jerker (so beautiful, Bill), while "Steam Radio Blues" hits a chord with me, missing and always remembering my dad tinkering in his woodshop.... And the cigarette smoke was stinging my eyes listening to "Windswept' (I think the slightly world-weary blonde at the end of the bar was making eyes at me over a watered-down bourbon and soda)... I'm going to put another nickel in the jukebox (maybe "Fearless Beauty" this time) and go over and say hi to that blonde....the night is young (even if I'm not) and the music is right." Albums Menu Future Past

Live In Concert At Metropolis Studios Bill Nelson and the Gentlemen Rocketeers double live album & DVD - 4 June 2012 Albums Menu Future Past TRACKS: Band Set 01) The October Man 02) Night Creatures 03) God Man Slain 04) Contemplation 05) Lady You're A Strange Girl 06) Adventures In A Yorkshire Landscape 07) Furniture Music 08) Do You Dream In Colour? 09) Ships In The Night 10) Lovers Are Mortal 11) Maid In Heaven 12) Sister Seagull 13) Wonder Of The Moment 14) Panic In The World Solo Set 15) Beyond These Clouds The Sweetest Dream 16) Golden Dream Of Circus Horses 17) A Dream For Ian 18) For Stuart 19) Interview (DVD only) ALBUM NOTES: The Recorded Live In Concert at Metropolis Studios, London album is a double CD + DVD package that had appeared the previous May as a DVD only release. The story behind the recording and the controversy that followed can be viewed here at the DVD page. The musicians that Nelson assembled for this one-off performance under the guise of The Gentlemen Rocketeers were: Theo Travis on flute and saxophone; Jon Wallinger on Keyboards and acoustic guitar; Steve Cook on keyboards; Dave Standeven on guitar; Dave Sturt on bass guitar; and Gavin Griffiths on drums. The rights to the audio and video recording at some point transferred to a company called Salvo, who re-packaged the whole show into a 2CD/DVD combo, released on 4 June 2012. The audio material was simultaneously released as a digital download with three video tracks. Salvo then followed this with a double vinyl edition issued on 28 April 2014, which loses the four tracks from Nelson's solo set that can be found on the DVD and 2CD/DVD editions. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: The album has been discontinued, but is available as an (audio) download. BILL'S THOUGHTS: "When I first started to revive some of this material back in 2004, it took a while for me to re-learn, as I hadn't played any of it, (or even listened to any of it), for many, many years. None of it is written out, apart from transcriptions of the lyrics for the songs we played. It's just a matter of sitting down with the old albums and trying to figure out what I played 35 years ago..." _____ "I don't want to seem too dismissive BUT...it was possibly the worst on-stage sound I'd ever experienced, absolutely horrendous to be brutally honest. (This isn't just my opinion, by the way, it is shared by the rest of the band too). So, we all found the performance aspect deeply unsatisfying and the monitor/on-stage sound problem distracting. (Not what any of us predicted, given that we were in a recording studio.) Someone said to me, "If you had known that the band would be expected to give their best under such difficult circumstances, would you have taken the gig on?" Well, truth is, I probably wouldn't. I think I'd almost certainly have turned the opportunity down. However, despite us feeling that we'd been lashed to a very creaky mast, our audience was terrifically supportive...they were the real stars of the show. Bless you all for being there for us and being so into it. I'm glad you had a good time. "Anyway, I've decided to take up the option of mixing the performance with John Spence and myself, rather than leaving it to chance. Maybe we can salvage something decent from it. Seems that, if I do this, the costs will have to come out of my own pocket, but I now need to take control of the quality of the performance to make sure the band comes across as favourably as possible. It's one thing to deal with it as one evening's live thrill, enjoyed for the moment, and unexamined...but anything more permanent requires extra effort and attention to detail if it is to hold up to repeated scrutiny. So, I'm now waiting to hear if it is possible to begin work on the recording at Fairview tomorrow. A few more days of hard work yet before I can feel more happy about it than I do right now." _____ "Have spent the last three days trying to get rid of microphone feedback overtones from the recording, correcting out-of-tune vocal lines caused by the poor quality monitoring and strange, muddy, overtone-laden room acoustics. Generally trying to minimise the problems caused by the conditions we had to deal with… …When I did finally get home from Fairview this evening, I found Emiko listening to "The Girl in the Galaxy Dress" on the kitchen stereo system. After three days of listening to old rock material played live, I was knocked out by hearing this more recent album track...it sounded fresh, sophisticated, 'cool' and alive, really made me feel proud of what I've achieved in recent years. This is what I'd like/prefer people to hear, this is where my heart lays, where whatever talent I have nowadays lives and breathes. The guitar playing on this track alone is something I would happily put up as a single example of my deep, almost life-long love affair with the instrument. I just hope that whatever the exhumation of those cobwebby '70s songs achieves, that it will direct listeners to the music I'm making now." ALBUM REVIEWS: Review by Pete Brown in Vintage Guitar Magazine FAN THOUGHTS: andygeorge: "Ever wondered what it