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

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

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

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

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

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

Songs For Ghosts More Listening Notes Go to Album Listening Notes to accompany the album... These notes are as they were presented by Bill at the CD launch party and as such, do not include ALL of the album tracks and are not in the sequence that they appear on the album. Songs For Ghosts by Bill Nelson General introduction: You may wonder why I chose to call this double album, 'Songs For Ghosts.' Ghosts, it seems to me, materialise, flicker and fade, changing shape, adapting to different forms and perceptions, never quite fixed, foggy and vague and yet, somehow hovering on the edge of reality, of solidity. These songs were created in a mood not far distant from such nebulous ideas. Recorded almost at the very instant that they occurred to me, and with virtually no polishing, they are what they are, a fusion of several styles, pop but not pop, rock but not rock, noise and silence, a musical equivalent of the overlapping dialogue in an Orson Welles movie. The original intention was to make the album sound like a whisper from another world, but that world turned out to be somewhat noisy, almost chaotic, but it did have its moments of quiet. Inevitably, concepts start out one way and end up another. Some albums are impossible to steer, they simply take their creator along for the ride, a kind of mystery tour. And that, in essence, is what happened with 'Songs For Ghosts.' I'm not much wiser as to what the album means. This is an attempt to explain something about the selection of tracks you're about to hear, but I can't guarantee that my comments will enlighten you much more than your own interpretation. But that's all part of the game... Having recorded so many albums throughout my career, you could be forgiven for thinking that I've said all that is possible for me to say. But the truth is, I feel as if I haven't yet got to the core of what I need to say, to the essential essence of my thoughts about life and the world we inhabit. Whether that means anything to anyone else is possibly of little interest, but it's what I hang on to. Music is, in a sense, my life raft and a process of discovery. So, here we go… I've chosen to begin this selection with what are actually the first three tracks on Disc 1. This first track is titled 'A Thousand, Thousand Ghosts.' It's an instrumental piece featuring piano, guitar, e-bow and sampled voices and quietly sets the scene. The next track is quite a contrast from the previous. Its title is 'Ever The Dreamer' and it takes the form of a rock ballad with big drums, a wall of electric and acoustic guitars, a gritty Hammond organ and cello/string breaks. The lyrics conclude "There are no simple answers to this complicated process, there are no simple answers to this complicated life..." Next up is a track with the title, 'Beyond The Sun.' It's a melancholy, reflective song featuring filtered electro-percussion, echoing guitars and Indian flavoured strings. The lyrics contain the words, "There's a silence in the meadow, there's a silence in the trees, there's a whisper in the morning that brings me to my knees..." And: "Everyone wants to live, no one wants to die, everyone wants to give, everyone tries to fly..." As I mentioned, those first three tracks are the first three pieces on Disc 1, which, incidentally, is titled 'The Curious King Of Dreams.' The next piece I've chosen for you to hear comes from Disc 2. Disc 2 has the title 'Tower Of Jewels' and this track from that disc is titled 'Travelling In Mind.' Now, whilst the title might suggest someone thinking about making a journey, its meaning is more concerned with travelling in one's imagination, a mind trip rather than a physical one. It's a mid-tempo rocker with a psychedelic blues guitar riff under the verses, but changes to a more pop-oriented feel on the choruses with a string orchestra entering on the bridge. The lyrics state: "Time is a loop my friend and I can't see the start or end of it..." The next track, also from Disc 2, is titled 'Music From Another Star.' This is a slow tempo ballad with an orchestral introduction but develops with guitars, a synthetic choir and a touch of synth and classical Harp. The lyric mentions, "The raising of a red guitar," which is a reference to my early guitar heroes, 'The Shadows'. Way back in the early 1960s, they would raise their red Fender Stratocasters skyward on certain sections of their instrumentals to add a visual element. Now we come to a track titled 'The Almost Invisible Man,' taken from Disc 1. I'm not sure whether this refers to an invisibility serum that didn't quite work or to the fact that I don't have a publicity agent to keep my work more visible in the rock magazines! However… It's a minor key romp with a change to a major key in the choruses. Lots of guitar, of course, but touches of old-school arpeggiated synth evoking the old Casio synth sounds I used in the 1980s. This next track also comes from Disc 1, it's a poppy little thing titled 'Zodiac.' The Zodiac in question isn't anything to do with astrology but is a reference to the dark blue Ford Zodiac that my father owned in the 1960s and which he was good enough to let me drive, once I'd passed my driving test. I used to wash the car and polish its chrome for him every Sunday afternoon, always with its radio on so I could listen to John Peel's programme. The song has a sort of African 'Hi-Life' rhythm pattern and a couple of heavy guitar breaks. The lyrics state: "Here on Earth is where it's at, driving my father's Zodiac, I'm on the road like Kerouac, holding true to the old straight track." Back to Disc 2 now for a song titled 'Illumination' with the subtitle '(Fascination In Blue).' Lots of guitar again, an abstract middle section and the lyric, "Photographic memory, figures caught in flash..." Industrial quantities of reverb on this one, enough to sink a battleship! It has a looped coda with reversed guitars. The next track also comes from Disc 2 and is an instrumental titled 'The Future Life.' It features sampled 'found' voices and a range of electric guitar tones and some sweet synth touches. The coda contains an amusing phrase which I'll leave for you to spot! A return to Disc 1 now for one of my personal favourites from the album. Titled 'Astrophysical,' it's a jazzy vocal track with electronic percussion, clean guitar chords with unusual progressions, synths and upright acoustic bass. Semi-abstract in its form, the vocals have something of an 'Annie Ross' inflection, (for those of you who know about jazz vocalists,) but with twists and turns of my own. It's not jazz in the strictest sense, of course, but definitely sits more in the jazz than rock camp. Some nicely strange noises at the end. Still on Disc 1, here's a track titled 'Move Through This World.' A poppy number with a message of hope, advocating an easy, smooth and as non-confrontational a passage through life as possible. It includes the lyric, "Do no harm, leave no trace, move through this world with quiet grace..." A nice string section bridge in the middle. Another from Disc 1. This one is titled 'Heaven Lights It's Lamps.' In some ways it's a grand ballad with psychedelic overtones, particularly in the coda which features free-wheeling guitars and improvised changes. It evokes a memory I have of standing on a hill above a town at night. The town has its street lamps lit, the houses below exude a warm yellow glow that speaks of home and security, whilst far above, in the cold night sky, stars twinkle and gleam, as if heaven has lamps to illuminate our lives on Earth. The next track comes from Disc 2. It's title is 'Tower Of Jewels.' The lyric states: "We live in a tower of jewels, no fools are we." In some ways the tower of jewels refers to the Buddhist notion of a 'jewel' teaching, a shining, guiding light. But perhaps we don't realise it in a conscious sense, and become distracted. Ultimately though, as the lyrics suggest, all is well as our own spiritual bodies are the 'tower of jewels' refered to in the song. Layers of guitar and orchestral textures, and, for those with ears to hear, echoes of a Be Bop Deluxe riff here and there. The last track from this brief selection now. The double album contains 28 tracks and we're only halfway through that number, so there are lots more songs for you to discover and hopefully enjoy when you have the time to expolore the full range of the album. But, for now, I've selected an instrumental to close. It comes from Disc 2 and is titled 'His Astral Form.' It features 'found voices' and a lot of electric guitar. There is much, much more for you to hear from 'Songs For Ghosts,' but for now, I hope this selection has aroused your interest. Songs For Ghosts, released October 2017 as a limited edition pressing of 650 CDs. More Listening Notes Go to Album

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

Postcards From the Future retrospective collection - 20 September 2004 Be Bop Deluxe Collections Menu Future Past TRACKS: 01) Axe Victim 02) Adventures In A Yorkshire Landscape 03) Stage Whispers 04) Maid In Heaven 05) Sister Seagull 06) Jean Cocteau 07) Fair Exchange 08) Ships In The Night 09) Blazing Apostles 10) Kiss Of Light 11) Modern Music 12) Twilight Capers 13) Electrical Language 14) Possession 15) Islands Of The Dead 16) Life In The Air Age (Live) 17) Teenage Archangel 18) Jets At Dawn (Smile Records Version) NOTES: Postcards From the Future is a CD compilation offering a simple introduction to Be Bop Deluxe. At the time collectors were drawn to it by the inclusion of both sides of the debut single "Teenage Archangel" and "Jets at Dawn", which had not previously appeared on CD, and had been out of print since circa 1980. The set was enhanced by a nicely illustrated booklet with a sleeve notes written by Nelson. PAST RELEASES: 16 of the 18 tracks on this compilation album were taken from the six albums released in the band's lifetime issued between 1974 and 1978. See individual entries of those albums for full details including vinyl editions of the same material. "Teenage Archangel" and "Jets At Dawn" was issued on 7" in 1973, and had yet to appear on a Be Bop Deluxe retrospective. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: This compilation is now out of print. Collections Menu Future Past

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

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

Altar Pieces Bill Nelson album - 20 July 1990 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 1) Prima Materia (First Matter) 2) Arbor Philosophica (Tree Of Philosophy) 3) Opus Hermeticum (The Work Of Hermes) 4) Signum Natura (Symbolic Nature) 5) Mysterium Magnum (The Great Secret) 6) Clavis Angelicae (Key Of Angels) 7) Sanctus Illuminatus (The Sacred Illuminated) 8) Accessio Lucis (The Coming Light) ALBUM NOTES: A limited edition cassette issued as the first post-Cocteau Records release, and available at gigs and mail order. The Altar Pieces cassette artwork design was decidedly DIY. These eight tracks were originally created for a live performance in Wakefield Cathedral as part of the city's 1990 Arts Festival. The performance was titled Opus Illuminatus and featured live improvisations on guitar, (by Bill), and saxophone, (by his younger brother Ian), played over interactive 'backing tracks'. These tracks, (without the live overdubbed guitar and saxophone), were released as an extremely limited 500 edition cassette-only item in 1990. PAST RELEASES: The cassette was reissued in 1991 in another numbered edition of 500 copies. However, unnumbered copies also exist, suggesting that more than 1000 copies were manufactured. In the mid '90s, when Nelson's career was being supported by the publication of a new occasional fan-club magazine called The Nelsonian Navigator , the final few numbered copies of Altar Pieces were sold off to members of the new club. These copies are autographed by the artist, and dated Nov '94. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Having stated a number of times that an official CD reissue was under consideration, Nelson, clearly annoyed by the appearance of a bootleg edition on eBay, immediately took steps to reissue the album as a remastered digital download via Bandcamp with revised artwork. This edition is available for purchase as a digital download in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "Altar Pieces was part of a unique two-part performance given as part of the Wakefield Arts Festival in 1990. Wakefield is the town of my birth, and where I grew up and was educated (as many of you will know). Part one of the performance, (which was given the title: 'Goofing Off in God's Garden') was presented on the open air bandstand of Wakefield's Clarence Park. (Also the site of a free concert I staged way back in the 1960's with my then band 'Global Village'.) The Altar Pieces music had absolutely nothing to do with the 'Goofing Off in God's Garden' performance in the open air. G.O.I.G.G. was an entirely different set of instrumentals altogether. "The Altar Pieces music was used for a SECOND performance on a different day. This second performance was titled 'Opus Illuminatus' and was held in Wakefield's gothic cathedral. The Altar Pieces tracks, (on the cassette mentioned above), were actually the foundation or 'backing tracks' for live improvisations that I performed on guitar that day, live in the cathedral. My brother Ian joined me on sax for several numbers, both in Clarence Park AND in the cathedral. The cassette contains only the 'backing tracks' though, which actually work fine without the improvised overdubs. However, some of those tracks have survived to this day as live performance pieces. "Artifex" being the main one. Another is "Gloria Mundae". These can be heard with overdubbed guitar parts on the Romance of Sustain album. "The Altar Pieces music, for those of you curious about it, was devised around alchemical and hermetic philosophies, the western mystery tradition. The irony was playing this music in orthodox Christian churches such as Wakefield Cathederal and the French Church in London. The philosophies that provided the music with its foundation were, (and still are), considered heretical by religious orthodoxy. Thankfully, they don't burn heretics at the stake anymore." _____ "For those of you who enjoy the more ambient and esoteric side of my work, this album is not only rare but essential. For those of you fortunate enough to own the original cassette release, this new remastered, re-designed version brings Altar Pieces to you with a sonic clarity denied to the original." _____ "Oh, my God..the HAIR! The RADIANCE!! The Goat-Headed cane!!!" FAN THOUGHTS: TheMikeN: "A set of eight deep, mysterious, but quite minimalist instrumental pieces that sound like they should be performed in a very dark and threatening cathedral. The titles are all Latin and explore magical, esoteric religious territory associated with Bill's involvement in study (and practice?) of Gnosticism. Nothing unpleasantly pagan about it, as far as I can tell, but this is a concept album to end all concept albums!" Chris N: "Fabulous! This is my favourite Bill album - played endlessly on a loop when when I was studying a management course a few years ago. I found it helped me to think and define my ideas. This [digital] release sounds stunning" Andre: "Altar Pieces is very special because the music is so mysterious and otherworldly to me." Kalamazoo Kid: "Not identical, but certainly aesthetic kin to Chance Encounters and Simplex." Mozo: "I'm just totally awed by its complexities. I especially love listening to it late at night when it's raining cats and dogs, complete with thunder and lightning." james warner: "I transferred my original copy to CD, but couldn't do much about the tape hiss. Now the atmospheric nature of this music can be fully appreciated." Albums Menu Future Past

Soluna Oriana Mick Karn appeal download track Click image for cover Artwork FREE download track - Released June 2010. SOLUNA ORIANA Currently unavailable on any album Ambient instrumental feauring e-bow guitar improvisation. This track is dedicated to the Mick Karn appeal. Written, performed, recorded and produced by Bill Nelson. All rights Bill Nelson 2010.

