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

Albums Discography Menu Clicking on a cover below will take you to a full page devoted to that album. Orchestra Futura - Live At Nelsonica & Clothworkers Hall 2025 album Studio Cadet 2024 album Powertron 2024 album Starlight Stories 2023 album All The Fun Of The Fair 2023 album Stupid/Serious 2023 album Marvellous Realms 2023 album Electra (In Search Of The Golden Sound) 2022 album My Private Cosmos 2021 6-CD box set album Mixed Up Kid 2021 album Dazzlebox 2021 double album New Vibrato Wonderland 2020 album The Jewel 2020 album Old Haunts 2019 album The Last Lamplighter 2019 album Stand By: Light Coming... 2019 album Auditoria 2018 3-CD album Dynamos And Tremolos 2018 album Drive This Comet Across The Sky 2018 album The Unrealist 2018 album That Old Mysterioso 2018 album Songs For Ghosts 2017 double album Tripping The Light Fantastic 2017 live album Luxury Wonder Moments 2017 album Kid Flip And The Golden Spacemen 2017 album The Awakening Of Dr Dream 2017 album Six String Super Apparatus Painting With Guitars Volume Three 2016 album New Northern Dream 2016 album All That I Remember 2016 album Special Metal 2016 album Perfect Monsters 2016 album Loom 2015 album Electric Atlas 2015 album Plectrajet Painting With Guitars Volume Two 2015 album The Years 2015 album Swoons And Levitations 2015 album Quiet Bells 2015 album Astroloops 2015 album Shining Reflector 2014 album Stereo Star Maps 2014 album Fantastic Guitars 2014 album Pedalscope 2014 album The Sparkle Machine Several Sustained Moments 2013 album Albion Dream Vortex 2013 album The Tremulous Doo-Wah Diddy - Blip! 2 2013 album Blip! 2013 album The Dreamshire Chronicles 2012 double album The Palace Of Strange Voltages 2012 album Return To Tomorrow These Tapes Rewind: Volume One 2012 album Joy Through Amplification The Ultra-Fuzzy World Of Priapus Stratocaster 2012 album Recorded Live At Metropolis Studios 2012 album The Last Of The Neon Cynics 2012 album Songs Of The Blossom Tree Optimists 2012 album Model Village 2011 album Signals From Realms Of Light 2011 album Hip Pocket Jukebox 2011 mini-album Fantasmatron 2011 album Fables And Dreamsongs A Golden Book Of Experimental Ballads 2010 album Captain Future's Psychotronic Circus 2010 album Modern Moods For Mighty Atoms 2010 album Picture Post 2010 album Non-Stop Mystery Action 2009 album Theatre Of Falling Leaves 2009 album Dream Transmission Pavilion 2009 album Fancy Planets 2009 album Here Comes Mr Mercury 2009 album Golden Melodies Of Tomorrow 2008 album Clocks And Dials 2008 double album Mazda Kaleidoscope 2008 album Illuminated At Dusk 2008 album Silvertone Fountains 2008 album And We Fell Into A Dream 2007 album Secret Club For Members Only 2007 album Gleaming Without Lights 2007 album Arcadian Salon 2006 album Return To Jazz Of Lights 2006 album Neptune's Galaxy 2006 album The Alchemical Adventures Of Sailor Bill 2005 album Orpheus In Ultraland 2005 album Rosewood - Volume 2 2005 album Rosewood - Volume 1 2005 album Wah-Wah Galaxy 2004 album Dreamland To Starboard 2004 album Satellite Songs 2004 album Custom Deluxe 2004 album Plaything 2004 album The Romance Of Sustain Painting With Guitars Volume One 2003 album Luxury Lodge 2003 album Whimsy 2003 double album Astral Motel 2002 album Noise Candy 2002 6-CD box set album Caliban And The Chrome Harmonium 2001 album Whistling While The World Turns 2000 album Atom Shop 1998 album Confessions Of A Hyperdreamer 1997 album Excellent Spirits 1996 album After The Satellite Sings 1996 album My Secret Studio Music From The Great Magnetic Back Of Beyond 1995 album Practically Wired 1995 album Crimsworth 1995 album Automatic 1994 album Blue Moons And Laughing Guitars 1992 album Luminous 1991 album Simplex 1990 album Altar Pieces 1990 album Demonstrations Of Affection 1989 4CD box set album Optimism 1988 album Chance Encounters In The Garden Of Lights 1987 double album Map Of Dreams 1987 album Iconography 1986 album Chameleon 1986 album Living For The Spangled Moment 1986 mini-album Getting The Holy Ghost Across 1986 album Trial By Intimacy The Book Of Splendours 1985 album box set Savage Gestures For Charms Sake 1983 mini- album Chimera 1983 mini- album The Love That Whirls Diary Of A Thinking Heart 1982 album La Belle Et La Bête 1982 album Das Kabinett 1981 album Quit Dreaming And Get On The Beam 1981 album Sounding The Ritual Echo 1981 album Sound On Sound 1979 album Drastic Plastic 1978 album Live! In The Air Age 1977 album Modern Music 1976 album Sunburst Finish 1976 album Futurama 1975 album Axe Victim 1974 album Northern Dream 1971 album Discography Menu