would be like if Bill came and played in your front room? Well I found out last night. Talk about intimate, I feel even closer to my fellow Nelsonians than ever before...what a bloody good night that was!! Worth every penny... Bill and the band played a storming set, I got to hear "Sister Seagull" live again for the first time in over 35 years, hearing "Wonder of the Moment" was a bonus, as was hearing "Maid in Heaven" twice!, so close to guitarist Dave Standeven that his sweat was flying in my direction...A night to remember by all that attended, thanks to Bill and the Gentlemen Rocketeers..." Zoot: "It was tight and it was loud, but it was glorious and all of the guys worked their socks off. At one point I had the TV camera man using my shoulder to balance the camera so that he could get better low-down shots." Cary: "Did someone say it was erotic??? It was for me!! What an introduction to the world of Bill Nelson! I've been a long time fan of Be Bop Deluxe but when the hairs were standing to attention on the back of my neck & down the eternal spine when Bill performed "Contemplation", that was it for me!! Thanks Again Bill you still have a lot to answer for!!" markriley: "I was utterly knocked out by the new life, vigour and sheer joy that you and the Gentlemen managed to infuse the back catalogue with. Old things visited by the bloke you are now works for me!!! I've never heard a band quite so tight after only a few days rehearsal. They did you proud. I wish they could have been standing where my Missus and I were. The onstage problems would explain the look on the two Dave's faces when I spoke to them after - if I'd known I would have done a bit better at reassuring them how great a night it was. I was unbelievably touched by the good grace and time you lavished on us after the show. I understand what a demanding evening it was for you for all the reasons already stated." Douglas Barry: "The intimacy of this performance was absolutely mesmerising. To look around and see close up the reactions of all the fans was just brilliant. Bill, thanks for deciding to take a punt on doing the Legends show as you made it clear that it was a difficult decision. Thanks also to the Gentleman Rocketeers, who were just wonderful in their professionalism as I know it was hot up there on the stage. I hope the TV public will repay your courage when the show is eventually aired. And to all the fans who made it to Chiswick High Street on Saturday, it was a pleasure to be amongst you all." bingethink: "I had a fantastic evening at the Metropolis and felt very privileged to see Bill in such a 'cozy' venue. The solo set was a revelation for me, seeing and hearing Bill play live backed by his collection of 'gizmology' has given me a fresh perspective. The band set was of course a joy." "The evening had far too many magic moment to recall at one time. Let me think for a sec. "Maid in Heaven" played twice was very special. "A Dream for Ian" I have to confess never having heard before…wonderful and heartfelt. "Panic in the World" was a perfect ending and Bill letting rip at the end was amazing." hong_kong_simon: "All I can say is that, from the audience's side, it was fantastic - you've risen even further in our estimation, if that's possible! Some of my friends and colleagues here think I'm mad to have travelled all the way from Hong Kong to the UK for a weekend "just to see a concert", but I can tell you that since I got back here I've had a permanent smile on my face. Credit to you for being able to connect with and affect people so deeply! Your performance was perfect, whatever story the tapes may tell!" Tourist in Wonderland: "From the opening few seconds I thought wow, this is really good!...in fact much better than I was expecting, having read about some of the issues...I know Bill chose the expensive option of 'tweaking' things with John...thanks Bill...but it was surely worth it...absolutely fabulous playing, sound, vision, production." "I know Bill will always have reservations and doubts, and that's totally understandable, but I think the finished product of this project is a total success...and imho, it stands up on its own as a great recording that Bill and the whole band should be really proud of...I'm proud to own it...and it's got some knockout reactions from the friends I've played it to...So hopefully this will showcase what some of the Bill Nelson things are about and act as a springboard to get a lot more new people listening to (and buying) the more recent recordings. "When you think about it, what a great document this DVD is also...50 years from now, the people who watch this will be stunned, just as we are, and will see just what being able to play and compose at the very highest level is all about...they'll say 'Damn...these guys can really play!'...and then they can spend the next 40 years trying to figure out, just how did one guy manage to come up with all this wonderful music?...I guess, much like us, they will never know." ColinCaroline: "I can only speak for myself in this but it was a view echoed by everyone I spoke to on the night. I never thought at my age that I would experience such an intense, vibrant show and feel the way I felt 30 years ago when I was staring dumbfounded and awestruck at the performers on stage. I assumed I was too long in the tooth for that. How wrong was I? I wasn't alone either because when I looked around almost everybody was the same. "The stupid grin has not left my face yet. A guy a work asked me what I did at the weekend and must have regretted it 'cause I subjected him to about 30 mins of my weekend experience. He did nothing. "Still, I didn't need the title of a TV