Excellent Spirits Channel Light Vessel album - 30 July 1996 Albums Menu Future Past TRACKS: 01) The Invisible Spectator 02) Footsteps 03) Haiku Detour (Bop Kyoto) 04) Birdie 05) Loose Connections 06) Eternal Lightbulbs (For The Infinite Stars) 07) Slow Jig And Whirligig 08) Stone In Your Palm 09) Accordion Night 10) The Offering 11) Same Shape, Different Meaning 12) Everything Everywhere 13) The Century That Dared To Dream Bonus Tracks (Japanese release only) 14) Decode Me Baby 15) Clear Controls Confirmed ALBUM NOTES: Excellent Spirits is the second and, to date, most recent album issued by Channel Light Vessel. The album was recorded at Fairview Studios, Hull. The album features most of the musicians as on their debut, Automatic , with Bill Nelson, Roger Eno, Kate St. John, and Laraaji being joined by Ian Leese, who provided bass guitar on most tracks. The original CD edition of the album was issued in the UK (on All Saints Records), USA (on Gyroscope), and Japan (on Polydor). Japanese copies contain 2 exclusive bonus tracks (listed above). Unusually for a Nelson related release, the download edition on the US iTunes site includes the 2 bonus tracks included on the Japanese CD issue. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: A repackaged version of the album was issued in the UK in 2006 in revised artwork and with new catalogue number, but with the standard track listing. This title is out of print, but still available as a download through major online retailers. BILL'S THOUGHTS: "Channel Light Vessel...was one of the most interesting and satisfying collaborations of my career, along with my work with Harold Budd. "Both album's are, in my obviously biased opinion, excellent. I tend to favour the second one over the first...but only slightly. I co-wrote the songs with the other members of the band and produced the albums too...The record label was 'All Saints', run by Dominic Norman-Taylor, Brian Eno's brother-in-law. And of course, Brian's brother Roger was one of the band along with Kate St. John, Laraaji, Mayumi Tachibana and myself. We also had fun making a low-budget promotional video, (which I directed), for the song "Testify". We were, I think, ahead of our time. Thoughtful but warmly romantic music that embraced and united all sorts of styles and genres as a cohesive whole. (Something that my own work has done for many years)." _____ "CLV was an unlikely but, in retrospect, extremely fruitful collaboration between people who genuinely had a lot of love and respect for each other. I'm very proud to have been associated with the project." _____ From a Roger Eno Interview: Eno does nevertheless shed light on some aspects of the magic ingredients that went into Excellent Spirits . Bizarre instrument credits on the inlay, like 'spookshow keyboards', 'falling stars', 'space birds', 'lickety loops' and 'bagpipes from Venus' were the product of Bill Nelson's fertile imagination, while some of the wackier repeated vocal samples on the album, like "make your vision your mission", or "accordion night" were all courtesy of Laraaji, who apparently is heavily into spiritual things. The track "Accordion Night", which features the aforementioned Laraaji sample, and is made up of Spanish and dance hall music elements, serves as a good example of how the four members drew all these disparate elements together: "Laraaji had to leave before the end, so we tried to get everything off him that we needed before he left, including several vocal samples. We took the "accordion night" one, then Bill would have a tape loop, I may have given a chord sequence, and Kate a melody." "After that, one thing sparks off another. The pieces write themselves really, although I know that sounds a bit stupid. But we're really making it up as we go along. It's like knitting without a pattern, and then suddenly you realise it starts to look like a glove." [Laughs out loud.] [ Sound on Sound Magazine, October 1996 ] FAN THOUGHTS: Tony M: "The variety of style and the musicianship really stand out, unlike anything released during the mid 90's and even now for that matter. "Bill's Last Waltz", "Everything Everywhere" and "The Invisible Spectator" are favorites amongst the other great songs. "For those here at the Forum that have yet to experience Channel Light Vessel, I believe that both CDs have been reissued. You will not be disappointed." OlderJoe: "Kate on her website is very complimentary about how Bill would play a certain bit of ebow then just let others develop the tune, always a winner in collabs and such. Those guys worked so well together and should have been more of a 'commercial' success than they actually were. "Of all the 'Bill' related CDs I own, these are 2 of my most favourites, no, they are my 2 most favourite...No Bill Nelson fan should be without these 2 masterpieces. Hmmm - time for some "Bubbling Blue" me thinks!!" Albums Menu Future Past

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

Transcorder retrospective 2CD collection - 18 December 2020 Bill Nelson Collections Menu Future Past Purchase this download DISC ONE TRACKS: 01) Sleepcycle (from Cocteau Club EP#1, 1982) 02) Konny Buys A Kodak (from Cocteau Club EP#1, 1982) 03) When The Birds Return (from Cocteau Club EP#1, 1982) 04) The Beat That Can't Go Wrong Today (from Cocteau Club EP#1, 1982) 05) King Of The Cowboys (from Cocteau Club EP#2, 1982) 06) Shadowland (from Cocteau Club EP#2 , 1982) 07) Carnival (from Cocteau Club EP#2 , 1982) 08) Spring (from Cocteau Club EP#2 , 1982) 09) Dancing On A Knife's Edge (from Cocteau Club EP#3 , 1983) 10) Indiscretion (from Cocteau Club EP#3 , 1983 ) 11) Contemplation (from Cocteau Club EP#3 , 1983 ) 12) The World And His Wife (from Cocteau Club EP#4 , 1983 ) 13) Dream Car Romantics (In Death's Garage Antics) (from Cocteau Club EP#4 , 1983 ) 14) Dancing Music (from Cocteau Club EP#4 , 1983 ) 15) Hard Facts From The Fiction Department (from Cocteau Club EP#5 , 1984 ) 16) Daily Bells (from Cocteau Club EP#5 , 1984 ) 17) Rhythm Unit (from Cocteau Club EP#5 , 1984 ) 18) Junc-Sculpture (from Cocteau Club EP#5 , 1984 ) DISC TWO TRACKS: 01) The Strangest Things, The Strangest Times (from Cocteau Club EP#6 , 1984 ) 02) Phantom Gardens (from Cocteau Club EP#6 , 1984 ) 03) French Promenade (from Cocteau Club EP#6 , 1984 ) 04) Golden Mile (from Cocteau Club EP#6 , 1984 ) 05) West-Deep (from Cocteau Club EP#6 , 1984 ) 06) Threnodia (from Cocteau Club EP#6 , 1984 ) 07) A Dream Fulfilled (from Cocteau Club EP#7 , 1986 ) 08) Familiar Spirit (from Cocteau Club EP#7 , 1986 ) 09) Palais Des Marine (from Cocteau Club EP#7 , 1986 ) 10) Letter To Jacques Maritain (from Cocteau Club EP#7 , 1986 ) 11) Villefranche Interior (from Cocteau Club EP#7 , 1986 ) Bonus Tracks 12) Tony Goes To Tokyo (And Rides The Bullet Train) (credited to Revox Cadets, Cocteau 7” B-side, 1981) 13) Highway 2000 ( credited to Revox Cadets, from Cocteau Signature Tunes LP, 1986) 14) Dancing In The Wind (from Touch And Glow, 7" B-side, 1982) 15) Get Out Of That Hole (from Life in Your Hands, 12” single, 1989) 16) My Dream Demon (from Life in Your Hands , 12” single, 1989) 17) Try (previously unreleased) 18) The Jitters (previously unreleased) 19) Roto-Scope (previously unreleased) 20) Marine Drive (previously unreleased) 21) Dark Horse (previously unreleased) ALBUM NOTES: Transcorder is a 39 track 2CD compilation album of songs and instrumentals issued on the Sonoluxe label in a limited edition of 1000 copies. The album was compiled by Jon Wallinger and brings together all 29 tracks issued through the Cocteau Club on the series of exclusive fan club EPs which were originally released between 1982 and 1986. Full details of these EPs can be found in the Singles section of the Discography . In addition, Transcorder contains a number of singles-only tracks, one past compilation exclusive recording and five previously unreleased tracks recorded in 1984/5 from the so-called “PCM-F1 Tapes”. 19 of the 34 previously released tracks contained on Transcorder are appearing on CD for the first time as well as being back in print for the first time since their initial release back in the 1980s. 7 of the 15 tracks that have previously appeared on CD have been out of print since 1989 with 4 of the 8 tracks currently in print only being available as downloads. The material presented on Transcorder stems from a number of sources including some tracks from master tapes with others taken from the copies of the original vinyl releases. Eddie McSheffrey, Martin Bostock and John Spence have worked alongside Jon Wallinger on the provision and selection of the best sources available and John Spence has ensured that any limitations of the source material have been addressed through his skilled use of computer software. The album was mastered at Fairview Studios by John Spence in early November 2020 with artwork created by Martin Bostock working with images taken from the Acquitted By Mirrors club magazines. Pre-orders for Transcorder were announced by Burning Shed on 17th November 2020. Transcorder sold out in June 2022. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available to purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . PAST RELEASES: DISC ONE Tracks 2 and 3 were later included on the The Two Fold Aspect of Everything (Cocteau, 1985 (2LP) and Cocteau, 1986 (CD)) and the 2CD US reissue of the same album, all three sources being long out of print. Track 4 was later included both on the US 2CD edition of The Two Fold Aspect of Everything (Enigma, 1989) and the US CD version of The Love That Whirls (Enigma, 1989) both sources being long out of print. Tracks 9, 10 and 11 were later included on the 'bonus disc' of The Practice of Everyday Life (2011). Although out of print in physical form, this box set is available as a digital download via major online retailers. Track 12 was released on the 1989 Enigma US CD release of Quit Dreaming And Get On The Beam. Track 15 was later included on the 7" and 12" releases of the Acceleration single and The Two Fold Aspect of Everything compilation (Cocteau, 1985 (2LP) and Cocteau, 1986 (CD), all of which are out of print) and also appeared as a bonus track on the 2005 remastered CD issue of Chimera , which is out of print in physical form but available as a download. Track 16 was later included on the US 2CD version of The Two Fold Aspect of Everything compilation (Enigma 1989, out of print). DISC TWO Track 1 was later included on The Strangest Things CD compilation (Enigma, 1989, out of print). Tracks 2, 5, 6 and 11 were later included on Chance Encounters in the Garden of Lights album (Cocteau, 1987) which was reissued in 2017 and is available for purchase in the Dreamsville Store . Track 13 was previously exclusive to the Cocteau Records sampler album Signature Tunes (Cocteau, 1986, out of print). Track 14 was later available separately on Touch and Glow EP (Cocteau, 1983) and later again included on The Strangest Things CD compilation (Enigma, 1989, out of print). Collections Menu Future Past

Caliban And The Chrome Harmonium Bill Nelson album - 18 August 2001 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) Fontana 02) Beautiful Big Boobies 03) American Moderne 04) Sweet Dead Bunny 05) My Pal Hal (For Mr. Budd) 06) Grand Arcade 07) Filigree 08) Suburban Pearl 09) Chiffon 10) Years From Now 11) A Short History Of The Future 12) Bell Bird 13) Pink Poodle Parade (Organ Version) 14) Disneyland After Dark Digital download version bonus tracks: 15) Thematix 16) The Piano Lesson 17) Radium Cocktail 18) In The Rain ALBUM NOTES: An extremely limited item, Caliban and the Chrome Harmonium was a privately produced mini-album given to the artist's close friends and associates, some of whom had helped to organise the first of what would be an annual event called Nelsonica . Nelson then also rewarded around 20 fans with a copy of the album, in slightly revamped artwork, who had contributed funds to his transition from analogue to digital recording facilities. It is believed that the official production line of this CDR ran to somewhere around 30 copies, although unofficial copies have circulated. This release unveiled a new label in the shape of Almost Opaque, this release being a "Custom Culture Edition" for Almost Opaque Records. Almost Opaque would be reserved for the exclusive convention albums released over the period 2001-04. At the Nelsonica 01 event, held in 2001, two further copies of Caliban and the Chrome Harmonium were auctioned and were purchased for several hundred pounds apiece. At least 1 copy of the official run of CDRs has appeared for sale on eBay and this too reached an impressive price. PAST RELEASES: Three of the tracks from Caliban , namely "American Moderne", "Filigree" and "A Short History of the Future" would re-appear on Noise Candy (2002), with another track, "Pink Poodle Parade", appearing in an alternate version on the same release. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: In August 2025, Caliban And The Chrome Harmonium was released for the first time officially as a digital download. This specially extended version contains four additional tracks which were recorded Between 1987 and 1989. Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "Caliban And The Chrome Harmonium is a collection of related piano and vibraphone pieces, created as ‘spontaneous compositions’, or ‘semi-organised’ improvisations. The mood is mid-20th century instrumental ‘moderne’, and somewhat American in flavour. The music aims at a kind of ghostly Gershwin piano roll ambience, although this is merely a starting, or ‘reference point’ for some of the pieces. A spirit of cartoon futurism permeates much of the work and there has been no attempt to separate the low from the highbrow. On this planet, Morton Feldman and Chico Marx share the same piano." _____ "Caliban and the Chrome Harmonium will be issued properly/officially before too long as part of a projected box set of all the Nelsonica limited edition recordings. AND it will be given a proper mastering process, something which the original didn't receive. There will be no rarity value in any of my recordings, before long, as none of them will ever be permanently out of print." FAN THOUGHTS: Peter: "This is a special album, in many ways. Not only is it rare, having only been released in very limited quantities, but it stands apart in content as well. A collection of compositions for piano and vibraphone, it shows a side to Bill's creative genius that is glimpsed elsewhere, but seldom indulged to a large degree. The sparseness of the instrumentation lays bare the compositions, revealing their structures and raw beauty. A very interesting and rewarding look at Bill from another angle." Albums Menu Future Past

Brave Flag download single - 01 August 2022 Bill Nelson Singles Menu Future Past TRACKS: 01) Brave Flag 02) Mondo Bravado NOTES: This charity download single contains two guitar-based instrumental tracks. Upset by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Nelson wanted to try and help out in some small way by recording these tracks and offering them for download with the hope that those who download them would contribute to the Ukrainian humanitarian charities appeal. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available as a free digital download on this page, or in the Free Downloads section ... please make a donation if you like the tracks!!! BILL'S THOUGHTS: "I'm sure you will all be aware of the illegal and brutal invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces under the direction of Vladimir Putin. I've watched the situation unfold from its beginning with increasing horror. The Ukrainian people are suffering loss of life and homes due to the cruel onslaught of Russian missiles, shelling and bombing. There have also been gross atrocities and war crimes committed by Russian troops that will shock and disgust anyone with an ounce of decency. "I wanted to help, even if only in a small way, so have created a special single, the 'A Side' of which is titled 'Brave Flag' . The 'B Side' is titled 'Mondo Bravado' . Both tracks are instrumentals in the rock genre and feature epic guitars. The tracks come straight from my home studio and are in unmastered form. "I'm making the single available to fans for FREE as a digital download. All I ask in return is that everyone who downloads the free single should please donate a minimum of £5 to the Disasters Emergency Committee's Ukrainian humanitarian charities appeal. Every donation, no matter how small, will help to provide vital humanitarian relief for those in need in Ukraine. "Thank you for your generosity and compassion. Enjoy the single! " Singles Menu Future Past