Here Comes Mr Mercury Bill Nelson album - 20 July 2009 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) Never A Dull Day (For Les Paul) 02) Coop's Place 03) Six String Skyway 04) The Standard Fireworks Stomp 05) Teatime In The Republic Of Dreams 06) Soda Fountain Swing 07) Attempt To Re-Assemble My Fragmented Self 08) Autumn Noodle No. 1 09) A Dream For Ian 10) Mars Welcomes Careful Drivers 11) Here Comes Mr Mercury 12) Dance Of The Pagan Energy Ghosts 13) Tomorrow Today 14) Red Planet Blues (The Ritual Transfiguration Of Spaceman Albert Fitzwilliam Digby) ALBUM NOTES: Here Comes Mr Mercury is an instrumental album issued on the Sonoluxe label in a single print run of 1000 copies. The album was - alongside Fancy Planets - the first Bill Nelson CD to feature 'CD text' allowing you to see the title of each track as it played on certain in car and hi-fi systems. The album sold out in February 2019. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "What I've been moving towards, in an organic and natural way, over many years, is a genre of my own where all the different aspects of my work, the various combinations of instruments, the various approaches to composition, (ambient, rock, electronic, jazz, pop, avant, roots, twang, modern classical etc), simply become fused together to create something that is uniquely mine. "There's no singular jazz approach, or rock approach, or whatever, in the music...ALL these tints and shades are actively combined in my imagination, ALL the time. My music simply reflects everything I've ever absorbed in 61 years of listening, from infant nursery rhymes through my father's 1940's big band swing, rock n' roll, easy listening, psychedelia, folk, country, jazz, classical, experiments with pure sound and so on...everything that has ever touched me. It's a vast panorama of sound. "So...I personally don't lock my music in sealed stylistic boxes anymore, (although I'm sometimes asked to describe it in orthodox terms for the purpose of this website). In my head, (especially when I'm actually creating), I'm not thinking of my music as rock, pop, jazz, blues, ambient and so on, it's just MUSIC and sound, one seamless, natural flow of expression." _____ "Those of you with an interest in mythology AND science fiction, will spot the album title's underlying theme of 'Hermes/ Mercury'. "It also connects with a childhood comic book hero of mine, 'Jack Flash, The Flying Boy From Mercury' who featured in 1950's 'Beano' comics. Drawn originally by the legendary Dudley D. Watkins, Jack had tiny ankle wings that enabled him to fly like a bird. "When I was a very young boy, I'd cut out pairs of wings from cartridge paper, attach them to my shoes and race around the house pretending to be Jack Flash. Never got more than a few inches off the ground though!" _____ "Coop's Place" - "The title refers to a real place, a lovely little bar-cantina in New Orleans where Harold Budd and I used to spend our evenings, drinking Corona beer together, after working through the day on his album 'By the Dawn's Early Light'. I enjoyed the 'mud bugs', (crayfish), they boiled up and served in bowls...and the 'po-boy' sandwiches. I think Coop's Place vanished in the floods of a few year's back. But what a wonderful time I had there in New Orleans at Daniel Lanois' fabulous studio, with Harold, B. J. Cole and the rest of the gang." FAN THOUGHTS: Holer: "Bill, I don't know how you do it. With as many instrumental albums as you've dropped in recent years, you still keep coming up with creations that build upon past entries but stand on their own as unique musical experiences. Mr Mercury just grabs the ears and does not let go. Each song seems to shift effortlessly into the next and yet every one is so unique that they really stand out as their own little miniature sonic world. Standout tracks? "Teatime", "Fragmented Self", "Dream for Ian", "Careful Drivers"...on and on. If I had to pick one, I'd say "Pagan Energy Ghosts", but I can tell it's going to change and evolve as I continue to listen." "You never cease to suprise and amaze, Bill..." December Man: "A cracking good guitar in 5th gear album." Merikan1: "Bill, you rock dude. You may see yourself as sliding into old gitdom, but that lusty, degenerate rocker is still lurking about in there. Listening to "Coop's Place". "It don't mean a thang if it ain't got that twang!" Good ole boy music. I kept hearing Satchmo. Thanks again, Bill. Is Wunnerful." istvan: "I just can't stop listening to this groovy record...Mercury shines all around, very tasty, at times thick layered, than light and fleeting, I hear cowboys and geishas, above the clouds and below with Cerberus, melodic and dancable, it lightens my spirit. Thanks Bill, amigo de musica." Peter: "Here Comes Mr Mercury is sublime...it is yet another absolutely gorgeous sonic tour de force. Some of it just made me melt..." "Deeply dazzled by both "Autumn Noodle No.1" and "A Dream for Ian". I mean, the whole album is wonderful, but these two are SO good...my god, Bill, but you have the gift. It is interesting that I believe the songs you have done in tribute to Ian are all stunningly beautiful. Clearly, the emotion that