recording and a DVD to tell me what I already knew - the meaning of the word legend. You could have trebled the ticket price and I still would not have hesitated to click the 'Buy' button. (And I've got to buy two of the damned things). I will not forget that night. "I haven't got an appropriate thank you to say - there isn't one. You can rest assured that I will be talking about this for a long time. Our gratitude is boundless, Love Colin & Caroline" Theo Travis: "I know there were some contractual and financial issues relating to the Live at Metropolis DVD/CD, but I think it is great that the band got to be filmed and recorded in front of a live audience. That line-up played at a few Nelsonica Conventions in Yorkshire to die-hard fans and all those gigs were great. I am just pleased that this band of Bill's got properly recorded for a greater number of people to see and hear. "Despite the various setbacks, Bill sang and played fantastically well and it is a wonderful selection of songs from his enormous catalogue. Bill has written so many great songs, and he plays so beautifully. I am glad and grateful to have been a part of it." Albums Menu Future Past

Air Age Anthology retrospective 2CD collection - 17 February 1997 Be Bop Deluxe Collections Menu Future Past TRACKS: 1-01) Axe Victim 1-02) Love With The Madman 1-03) Sister Seagull 1-04) Heavenly Homes 1-05) Ships In The Night 1-06) Twilight Capers 1-07) Kiss Of Light 1-08) Crying To The Sky 1-09) Sleep That Burns 1-10) Life In The Air Age (Live) 1-11) Electrical Language 1-12) Panic In The World 1-13) Maid In Heaven 1-14) Between The Worlds 1-15) Blazing Apostles 1-16) Lovers Are Mortal 1-17) Down On Terminal Street 1-18) Darkness (L'immoraliste) TRACKS: 2-01) Adventures In A Yorkshire Landscape 2-02) Night Creatures 2-03) Music In Dreamland 2-04) Jean Cocteau 2-05) Beauty Secrets 2-06) Life In The Air Age 2-07) Speed Of The Wind 2-08) Modern Music 2-09) Dancing In The Moonlight 2-10) Honeymoon On Mars 2-11) Lost In The Neon World 2-12) Dance Of The Uncle Sam Humanoids 2-13) Modern Music (Reprise) 2-14) Fair Exchange (Live) 2-15) Autosexual 2-16) New Mysteries 2-17) Surreal Estate 2-18) Islands Of The Dead 2-19) Visions Of Endless Hopes 2-20) The Bird Charmers Destiny 2-21) The Gold At The End Of My Rainbow NOTES: Air Age Anthology is a double CD compilation offering the new listener a thorough introduction to Be Bop Deluxe. No room was found for any rarities, but three tracks came with previously unheard studio talk (Nelson counting in a couple of tracks, and ending one take with the observation "we'll keep that one"). The set was enhanced by a nicely illustrated booklet with a sleeve notes written by Kevin Cann. PAST RELEASES: 36 of the 39 tracks on this compilation album were taken from the six albums released in the band's lifetime (issued between 1974 and 1978), with the remaining 3 tracks originally released on The Best Of and the Rest Of double album (1978). See individual entries of those albums for full details including vinyl editions of the same material. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: This compilation is now out of print in physical form, but is available to download from online stores. Collections Menu Future Past

The Lockdown Song (It's All Downhill From Here) download single - 24 November 2020 Bill Nelson Singles Menu Future Past TRACKS: 01) The Lockdown Song NOTES: 'The Lockdown Song (It's All Downhill From Here)' was recorded during the first UK lockdown resulting from the Coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, but when the situation eased up it, Nelson felt the track became redundant, so it just became a curio. But once the second lockdown happened, it seemed appropriate again and was made available as a free download, here in its unmastered state! CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available as a free digital download on this page, or in the Free Downloads section . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "Titled 'The Lockdown Song (It's All Downhill From Here)', it was recorded during the first UK lockdown, but still seems it might be appropriate for the current moment. It's one of the Cubase recordings that I've amassed and will appear here in its raw, unmastered and naked state. (Heck, you're getting it for free, so don't expect it to be polished to burnished!)" _____ Regarding the Cover image: "Actually, it's not Pinocchio, though I can see why you might think it was. It's a paper mask of a 'funny' man with a moustache which I attached to an antique wooden wig stand. The hat is a children's party hat which I bought because it resembles a hat that Rupert Bear wore at a Christmas party in an old 1950s Rupert Annual story. I added it to the creation to bring more of a comic element to the image. I then placed it in our garden shed, a dusty, cobwebbed place, and photographed it through the window as if the man was looking out at the world from his confinement." Singles Menu Future Past

Permanent Flame Bill Nelson retrospective box set - November 1982 Collections Menu Future Past TRACKS: Do You Dream In Colour? A) Do You Dream In Colour? B1) Ideal Homes B2) Instantly Yours B3) Atom Man Loves Radium Girl Bill Nelson's Be Bop Deluxe A) Panic In The World B1) Maid In Heaven B2) Electrical Language Bill Nelson's Red Noise A) Revolt Into Style B1) Stay Young B2) Furniture Music Touch And Glow A) Touch And Glow B1) Dancing In The Wind B2) Love Without Fear Rooms With Brittle Views A) Rooms With Brittle Views B) Dada Guitare NOTES: Permanent Flame is that rather unusual beast, a box set of 7" singles, which was compiled to provide fans with a novel compilation covering the period 1975 to 1982. It therefore contained Be Bop Deluxe, Red Noise and Bill Nelson material and contained a useful discography sheet and badge. Two of the Bill Nelson singles were presented in the same form as they had appeared when originally issued, whereas the Be Bop and Red Noise discs were essentially EP compilations that were newly compiled in exclusive picture sleeves. The fourth disc was the previously unreleased Touch and Glow single which provided the long term fan with 3 new tracks. PAST RELEASES: The box set is long out of print. Collections Menu Future Past