Futurist Manifesto The Harvest Years 1974 - 1978 box set - 3 October 2012 Be Bop Deluxe Collections Menu Future Past TRACKS: CD1 Axe Victim 01) Axe Victim 02) Love Is Swift Arrows 03) Jet Silver And The Dolls Of Venus 04) Third Floor Heaven 05) Night Creatures 06) Rocket Cathedrals 07) Adventures In A Yorkshire Landscape 08) Jets At Dawn 09) No Trains To Heaven 10) Darkness (L'immoraliste) Futurama 11) Stage Whispers 12) Love With The Madman 13) Maid In Heaven 14) Sister Seagull 15) Sound Track 16) Music In Dreamland 17) Jean Cocteau 18) Between The Worlds 19) Swan Song CD2 Futurama Bonus Tracks 01) Between The Worlds (Original Single Version) 02) Maid In Heaven (Live) Sunburst Finish 03) Fair Exchange 04) Heavenly Homes 05) Ships In The Night 06) Crying To The Sky 07) Sleep That Burns 08) Beauty Secrets 09) Life In The Air Age 10) Like An Old Blues 11) Crystal Gazing 12) Blazing Apostles Sunburst Finish Bonus Tracks 13) Shine 14) Speed Of The Wind 15) Blue As A Jewel 16) Ships In The Night (Single Edit) CD3 Modern Music 01) Orphans Of Babylon 02) Twilight Capers 03) Kiss Of Light 04) The Bird Charmers Destiny 05) The Gold At The End Of My Rainbow 06) Bring Back The Spark 07) Modern Music 08) Dancing In The Moonlight (All Alone) 09) Honeymoon On Mars 10) Lost In The Neon World 11) Dance Of The Uncle Sam Humanoids 12) Modern Music (Reprise) 13) Forbidden Lovers 14) Down On Terminal Street 15) Make The Music Magic Modern Music Bonus Tracks 16) Futurist Manifesto 17) Quest For The Harvest Of The Stars 18) Autosexual 19) Japan CD4 Drastic Plastic 01) Electrical Language 02) New Precision 03) New Mysteries 04) Surreal Estate 05) Love In Flames 06) Panic In The World 07) Dangerous Stranger 08) Superenigmatix 09) Visions Of Endless Hopes 10) Possession 11) Islands Of The Dead Drastic Plastic Bonus Tracks 12) Blimps 13) Lovers Are Mortal 14) Lights 15) Electrical Language (Single Edit) 16) Love In Flames (Single Edit) 17) Panic In The World (Single Edit) CD5 Bonus Tracks 01) The Saxophonist (Demo) 02) Visions Of Endless Hopes (Demo) 03) Blue As A Jewel (Demo) 04) Speed Of The Wind (Demo) 05) Possession (Rough Mix) 06) Maid In Heaven (Top Of The Pops Backing Track) 07) The Modern Music Suite (Live) 08) Forbidden Lovers (Live) 09) Down On Terminal Street (Live) 10) Swan Song (Live) 11) Heavenly Homes (Flashman Remix) NOTES: A 5CD box set which very nicely brings together remastered versions of all but three of the band's studio recordings issued in their lifetime. If that wasn't tempting enough in itself, then collectors were drawn to it by the inclusion of a disc of unreleased material and a few single edits including "Love in Flames" (which was presumably planned for 7" release but cancelled). The set was enhanced by a nicely illustrated booklet with sleeve notes on each album. Be Bop Deluxe's output had appeared previously of course (see Past Releases below), but this was the most comprehensive collection of their studio work to have appeared officially, and is unlikely to be surpassed or supplemented in future. Notable inclusions on this set are the previously unreleased live recordings from the tour that produced the Live! In The Air Age album (1977), including the full version of "Modern Music Suite" (which Nelson had to overdub to fix some missing parts), and "Swan Song" (appearing officially in its live version for the first time). "Forbidden Lovers" and "Terminal Street" are also included from the same recordings. In addition to this there are four demo recordings of songs written for Drastic Plastic , including the previously unheard track "The Saxophonist", alongside "Visions of Endless Hopes", "Blue as a Jewel", and "Speed of the Wind". The only downside is the omission of "Face in the Rain" (which remained exclusive to The Best of and the Rest of Be Bop Deluxe double album...at least until the Esoteric Recordings super-deluxe box sets included it several years later), and the "Teenage Archangel"/"Jets At Dawn" single (their 1973 debut 7"). PAST RELEASES: Nearly four of the five CDs that comprise the Futurist Manifesto box set had been previously released on CD when the Be Bop Deluxe back catalogue was reissued in 1990, which is where most of the 'bonus tracks' could most recently be found prior to this repackaging of their catalogue. See individual entries of those albums for full details including vinyl editions of the same material. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: This box set is now out of print. Collections Menu Future Past

Tuesday 31st January 2006 -- 10:30 am Last day of January 2006 and no diary entry since 20th December last year. Should I put this down to a Christmas/New Year letting go of the reins? Or is it simply the usual pre-occupation with all things creative? A lot of the former and quite a bit of the latter is the answer. The usual over-indulgences at Christmas and New year have taken their toll, as they always do. Last year's constant pace came to a halt as soon as the shops closed on Christmas Eve and I dropped my accumulated stress at the door along with the final bags of shopping. I'd eventually posted all my Christmas cards, found gifts for everyone, bought enough food to see us through to the New Year and stocked up on wine, mulled and otherwise, to keep the cold at bay. It wasn't a white Christmas but it snowed a little the day after Boxing Day, enough to make the landscape momentarily magical. Walking through York's Museum Gardens at twilight, snowflakes spinning in gentle orbit around the amber glow of the old street lamps, the river gleaming silver at the foot of the hill beneath an indigo and rose pink star studded sky, I felt a welcome sense of wonder. It didn't last, of course, the snow that is. Within a couple of days it was a brown muddy sludge that made everything seem grimy and forlorn. A sudden grey plunge into the annual January doldrums. For a few brief days though, it had been a hedonistic, friends and family centred celebration of, not just the season, but for me, the completion of a year's constant work, a year with hardly a breathing space between one project and another. Early in the year, I had worked hard on the design of the Dreamsville website, gathering visual material and bouncing ideas back and forth with David Graham until we got a look that suited the site's purpose. Then 'stage one' of Dreamsville was opened up to the world, generating a very positive response from all those who accessed it. Later, there was the release of the two Rosewood acoustic guitar instrumental albums. Again, artwork had to be created for them, once I'd completed the composition and recording of the music. (And yet another challenge for Dave and myself.) These two albums, particularly Rosewood Volume One, I found very satisfying to make. I'd wanted to create a set of acoustic flavoured instrumental compositions for several years but, somehow, had never got around to it until the Rosewood project. What really took me by surprise though was the next of the year's albums: 'The Alchemical Adventures Of Sailor Bill.' For some reason, I was gripped more tightly by the hand of the muse with this album than anything I'd done for a long time. It completely took over my life and I worked longer and harder on the composition, arrangement and recording of the songs than I would normally have thought wise. Nothing's ever perfect, of course, but this set of songs comes as close to being personally fulfilling than almost any other album of mine. I think the reason for this is to be found in my current state of mind, conditioned as it is by advancing age and thoughts of mortality. Not morbid thoughts, mind, just melancholy ones... At least some of the time. 'Sailor Bill' successfully captures a certain mood, something that could, I think, genuinely be called an indicator of the 'essence' of myself. It is, if I may be allowed the indulgence, a 'mature' statement. In three years I'll be sixty, (and how fast three years travels in this light-speed era of ours). But sixty, damn it! I can't really comprehend this, it's somehow beyond belief, staggering. My childhood seems only a few heartbeats away, its memories still vivid, its hopes and fears hardly changed. Nevertheless, the face in the mirror reminds me that young Billy has vanished with the passing clouds of time and now only grandfather William remains, hobbled and earthbound. And do I feel my age? Well, yes and no but increasingly yes. Aches and pains and other little annoyances, a brittle creakiness, an inevitable erosion of flexibility, physical or otherwise, a stealthy dulling of the senses, an increasing world weariness. Life as she is lived, with wear and tear an inevitable part of the living. Yet still a mystery and still a wonder...Snowflakes under gaslight, a river beneath the stars. As good a reason to make music as any, I suppose. What else occupied my energies last year? Have I forgotten? Already it seems to have become a blur. A lot achieved though, all told. Here are some of the other things that I found time for:- The recording of the limited edition 'Orpheus In Ultraland' fan convention album. The Nelsonica 05 fan convention project with its attendant preparations and programming of content. The 'Popular Music From Other Planets' concert tour around the U.K. And yes, of course...lots of new music and video was created for that. But even earlier last year, before the above, more live concerts: The Harold Budd tribute that I took part in that was held at Brighton's Dome. Fun with Harold and John Foxx, Jah Wobble, Theo Travis, Steve Jansen, Robin Guthrie and others...a lovely, memorable event. Then the Lewes Guitar Festival with more new material to perform. And some other bits and pieces that slip my thoughts at this moment. Too much time spent in my room though, hidden from the world. Whichever way I look at it, the last two years have been intensely creative. Maybe I should feel a much higher sense of achievement than I currently do? Here and now, at the end of January, there's the usual weight gain to contend with, the usual promise to myself that it will be easier come spring, that the return of outdoor weather will coax the bike from the shed and encourage some sort of exercise... What usually happens is the opposite of course. I end up trapped here in the studio, hypnotised by guitars and keyboards and computer screens whilst time accelerates around my wristwatch in dizzy circles. A little vortex of used-up life. Some progress already: A couple of days ago, I completed the task of checking through Paul Sutton-Reeves' book about my career, ('Music In Dreamland'). It's taken me most of January to get through it all as I felt that I should explain to Paul in some detail my observations and reasons for suggested amendments. Due to approximately 30,000 words being edited from Paul's original text by the publishers, I felt that there were places where a little re-clarification might help. I've left it entirely up to Paul to incorporate or ignore these suggestions as he sees fit but I'm hoping that the time I've spent typing out emails to him will prove valuable to the book's integrity. It has been a weird experience reading about my career in this way. I imagine it would be disconcerting for anyone who had been made the subject of such a book, but I found it particularly strange. Sometimes I don't recognise the person on the page and am not even sure that I want to. At other times it's like being caught with my clothes off in public. I'm too unguarded, too ready to explain the music away, this eagerness to please resulting in some invented 'on the spot' descriptions of what the songs are about when often, in truth, I don't really have a clue as to their meaning. Do songs have to mean anything? It seems that, most of the time, mine do. I can't find a suitable justification for this though and would be equally happy if they contained no meaning at all. Here's something I've learned over the years but still regularly ignore: An honest pop musician does not generate as much public 'mystique' as a dishonest one. (Or one that plays his cards close to his chest.) And in pop music, mystique is everything. This indicates two things to me. First of all, I'm not by nature a pop musician, despite once, many years ago, pretending to be so. Secondly: I'm more interested in unmasking the conceits of celebrity than perpetuating them. This, of course, is not a formula for a successful commercial career, nor is it an attitude welcomed by those who benefit from such jiggery-pokery. The cult of fame, that so captures the imagination of the 'general public', thrives on fake glamour and artfully manipulated image-mongering. People, it seems, prefer being hoodwinked to being liberated. Certainly my own experience backs that up. Whilst the majority of my own audience appears to be reasonably intelligent and sane, there have been, (and sometimes still are,) worrying exceptions. I've occasionally gotten into quite heated arguments with overzealous fans who have taken issue with the fact that the 'real' Bill Nelson doesn't quite fit the 'virtual' Bill Nelson of their dreams. In fact, one sure way to experience just how negatively the cult of celebrity affects the human mind is to enter the arena of popular music. No matter how modest the level of celebrity one attains, sooner or later comes encounters with people who will obsessively claim you as the spiritual centre of their own fragile lives. You will be unceremoniously crowned the tin-pot God of their tin-pot universe... And woe betide you should you ever seek to unburden them of their illusion. Hell hath no fury like a fantasist brought down to earth. How easy it must be to create a spurious religion with so many willing, potential disciples. But such unhealthy mystification is all part of the entertainment business and is accepted as its general currency. Entertainment over enlightenment? As Brian Eno said in a recent article, 'we're all entertained to death.' Or something like that. Anyway, back to the book. All said and done, (and taking the above into account), I enjoyed reading it and expect that fans will enjoy reading it even more. It's Paul Sutton-Reeves' first published book and the first published biography of my career. A cause for celebration or trepidation? Well, perhaps we're both nervous of its reception. Will I have to hide from old girlfriends and ex-wives? Will my children understand their father any more than they do now? Will my friends still talk to me or look at me as if I've escaped from some travelling freak show? (Or do they already see me in that way?) The problem with books is they exile our frail lives to cruel islands of print. They banish fleeting experience to the state of permanence. Books adopt a form that appears, on the surface, substantial. We invest the printed word with a faith that would do the Pope proud. Words on a computer screen can be made to vanish with the click of a mouse but that thick brick of a thing that sits on your bookshelf or coffee table in constant view..? Well, it can't be denied so easily. It can't be switched off by the removal of its electricity. Well...let's see what this thing unlocks when it's published. Maybe I'll have to leave the country. There was some sad news just after Christmas which I've already commented on in postings on the Dreamsville Inn Forum. Derek Bailey, pioneer free-music guitarist and someone who has proved constantly inspirational to me over many years, passed away on 25th December, 2005. This came as quite a shock. I knew he had suffered some illness in recent years but didn't realise quite how serious things were. Derek died from complications arising from motor neurone disease. I learned of his death a couple of days after it happened. Ironically, I'd finally completed Ben Watson's lengthy biography of Derek and the free-music scene on Christmas Eve. On Boxing day, when my son Elliot and daughter Elle came to the house for a seasonal dinner, the conversation got around to Derek and I played them some selections of his music. The following day, the news came that he'd gone. Perhaps many of my fans might be puzzled as to why Derek was so important or as to why I found his work inspirational. It could be argued that, in terms of form and intent, our approach to music was quite different. Derek's playing might be seen by some fans of mine as being too abstract, too confrontational, too fractured, too something or other, but certainly not comfortable listening. But these 'too whatevers' were exactly what atttracted me to his work. He appealed to the part of me that resists the herd mentality, that akward, stubborn, 'I know best' part of me that rudely and clumsily and some times stupidly resists compromise. His music also worked as a purely aesthetic artform, sound and gesture for its own sake, open to appreciation without it always being dependent upon the academic theories that surround much of free music's barbed history. There were threads, I might have argued, that connected Derek's music to Cage and Partch, though I'm sure he'd have considered these slender and quite possibly totally subjective. Webern seems to have come into his equation though, through his own admission. There was also humour and mischievousness, grace and fire in Derek's playing. In his hands, the guitar was elevated to gallery status, a legitimate instrument of art. He was, in my mind, astonishing, revolutionary, the one player who I hoped I might one day be given the pleasure and challenge of playing with. Too late now. Like Cage, like Partch, like Picasso and Pollock and all of Art's far scouts and secret agents, the world required only one Derek Bailey. To attempt to play like him, (and some people did and still do), would be a travesty. What he created was his and his alone, unique, absolutely essential and unrepeatable. The world of music was made more curious, more kinetic by his contribution to it. And that's an achievement. There's an eloquent and reasoned account of Derek Bailey's life in the latest issue of WIRE magazine, a piece written by David Toop, (who curated the Hayward Gallery's 'Sonic Boom' exhibition that I contributed some music to a few years ago). It's worth reading, especially as David had the opportunity to talk with Derek on numerous occasions over the years. It's as fine an introduction to the man and his music as possible within the restrictions of a slim magazine. Derek's own book , 'Improvisation' is an essential read too, even for musicians who aren't naturally sympathetic to the free-music cause. Yet another positive force...gone, gone, gone...but not yet forgotten. Whilst on the subject of books. Christmas brought me new ones, as it always does. They were added to the small mountain of books that have accumulated throughout last year and which pressure of work has denied me access. I've made a start, although my reading is still done at the end of the day in the minutes before sleep. Here are some of the titles stacked by my bedside:- 'Despite The System: Orson Welles Versus The Hollywood Studios' by Clinton Heylin. 'Lovesick Blues, The Life Of Hank Williams' by Paul Hemphill. 'Dylan Thomas, A New Life' by Andrew Lycett. 'Quicksilver' by Neal Stephenson. 'The Sea' by John Banville. 'The Spirit Of Place, Nine Neo-Romantic Artists And Their Times.' by Malcolm Yorke. 'Untold Stories' and 'Writing Home' by Alan Bennett. 'Audio Culture, Readings In Modern Music' by Christopher Cox and Daniel Warner. 'The Rise Of The Sixties' by Thomas Crow. 'The Making Of Modern Britain' by Jeremy Black. 'Surrealism In Britain' by Michel Remy. 'Lost Highway' by Peter Guralnick. 'Ted Hughes, The Life Of A Poet' by Elaine Feinstein. 'American Odyssey, The Letters and Journals Of Wilhelm Reich' edited by Mary Boyd Higgins. 'Fritz Lang, The Nature Of The Beast' by Patrick McGilligan. 'Bill Brandt, A Life' by Paul Delaney. Some of the above I made a start on earlier last year but because I was so busy I broke off reading them and need to begin again when time allows. I also was given some very welcome DVDs, the most special of which is a boxed set of a mammoth twelve and a half hour long film/series called simply 'JAZZ, A Film By Ken Burns.' I'd caught some of this when it was screened as a series on tv, quite a while ago now, but never got around to buying the DVD, partly due to its high price. However, Christmas presents are one of life's little luxuries and Emiko generously bought it for me as a surprise gift. Whilst some have said that Ken Burns' view of Jazz history is a particularly selective one, for me the film is beautifully put together. I could watch it over and over again...it's uplifting, inspiring and heartfelt. Watching it is a wonderful way to unwind at the end of the day, the film's music and musicians providing a poetic reminder of why some of us became so besotted with music in the first place. It's the kind of programme that makes me feel proud to be part of a tremendous chain of musicians stretching back through history, meagre though my own contribution has been. Anyway, I'd recommend this fine piece of work to all music lovers, irrespective of whether Jazz rings their bell or not. If, after watching this film, the penny still hasn't dropped, then they're beyond redemption. In terms of musical listening, when I've found the time, (usually over dinner), I've been in a retro mood, albums by Ella Fitzgerald, Artie Shaw, Duke Ellington and Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Django Reinhardt, Ben Webster, Wes Montgomery and Joe Pass. Also Bill Evans' 'Conversations With Myself' album and, (not exactly a 'retro' record), Bill Frisell's 'East-West' live album. There's a real sense of elegance, intelligence and sophistication in these jazz albums, qualities that seem to have gone missing in action amongst our current pop/rock luminaries. To listen to these classic recordings is to enter another world, a world, I have to say, in which I feel comfortably at home. So, what are my plans for this coming year? Well, the 'Music In Dreamland' book's obligations now discharged, the next thing on the agenda is the possibility of working with Russian musicians again. My old 'Nautilus Pompillius' friend Slava Butusov and his new band 'Jupiter.' Still awaiting budget conformation on this though. The next thing I'll need to do after this is to mix the Be Bop Deluxe Decca audition tapes. I'm hoping to make these available on my own 'Sonoluxe' label before very long. Current favourite title for this cd is 'Tomorrow The World.' (Which was the title of an early Be Bop Deluxe song but equally suggests the group's ambition back in those early days.) Also, I've been asked by EMI records to mix some later Be Bop Deluxe live album tracks, different takes from those that found their way onto the 'Live In The Air Age' album, but from the same tour, or so I'm presuming. These tracks will be part of EMI's proposed big Be Bop Box set which will contain just about everything the band ever recorded. This is due for release later this year. Then I must work on a new instrumental guitar album, volume two in the 'Painting With Guitars' series, (of which 'The Romance Of Sustain' was volume one). I've yet to choose the 'main' title for this album but it will contain versions of the more recent instrumental material that I've incorporated into my solo performances these last two years, tracks such as 'The Girl On The Fairground Waltzer,' 'Blue Amorini,' 'Blackpool Pleasure Beach And The Road To Enlightenment,' and 'Electric Milkcart Blues' amongst others. Also planned is an album of unreleased sketches and demos from my 1980's archives. The main focus of my attention will be a new vocal album, the next step on from 'Sailor Bill.' I want to take my time with this though and, bearing in mind the archive material already planned for release, I may not find time to complete a brand new album this year. We'll see... This year's fan convention, Nelsonica 06, is yet another project to deal with, and very soon too if it is to be ready for a proposed autumn event date. New venues to check out first. I have had an idea about including a sort of guitar 'masterclass' as part of the convention, a non-academically inclined one that will allow me to talk about aesthetic approaches to the instrument as well as technical ones. A special, limited edition CD will be required for the convention too, as is usual, and 'Snow Is Falling', a song which I featured in last year's tour, is definitely going to be one of the tracks on it. Live dates? Well...I have some ambitious plans but I'm not sure at this stage how practical they will be. As always, it's down to funding. And that's plenty to be getting on with, I think. Letters from Harold who is moving house, heart and head. A jolly note from Roger Eno too. Emails from Peter Coulombe and Chuck Bird with reference to a possible Nelsonica USA fan convention. They are starting to get results back from a survey to discover how many American fans would be interested in attending such a thing. I'm told it looks promising at the moment. If all goes to plan, it may be that there will be two Nelsonicas next year, one here in England and one in the States. Three new doors being fitted to the house due to weather damage. Awaiting quotations from decorators to repair all the exterior woodwork which will need doing once the new doors are fitted. One door has been hung today, ('though only undercoated at the moment). The other two were not quite the right fit so have been taken away to be adjusted and will be fitted next Monday I'm told. Elliot passed his driving test, first time! I'm pleased but now I've something extra to worry about. Part of being a parent, I suppose. My mother still worries about me when I'm out on the roads, even though I'm 57 years old and have been driving since the 1960's. (Why does that last sentence remind me of Alan Bennett?) Emiko has had one day a week cut from her schedule at the flower shop and is looking for a way to fill the financial gap. She's thinking about putting in some time at an old people's home as a carer. Whilst I'm sure that she'd be able to do this quite well, it seems a shame as her talent is really with flowers. Sometimes, I wish she had more ambition and would make more of her gifts but she says she's too old to do so. I think she's too easy going in some ways but, I love her as she is. She accepts the difficulties of being married to someone whose career is always up and down and insecure so I have nothing to complain about. I'm very lucky to have her share my life with me. Outside my window: grey, undistinguished January weather. Nothing much to uplift the spirits, just that typically flat, beginning of the year mood-dulling atmosphere. Roll on Spring and the saffron song of daffodils. Top of page William's Study (Diary Of A Hyperdreamer) January 2006 Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2013