inspired them takes the music to another level. Such powerful and moving beauty at your fingertips...thank you for sharing." Alan: "While some of this album is in the jazz vein, most of it doesn't fall in that category, in my opinion. Personally, I think this album is a must for any Nelsonian. And no, I don't work for Sound On Sound, or Bill. But, this album does have some great guitar throughout." Angie: "It really is a gem of an album. For me, the overall feel of it is extremely uplifting, and what a variety of musical styles there is! An absolute treat of an album." andygeorge: "Here Comes Mr Mercury is Bill at his beautiful best, a classic collection of just lovely, lovely music that just oozes class...and all this on the first few plays! Cheers Bill, you never fail to please..." alec: "Coops Place": "The guitar sounds like many different instruments, including a trumpet solo, in this little number, seamlessly gliding through many related genres of instrumental music. I like that unbridled laughter at the track's end. Much praise to this CD's cover art. Each panel its own world." felixt1: "Here Comes Mr Mercury is one of Bill's absolute best guitar instrumental albums - so many great compositions, not least "Never A Dull Day (For Les Paul)", "Six String Skyway" and "A Dream For Ian". Some of Bill's best guitar playing on this one - a must have." Albums Menu Future Past

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

Clocks & Dials Bill Nelson double album - 1 November 2008 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download DISC ONE TRACKS: 01) Thunder Heralds The Fairylight Parade 02) Mystery Vortex (Oberon Touchstone) 03) Test Card 04) Clear Skies A' Coming 05) Rain Made Us Shine 06) Music For A Victorian Steam Cottage 07) A Town Called Blue Tomorrow 08) Searching For An Island Off The Coast Of Dreams 09) Signals From Earth 10) Frankie Surfs The Milky Way 11) I Travel At Night 12) Just A Kid And All That Sky 13) Rain Falls Fast On Faded Ruin 14) Artismo Loco 15) Dynatron Blues 16) No Time Says The Clock (Version 1) 17) How Many Miles To Babylon 18) The Rainiest Day In The World 19) Twang Rings True DISC TWO TRACKS: 01) The Phonograph Bird 02) The Experimental Time Traveller 03) Dig The Sparkles 04) The Golden Roundabout Rides Again 05) Mellophonia 06) Electric Trains, Clean Oceans, Clear Skies, Pure Air 07) Yonder Gleams Your Star 08) Cinnamon And Mint 09) The Marvellous Model Kit 10) Curate's Egg In Cup Of Grass 11) Rocket Billy Blues 12) Distant Years From Now 13) A Certain Thought Passed Through My Mind 14) Oh Moon In The Night I Have Seen Thee Sailing 15) Clocks Wind Slow 16) Strange And Wonderful (That's My Life) 17) A Million Moonlight Miles 18) The Silver Darkness Whispers Yes 19) No Time Says The Clock (Version 2) DISC TWO TRACKS: 01) The Phonograph Bird 02) The Experimental Time Traveller 03) Dig The Sparkles 04) The Golden Roundabout Rides Again 05) Mellophonia 06) Electric Trains, Clean Oceans, Clear Skies, Pure Air 07) Yonder Gleams Your Star 08) Cinnamon And Mint 09) The Marvellous Model Kit 10) Curate's Egg In Cup Of Grass 11) Rocket Billy Blues 12) Distant Years From Now 13) A Certain Thought Passed Through My Mind 14) Oh Moon In The Night I Have Seen Thee Sailing 15) Clocks Wind Slow 16) Strange And Wonderful (That's My Life) 17) A Million Moonlight Miles 18) The Silver Darkness Whispers Yes 19) No Time Says The Clock (Version 2) ALBUM NOTES: Clocks and Dials is a vocal album issued exclusively for Nelsonica '08 on the Discs of Ancient Odeon label. As with the previous year's convention exclusive, Clocks and Dials was pressed in a print run of 1000 copies to avoid the clamour for copies after Nelsonica , and the price of second hand copies escalating on eBay. Clocks and Dials stands alone within the body of Nelsonica releases as the only 2CD set among them, and was presented in a special fold out digipack sleeve. The album was recorded concurrently with Golden Melodies of Tomorrow and had a number of working titles (In The Realm of the Unreal; The Experimental Time Traveller ; Signals From Earth ; and Modern Moods For Mighty Atoms ) before Nelson settled on Clocks and Dials . As soon as Nelsonica was over, the remaining copies of Clocks and Dials were sold through S.O.S, and on January 3rd, 2013, an announcement was made on the Dreamsville Forum that the album had completely sold out. A small number of purchasers reported playback issues, which were attributed to the inability of older CD players to cope with the lengthy playing time, rather than there being any fault with the discs. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "Several of the Clocks and Dials tracks were originally destined for Golden Melodies ...However, the fact that those particular tracks were left off Golden Melodies had nothing to do with incompatibility, technical quality or conceptual suitability. They were shunted to 'C+D' simply because there wasn't enough space to include them. Nevertheless, these related Clocks and Dials tracks come from the same time and place, they spring from the Golden Melodies sessions and sensibilities, from the same concept." _____ "There's certainly a psychedelic pop flavour to many of the tracks. It's quite a technicolour dream in some ways." FAN THOUGHTS: tommaso: "Have just listened to Clocks & Dials ...There's so much inspiration and invention here that most other artists would be happy to create such an album as a 'regular' release [rather than a free CD to Nelsonica attendees]. Favourites after first listening: the somewhat dark and melancholy "Rain Falls Fast on Faded Ruin", the utterly beautiful "Cinnamon and Mint", and one of the most immediately catchy songs Bill ever wrote, "No Time Says the Clock" (both versions). Ah, great stuff! Perhaps the best Nelsonica album ever. I guess when the muse kisses Bill, she does it wholeheartedly." Paul Andrews: "This really is a stonking album. When I play CD2 I keep getting stuck on "The Experimental Time Traveller" - it's so good I can't get past it! Knowing that "Curate's Egg in Cup of Grass" is just down the musical road does help though. Clocks and Dials is an enormous piece of work. I need to spend more time with it to get everything that lies within it to the fore. Can you slow down a bit Bill? I'm trying to catch up you know!" Mick Winsford: "Having listened again to this album this evening I simply want to say that this is definitely my favourite Bill Nelson album since Orpheus , and one of the best of his career. It's just full of all of the things that have kept me tuned into Bill's music since January 1976. I refuse to swear in case it offends anyone but it's a %*&£$#^ great album!" sauropod: "I love all three discs [the 2CD C&D + Golden Melodies ]. A very fine effort. I'm afraid of wearing them out, playing them so much!" Peter: "I'm halfway through my second listen (I was in the living room at 5 this morning, headphones on, cat asleep on my chest), and am enjoying these very much. Too much goodness, too many great songs, to name...just more wonders from the amazing Mr. N!" Gompers: "Bravo Bill. For my personal taste, it's the best in a while. Very versatile sounds throughout. I even detected a bit of a 'Be-Bop Deluxe' style in a few of the tracks. Outstanding offering." BryanH: "Wow...absolutely brilliant. My favourite BN release for some time." Tony M: "There is so much music here that I had previously listened to one CD at a time, with too long a break in between listenings. As with all of Bill's recordings, something new with each listen. Nothing better than a cruise down the highway with the volume up near 10! So many good songs and many new favorites. One that sticks with me is "Artismo Loco". The guitar playing is fantastic. This song could go on forever, way too short. Many other gems on this one. Looking forward to my next long drive." ladesco: "Fundertuneful bundliscious warm and fuzzy specialty assorted ice creamy dreams of sailships and boats with steams that are quite content with wallace and grommeting their way thru skyscape city tides, waving the pearlescent sandy beaches treasured with half-buried bottles containing watery journeys yet to be unraveled and traveled from whence they came...the other side of the world, or universe? A time travelers dream!!!! Wow, Mr. nelson...WOW. There are so many of yours that are crowding my top 10 list by now, I just as soon float gently on a breeze, and love them all with gracious equalities." steve lyles: "I listened to Clocks and Dials a couple of weeks back and didn't move a muscle through the whole of cd 1...better than any drug or drink I've ever had..." Alan Cawthorne: "I find this album a very confident release. Mr Bill seems full of good tunes, screaming guitars and frantic beats (Always welcome), and dare I say it full of sex the way he sings certain songs...Talk about an album crammed with tunes...!! A thoroughly nice and warm listen. And not a filler in sight!" alec: "The happiness approaches urgency at times on Clocks and Dials . Some great lyrics, singing and melodies, too. Frantic details swimming around every track." "No Time Says the Clock [Version 1]": "is a Psychedelic Pop Classic. A hit." Pathdude: "Every single song is tremendously enjoyable. The trilogy of "Blue Tomorrow", "Island Off the Coast of Dreams", and "Signals from Earth" are some of the most beautiful signals I've ever received. I think that "Signals from Earth" was written especially for me as it's now my favorite BN song. And I can't say directly why. It's just the feeling I get within when listening to it." Chimera Man: "Highlight in particular for me is "Frankie Surfs the Milky Way" - what an absolute gem of a song. Lovely guitar sound, fab "pop" song really, and it bounces along with an uplifting sense that can only