Acquitted By Mirrors - Issue One - Published early 1982 Back to Top

Silvertone Fountains Bill Nelson album - 16 June 2008 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) Beauty Rides The Last Bus Home 02) The Fabulous Whirlygig Of Now 03) Autumn Drowns Apples In Golden Tides 04) Silvertone Fountains 05) La Vie Moderne 06) Slow Clouds 07) Happy In My Helicopter Hat 08) December Waltz 09) The World Sleeps Late On New Year's Day 10) Young Dreams, Whirled Away 11) Spearmint And Moonbeams 12) We Vanish At Shadowfall 13) The Bells Of Villefranche 14) Fish Are Dancing In The Fountain Of Dreams 15) Shower Of Sparks ALBUM NOTES: Silvertone Fountains is an instrumental album issued on the Sonoluxe label in a single print run of 1000 copies. The album was recorded as the first part of a trilogy of complementary releases, the associated albums being Illuminated at Dusk (issued concurrently with Silvertone Fountains ) and Mazda Kaleidoscope . Work on the album effectively stretches back to mid-2007 when Nelson was developing an album project called Frankie Ukelele and the Fire in the Lake . Before that album had been fully realised much of the completed, material was transferred to what became the And We Fell into a Dream album, with the residual material initially retained for a revised Frankie Ukulele album. Around the time of Nelsonica '07 , Nelson re-thought his plans and abandoned the Frankie Ukulele concept altogether and shifted his attention towards a new album called Silvertone Fountains , which initially contained a mixture of both new material as well as tracks slated for inclusion on Frankie Ukelele and the Fire in the Lake . Nelson revealed in a diary entry dated 4 December 2007 that he had prepared a CDR of the new compositions ear-marked for this album which he distributed to members of the Nelsonica team. In the event though just 2 tracks included on that early draft version of Silvertone Fountains would make it to the finished album, with all but one track ("The Lost Art of Doing Nothing") distributed among four other future album releases, namely Illuminated at Dusk , Clocks and Dials , The Dream Transmission Pavilion and Here Comes Mr Mercury . In January 2008 Nelson produced another album's worth of guitar instrumentals that would signal completion of both Silvertone Fountains and Illuminated at Dusk , the track listings for which were simultaneously confirmed in February 2008. 2008 was clearly an important year for Nelson who would celebrate his 60th birthday in December, and each album issued that year would bear a special 60th birthday insignia in recognition of this fact. The year would see Nelson issue a total of 5 distinct albums in a period of around 7 months, making it as prolific a year as 2004. It would set a standard that, more often than not, would be matched in future years. Silvertone Fountains sold out in January 2019. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "Each album is designed to bring its own distinctive colour to the trilogy. My original concept involved listening to the albums in a fixed order...Which is as follows: Silvertone , then Illuminated , followed by Mazda . "Silvertone sets out the stall, as it were, introducing a calm and contemplative note in the listener but also hinting at things to come on the companion albums. It is a quite intense album in some ways, exploring various corners of my work in an introspective fashion, though there are light-hearted moments too. The tracks should not be judged by only hearing the first minute or so of each track in 'channel-hopping' fashion though. The pieces sometimes go through quite dramatic changes within each composition, often ending up in a different musical space from the one in which they started. (For instance: "Young Love Whirled Away" begins as a melancholy, other-worldly waltz, then mutates into a brief 'ambient noise' interlude before plunging enthusiastically into a hot 'jump-jive' barnstorming guitar section.) "It's important to hear each piece in its entirety. This album requires complete, concentrated listening...rather than a skimming through the intros of each track to seek something instantly appealing. It will reward the listener who appreciates subtleties, detail and cross-references to other styles of music. It's also quite an emotional album for me, containing much tenderness, as well as careful thought." _____ "I was listening avidly to the great jazz guitarists long before I became a professional player with Be Bop Deluxe and I've always 'had a thing' about the sound and feel of a traditional archtop acoustic-electric guitar. My recent instrumental music fuses these long-time jazz leanings with rock, avant and ambient tendencies...it's not 'fusion' music but something beyond that, something personal. "The recently released instrumental albums, Silvertone Fountains and Illuminated At Dusk , provide particular examples of this approach. The guitar playing on them mixes more traditional, rich and luxurious jazz guitar sounds with bright n' shiny rock n' roll tones. (The former from my Peerless 'Monarch', the latter