I Hear Electricity Bill Nelson download single - 18 December 2008 Singles Menu Future Past TRACKS: 1) I Hear Electricity 2) Kiss You Slowly NOTES: "I Hear Electricity" and "Kiss You Slowly" were initially issued together as a free two track digital single. The single was announced by Nelson in a post on the Dreamsville forum dated 10 December 2008, at which point the 'A' side was listed as "I Hear Electricity (The Panic In The World Universal Chord Shifter With Apache Overtones)", although the lengthy sub-title would not be used on the official release. At the time they first appeared, both songs were exclusive tracks, but each would feature on Nelson albums issued the following year, with "I Hear Electricity" featuring on Fancy Planets , and "Kiss You Slowly" on the Nelsonica release The Dream Transmission Pavilion (with the slightly altered title of "Kiss You Slow"). CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available as a free digital download on this page, or in the Free Downloads section . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "The single contains two brand new, recently recorded tracks, both featuring my vocals as well as guitars and other sounds. The 'A-side' has a rather long and strange title: "I Hear Electricity, (The Panic In The World Universal Chord Shifter With Apache Overtones)." "The 'B-side' is more modestly titled: "Kiss You Slow". The A-side is a surreal 'rocker' with typical twists and turns. It also contains an amusing musical 'in-joke'. At your Christmas party, this song is suitable for vertical dancing. The B-side is a moody, semi-ambient vocal ballad with a romantic lyric. After your Christmas party, this song is suitable for horizontal dancing. I think you'll enjoy it! And it's FREE! Merry Christmas, folks!" Singles Menu Future Past