put a smile on your face. I kind of have an image of Bill in a big cowboy hat, sat in a rocking chair out on the veranda of some isolated farmhouse in the American midwest with a broad grin on his face playing this, just as dusk is settling...whoever Frankie is passes by overhead, catches the sound, stops, winks at him and moves on swiftly as Emi emerges with a mug of some warm beverage for her beloved !!" Gavin Baker: "Playing it last night for the first time I had 2 favorites materialise immediately. "Clear Skies a Coming" & "The Silver Darkness Whispers Yes". Loads of stuff on here & a grand mixture to boot! After one hearing I would recommend this to any of you that haven't got it. THANK YOU BILL FOR PROVIDING THE SOUNDTRACK IN MY LIFE." GettingOnTheBeam: "Ah, but the best track is "Mystery Vortex". What a masterpiece. One of Bill's best ever in my opinion." play my theremin: "This is a terrific album, one of my favourites by any artist...Its absence would leave a large gap in any BN fan's collection as far as I'm concerned." major snagg: "Bill is an ARTIST who's main medium is sound." Albums Menu Future Past

Airfields single - 1981 To Heaven A Jet Production/Contribution Menu Future Past BILL: Producer and Bass on the A-side. NOTES: The B-side was created by Bill under the fictitious name Revox Cadets. Production/Contribution Menu Future Past

William's Study (Diary Of A Hyperdreamer) April 2006 Monday 10th April 2006 -- 10:10 am Once again, an extremely long gap between diary entries. Perhaps they will appear more frequently in future however, as new software has been installed on the Dreamsville site that will allow me to upload my diary direct to the server, rather than having to ask tech-support people to do it for me, as has been the case until now. I've felt quite guilty of troubling others to post my diaries, 'though that hasn't been the only reason for their infrequency. Distracted by music making the main cause, as usual. So, what has been happening here in the weeks since I last wrote? More of what usually happens, I suppose. Intense work in my modest studio, as always, along with various mild domestic dramas. I'll record the musical progress first. My proposed production job for Slava's new band 'Jupiter,' (formerly 'Nautilus Pompilius'), has, unfortunately, been cancelled. Or at least postponed for the indefinite future. Disappointing, for both them and me. The band couldn't raise sufficient funding from their record company to travel to Britain from Russia for the recordings but are hoping to seek additional funding from other sources. They hope to come here later in the year to record the entire album with me. Having experienced the music business first hand for over thirty years, I'm not holding my breath. If it happens, I'll be very pleased, but that 'if ' is a big one. I've finally completed 'Neptune's Galaxy,' the instrumental album that I've created as a companion to my 'Alchemical Adventures Of Sailor Bill' album of last year. It contains just five tracks but they are long ones and the album clocks in at a total of just over 75 minutes worth of music. Some might describe the album as 'ambient' 'though the music commands more attention than that categorisation would normally suggest. Three of the five tracks feature electric guitar and beats, one is an electric piano improvisation and the other features electronic keyboards and some subtle orchestra textures.The nautical themes are carried over from the Sailor Bill project but, of course, without lyrics. The track listing is as follows:- 1. 'My Ship Reclines On Clouds Of Sail.' 2. 'She Signals From Across The Bay.' 3. 'All Alone In A Boat Of His Own.' 4. 'Coastal Starlight.' 5. 'Ship In A Bottle Blues, (The Modern Mariner.)' The entire album is very relaxing, gentle and meditative, occupying a sonic landscape, (or should that be seascape?) somewhere between 'Dreamland To Starboard', 'Crimsworth' and my Harold Budd collaborations. Listening to the Sailor Bill album and then immediately afterwards to 'Neptune's Galaxy' is a satisfying experience, the final track of Sailor Bill providing a perfect bridge to the first track of 'Neptune's Galaxy.' Although David Graham and myself are currently creating packaging artwork for the album, I've yet to master the tracks in preparation for manufacturing, so a release date has yet to be fixed. I'm hoping to make this album available as soon as possible though. I've also attempted to make a start on the mixing of the Be Bop Deluxe Decca audition tapes. I've had these transferred to a Mackie external hard-drive so that I can work on the four songs here in my home studio. Unfortunately, technical problems have thwarted this for the time being. My HDR 24/96 hard disc recorder is an early model and the transfers were made using a newer version of the software. Basically, my machine can't read the files. My friend Paul Gilby