courtesy of my Campbell 'Nelsonic Transitone' signature solid-body guitar and my Eastwood/Airline retro-styled instruments.) I've always derived a perverse pleasure from playing games with musical expectations, whether those expectations are mine or my audience's." _____ Bill's Listening Suggestion of the Day: "A track with a sort of 'split' personality today: "Young Dreams Whirled Away", an instrumental from the Silvertone Fountains album. The track opens with a short blast of weird amusement arcade bleeps and buzzes before turning into a light, jazzy waltz with arpeggio guitar chords and a clean, reverb-tinted and echo-delayed Space Guitar solo, improvising over the previously mentioned chord changes...a contrapuntal feel to this section...then a short but ambiguous, floating, almost ambient bridge into section number two: A fast, tricky, almost '50s Be Bop jazz meets '70s funk guitar jam with harmony lead guitar overdubs and a sound that brings to my mind the idea of a non-existent album titled 'Les Paul on the Moon'. This is one of my favourite guitar recordings from my albums, though it was quite demanding to record. Play it nice and loud to get the full effect!" _____ "The album's title comes partly from the old 'Silvertone' guitar company of America. Think of it as a fountain of shining, silver strings." FAN THOUGHTS: BenTucker: "On Silvertone Fountains , the track, "Autumn Drowns Apples in Golden Tides", alone is worth the price of admission. That's followed by the sublime title track. That's enough beauty to last the whole day, but you're still only at track 4! An absolute must-buy." Holer: "This is a lush, exciting, thrilling sonic experience, and reaffirms why I am such a fan of Bill's work and have been for so many years." Peter: "The standouts for me so far are "Happy in My Helicopter Hat" and "Young Dreams, Whirled Away" which is heartbreakingly beautiful. Oh...and Bill, your guitar playing has never been more wonderful. Thank you." Andre: "The song "Silvertone Fountains", so sensual, followed by "La Vie Moderne' with its changes and moooods...This has got to be at the top of the list of the best Bill Nelson music, of all eras." chromiumlad: "It's like sipping from a tall glass of lemonade while lounging in a hammock on a warm breezy day. I love Bill's playing! "Young Dreams, Whirled Away" is incredible!" Swan: " "Young Dreams Whirled Away": Could go on forever as far as I'm concerned!" Mr. Mercury: "I can't recommend Silvertone Fountains enough. It's one of my favourites." noggin: "I have listened to both new albums [ Silvertone Fountains and Illuminated at Dusk ] several times now, and I have to say I'm very impressed. At this early stage, Silvertone is my pick of the two, but this could change. I struggled with And We Fell Into a Dream at first but play it often now. On a different note, I find it remarkable that 33 years! after purchasing my first Bill Nelson recording ( Futurama ) I still feel that same sense of anticipation and excitement whenever I hear a new album as I did way back then. I can't think of any other musician/artist that has had that affect on me. It must be quite an achievement to have maintained a career in such a fickle industry for so long, particularly as an independent artist, and it's a great tribute to Bill's abilities and creativity that he's still around." Space Buddha No1: "I guess what really keeps me listening is the sense of being called along on a journey I don't really understand. I listen to a vast amount of different musics all the time but always return to discover this one obsessive journey into creativity. It's sometimes tempting to try and imagine a linear narrative connecting all the ideas but it's also clear that it's a futile game. Side paths, loops and eddy currents are all part of the flow. I guess I launched my own boat into the stream of the Nelson oeuvre after hearing "Do You Dream in Colour?" and "Revolt Into Style" back to back and became fascinated with the juxtaposition and continuity. These latest two [ Silvertone Fountains and Illuminated at Dusk ] just push me further into discovery." Kalamazoo Kid: "He's doing everything right musically. I'd burn my entire Be Bop and Red Noise collection before I'd part with Silvertone Fountains ." Albums Menu Future Past

Warriors single - 1983 Gary Numan Production/Contribution Menu Future Past BILL: Producer, Guitar and Keyboard. Production/Contribution Menu Future Past

Live Archive Bill Nelson - Songs For Ghosts CD Launch Party Clothworkers Centenary Hall, Dept of Music, University Of Leeds A special invitation to an exclusive VIP launch of the new album from Bill Nelson Every guest will receive an advance signed copy of the Songs For Ghosts double-album Note: CD will go on sale to the public in November. PROGRAMME: Doors Open 4:00 pm and the event ends at approximately 9:30pm The event will include: Album playback: Bill will talk about the ideas and inspiration behind the music before playing back a selection of tracks from the double-album over a high quality Genelec sound system. Bill Nelson solo set: Bill's only solo performance this year. Further details and timings of the various parts of the programme will be announced nearer the date of the event. Merchandise: Your chance to pickup back catalogue CDs at very special prices. Plus various other limited edition goodies. Wallet Warning - there will also be some very rare items available from Bill's personal CD stock. Don't miss them ! NOTE: We will not have credit card facilities. Cash only. Catering: There will be a pay bar serving refreshments. Tea, coffee, soft drinks, beer and wine. There are plenty of places near the University to buy food. Cafes, Takeaways etc. TICKETS: The special VIP ticket price includes an advance copy of the new album. NOTE: These items are for collection on the day and we have no means of forwarding them on. You need to be there! Ticket price non-refunadable see booking site for T&Cs. Cost £75 This event is now over - please send your recollections and best pictures to the web masters HERE 'Songs For Ghosts' Launch Party - Fan Reviews - Saturday 28th October 2017 -