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2013 William's Study (Diary Of A Hyperdreamer) December 2010 Jan May Jun Sep Nov Wednesday 1st December 2010 -- 4:00 pm Heavy snow and freezing cold weather these last few days, the coldest November on record apparently. We've hardly ventured out due to extremely poor driving conditions. Our narrow country lane escapes the attention of the council's snow ploughs or gritting trucks, and driving Emiko's small hatchback along it from our home to the main road has proved hazardous. Had to get to the village post office late on Monday afternoon and even turning the car around in the back garden was tricky. Snow almost up to axle depth and a ten minute scraping frenzy to get all the frozen white stuff off the car's windows. This sort of weather looks set to continue. Today, (Wednesday), we've had a continuous blizzard since early morning. Only now, at 1:35pm as I write, has the sky cleared a little and the snow stopped, but not for long, I expect. It must be costing us a small fortune to keep the heating on in the house and the freezing cold at bay. I need to find someone to come and sweep the chimney, and mend our damaged wood burning stove so that we can back up the central heating with something a little hotter and slightly less expensive. The sore throat that threatened to turn into a cold last weekend has finally morphed into the real deal. I was awake much of last night feeling miserable...runny nose and sneezing. Feeling tired and weak today. Hoping it is just a cold and won't turn into flu or some nasty virus or other. The main topic of this diary entry is, inevitably, this year's Nelsonica fan convention and its successful completion last weekend. A relief to be able to slow down a little these next few days. After a week of intense rehearsals and various other last minute scrambles and panics to get everything in place, Nelsonica 10 opened in a blaze of technicolour and stereo sound. From the reaction of attendees on the Dreamsville Forum, it seems that everyone had a wonderful time. For me, as always, the event brings with it a certain amount of trepidation. It's impossible for me to just kick back and enjoy it as I'm always concerned that there will be enough content to keep people entertained, and also that the live concert sections will be the best we can offer under the circumstances. (A large events room in a hotel isn't always the ideal location in which to perform highly amplified music!) Nevertheless...this year, we presented the biggest and most ambitious Nelsonica ever. Because 2010 marked the 10th anniversary of the convention, I'd decided that Nelsonica should be a little bit 'grander' than usual, hence the decision to hold it over two days instead of one and to include three concert performances, (solo, trio and 7-piece band), instead of just my usual solo set. But, as always when coming up with ideas several months before an event, turning them into some sort of reality is quite another thing. It's very easy to underestimate just how much work might be involved. And it turned out that there was a LOT of hard work involved with this one! Most people are probably unaware of the finer points of putting Nelsonica together. The routine usually goes like this: Early in the year, I play around with various Nelsonica concepts to try and come up with a theme and title for the year's event. This process could go on for several days or a few weeks, depending on how quickly I arrive at a conclusion. Sometimes, even if I think I've got it right, it's best to wait and let it 'settle' to see if it really sticks or suddenly feels inappropriate and vapourises. Once the concept and title is decided I begin to search through various archives for possible visual images that might be adapted to the theme. In this year's case, the source material was found by my 'Real Men With Rayguns' partner, David Graham who searched the internet for suitable visual starting points. These are then adapted, altered and tweaked, text added and so on. Dave and I pass the images back and forth and I'll comment, add or suggest things where necessary. It's a quite unpredictable process, sometimes it comes together immediately, sometimes we have to chip away at it more slowly. This year's visuals were, I think, relatively straightforward as the title was a little less ambiguous than some other Nelsonicas. Sometimes, interpreting the title requires lateral thinking, coming at it from odd angles. (A Day Trip To Wah-Wah Galaxy' being one example. 'Secret Club For Members Only' and 'The Experimental Time Travellers Ball' being others.) Happily, this years 'Circus' theme gave us a very direct reference point so the process wasn't too laboured and we were soon discussing a stream of circus-related images that captured the slightly 'eccentric' feel that I hoped the title would suggest. Dave and I work together on our computers via the internet so it's perhaps a little more time-consuming to get to the finishing line than if we were sitting together at a desk in a design studio...but, whatever the method, the results speak for themselves and we've developed a terrific working relationship. Dave is always open to making changes and understands my approach to visuals very sympathetically. Fairly early in the year, a meeting of the Nelsonica team and myself is arranged to work out a rough outline of what the event might include. This year, of course, I proposed the band concert plus Orchestra Futura trio and solo concerts and an expanded two day time scale. The special limited edition DVD, as well as the usual Nelsonica cd, were also part of the plan, as was the exhibition of some of my guitar collection and the inclusion of live-on-stage interviews. Then various tasks are allocated to team members. The live musical performances obviously are my main responsibility and I have to decide the content of these. Also, I have to create the Nelsonica album and original artwork for the auction, etc. Dave continues to provide visual counterpoint as the year progresses, adding flyers to the website and adapting our core designs to things such as posters and wall panels that will be used on the day. These are beautifully printed for us by team member Ian C and always look absolutely stunning when put in place at the event. The Nelsonica album then has to be written, recorded, mastered, designed and manufactured. The writing and recording can occupy a great deal of time, depending whether I'm happy with the material or not. Sometimes a good enough piece will emerge but it won't feel right in context with the other pieces...so it gets set aside and I begin again from scratch. Eventually, the convention album begins to take shape and Dave and I work together on the packaging design. Sometimes, the basic art for the album is in place before the album itself is completed. Often, the Nelsonica album simply 'mops up' any leftover tracks from the previous year's recordings, pieces that didn't quite fit on other album projects. But this year, the convention album was shaped around the event itself and therefore took longer to put together. (And, of course, before Nelsonica, I'd put together, and released, the 'Modern Moods For Mighty Atoms' album which did contain both 'left-over' material AND specially written material.) Also, as has now become traditional, a second, more 'major' album is created for simultaneous release alongside the Nelsonica one. This year it is the 'Fables And Dreamsongs' album. Again, the whole process of writing, recording, mastering, designing and manufacturing has to be gone through before we arrive at the end result. Sending off the finished master discs to the factory for manufacturing is overseen by Paul who acts as co-ordinator when it comes time to put the final album packages into physical production. Paul also took care of the pressing of this year's special DVD, (titled 'Picture House'), once I'd decided on its content and worked on the design with Dave. The key to the DVD artwork was a projector image which I'd adapted a few years back for possible use in my online diary or as a Dreamsville flyer. It had lain dormant but, whilst searching for a starting point, I'd found it again and it shouted out to be used. I filtered the colour of the image, tricked in a beam of projection light and sent it over to Dave who then began to work on the 'framing' of the image and the fonts for the text. I then had to write appropriate sleeve notes and go through the video pieces themselves to find images that I could turn into still frames for the 'filmstrips' that appear as part of the package's artwork. Paul then created a DVD menu page and wrote the digital codes for accessing the individual pieces on the master disk. We then checked that this worked before committing the finalised master DVD to the pressing plant for manufacture. Whilst all of the above listed activities were going on, I simultaneously adjusted and polished volume one of my autobiography. This actually meant that I had to completely re-write several sections of it to make proper use of more recently discovered information, a quite complex, time-consuming task. I also searched through extensive family archives to choose and caption over 80 photographs to include in the finished book. The job of getting the book's digital files ready for the printer was undertaken by Martin Bostock. Martin and I liaised over a few final details regarding text styles, size and costs and print quality, etc. Then the printing process itself began. Eventually, a batch of 500 was delivered to Martin but, upon opening the boxes, it was discovered that all the books were 'warped.' Martin complained to the printers who initially tried to escape responsibility by claiming it was nothing to do with them. Eventually though, they agreed to reprint the book. After a week or so, a second batch of books arrived...with exactly the same problem as the first batch. Completely unacceptable. We then decided to try a different printing company. The first company was asked to take back all the warped copies. According to the second print company, the problem lay in the poor quality paper that the first company had used for the book's cover. They assured us they could do a better job. We were now getting extremely close to the convention deadline and there was a distinct possibility that the books might not be ready in time. Luckily, the new printing company was on the ball and the books did arrive just in time for Nelsonica and, thank goodness, were printed and manufactured to a much higher standard. But it was touch and go for a while, not to mention costly and time consuming. The musical preparations for the live performance had been taking shape. I'd chosen material for all three sets and spent several weeks creating new backing tracks for my solo set and the Orchestra Futura set. These tracks were eventually mastered over at Fairview with John Spence but, at the last minute, I abandoned most of them and substituted other tracks along with four brand new, totally improvised trio pieces. Yes, a fair amount of time was spent recording new backing tracks but, although many of them were ultimately abandoned, they definitely will not be wasted. I fully intend to use them on an album of instrumentals next year. The band set also went through a couple of revisions, as did my solo set but Nelsonica Ten eventually ended up with approx thirty three individual pieces of live music across the three performance sets. A lot of music to master over a relatively short rehearsal time. (5 days in total but maybe four in real time as equipment had to be transported to the rehearsal space, and set up, then dismantled and moved from rehearsal room to venue.) Choosing the right material is never an instant thing...it's a drawn-out, involved process. I need to consider such things as the flow of key signatures from one piece to the next, tempo pacing, changes of atmosphere and so on. Also, (most importantly), the technical practicality of each piece is of prime concern, particularly when choosing the vocal numbers. The pacing of songs with regard to my voice requires that I take on board the physical need to warm up my voice a little at a time. My vocal range has changed through the years and I sometimes struggle with the earlier songs which were written when I was a young man in my twenties. My current 'mature' vocal range is far more suited to recent recordings, rather than than those long-ago 'boyish' vocals of the 1970's. Still...despite all these concerns and time-consuming attention to detail, the event itself was very well received by those who attended it. The musicians who graciously worked with me did the music proud and I'm very grateful for their help and the care that they brought to the task. The Orchestra Futura set was, for me, sublime. I love the idea of having no fixed map or template. We simply launched ourselves off a cliff into an indeterminate sky and went wherever the breeze carried us. Trust, faith, belief, letting go...whatever you want to call it. This is what, for me, Orchestra Futura has at its core. Simply 'being' is its 'reason for being.' The 'Gentleman Rocketeers' set, by comparison, was built on less mysterious foundations: rock 'n' pop and leather trousers! Simply get into the role and play the part. Loud guitar music and a couple of romantic ballads. During the set, I glanced round at Steve and Jon on their respective keyboards and saw that all was good! Nick Dew, (Be Bop's original drummer), who graciously consented to occupy the Gentleman Rocketeer's drum chair, is a lovely man who has always accepted my musical restlessness and, thankfully, never harboured any resentment when I had to re-shape the original Be Bop Deluxe line-up to comply with EMI Records' pressure after the first album, back in the '70s. Anyway, we had a ball! Weather on Day One of the convention became atrocious by the end of the evening. Emiko and I had a difficult time driving home on Friday night. At one point, I imagined us having to abandon the car and being forced to walk the last few miles through the blizzard. Luckily, we made it home without any mishap, though my nerves were somewhat frayed. Day Two was more physically tiring. In fact I felt weary even before I arrived at the venue. (And somewhat late due to weather and traffic conditions.) However, there were moments during my solo set when I was genuinely comfortable with the music and, I think, managed to pull a few white rabbits out of my battered old top hat. I'd chosen some of my own favourite solo pieces and enjoyed playing them for the Nelsonica attendees. The non-musical aspects of the convention were very well received too. The live-on-stage-interviews with John Leckie, Nick Dew and myself seemed to entertain and amuse the audience wonderfully. Even the almost three-hour meet n' greet, where I attempt to autograph various items, went reasonably smoothly apart from a surreal moment when I noticed blood dripping onto the table I was using to sign autographs. At the final rehearsal I'd accidentally hit myself in the mouth with the edge of my Fender Stratocaster as I was slipping its strap over my head. On Friday morning, I noticed in the mirror that a blood-blister had formed on my upper lip. During Saturday's meet n' greet session, I must have caught the blister with my hand and burst it, hence the sudden flow of blood. I had to apologise to the people waiting in the queue and dash off to apply tissues and cold water until the bleeding stopped, then resume my place at the signing table. People must have wondered what on earth was going on. As always, many fans generously brought along little gifts for me, and sometimes not so little ones! I soon had a couple of carrier bags crammed with goodies. This aspect of the meet 'n' greet session certainly eases me through the three hours it usually takes to share a few words with everyone! At the end of the day, I gave my closing speech, thanking all those members of the team who had given so generously of their time and talents. Then, to my great surprise (and pleasure,) I was presented with a very special gift from a number of American fans, some of whom were in attendance and some who were not able to be there. The gift? An absolutely fantastic robot, constructed from a guitar amp, a vintage radio and various other bits n' pieces. I'm still overwhelmed by this most fabulous and imaginative act of generosity. Such a thoughtful, kind gesture. Pictures of 'Victor,' (as I've titled him, due to his head being an RCA Victor radio,) accompany this diary. Those kind American fans can be assured that he will always be treasured by myself. And he seems quite at home in our snow-bound house! I'd like to mention the names of the people who collaborated to have Victor brought into being for me: Dar Shelton, Dave Fordyce, Dean Campbell, Dennis a.k.a.Wonder Toy, Gary In Merryland, Michael Cardwell, Perry Weissberg, Peter Coulombe, Phil Watkins, Radium Girl, Robert Galisa, Robert (Robbot) Schaad, Stephen Weis (Chromiumlad,) and Walt Richmond. Thanks are due to Jon Wallinger too who conspired with the above to get Victor over to the UK from the 'States. A plaque on Victor's back says: 'Dear Bill, this bot is an emissary from the New World: an automaton built especially for you to remind you of all your friends in faraway places.' Fantastic! After the presentation of the robot, I was given another lovely gift from the team members...a huge framed panel containing all ten Nelsonica album discs above a big photograph of the entire Nelsonica team with Emiko and myself sitting at the centre. All the team have signed this piece for me and it's a wonderful souvenir of ten years of the event. I was deeply touched by this gift and, once again, will treasure it. I must also mention Andy Newlove who stood in for my usual guitar tech Pete Harwood who wasn't available. Andy took on this complicated job at short notice and acquitted himself, (and thereby myself,) magnificently. I have a mind-numbingly complex guitar processing system but Andy figured everything out just fine. Also, I owe my thanks to the skills of Ian Thorpe and John Spence who, between them, guided the sounds from the stage to the audience's ears by the magic of the mixing desk. Sonic Wizards! Also nice to see Mike Robinson of Eastwood Guitars who had kindly donated a guitar for the star prize draw. I'd decorated this with a 'Sailor Bill' theme...made it into a kind of art object. It was won by long-time fan Derek Walklate and I was very pleased for him! Another special thank you is due to Stuart Gray, Nelsonica's star auctioneer, who every year entertains the audience with a highly amusing routine. He seems to be as talented a stand-up comedian as he is an auctioneer! (Though, sadly, I usually miss most of his performance due to being locked into the long meet n' greet session.) Nelsonica also supports the 'Sara's Hope Foundation' charity and this year the auction raised just over £1,000 for that cause. (I've also recorded a new song for the Foundation which will soon be available to download in return for a donation to this very worthwhile charity.) There were so many other people behind the scenes, all of them contributing to the fabulous two days that made up Nelsonica 10. There's a great team spirit about the whole thing, no egos, no grandstanding, just a broad commitment to putting on a great show for everyone who attends. But...Whether I can summon up the energy to continue with this annual event is, at this current point in time, not exactly certain. I do need to take some sort of break, ('though this is looking less likely as the days roll by). One way or another, I hope to continue to keep up the pace. As always, we'll see... All for now though. My cold is definitely worsening since I began to write this diary entry...and the snow is still falling. Looks like we'll be holed up here at home for a few more days yet. Time for some mulled wine, I think. ***** The photographs accompanying this diary entry are as follows:- 1 and 2: Views from Bill's home's windows showing the surrounding snowy landscape. 3, 4, 5 and 6: Victor The Robot enjoying the snow outside his new home. Top of page Tuesday 7th December 2010 -- 9:00 pm Just a brief entry. The weather continues to be extremely cold. The snow that fell during the early part of last week has hardly shifted...just become frozen and hard. Our garden resembles an ice-age swamp. Beneath the snow are frozen pools of water from weeks ago, water than never seems to drain during the winter months. An unyieldingly deep layer of snow on top of this means that we can't move the car forward to turn it around to get out...so we are forced to reverse out of the drive onto the lane, which itself is like polished glass at the moment. The refuse collection truck didn't turn up last week and so household waste is piling up. We have managed an occasional postal delivery but the postman treads very gingerly down the path to our door. Although the main roads into town have been cleared, (sort of), many of the pavements in the town centre are dangerously icy and it is essential to take care whilst shopping. Having said that, I've hardly been out of the house this week due to being ill with the virus mentioned in my previous diary entry. Today, though, cabin fever got the better of me and, despite feeling cold, weak and miserable, I accompanied Emiko into town where we had lunch at The Guy Fawkes Inn. Emi has a floral workshop at the Flower Guild this evening so we're skipping dinner and will just have a late, light supper when she returns. Today is an anniversary. My father passed away on the 7th of December 1976, (which was also a Tuesday). I was touring America at the time and was trapped in a snow-bound New York when the sad news that he was fading fast was relayed to me. I cancelled the remaining tour dates and caught the first available flight back to the UK, but Dad died before I even boarded the 'plane. The flight home was terrible, so many dark thoughts going through my head. Dad's funeral was at the crematorium in Wakefield. There's a little shed-like room built onto the side of the crematorium that houses a book of Biblical proportions in which the names of the deceased are inscribed on pages bearing the appropriate date. On the 7th of December, every year, the book is open at my Dad's name, where it was originally inscribed, 34 years ago this year. My mother and I have often gone to the crematorium on December 7th to look at his name in the book and to leave a few flowers and a message in one of the tin vases that are affixed to the outer wall of the building. But, with the weather being so bad and my concern not to pass my cold virus on to my mother, we thought it best to give it a miss this year. Mum says it's not as if we don't think of him often. When I spoke with her on the 'phone this morning, she said she'd been looking at a photograph of him and remembering those long-ago days when life seemed more sweet. My father was a complex but wonderful man. He would sometimes scare the hell out of me but could also be the kindest, most generous person. And, after 34 years, I still miss him. Those readers of this diary who have obtained a copy of my book 'Painted From Memory: Volume One: Evocation Of A Radiant Childhood,' will know how important he was to me, and how fond of him I remain. And, always at this time of year, my childhood memories of magical Christmas Eve's and Mornings are inextricably tied up with my father's care and love. What conversations I would have with him now, if only he was still around. I've done very little since the conclusion of Nelsonica. Not out of any great desire to relax but simply because I've not had the energy due to being ill. There are two new albums awaiting further work, ('Model Village' and 'Lampdownlowland'), but I can't imagine I'll make much headway with those until New Year, what with Christmas and all. I guess one of the pressing tasks will be to think about the content of the 6 CD career retrospective compilation for Cherry Red Records' 'Esoteric' label. That will be a major project which will require a lot of focus and care. Our Christmas Tree is now up and lit. As are some of our indoor decorations and lights. The old place is looking quite festive already but I've yet to buy Christmas cards, let alone write and send them. This task seems to become more involved each year. I've already received at least three or four cards from friends though. I've been thinking about this year's fan convention and realised that there were more ladies present than ever before, (despite two regular female fans not being able to attend). I find the presence of women amongst the convention's attendees encouraging. The male-hormone-centric guitar hero thing needs to be balanced by a lighter, feminine component. It's been pointed out to me that my music isn't totally dependent on the guitar-slinger image that was once the main marketing focus for record companies. There's also the singer/songwriter aspect and the stylistic/visual element to consider. Truth is, I've always tried to balance the Yin and Yang in my work. Sensuality and delicacy are as important as power and energy. There's no dividing line, just a seamless flow, a constantly evolving play of polarities. In the early days of Be Bop Deluxe, there was a deliberate attempt to play around with gender stereotypes: partly to confuse, (or outrage), those whom I thought of as being conservative 'straights,' or partly to explore the theatrical possibilities of being in a band, or partly because, at that time, androgyny wasn't quite the commercial product it was destined to become. The glam bandwagon hadn't completely been hauled centre-stage so I could regard dressing up in my wife's clothes as a surreal, hip and fashionable act. Maybe it was the zeitgeist, the spirit of the times. There was definitely something in the air, something that many creative antennas picked up on and tried to articulate. I guess, being young and impressionable, I hadn't quite thrown off the influence of the sexy 'sixties, (ie: Jimi Hendrix's coy, guitar as cosmic phallus sexuality), or the mock 'n' roll pantomime decadence of David Bowie, etc. Oh, and I mustn't underestimate the discovery that by throwing a cloak of ambiguity around one's sexuality, (no matter how tongue-in-cheek), a kid from a Yorkshire council-house estate could morph into some kind of fantasy babe-magnet. Ok, I played it for laughs to some degree, but, well enough to conjure up some sort of rock n' roll romance in a life that was, in real terms, humdrum and wilting behind a local-government officer's desk. A genuine need to escape, as much as a predilection to escapisim, was the subliminal engine that drove my dreams. I was, remember, not so long out of art school and had absorbed all the then fashionable art-school trends, everything from Symbolist painting to Pop Art, Hockney, Fluxus, Warhol and beyond. And a ton of other stuff I've absorbed but long forgotten. It turned out that I was not entirely alone in being seduced by a plethora of exciting and, seemingly revolutionary new art movements, both high and low: A great number of influential (and now 'household name' status) rock musicians shook their booty at the shimmering, near-legendary Art School Balls that were once held across Great Britain in the mid 'sixties. Oh, my...you who were not there missed a wonderous thing! Of course, all of this is increasingly forgotten now, and hardly acknowledged at all by the current crop of young pop n' rockers...But, without all the energy, chaos, turmoil, uncertainty, optimism, exploration, deviance, faith, hope and disparity we post-war baby-boomers manifested, everything that we now call 'now' would be radically different. Check out the high street fashions when you venture out next...look at graphic design, advertising, listen to 'indie' bands, etc, etc. You'll hear the echoes, see the ripples, from a glimmering stone that was long ago thrown into our British cultural pond. Some of it resounds loudly and remains powerful...but most of it just serves to underline the lack of real imagination, the shallow puddle of post-post-modernist pop culture that bleats so ineffectually from the polite confines of our living rooms. Now, of course, the pose is everything. Always was, but once, for some reason, found itself blessed with special, extra features. The dream was anchored in oceanic depths. Well, that's me done for today. I'd stated that this would be brief. A short diary entry only in so much as it is written quickly...A flow of thought without locks and dams. ***** The images accompanying this diary entry are as follows:- 1: Bill and his father in Bridlington in the 1950's. 2: Bill's father and mother in the 1940's. 3: Bill's father with his saxophone, late 1940's. 4 and 5: Victor the robot takes charge in Bill's studio. Top of page