has been helping me to get to the bottom of the problem which we eventually discovered hinges on the conflict of operating systems. Updating the OS has nor been as straightforward as hoped though. The HDR 24/96's floppy drive appears not to be working. (Required to load the latest operating system.) I also need a new e-prom fitting to cope with the larger external drive on which the Be Bop audition tapes have been transferred, so the saga is ongoing. It's been a frustrating and time-consuming piece of detective work. Hopefully, I should be able to access the files in a week or two when time will allow me to have the machine out of commission for a couple of days whilst the technical repairs are done. Meanwhile, I've been recording more new material, six songs for what started life as a limited edition 'mini'-album. It may yet turn out to be a full-length album.The direction is jazz inspired. I've often featured jazz stylings on some of my albums but, as Paul pointed out to me, I've never actually made an album given over to that particular style.This set me thinking. Anyway, I've now completed six songs for the project and there is still enough inspiration left over to write more. At one point, I wasn't sure how long I could sustain that particular mood but, at the moment, the ideas continue to flow. The six songs completed so far provide just over thirty minutes worth of music. If I can come up with another four songs I'll have a complete album. The songs are: 'Windswept;' 'Take It Off And Thrill Me;' 'October Sky;' 'The Girl In The Galaxy Dress;' 'Always You;' and 'The Song My Silver Planet Sings.' All six titles are vocal based compositions and I'm particularly fond of 'Windswept' which has a jazz blues mood somewhere between the worlds of Billie Holiday and Chet Baker. (But still 'me' somehow. How could it be anyone else?) 'Always You' has a touch of Bobby Darin on Mars about it. Or a Vegas showtune from a parralel universe. Could this be the closest thing I've done to an easy-listening lounge album? Well...not quite, but close. The overall performance of these tracks is a little looser than the performances on 'Sailor Bill' but that is appropriate to the style. These are 'feel' pieces with improvised solos. They are not strictly jazz, of course, but just 'jazzy' or 'jazz inspired.' (Emiko described them as 'techno-jazz' but I'm not sure about that either!) As usual, I'm too close to the music to know what the hell it is. It's probably a curious side-project rather than a major statement. Other's may feel differently when they hear it. I will confess that there's some slick guitar playing on it though, if you like that kind of thing. Working title for the mini-album is 'Return To Jazz Of Lights.' It may be a keeper. I'm working through some visual concepts for the packaging at the moment, before sending images to David Graham for him to lay out and add typography. The path I'm pursuing is based around some old 1960's snapshots of Emiko. I've been going through her family album. She was a stunningly beautiful teenager and I couldn't have imagined myself landing a catch like her back then if we'd ever had the good fortune to meet. (Which would have been impossible anyway, bearing in mind the distance between Tokyo and Wakefield and my reliance on the bus at that time in my life!) One photograph I've selected for use is very odd. It could almost be a still frame from a dramatic moment in a movie. The young Emi is standing centre frame, gazing off to the the right and slightly up into the sky. She is surrounded by people, nearly all of whom have their back to the camera, looking over the edge of a railing, beyond which a white statue stands, its back also to the camera. Emi is dressed in a fashion that wouldn't look out of place on a young teenage girl of 2006, low slung skinny jeans, a tight fitting Japanese boy-scout shirt with embroidered badges, a large white bag. She looks, to use the well worn vernacular, 'cool.' The photograph's colours have faded over the years since it was taken, so I've scanned it and subjected it to a long sequence of colour, contrast and filter manipulation, giving it a vintage cinematic quality. It's an enigmatic picture, achieved without artifice. Whoever took the photo did it quickly and unthinkingly...the camera angle isn't straight but this adds to the tension. Only one person in the crowd is looking at the camera, a plumpish Japanese lady sat at a table in the middleground. She has an inane grin on her face. Its an intriguing photograph. Using it, (and the other's I've picked), is not an obvious choice for the style of music on the album, but then again, it twists the album concept in a slightly surreal, ironic way. As the songs are all love songs, using Emi as an iconic image is perfectly apt anyway. Guitars have loomed large in recent months. I may have mentioned on the Dreamsville site a while ago