Sound-On-Sound Bill Nelson's Red Noise album - 16 February 1979 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this box set Purchase this double CD TRACKS: 01) Don't Touch Me (I'm Electric) 02) For Young Moderns 03) Stop/Go/Stop 04) Furniture Music 05) Radar In My Heart 06) Stay Young 07) Out Of Touch 08) A Better Home In The Phantom Zone 09) Substitute Flesh 10) The Atom Age 11) Art/Empire/Industry 12) Revolt Into Style ALBUM NOTES: Sound-On-Sound was Bill Nelson's first album to be issued subsequent to the dissolution of Be Bop Deluxe. The album would prove to be his final for EMI. Sound-On-Sound represents a major departure from Nelson's previous work, combining the urgency of New Wave music with the layering of synthesisers that would come to define the Synth Pop sounds of 1979-83. Consequently, the album is virtually absent of guitar solos, and the songs are delivered in a frantic, accelerated pace compared to most of Nelson's past work. Most of the tracks on Sound-On-Sound feature the nucleus of Nelson, Clark and Ford (as described for the Furniture Music single) with Ian Nelson playing saxophones and/or synthesisers on 10 of the 12 tracks. Dave Mattacks from Fairport Convention played drums on only four tracks. Sound-on-Sound was initially issued by Harvest on vinyl (complete with lyrics on the inner sleeve) and cassette, and peaked at No. 33 in the UK album chart. The album failed to sustain the level of interest associated with Be Bop Deluxe, and when EMI underwent a major re-structure in late 1979, Bill Nelson's Red Noise were dropped. Sound-On-Sound was deleted (along with the Be Bop Deluxe catalogue) sometime around 1980/81. In April 2017 Cherry Red and E soteric R ecordings , who, since 2011, have done so much to raise the profile of Bill Nelson's solo recordings from the period 1980 to 2002, acquired the rights to release the Be Bop Deluxe and Red Noise material issued between 1973 and 1979. On 26 August 2022, after all the Be Bop Deluxe albums had been given a deluxe box set release, it was now the turn of the Red Noise material. Due to licensing restrictions, the box set couldn't be called Sound-On-Sound , but was instead given the title Art/Empire/Industry . The Deluxe Edition comprised of: a freshly remastered version of the original album. a 2022 remix of the full album. includes previously unreleased concert recorded at De Montfort Hall, Leicester on 8 March 1979 a previously unreleased track entitled 'My Light' recorded for the Sound-On-Sound sessions. 4 recordings from a 1979 BBC Friday Rock Show session. a CD of previously unreleased Bill Nelson demos for the Sound-On Sound sessions. the original album presented in a 5.1 mix. previously unreleased promotional video of 'Revolt Into Style'. three tracks performed by Red Noise on BBC TV's 'Old Grey Whistle Test'. The box set includes a lavishly-illustrated book with extensive essay by Bill Nelson and a foreword by Steven Wilson, a facsimile tour programme, poster and four postcards. A 2CD edition of the album is also being released at the same time as the Deluxe Edition. The full track listing for the Deluxe Edition is: Disc One: 01) Don't Touch Me (I'm Electric) 02) For Young Moderns 03) Stop/Go/Stop 04) Furniture Music 05) Radar In My Heart 06) Stay Young 07) Out Of Touch 08) A Better Home In The Phantom Zone 09) Substitute Flesh 10) The Atom Age 11) Art/Empire/Industry 12) Revolt Into Style 13) Wonder Toys That Last Forever 14) Acquitted by Mirrors (B-side Of 'Furniture Music' EP) 15) Stay Young (BBC Session 17.02.1979) 16) Furniture Music (BBC Session 17.02.1979) 17) Don't Touch Me (I'm Electric) (BBC Session 17.02.1979) 18) Out Of Touch (BBC Session 17.02.1979) Disc Two Live At The De Montfort Hall, Leicester 1979 01) Don't Touch Me (I'm Electric) 02) For Young Moderns 03) Furniture Music 04) Out Of Touch 05) Stop/Go/Stop 06) Atom Age 07) Possession 08) Superenigmatix 09) Substitute Flesh 10) A Better Home In The Phantom Zone 11) Radar in My Heart 12) Art/Empire/Industry 13) Revolt Into Style 14) Stay Young 15) For Young Moderns (Encore) Disc Three 01) Don't Touch Me (I'm Electric) (New Stereo Mix) 02) For Young Moderns (New Stereo Mix) 03) Stop/Go/Stop (New Stereo Mix) 04) Furniture Music (New Stereo Mix) 05) Radar In My Heart (New Stereo Mix) 06) Stay Young (New Stereo Mix) 07) Out Of Touch (New Stereo Mix) 08) A Better Home In The Phantom Zone (New Stereo Mix) 09) Substitute Flesh (New Stereo Mix) 10) The Atom Age (New Stereo Mix) 11) Art/Empire/Industry (New Stereo Mix) 12) Revolt Into Style (New Stereo Mix) 13) Wonder Toys That Last Forever (New Stereo Mix) 14) Acquitted By Mirrors (New Stereo Mix) 15) My Light (Previously Unreleased - Recorded For The 'Sound On Sound' Sessions) (New Stereo Mix) 16) Instantly Yours (New Stereo Mix) 17) Ideal Homes (New Stereo Mix) 18) Disposable (New Stereo Mix) Disc Four 01) Don't Touch Me (I'm Electric) (5.1 mix) 02) For Young Moderns (5.1 mix) 03) Stop/Go/Stop (5.1 mix) 04) Furniture Music (5.1 mix) 05) Radar In My Heart (5.1 mix) 06) Stay Young (5.1 mix) 07) Out Of Touch (5.1 mix) 08) A Better Home In The Phantom Zone (5.1 mix) 09) Substitute Flesh (5.1 mix) 10) The Atom Age (5.1 mix) 11) Art/Empire/Industry (5.1 mix) 12) Revolt