Dreamsville Staff A who's who of all things Nelsonic Bill Nelson The Boss Whip-cracking and keeping everyone in line! Jon Wallinger Webmaster After being involved with various Bill Nelson related projects for almost 30 years, Jon has been tasked with building, updating and maintaining the Dreamsville website and Bill's Bandcamp digital download site. He also coordinates Bill's CD manufacturing with Burning Shed. Please use the contact form to report any website issues. info@billnelson.com Martin Bostock Photography & Album Cover Design Nelsonica team member Martin is also Bill's first choice of photographer. His extensive work with Bill can be found throughout this website. He also works closely with Bill on the package design for his albums. www.martinbostock.co.uk John Spence Sound & Recording Engineer Based at Fairview Studios, John has been recording and CD mastering engineer for Bill's albums for many years, he is also sound engineer for Bill's live appearances. www.johnspencerecording.co.uk Ian Haydock Live Event Coordinator Ian has been a crucial part of the Nelsonica team for many years and is currently managing Bill's CD Launch Party Events. Eddie McSheffrey Nelsonica Team If you've got a Bill Nelson related question...Eddie will know! He knows stuff about the music of Bill Nelson that even Bill doesn't know. He has been involved with the Nelsonica team from the start and is the man you have to 'get past' at any live event, so pray he likes the look of you! 'Big' Dunc Noons Nelsonica Team Big Dunc has been involved with the Nelsonica team longer than anybody can remember, he could be found at any live event extracting money out of anyone who happens to wander too close to the merchandise stall. Sadly Duncan passed away in 2023 and is dearly missed by Bill and the Nelsonica team. Paul Gilby Sound On sound Paul's roles have included co-ordinating the CD manufacture of Bill's music, website maintenance and technical support, video projection at live events and he is a long standing member of the Nelsonica team. Tony Adamo Merchandise Tony looks after the merchandise stall at live events, he also has to look after Big Dunc to make sure he doesn't get up to any mischief. Andy Newlove Guitar Technician Andy has the task of preparing and maintaining Bill's guitars and on-stage equipment throughout his live shows...A task made trickier by the fact that Bill usually likes to use a different guitar for each track! Stephen Weis Designer For the last few years, the live event posters, tickets, badges etc. have been designed by Stephen. His fantastic design are now also gracing some of the official merchandise available in the Dreamsville Store. www.stephenweis.com John Fisher Assistant Web Designer After John spent 18 months building an extremely extensive downloadable Bill Nelson Discography & Guide, Bill thought it would be a fantastic idea if it could somehow be incorporated into the website. This was the catalyst that drove us to start from scratch with a new website and John's initial work produced the foundations for a new and improved discography, which can be found in the 'Music' section of Dreamsville. The Dreamsville design team would like to express a special word of thanks to John Goddard, who spent endless hours archiving Bill's fan magazines and also scanning hundreds of covers from his extensive collection of Bill's music for this website. The initial information featured in the Dreamsville Discography was pulled from Northern Dreamer - A guide to the music of Bill Nelson, created by John Fisher and Mick Winsford. Mick wrote the album notes, while John was responsible for gathering the other elements and construction. They would like to thank the following members of the Guide Team for their advice and technical assistance:- Above and beyond the call: Phil (Wadcorp) Jim (James Warner) Tom (Parsongs) Jon (The Mayor) Jeremy (Iron Man No. 28) John (Puzzleoyster) Eddie And the rest of the Guide Team, who assisted with the album suggestions:- Adam (Chimera Man) Andy (andygeorge) Bob (BobK) Bruce (Merikan1) Chris (Novemberman) Dave (sauropod) Ian (felixt1) Keith (Returningman) Mike (TheMikeN) Neill (neill _burgess) Peter Reg The foundation of the A-Z song list was compiled by:- Benny (The Bronxapostle)

Futurama Be Bop Deluxe album - May 1975 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this box set Purchase this double CD TRACKS: 01) Stage Whispers 02) Love With The Madman 03) Maid In Heaven 04) Sister Seagull 05) Sound Track 06) Music In Dreamland 07) Jean Cocteau 08) Between The Worlds 09) Swan Song ALBUM NOTES: Futurama is the second album by Be Bop Deluxe, and was recorded at Rockfield Studios, Wales during January and February 1975. Futurama featured a different set of musicians than the debut album, now with Charlie Tumahai on bass and backing vocals, and Simon Fox on drums. Nelson provided keyboards in addition to his usual guitar and vocal duties. Andy Clark (keyboards) would effectively join the band immediately after recording Futurama , and this line up would remain solid throughout the band's future life span. The album appeared on vinyl and cassette, and was promoted by the release of the single Maid in Heaven , backed with the non-album track "Lights". Once again commercial success was elusive although the band's profile was certainly higher than the previous year. Futurama would be another album largely discovered in the period after the band experienced their commercial breakthrough in 1976. Vinyl copies were released in a single sleeve and the record was housed in an inner sleeve bearing lyrics to all songs. When reissued on CD in (Feb) 1991, EMI elected to enhance the album by adding 3 bonus tracks, although they represent a mixed bag in the context of this album and the reissue programme as a whole. The original (withdrawn) single "Between the Worlds" was certainly an appropriate inclusion, but this was less so with the live version of "Maid in Heaven" taken from Live! In the Air Age and "Speed of the Wind", which would have been more at home on Drastic Plastic , it being a left over from those sessions. If you no longer kept your vinyl copy of Futurama , and require song lyrics, then this CD edition satisfies that need, and the informative sleeve notes penned by Kevin Cann provide useful context. For some reason copies of this CD ran dry soon after release, making it unavailable for approximately 5 years. In 1997 the album re-appeared on CD (with Harvest label design) allowing those who missed out on the 1991 release to fill a significant gap in their collection. In April 2017 Cherry Red and E soteric R ecordings, who from 2011 to 2018, had 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. While this resulted in the deletion of existing physical editions, Cherry Red kept Futurama on catalogue from 1 June 2017 via the usual download sites such as Amazon and iTunes while an expanded edition was prepared for a 2019 physical release. On 31 May 2019 Futurama therefore became the second Be Bop Deluxe album to be issued as a Deluxe Edition comprising 3 CDs and 1 DVD as follows: a freshly remastered version of the original album plus 2 bonus tracks. a 2019 stereo remix of the full album and 2 bonus tracks alongside 2 previously unreleased studio tracks. an album of BBC recordings including 7 unreleased live tracks from May 1975. the original album plus 3 bonus tracks presented in a 5.1 mix and 2 filmed performances, the previously released OGWT footage from July 1975 and a super rare promo video for Maid in Heaven that was made in 1975 but never shown on TV. The album is presented in a triple fold out digi-pack and contains a 68 page booklet with an essay penned by Bill Nelson, reminiscing about the recording of the album at Rockfield Studios, postcards of publicity photographs from the period and a reproduction of an advertising poster issued to record shops. A 2CD edition of the album is also being released at the same time as the Deluxe Edition featuring Discs 1 and 2 which will also replace the standard download edition. The full track listing for the Deluxe Edition is: Disc: 1 01) Stage Whispers 02) Love With The Madman 03) Maid In Heaven 04) Sister Seagull 05) Sound Track 06) Music In Dreamland 07) Jean Cocteau 08) Between The Worlds 09) Swan Song 10) Between The Worlds (Single Version) 11) Lights Disc: 2 01) Stage Whispers (New Stereo Mix) 02) Love With The Madman (New Stereo Mix) 03) Maid In Heaven (New Stereo Mix) 04) Sister Seagull (New Stereo Mix) 05) Sound Track (New Stereo Mix) 06) Music In Dreamland (New Stereo Mix) 07) Jean Cocteau (New Stereo Mix) 08) Between The Worlds (New Stereo Mix) 09) Swan Song (New Stereo Mix) 10) Between The Worlds (Single Version) (New Stereo Mix) 11) Lights (New Stereo Mix) 12) Music In Dreamland (Phonogram Studios Version) 13) Between The Worlds (Alternate Single Version) Disc: 3 01) Stage Whispers (BBC Session March 1975) 02) Sister Seagull (BBC Session March 1975) 03) Maid in Heaven (BBC Session March 1975) 04) Lights (BBC Session March 1975) 05) Stage Whispers (BBC in Concert May 1975, Previously Unreleased) 06) Third Floor Heaven (BBC in Concert May 1975, Previously Unreleased) 07) Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape (BBC in Concert May 1975 Previously unreleased) 08) Sister Seagull (BBC in Concert May 1975, Previously Unreleased) 09) Piece of Mine (BBC in Concert May 1975, Previously Unreleased) 10) Maid in Heaven (BBC in Concert May 1975, Previously Unreleased) 11) Axe Victim (BBC in Concert May 1975, Previously Unreleased) Disc: 4 01) Stage Whispers (5.1 Surround Mix) 02) Love With The Madman (5.1 Surround Mix) 03) Maid In Heaven (5.1 Surround Mix) 04) Sister Seagull (5.1 Surround Mix) 05) Sound Track (5.1 Surround Mix) 06) Music In Dreamland (5.1 Surround Mix) 07) Jean Cocteau (5.1 Surround Mix) 08) Between The Worlds (5.1 Surround Mix) 09) Swan Song (5.1 Surround Mix) 10) Between The Worlds (Single Version) (5.1 Surround Mix) 11) Lights (5.1 Surround Mix) 12) Music In Dreamland (Phonogram Studios Version) (5.1 Surround Mix) 13) Maid In Heaven (Old Grey Whistle Test) 14) Sister Seagull (Old Grey Whistle Test) 15) Maid In Heaven (Previously Unreleased Promo Video) PAST RELEASES: The original edition of Futurama was deleted sometime around 1979/80, but was reissued as a budget release in 1983 by EMI, as a double album combined with the band's debut album, Axe Victim . The 1991 CD edition was replaced in 1997 which ultimately went out of print with the transfer to rights to Cherry Red. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: The deluxe box set and the 2-CD set is available for purchase in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: Bill Nelson compares Axe Victim to Futurama: " Axe Victim is a peculiar album, it hints at what was to come but really is just the sound of a band finding itself, an album of material which we'd almost abandoned. "That there was such a vast difference between that album and Futurama reveals a remarkable progression. Futurama was the first real Be Bop Deluxe album. Axe Victim is kind of a juvenile sophomore statement, a naive thing...nevertheless, there are hints at a more mature approach in some of Axe Victim' s songs. Unfortunately, "Jet Silver" and "Rocket Cathedrals" are not amongst them." _____ Bill Nelson comments on the 3-piece line up of Be Bop Deluxe: "The three piece Be Bop Deluxe actually toured in that form. I remember performing "Love With The Madman" live on stage whilst sitting at a Fender Rhodes electric piano. I'd written many of the Futurama songs on an old ex-chapel upright piano I had at my little terrace house at Anderson Street in Wakefield, rather than on guitar, so it eventually seemed sensible to add a keyboard player to the line-up. Andy was the only keyboard player who passed the audition, (although separating him from the hippie-style Afghan coat he wore and getting him into something a wee bit more stylish was not an easy task!" _____ Bill Nelson comments on internet pictures of his home at 27 Anderson Street, Wakefield: "It's interesting to see those interior pics after all these years...quite a few changes/modifications since I left there in the early '70s. The bathroom wasn't in the main part of the house back then, but in an extension behind the kitchen. Seems the bathroom's been relocated and is now in what was originally the second bedroom. In fact that's the room where the first line-up members of Be Bop Deluxe used to sit together to learn the songs I'd written for the band, before we worked on them in a 'proper' rehearsal space. "The wood wall panel thing surrounding the gas fire in the lounge wasn't there either...it's a more recent addition...(I remember drawing the cover for the Northern Dream album whilst kneeling on the floor in front of the fire in that room.) "The 'front room' once housed an old upright piano on which I wrote most of the songs for the Futurama album. "The bedroom is very much as it was when I slept in it...the window looks out onto Anderson Street and the perimeter lights of Wakefield Prison would cast their glow into that bedroom at night. It was around 43 years ago..." ALBUM REVIEWS: Review on Spill Magazine Review on Exclusive Magazine Review on Music Street Journal Review by LMNOP Review on Sea of Tranquility Review on ProgNaut FAN THOUGHTS: Rev. Keith A. Gordon: "Some of my personal Be-Bop favourites come from the band's 1975 sophomore album Futurama , with which Nelson took a decidedly left-hand turn towards progressive-rock territory. Evidently dissatisfied with the outcome of Axe Victim , Nelson fired everybody and got new musicians for Futurama , changing the band's sound immensely. While critics at the time questioned the prog-rock tendencies of Futurama , the album's best songs evince a sort of prototype pop-metal songwriting and performance that would influence the coming "New Wave of British Heavy Metal" bands. The larger-than-life "Maid In Heaven" offers up some of Nelson's most inspired guitar-play, the song's memorable riff and infectious melody matched by sing-a-long lyrics and the guitarist's great tone and energy. By contrast, "Sister Seagull" is a hauntingly beautiful performance with cascading instrumentation, judicious use of a melodic riff, and Nelson's high-flying solos. Performed beautifully here, the song's emotional lyrics are made all the more poignant by the powerful musical accompaniment, including the crying seagull guitar licks at the end." astrophobia: "My first BeBop Deluxe album (yes, album) was Futurama , but I cannot remember where I bought it. All I remember is that it was being played in the shop and I nearly pissed myself. Never in my life had I heard anything like it. I was hooked. To this day it is still my favourite BeBop album as every track exudes quality. I even ordered the sold out Axe Victim on the strength of that first listening." asterisk: "I then went over the B section and noticed there was indeed a Be Bop Deluxe card, with two copies of this oddly-illustrated Futurama album, both taped-up in plastic album bags. I then did the usual of comparing of both copies to make sure to grab the one in the best condition, and then walked back towards the counter. Then I stopped and went back to contemplate buying both but then came to my senses thinking why deprive anyone else of the opportunity I just experienced? So up to the counter with my new favourite album. "I asked the fellow 'what is this strange and wonderful thing?' He told me they were one of his favourite bands and that it had just come in with the shipment of new releases about an hour or so before. But I had to know - were they any other albums by this Be Bop Deluxe? He fumbled around beneath the counter and produced and even stranger looking album with an illustration of a guitar appearing to have been fashioned out of a human skull on its cover. How charming, I thought. But was it any good? He asked if I wanted to hear it and I declined, not wanting him to take off Futurama ." Harlequin: "A friend played me "Sound Track" from Futurama and it was like the first time I'd heard The Beatles. I bought that and every Be Bop record I could find. That led me to The Skids, The Lucy Show and XTC via the John Leckie connection." eddie: First Be Bop LP you bought, and the name of the shop?: "With me it was Futurama from 'Listen Records' in Glasgow, Renfield Street. "The night before my mate had managed to smuggle (I kid you not) a mobile disco into a house for some girl's birthday party, and he said have a listen to this, it was "Stage Whispers" cue all sorts of flashing lights and whatever. "I think we ruined the frigging party because we kept playing this track over and over again." polly: "When I brought Futurama home the very first thing she (Mum) said, was, "those boys all look clean and tidy". Praise indeed." Parsongs: "I really think Roy Thomas Baker did a good job on this one. It has a really "BIG" sound with a wide dynamic range. And I love Bill's piano playing on these tracks. I wonder if he played the piano at Abbey Road - was it a Bluthner or a Steinway? I think they might have had both..." loversaremortal: "Have loved Bills work since hearing Futurama way back when...and seeing BBD at the Liverpool Stadium in the 70's...I am catching up quickly on the great man's solo output...and I am VERY VERY Impressed...so ingenious and authentic and honest...qualities which shine through Bill's music." Albums Menu Future Past

Nelsonica 07 Live Archive For the Nelsonica 07 convention, held on the 27th October 2007, a new venue was required. The Park Inn , in the centre of York provided much better seating arrangement, as well as a break-away bar and plenty of rooms for attendees to stay over, should they wish! The theme and title of this year's convention was 'Secret Club For Members Only'. Attendees would receive a 'Top Secret' envelope containing their convention CD along with other goodies. Bill performed a solo set, split into two sections to allow for a break. Here's the set list for the show... Set One: 1: Gloria Mundae. 2: I Always Knew You Would Find Me. 3: The Raindrop Collector. 4: Golden Dream Of Circus Horses. 5: Night Song Of The Last Tram. 6: Beatniks From Outer Space. 7: Imperial Parade. 8: Somewhere In Far Tomorrow. 9: A Dream For Ian. 10: Contemplation. (Vocal.) 11: Ghost Show. (Vocal.) Set Two: 1: Mars Welcomes Careful Drivers. 2: Beyond These Clouds. 3: Artifex. 4: Teatime In The Republic Of Dreams. 5: Secret Club For Members Only. 6: Sleepwalk. 7: Hey, Bill Diddley!' (Part vocal.) 8: Neon Lights And Japanese Lanterns. 9: The Girl On The Fairground Waltzer. 10: Quinta Essentia. Here's a few pictures...if you have any you would like to add, please get in touch!