that Campbell American Guitars have been working towards a signature guitar for me. Dean Campbell has sent various drawings and ideas over for me to add my own input. I've sent drawings and suggestions back to Dean and a limited edition Bill Nelson signature model is not only on the drawing board but currently being developed in prototype form. It's all under wraps for now but all will be revealed when ready. Like all Campbell American guitars, it will be a hand made in the U.S.A. instrument. Meanwhile, I've been playing my green Precix model, (see photo above in this diary entry), and will soon be getting delivery of a blue vibrato-arm equipped Precix. These instruments play beautifully and respond senistively to the touch of the player. I'll also be appearing on the Campbell American stand at the London Guitar Show held at the Wembley Exhibition Centre on the 6th of May. Not to perform but just to 'meet and greet' fans and fellow guitarists. A very early version of my signature guitar may be ready to display, although we're aiming for a more developed version by June. Naturally, I'm extremely excited about having a signature model after all these years of playing. If all goes to plan, it should be something really special. But the guitar magic hasn't stopped there. I've long been a fan of unusual 1950's and '60's guitars. When I first became besotted by the instrument, at the end of the '50's it was almost impossible to see, in my local music shops, any of the expensive Gibsons and Fenders that our early guitar heroes played. Import restrictions on American goods meant that they were rare and definitely out of reach of the average player's pocket. In my home town of Wakefield, the local music shop, 'Webster's,' (later to become 'The Wakefield Music Centre'), only stocked British and European guitars. These were inexpensive instruments, often with unusual design ethics, lots of chrome and push buttons, bright colours, accordion factory plastic, retro-sci-fi creations that really looked 'electric.' Burns and Fenton Weill guitars were amongst the main British makes but there were also a variety of quirky models from continental makers such as Hagstrom, Hopf, Gallanti and Wandre. Japan was also starting to licence designs to, or build for, some of the European manufacturers and some Japanese instruments were often 're-badged' for the western marketplace. Of course, these weird and wonderful guitars didn't have the finesse of the more expensive American instruments but they did have a flashy visual appeal. These originally inexpensive guitars have now become collector's items and exchange hands for high prices, particularly the Wandre models which are rare and sought after. Generally though, these budget instruments didn't play too well and their appeal was mainly in the visual department. And even then, perhaps, only if you had a taste for the kitsch. I still harbour a fond enthusiasm for them, despite being able to play much more upmarket brands these days. But I do prefer to play my guitars, rather than just look at them. Enter Mike Robinson, a musician and collector of oddball vintage guitars who came up with the idea of manufacturing reproductions of some of the most sought after instruments. His plan was to make them look exactly like the original '50's and '60's rarities, but have them play and sound better. With this in mind, he started Eastwood Guitars, (based in Canada), and set up a manufacturing operation to re-issue some vintage 'thrift-store' brands using modern manufacturing techniques. The results are guaranteed to attract players such as myself who grew up with those kind of guitars during our teens. (And some younger players who have taken notice of the 'Airline' models favoured by The White Stripes and Calexico.) But, whilst nostalgia is one part of the Eastwood appeal, the sound and playability of the re-issues is something else. They are much more solidly made and player friendly than their original inspirations. I recently got myself an Eastwood reproduction of a Hopf 'Saturn 63' in black and chrome.The original late '60's/early '70's European instrument was quirky, a semi-hollow body with two cat's eye style sound-holes, both mounted, unusually, on the bass side of the body. Chrome metal strips were used to 'pipe' the guitar's edges and sound-holes and the resultant effect was retro sci-fi in keeping with the model's 'Saturn' name. The modern Eastwood reproduction re-creates the vibe wonderfully and the guitar has a very unique sonic character as well as being an unusual looker. So, my guitar dreams continue to inspire my imagination ...Fans who have attended my live concerts in recent years will have noticed that all the guitars I favour are somewhat out of the ordinairy, not a Les Paul model amongst them, (as much as I adore Les' playing). Maybe it's my art school background but a guitar's appearance is as important