Into Style (5.1 mix) Disc Five 01) Wonder Toys That Last Forever (5.1 mix) 02) Acquitted By Mirrors (5.1 mix) 03) My Light (5.1 mix) (Recorded For The 'Sound On Sound' Sessions) 04) Instantly Yours (5.1 mix) 05) Ideal Homes (5.1 mix) 06) Disposable (5.1 mix) Video Content 01) Revolt into Style (Promotional video 1979) 02) Don't Touch Me (I'm Electric) (BBC TV Old Grey Whistle Test – 1979) 03) Furniture Music (BBC TV Old Grey Whistle Test 1979) 04) Stay Young (BBC TV Old Grey Whistle Test 1979) Disc Six Bill Nelson Red Noise Demos 1978 – Previously Unreleased 01) Acquitted By Mirrors (Demo) 02) For Young Moderns (Demo) 03) Stop/Go/Stop (Demo) 04) Furniture Music (Demo) 05) Radar In My Heart (Demo) 06) Stay Young (Demo) 07) Out Of Touch (Demo) 08) A Better Home In The Phantom Zone (Demo) 09) Substitute Flesh (Demo) 10) The Atom Age (Demo) 11) Revolt Into Style (Demo) 12) Waiting For The Night (Demo) 13) My Light (Demo) On 22 April 2023, Bill Nelson's Red Noise Live – De Montfort Hall Leicester 1979 was released separately to the above Deluxe edition as a 2x10" LP set, pressed on red vinyl released by Esoteric Recordings in a limited edition of 500 copies for Record Store Day, available while stocks last at participating independent record shops. The track listing for the 2x10" vinyl set is: A1) Don't Touch Me (I'm Electric) A2) For Young Moderns A3) Furniture Music A4) Out Of Touch B1) Stop/Go/Stop B2) Atom Age B3) Possession B4) Superenigmatix B5) Substitute Flesh C1) A Better Home In The Phantom Zone C2) Radar in My Heart C3) Art/Empire/Industry C4) Revolt Into Style D1) Stay Young D2) For Young Moderns (Encore) PAST RELEASES: Sound-On-Sound has been re-issued on vinyl once (1986, Cocteau), and on CD on three separate occasions (1989 Enigma, 1999 EMI, and 2012 EMI). The 2012 CD from EMI is the most extensive in content, coming as it does with all four b-side tracks from the album's two singles, plus four previously unreleased tracks recorded from a BBC 'session' (17/02/79 Friday Rock Show). Extra songs on the 2012 CD: Furniture Music b-sides: 13) Wonder Toys That Last Forever 14) Acquitted By Mirrors Revolt Into Style b-sides: 15) Stay Young (Live at Leicester De Montfort Hall, 8 March 1979) 16) Out Of Touch (Live at Leicester De Montfort Hall, 8 March 1979) Radio 1 Friday Rock Show session (17 February 1979) 17) Stay Young 18) Furniture Music 19) Don't Touch Me (I'm Electric) 20) Out Of Touch This 2012 edition was remastered (using the 1999 remaster), includes new liners notes and contains a nice selection of photos from the time period. Although overall the sound quality is an improvement over the previous CD issues, the album version of "Stay Young" on this edition suffers from a what appears to be a 'drop out' introduced in the remastering process. The 2012 reissue was deleted in 2014 and is currently out of print as a physical CD, but is still available as a digital download from Amazon and iTunes. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: The deluxe box set and the 2-CD set is available for purchase in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "The main inspirations were dystopian science fiction novels from the likes of George Orwell (and E.M. Forster's 'The Machine Stops', written in 1909 and frighteningly prophetic of the internet). Also images from Fritz Lang's 'Metropolis' and the ideas encapsulated in Ray Bradbury's 'Fahrenheit 451'. But there's also a future-kitsch element to the Red Noise album's stylings, a sense of irony and a slight tongue-in-cheek quality that suggests humorous absurdity. Although the songs portray a future with sinister overtones, the album attempts to have fun with these concepts, almost as if the citizens who inhabit the future-world the album portrays are too wrapped up in its electric distractions to register the negative effect it is having on their cultural values. Or something like that!" _____ "Punk wasn't the reason I disbanded Be Bop Deluxe, just frustration with the 'straightjacket' I felt we'd been fitted with by the industry and our success. The band's commercial machine was on an ever increasing upward path when I switched it off. I'd actually tried to pull the plug much earlier, before the Drastic Plastic album was recorded, but had been persuaded by the band's management to hold on a bit longer. Had I gotten my way, the Drastic Plastic material would have been recorded as the first Red Noise album. Instead, I adapted it for the final Be Bop album." _____ "I don't separate Be Bop era from Red Noise Era from whatever. It's a constantly flowing river heading out into an ocean of whatever is left when I'm gone. What appears to be different sections or parts appears so only if you view them from close up, from a particular point of bias. If you stand back and take in the entire work, you'll see it as a unity, a single expression of 'being', a single, unwavering, personal voice. And it's ALL relevant to the story I'm telling. No single part is any less or more important than another." _____ "I chose the album title, Sound-On-Sound , as a reference to early multi-track recording techniques, as pioneered by the great Les Paul." _____ "The little 'notice' on the vinyl version about playing the album loud and 'motorised in sequence' etc, etc, was written by me, tongue firmly in cheek... On the original back cover, an "Important Notice" stated: "This record has been styled with today's hi-fi in mind. For optimum results it should be played at high volume in a room with no views other than those afforded by the use of subliminal image video apparatus. Dancing is allowed though electrical stimulation of the nervous system is unnecessary. The