Chance Encounters In The Garden Of Lights Bill Nelson 2-CD album set - November 1987 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download DISC ONE: The Angel At The Western Window 01) West Deep 02) The Spirit Cannot Fail 03) Pilots Of Kite 04) Seventh Circle 05) Phantom Gardens 06) The Angel Of Hearth And Home 07) Villefranche Interior 08) Night Tides 09) First Memory 10) Azure Extension 11) Radiant Spires 12) The Evening Peal 13) Threnodia 14) A Short Drink From A Certain Fountain 15) Body Of Light 16) At The Center 17) Self-Initiation 18) The Word That Became Flesh 19) The Hermetic Garden 20) Revolving Globes 21) The Four Square Citadel 22) Little Daughters Of Light 23) Orient Of Memphis 24) The Angel At The Western Window CD only songs added to Disc One: 25) The Piano Room 26) Rain Dance 27) Aching Heart 28) Arising 29) Welcome To Realm Seven 30) Without A Blue Horizon 31) Female Nebula 32) Demon Raising 33) Burning The Grove Of Satyrs 34) The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of 35) Realm Of Archons 36) The Rossetti Effect 37) Infinite Station 38) Piano Angelica DISC TWO: The Book Of Inward Conversation 01) My Dark Daemon 02) The Dove Consumed (The Serpent Slumbers) 03) Calling Heaven, Calling Heaven, Over 04) Path Of Return 05) Theurgia 06) Staircase To No Place 07) Evocation Of A Radiant Childhood 08) The Kingdom Of Consequence 09) The Divine Raptures Of Sisterhood 10) Bright Star (Moonlight Over Ocean Blue) 11) A Bird Of The Air Shall Carry Thy Voice 12) Clothed In Light Amongst The Stars 13) Gnosis 14) Bringers Of Lights To The Feast 15) Hastening The Chariot Of My Heart's Desire 16) Transcendant 17) Consolamentum Ecclesia Gnostica (Music for the Interior Church) ep 18) Set Me As A Seal Upon Thine Heart 19) Mysterium 20) Katharos 21) Day Of Eternity 22) Evening Adoration 23) Ecclesia Gnostica 24) Young Angels By An Ancient River 25) Finis Gloria Mundi ALBUM NOTES: Chance Encounters in the Garden of Lights is a double instrumental album issued by Cocteau Records. It was Nelson's third consecutive non-vocal album released in less than 12 months. The album was issued on vinyl and cassette, the first vinyl edition coming with a 7" ep entitled Ecclesia Gnostica . As with Map of Dreams , it took a few months after the release of the album before a CD version appeared, which added the 7" ep to disc 2 and 14 exclusive tracks to disc 1. This was still early days for the CD format though, and the 2CD set retailed at approximately three times the cost of the double vinyl. The Ecclesia Gnostica ep was never officially available separately, but second hand copies that have been liberated from the double LP can occasionally be found on the collectors market. PAST RELEASES: In 1989, Chance Encounters appeared in the US on Enigma in 3 formats: 2LP, 2CD and cassette. In July 2017, Esoteric/Cherry Red Records reissued a remastered version of the double CD edition of Chance Encounters . The set is presented in a foldout double digipack, with a full reproduction of all the original album artwork. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: From the liner notes: "The music presented on these 2 albums marks the consolidation of several years of musical & philosophical practice. Almost every piece was conceived during moments of intense stillness or 'magical vacuity'. For this I acknowledge the influence of the late Austin Osman Spare, whose technique for creating 'automatic drawing' has found a sympathetic resonance in my own work. Of all the music I have made, this is, perhaps, the most personal & yet the least demonstrative. Attempting nothing & existing purely for itself, it is, nevertheless, a practical music, ideally suited to the occultist in search of ritual atmosphere or serene meditation. With such a purpose in mind I offer this work to my fellow initiates as a testament to the Gnosis & a confirmation of The World Within." FAN THOUGHTS: A Kinder Light: "I simply always wondered...how can someone even go about creating music like this? I was so blown away by this album when I first heard it that I thought that Bill might have been a messenger from another dimension. This might seem even stranger...but I use to hear snippets of music like this in dreams when I was younger, which made it even more intriguing." JMH: "From the first track, "West Deep", I am captured...I must admit, Chance Encounters CD is one of my nightly meditations. It is hard to describe the frame of mind one enters, at the second track, on hearing the refrain: "The Spirit Cannot Fail You". Another of the artist's perfect works...to me this CD is Timeless." wadcorp: "I defy anyone to listen to Chance Encounters in the Garden of Lights and not experience a calming effect. I put it on in my studio when I'm getting too tense for my own good…" Holer: "I' m heavily into Chance Encounters in the Garden of Lights album at the moment. It feels like a continuation of the Trial By Intimacy albums but even spookier and more evocative...Great stuff!" Phil: "Chance Encounters in the Garden of Lights remains my favourite BN album, much as I like the newer albums and the BBD stuff, it's this one that I play the most. It also contains what I consider to be Bill's most hypnotic and beautiful track, namely "The Angel at the Western Window"." alec: "I like the Surrealism of "Evocation of a Radiant Childhood", from Chance Encounters in the Garden of Lights . Its ending is very unexpected drive through the clouds-all-blue..." Panoramicon: "For myself, I chose disc 2 from Chance Encounters , The Book of Inward Conversation, to help me connect (in many ways) with the loss of my dad. The ten final tracks simultaneously lift me and break my heart, esp. "Consolamentum"." Parsongs: "The Trial By Intimacy box set really sealed the deal, with Chance Encounters being a zenith; an ambient collection I always refer to as an influence. I loved the charming simplicity of the Cocteau years, the way Bill would start with a blank slate and build up songs one sound and idea at a time." stormboy: "I think Bill came into his own when creating synth pieces from Sounding the Ritual Echo onwards through to Optimism , say. I particularly enjoy the beautiful construction of the pieces, which were expertly interwoven mainly monosynth lines. His sense of stereo production on these albums is fantastic, especially given (or perhaps because of) the technical limitations of his studio at the time... Although I still think Bill is a brilliant synth-er to this day, I DO miss the analogue manipulations that he so expertly displayed in the Cocteau years! I envy his mighty Triton, but some of the soundscapes he created with his analogue set-up are amazing." Johnny Jazz: "Bill's output is so varied, there's usually a piece of music that you can put on to compliment any mood, a sort of life soundtrack. Personally, Bill has a knack of recording stuff that evokes all manner of emotional responses in this listener. Chance Encounters , The Love That Whirls are prime examples of the many that hit the spot. I'm really hard pressed to think of any other musicians/composers who can do this in quite the same way as Bill. It's a VERY rare talent." "I'd hope that Bill reissues, if he can, the double cd version of Chance Encounters . Fortunately, I have a copy, and to my mind it's possibly the best collection of Bill's ambient music I've heard." John Fisher: "Wow! I just received my copy of the reissue here stateside, and I am impressed. Great digipack layout using all the original artwork, and nice attention to detail. Overall it has better presentation than the original. Well done Esoteric/Cherry Red!" Albums Menu Future Past

Bill Nelson Live! Unfortunately, Bill has no live shows planned at the moment and due to health issues it is unlikely that he will perform live in the future... Make sure you have subscribed to this website's mailing list for news and updates. Bill's Live Show Archive

Quiet Bells Bill Nelson album - 9 March 2015 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) We Here Who Were There 02) Vapour Grey 03) The Day I Dreamed You Up 04) Shifting Sands 05) Ocean In The Sky 06) I Dream Of Waves 07) Seaglass 08) Sun On Water, Wind In Wire 09) The Fields Beyond 10) Beneath Her Dappled Apple Tree 11) Chiming Shires 12) Boy Chases Butterfly 13) Ghosts Of The Space Age 14) Transcendental Tittycups 15) A Perfect Night - The Dawn Rejoices 16) Theme From Uncanny Valley 17) Quiet Bells 18) In Dreams Awake ALBUM NOTES: Quiet Bells is an instrumental album issued in a one-off print run of 500 copies on the Sonoluxe label. The album was the first to be commenced after Nelson had been diagnosed with a hearing problem, and was deliberately styled to be quiet and discrete. Work on Quiet Bells was commenced in July 2014 and was completed by September 2014. The album was released on 9 March 2015, and like its predecessor, Shining Reflector , sold out in 7 days. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "This album is a semi-ambient guitar instrumental fantasia, situated somewhere in mood between the Rosewood acoustic albums and the more electric Dreamland to Starboard , And We Fell Into A Dream , and Signals From Realms of Light albums. "It is predominantly guitar based but with lots of AxeFX processing and features the prototype of my 'Astroluxe' signature guitar. The album contains 18 tracks and enough musical mysterioso to keep you digging deep for many months. "It is also the first album I've recorded since my uncomfortable and debilitating hearing loss. Working on this album has been a real challenge, difficult and frustrating yet, despite all that, I think it has turned out ok. By the time it has been mastered at Fairview by John Spence, I think you will find that it's more than acceptable! It has a lovely, gentle, ruminative atmosphere which will, I hope, provoke deep thoughts and technicolour dreams." _____ "John Spence, when we mastered this album, said it was 'thoughtful'. I'll agree with that too...it has some deep and dark stuff going on in it somehow. It's one of the more 'soulful' albums of mine, despite the ambient nature of it." _____ "The photograph on the back cover of the album, (with the tree and landscape), was taken by me, only a few yards away from my house. Incidentally, the interior photo's of the Buddha statue, (with Emi's flowers), and the Carp pond, (plus the dragonfly image to the right of it), are my photo's too." FAN THOUGHTS: Palladium: "Completely 'blown away' by this (Quiet Bells ) - although it's not what I'd expected from reading the above comments. Very different in texture and sound from previous 'ambient'-leaning guitar instrumentals. Seems experimental, fresh, new, invigorating - the kinds of things you don't expect from an artist who has recorded a hundred or so albums! How many times have I listened to a new BN album for the first time, and at certain points thought "this is the best thing I've ever heard". I get a lot of that with Quiet Bells - like when I listened to "A Perfect Night - The Dawn Rejoices" first time." "The first thing that struck me about Quiet Bells was its depth and coherence, given some of the reviews and BN's own typically modest comments about it leading up to its release. In other words, I didn't expect it to be the major album I think it is." Parsongs: "What a wonderful album it is. "Bill has applied his ambient sensibilities (think Chance Encounters in the Garden of Lights ) to his best instrumental guitar compositions (a la Romance of Sustain ) to produce a completely new style and mood. "The music is soothing, relaxing, meditative, introspective. I recommend playing it start to finish, then repeat! I must add that the sonic fidelity is incredible; what a great mix! You never cease to amaze us, Bill!" machman767: "I've only been able to listen once but I'm amazed at the quality. Even more astounding is that it's been created whilst suffering the hearing problem, I can only assume that we really are in the presence of a gifted musician, not that there has ever been any doubt. I don't usually "get" these style of CDs but this is something much more deeper, as Bill says, it's got soul." RJR: "It hearkens back to the very awesome Rosewood CDs and meanders through Neptune's Galaxy , Silvertone Fountains , and other non-vocal collections. But, it is unique and stands on its own. I have a hunch that this one is one that will continue to grow as the spring and summer nights become more the norm. I told my wife that this one is a "floater" (please remove the first visions that just came to your mind) in that it creates an atmosphere where it augments the visual surroundings and creates a feeling of inner levitation." Face In The Rain: "Held off posting anything about Quiet Bells to give myself a chance to listen to it a few times, just in case I was wrong. But I'm not. It's my favourite BN album. Simple as that. I think that about each new release but this time I mean it. The sound is gorgeous - plus it's Bill doing what he does best which IMHO is noodling away on an axe. Maybe it's because I'm of a certain age and in increasingly contemplative mood but this album just completely hits the spot." Alan: "This album is absolutely beautiful. Nothing short of sublime. The music on this album is seamless in its ability to entertain. "Thanks so very much Bill, for providing the soundtrack of my dreams for all these years. And, it just gets better all of the time." andygeorge: "When I die and go to Heaven, and I will 'cos I'm a good boy, this is what I expect to be playing...wonderful music Mr Nelson!" Albums Menu Future Past

Radioland retrospective collection - 5 October 1994 Be Box Deluxe Collections Menu Future Past TRACKS: 01) Life In The Air Age 02) Sister Seagull 03) Third Floor Heaven 04) Blazing Apostles 05) Maid In Heaven 06) Kiss Of Light 07) Adventures In A Yorkshire Landscape 08) Fair Exchange 09) Ships In The Night 10) Modern Music/Dancing In The Moonlight/Honeymoon On Mars/Lost In The Neon World/Modern Music (Reprise) 11) New Precision 12) Superenigmatix 13) Possession 14) Dangerous Stranger 15) Islands Of The Dead 16) Panic In The World NOTES: Radioland is a compilation of the band's BBC recordings for 'In Concert', made in 1976 and 1978. Sourced from 3 different shows, each recording was edited when compared to the original broadcast material. The same compilation in remastered form and in new artwork was reissued as Tremulous Antenna in 2002. The subsequent release of At the BBC 1974-1978 (2013), with the inclusion of the previously omitted tracks, makes this CD redundant. Tracks 1-4: Recorded for BBC's 'Radio 1 In Concert' at the Paris Theatre 15.01.76. Producer Jeff Griffin. Tracks 5-10: Recorded for BBC's 'Radio 1 In Concert' at the Hammersmith Odeon 20.10.76. Producer Pete Dauncey. Tracks 11-16: Recorded for BBC's 'Radio 1 In Concert' at Golders Green Hippodrome 19.01.78. Producer Jeff Griffin. PAST RELEASES: At the time of its release, none of the material on Radioland had officially been issued. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: The physical CD is out of print, but the album is available as a download on internet download stores. Collections Menu Future Past