music has been motorized in sequence to conserve real time. File under Absolute A-Go-Go." ALBUM REVIEWS: Review on Punk Brighton by Stuart Jones Review of the deluxe edition on Echoes And Dust by Zachary Nathanson FAN THOUGHTS: Peter: "SOS is a masterpiece! Everyone is so right about how this collection is so unique, so alive, so frantically searching for something -- and so revealing of exciting new things to come. Rather like Bill throwing down the gauntlet at the feet of the world (and the music industry) and hollering "Take THAT!" "It reflects Bill's love-hate relationship with change and technology in a raw, pureness that makes it jump into your ears and run around your brain pan laughing at the top of its lungs." asterisk: "Every time I listen to this album, not only do I hear some of the best, tightest, and most exhilarating songs ever recorded, I also heard Bill's muse moaning, panting, and screaming in ecstasy. It's no wonder she's stayed with him all these years." telekon: "It's fun, self-conscious punk-post-punk-new-wave-prog-rock-eletronica-kitchen-sink-garage-door-glass-of-aspirin-cats-on-fire kind of stuff." Swan: "Sound-On-Sound blew my head clean away at the time...it was like a shot of oxygen in a carbon dioxide rich environment...I re-bought it only last year...and...my head is still remote from my neck! A class and very important album. Dare I say it?...away ahead of its time..." John Izzard: "Don't be misled by the title, Sound-On-Sound is not an audio recording, it's a feature film in your head. Never in my long and delirious love affair with the album as an art-format, have I experienced a more cohesive, coherent - and fun - explosion of creativity. Unprecedented and unsurpassed in concept and delivery, I'm forever a rabbit in the dazzling glare of this album's headlights." andygeorge: "I remember when I played SOS for the first time thinking WTF!! is this? I think it was the shock of hearing Bill explode out of the speakers, guns blazing and taking no prisoners! Then it clicked. I played it continuously, hooked by the frantic energy of the opening track until the last tracks killer ending...and yes, I can remember my mum, god bless her soul, shouting out that classic line "turn that bloody music down!"..." paul.smith: "I have had sex to "Don't Touch Me, I'm Electric", but that's another story - resulting in an ambulance being called and several paramedics attempting to restart my heart..." Southern Dreamer: "I cycled home from town, put the LP on my ancient record player and pretty much sat there for the whole length of the album with my jaw dropping on the bedroom carpet as I listed to the incredible sound (on sound) coming out of the small battery powered speaker. "One after another the songs burst out from the vinyl grooves; each track sending my pulse racing, as well as to my amazement, when each track finished I just couldn't imagine that the next one would match it, but they did - and some! When the final chords of Revolt into Style crashed out and the pick-up arm lifted the stylus off the LP; my one & only thought - I HAVE GOT TO LISTEN TO THAT RECORD AGAIN, NOW!! And listen to it again I did; and again, and again and… "Be-Bop Deluxe were brilliant, but here was an entirely different listening experience; this was music for the now - hip hop and happening! I listened to the album so many times over the course of the following months and not once did it fail to reach the parts that most other albums of that period could only dream of getting anywhere near. "However when all is said and done SOS will always stand up to any scrutiny that could be applied towards the recordings from that period and it will forever remain one of THE stand-out albums of the post punk era. It is with us now for all to marvel at and will be there for generations of listeners to come." Paul Gilby - Sound on Sound: "Back in Feb 1979 I was in my final year at art college. The Red Noise album was playing on my cassette machine time after time and driving many of the girls in the art studio mad. But, the guys all loved it and we'd put up with listening to plenty of 'their music'. The Red Noise concert at Newcastle City Hall was stunning and I have a clear memory of how it made me feel even today. My brother Ian had a band at the time, so "Revolt Into Style" and "Furniture Music" were rehearsed and added to the playlist within weeks of the album coming out. Fast-forward many years, Ian and I were working in publishing and itching to start our own music magazine. Whilst writing the business plan in March 1985 and getting the editorial ideas together, we would often play the Sound-On-Sound album. Then when we were making a list of possible magazine names such as Studio World or Recording Monthly, we added Sound-On-Sound. This was not only the album we were listening to but also the name is actually taken from the sound recording process pioneered by Les Paul and was very applicable to our readership. So, we thought we'd drop the dashes and named the mag Sound On Sound and launched in Oct 1985. Over the years we would often interview Bill but it wasn't until 2004 that we got involved to help him out with his web site and then manage the CD pressing and mail order. Back in 1979 I would never have believed this would ever have happened. Life takes some interesting turns! Regards all, Paul" wonder toy: "We must all stand back in awe and honor the tremendous courage and sheer BALLS it must have taken in the name of art and following one's creative spirit at all costs. Cheers to Bill Nelson. This album is a monument to why that struggle to get your vision across as an artist is so important." Albums Menu Future Past