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2013 William's Study (Diary Of A Hyperdreamer) May 2010 Jan Jun Sep Nov Dec Tuesday 25th May 2010 -- 2:00 pm The gaps between diary entries become wider as the complexity of daily life increases. As I've said so often before, finding enough free time to write up this odd little journal is not always easy. My previous entry, dated 5th January, seems an eternity ago. So much has happened since then that it would be impossible for me to record everything in detail here without spending several hours typing. Instead, I'll attempt to fill in the missing pages in as condensed a form as possible. The last few months have certainly been eventful. During a bout of severe winter weather Emiko and I were involved in a car accident up in the hills of West Yorkshire, not far from Emley Moor. We were driving through a fairly remote area of countryside, on a narrow country lane running down a very steep hill, when, despite progressing slowly and carefully, we lost control of the car and slid sideways down the hill and into a grass verge, narrowly missing a tree. A large four wheel drive vehicle then came over the brow of the hill, stopped for a moment then attempted to drive around us but hit the same treacherous section of ice and snow and also lost control, slamming violently into the side of our car. We were lucky in that we were not physically hurt but we were badly shaken up by the event. Our car, however, suffered some quite serious damage which required it to be sent to an accident repair centre for extensive (and expensive) work. It was off the road for several weeks. Luckily, we were fully covered by our insurance and were given a courtesy car until the repairs were complete. The car is now visibly as good as new. A very unpleasant experience however, and not one that Emi and I would care to repeat. Another unpleasant experience was had when I fell ill with a very nasty gastric flu virus. It started with sudden shivering and aching body, then a very high temperature and stomach pains. I was confined to bed for three or four days, feeling absolutely awful, then not out of my dressing gown for a week. A further week passed before things really began to improve and I felt strong enough to venture outside. I always seem to catch some evil bug or other in the period between New Year and Spring. However, the really annoying aspect of this particular illness was that it caused me to miss the Rufus Wainwright concert in Sheffield for which our good friends Steve and Julia had provided us with tickets as a Christmas gift. I had been so looking forward to seeing Rufus and was terribly disappointed at being too ill to attend. A severe and prolonged toothache has also proved debilitating. It's settled down now but is still somewhat uncomfortable,especially when eating. Of course, my phobia regarding all things medical works against me in these situations. I tend to endure the problem until it resolves itself. Although I consider myself a reasonably bright chap, I certainly can be stubborn and stupid sometimes. I've also been spending time with my mother every week, travelling over to Wakefield to take her out for dinner, giving her a hand with supermarket shopping, etc. Also helping her to deal with the conclusion of the litigation process that she was forced to undertake in order to gain a little more security, all as a result of inadequate provision being made for her in her late husband's will. The whole thing proved to be a tough and totally undeserved ordeal for my mother but, after more than two years of legal action and a modest settlement, there are still a couple of loose ends to tie up. Hopefully, these final issues can be resolved as soon as possible and mum can put this unfortunate situation behind her and get on with her life. Another major pre-occupation for me has been the preparation of volume one of my autobiography. I began work on this project several years ago but, due to various other responsibilities, haven't touched the manuscript for quite a while. A recent decision to privately publish volume one in book form has meant that I've had to devote several weeks of my time exclusively to reviving the project. I've adjusted and re-written large chunks of the original text and compiled over seventy photographs from family archives which I'm hoping to include in the book. The work has required intense concentration and long hours each day to pull it together but it's now almost ready for a rough mock up to be produced so that any final layout/cosmetic changes can be made before it goes off to the printers. The book's title is 'Painted From Memory. Volume One: Evocation Of A Radiant Childhood.' It covers the period from my birth to leaving school and tells how I first became bewitched by guitars and my consequent attempts to learn how to play the instrument. I suspect that a publisher would, in the interests of commerce and conciseness, edit the manuscript quite dramatically...but I'm determined to make this privately printed, limited edition version of the book as true to my original concept as possible. It is packed with detailed descriptions of my early life and provides a unique view of the post-war, working class life in which I grew up. I'm hoping that it will have a broader appeal than a 'How I Became Guitar Boy' type of story, (although that aspect is more than adequately taken care of in the text). My hope is to have the book printed and available to fans of my music by November. Which would coincide perfectly with this year's Nelsonica fan convention. Nelsonica 10 is an ongoing and important preoccupation for me, even at this early time of the year. This year celebrates the 10th anniversary of the event and the Nelsonica Team and myself are trying our best to make it a special one for fans. After some deliberation regarding practicalities and dramatically increased production costs we've decided to attempt a complex two-day event to mark the occasion. I've concocted a fun title for the event: 'Captain Future's Psychotronic Circus,' which suits the playful nature of this special anniversary Nelsonica, and also reflects my childhood fascination with circuses and science fiction. So...this year's event will include a three-part live concert on Day One and a number of interesting presentations on Day Two. The live performance, due to its wide-ranging nature, presents me with a challenge in itself, even before the features of the second day are taken into account. I'm planning to put together a solo set of guitar-based instrumental music with video backdrops, followed by a trio-based set as 'Orchestra Futura,' (which will concentrate on improvised music featuring Theo Travis on saxophone, flute and loops and Dave Sturt on bass guitar and lap-top treatments, plus myself on guitars and loops.) Then there will be a third set featuring my 7-piece 'Gentlemen Rocketeers' band playing a selection of music from my past, (but with a subtle hint of the future!) Choosing, preparing and rehearsing such a complex and extensive 'one-off' show will certainly prove time consuming and physically exhausting but will also offer convention attendees a rich and rewarding listening experience. A fully-packed evening of live music and visuals. The second day will feature special presentations that the Nelsonica Team and myself are already in the process of planning. Amongst these presentations will be an exhibition of my guitars. One of the exhibited jewels in this particular collection will be a unique Campbell Nelsonic Transitone guitar that has been hand painted for me by American artist Nicholas Del Drago. Nicholas is a renowned painter of motorbikes, custom cars and guitars. He is also a guitarist in his own right and a friend of guitar super-star Joe Satriani, (for whom he has also painted a guitar). The Nelsonic guitar that Nicholas has painted for me features a wonderfully retro panorama inspired by some pulp 1950's sci-fi illustrations I sent to him just over a year ago. Nicholas has achieved, on this guitar, a fabulous, deep metalflake paint effect that really sparkles and comes to life when lit by strong light. The sides of the guitar feature a 'flip paint' finish that changes hue depending from which angle it is viewed. The instrument is equipped withAlumitone pickups which in themselves are quite different from any of my other guitars' pickups. In short, it's a very special piece and I'm extremely grateful to Nicholas and Dean Campbell for creating such a striking instrument for me. I've already used the guitar on some of my new but as yet unreleased recordings and it sounds just as good as it looks. Recording, of course, is a continual process for me, an almost daily exercise, or, (dare I say it?) a sort of meditation on 'being,' in the Buddhist sense of the word. (Yes, I dare...) There's something both compulsive and revelatory about just 'doing the work'...I suppose, for me, it's the creative process itself that throws the switch that turns on the internal lightbulb, rather than anything to do with what people might perceive as the musical end result. That old cliché about the journey being more important than the arriving fits my experience perfectly because, whilst the finished albums finally find their meaning with the listener, it's the creative act, the private ritual of making, that ultimately illuminates things for me, especially as I compose and record these albums in an extremely solitary fashion, all alone here in my tiny studio. Since my previous diary entry I've released an album of the soundtrack music I created for the documentary film 'American Stamps.' The film was aired on the US television PBS, (Public Broadcasting Service), channel last year. The music has produced a pleasant and colourful album and, judging from comments posted on my website's forum, seems to have charmed those who have heard it. The album is titled 'PICTURE POST' and it's packaging features a set of imaginary stamps depicting some of my own American pop icons such as Orson Welles, Les Paul, John Cage, Duane Eddy and Fred Astaire. As expected though, I'm already deep into recording brand new music for release later in the year. At this point in time, the aim is to gather together the best, or most compatible, pieces into two distinctive albums. One of these albums will become this year's Nelsonica special edition CD. It will, like the convention itself, be titled 'CAPTAIN FUTURE'S PSYCHOTRONIC CIRCUS' and should be loosely, (though not exclusively), themed around that particular concept. The second album is to be titled 'MOON GOLD PALLADIUM' and, if all goes to plan and I don't shift my conceptual gears, be a lush, richly textured, epic but deeply romantic, (in the poetic, painterly sense of the word), album of vocal-based songs. It will also contain a few appropriate instrumental interludes. All of this is ongoing and organically developing. Lots of work done so far but I still feel that I need to continue along these particular mysterious garden paths until I've gathered enough flowers to make a beautiful arrangement. The vase in the window is patiently awaiting (and anticipating), the artist's hand. Thankfully, the sun is out and the Idea Bird is singing. What else? Well...A shiny new computer sits in front of me as I type these words. Yes, finally, I am connected to broadband and am able to access the internet in a far more contemporary and speedy fashion than before. My new iMac takes up less space than my old G4 Mac and things look slightly less crowded in this tiny home studio than previously. I've yet to fully understand the finer points of some of the latest software, but all that will be resolved in time. My previous computer was ten years behind my current software so there's a reasonably steep learning curve to deal with, especially when it comes to things such as Photoshop and Final Cut. But it's really inspiring to suddenly have the opportunity to move my creative work forward with the help of this sleek machine. It's as if I've moved from gas to electricity! And there are changes in our domestic life too: We are currently being assaulted by banging, hammering, drilling and sawing. Our old, rotten, leaky and unhygenic kitchen is in the process of being completely renovated. I'd hung on to our old kitchen for a long time, hoping that I could postpone the radical changes, (and expense), required to drag us into a more clean and contemporary realm. But, suddenly, there seemed no choice but to 'bite the bullet.' Things were falling apart in a bad way and what had once seemed charmingly 'shabby' had become frustratingly useless. Actually, our home desperately requires a variety of renovations, most of which are currently beyond our reach... but the kitchen's many problems are finally in the process of being rectified. The work began with us emptying stuff from the old kitchen cupboards. An astonishing amount of 'stuff' as it happens. It is now occupying the dining room, actually filling the entire space! AND overflowing into the lounge and into the little study, (a room that was already almost impossible to enter due to accumulations of this, that or the other item of 20th Century bric-a-brac.) The physical work of demolishing the old kitchen began last Wednesday and since then we have had no means of cooking, (or washing up). Today the installation of the new kitchen units has begun, though there's much more to be done in that department, including fitting the worktops, sink and various items of hardware. Still, the tiled floor has already been completed and a new 'range-style' oven will be delivered on Thursday. Hopefully, with the exception of re-decorating the walls and ceiling, the new kitchen should be operational by the early part of next week. Emi is very much looking forward to finally having a decent, practical and easier to clean kitchen to work in. She's thrilled about it all and can't wait to see the finished thing. Lots of plaster dust in the air at the moment though, even up here in my studio...A fine layer of it seems to cover every surface. The cleaning up process will involve more than the kitchen and dining room areas by the look of things. Meanwhile, we've been eating out every evening, (but tonight we had fish n' chips from the village chippie). Had dinner with Elle and Elliot at Ceasar's Italian restaurant in town last night. They're busy people and I don't get to see them as often as I'd like. Rehearsing and performing with 'Honeytone Cody' takes up a lot of their time. I'm just as wrapped up in music too, I guess. But they're very talented and I'm extremely proud of them and it's always good for us to spend some time together. This last weekend was more like summer than spring: bright, clear blue skies and hot golden sunshine. As the kitchen company were not working at our house on Saturday and Sunday, Emi and I took the opportunity to get away from all the kitchen debris and distraction for a while. On Saturday afternoon we went to Knaresborough and enjoyed apple pie and ice cream whilst sitting at the edge of the river, watching the little rowing boats drift by beneath the old Victorian railway bridge. A favourite fair weather spot for us. Later, we drove to Harrogate for dinner and ended up at a restaurant called 'William And Victoria.' It was the first time we'd eaten there and it was extremely enjoyable. Sunday we drove to Whitby, 'though the traffic was terrible and it took us far longer than usual. Had lunch at a place called 'Marine' which we hadn't been to before. Very nice it was too, we'll be going back next time we visit Whitby. The weather was beautiful and we sat overlooking the harbour after lunch, just taking in the view. I love visiting that place, even though it's sometimes very busy with tourists. Sadly, one of our favourite Harrogate restaurants has unexpectedly closed down. 'San Martino' is no more, a victim of the economic climate by the look of it. Such a shame. But there are so many places suffering the same fate. 'The Lamb and Lion Inn' in York was another favourite eatery of ours. Several weeks ago now, Emi and I drove into town to have lunch there, only to find the place locked up and in darkness. Gone forever due to the Royal Bank Of Scotland calling time on the business, despite the owners turning things around and getting it into profit after the losses incurred by previous owners. We miss the place very much as it had become a regular haunt of ours. And I still miss 'Borders' bookshop in the centre of town. The building it occupied remains empty and forlorn, the 'Borders' logo remains displayed within its walls but there are only the ghosts of books and the ruins of bookshelves to remind one of the place it once was. As I've probably mentioned elsewhere, 'Borders' opened here several years ago now, with such promise and style, only to slowly deteriorate, its original wide-ranging stock becoming narrower and narrower, less specialist and more predictable. A victim of the bland and mediocre consumerism of the modern marketplace? Or just bad management and exorbitant rents? Actually, the effects of the economic malaise seem to be more acute than ever. And, despite the usual hopes that accompany a general election, all I can see from the results of the recent hung Parliament is an exercise in spin that somehow defines the naivety and the gullibility of much of the public. Throughout the election campaign, the word 'change' was bandied about like a toy balloon at a children's party. And a children's party, I fear, is what we may have ended up with. I hope this uncomfortable coalition will not be as disastrous as it might appear...but I watch the television images of Cameron and his new found Lib-Dem pals sitting side by side and don't know whether to laugh or cry. What should we call such an alliance, other than 'disappointing?' The 'Con-dems' maybe? An arrogant toff with no upper lip and a fake Yorkshireman who resembles The Mekon but doesn't have green skin? Ok, that's rather unfair of me, I know. I'm just having a go, all in fun. Still, that old satirical tv show 'Spitting Image' would have a ball with this lot. Maybe they're very nice people and kind to their grannies, etc...but, despite their best efforts they come across, to me at least, as condescending and not a little devious. (But that's often a trait of the political classes, so nothing new there.) It will be interesting and darkly entertaining to see which way their wind blows though. I'm trying to think of other things I should include in this 'catch-up' of a diary entry but am finding it hard to think at all due to the threateningly loud sound of drilling and sawing coming from the kitchen below me. So, maybe that's enough typing for now. Until next time. ***** The images accompanying this diary are as follows:- 1: A shot of a corner of Bill's studio showing iMac and Rocketship Nelsonic Guitar. 2: Photo of Bill in front of Whitby Harbour, May 22nd 2010. 3: Photo of boats in a corner of Whitby Harbour taken by Bill 22 May 2010. 4: Bill with Rocketship Campbell Nelsonic guitar. May 2010. 5: Close up of Bill's Rocketship Campbell Nelsonic guitar painted by Nicholas Del Drago. 6: Weird creatures lurking in a corner of Bill's studio. Taken by Bill, March 2010. Top of page