to me as its playability and an instrument's visual style will always be a major consideration in my choices. Nearly all the guitars I play reflect some special design ethic, whether modern or retro. My Gretsch guitars also sit in perfectly with that sensibility, as does my Gus 'Orphee' which pushes that approach into a 21st Century, midi-equipped, industrial design arena. What's truly wonderful for me though is that, after all these years of playing the instrument, I still get a thrill out of looking at my guitars and using them to make my music. I'm as in love with the instrument as I was when I got my first guitar at the age of 11 or 12. And I still can't read a note of music or espouse any musical theory. Despite all the recordings I've made, I've yet to understand how the music gets from 'in here' to 'out there'... I'm just thankful that it does. I've spent some time with my friend Jon Wallinger recently, tracking down a new venue for this year's Nelsonica fan convention. After exploring various alternatives, we've settled on the York Hilton Hotel. I think this will prove to be an excellent location for the event, certainly for those fans who travel from abroad to attend. York is a beautiful, historic city with lots to offer its visitors. Hopefully, some fans will bring their families and make a weekend of it. There's even a York version of the London Eye big wheel being constructed. Should be open soon, certainly in time for Nelsonica 06. Along with the historic Viking and Roman sites, York has the National Railway Museum, the Yorkshire Air Museum, two more general museums, river trips, the gothic Minster, a good art gallery, plenty of interesting shops, old pubs, modern cafe-bars and restaurants, almost all within an area that can easily be accessed on foot. Convention attendees can stay in the venue itself at preferred rates which we will negotiate with The Hilton Hotel so the whole package is much more attractive than ever. And easier to get to than North Ferriby. The next step is to create the content for the convention. There are some new ideas that I'd like to introduce, including a presentation aimed at the guitarists amongst the fans. I think that, if all goes to plan, this year's Nelsonica will be even more special than previous ones. Jon and the team are really professional in their attitude to organising the convention and put a lot of thought and effort into making it a special day. It's impossible not to respond positively to such dedication and enthusiasm. Another project that I'm about to immerse myself in is the mixing of some old live Be Bop Deluxe tracks to be included in a box set that EMI Records are planning to issue later this year. The box will collect together everything the band recorded, every official album and some out-takes and alternative mixes, plus a few unreleased live tracks. I will be going into Fairview studios soon to take care of the mixing of the latter. On the domestic front, the usual stresses and strains. Far too many bills piling up on the kitchen table and repairs needed for the house. Cars have been up to their tricks too, both Emiko's and mine requiring new exhausts and tyres. Mine is rapidly going rusty, but a re-spray would probably cost more than the car is worth. Perhaps the weather will improve soon and I can get the pushbike out of the shed. My son Elliot has joined the car set, having passed his driving test recently. He's got himself an old VW Golf and came to pick me up to take me into town the other week. It seems like only yesterday I was helping him to learn how to ride a little two wheel bike. I can remember the day that I took his stabilisers off and ran behind him, holding on to his saddle. I let go and off he went, perfectly balanced. When he turned around and realised that I wasn't holding him upright, the look on his face was priceless. He was just a little kid then...That thing of time evaporating so quickly. Life is so short. Well...having said that, I'll get back to the music making. Top of page Wednesday 26th April 2006 -- 9:30 am Perhaps I shouldn't be writing a diary entry right now. I certainly don't feel in the proper state of mind to do so but I desperately feel the need to write something down, if only to help me to work through some of my grief. I couldn't imagine, last week, that today I would be in such a state and for such an unforseen and unwelcome reason. On Sunday, 23rd of April, I was taking my usual morning bath when I heard the 'phone ring. I hadn't brought the cordless 'phone into the bathroom with me as Emi was at home. I thought it might be one of her Japanese friends calling, as often happens at weekends. But then I heard her rushing up the stairs and her footsteps coming along the corridor towards the bathroom. I realised that the call must be for me. She came into the bathroom with the cordless 'phone in her hand, holding it out to me. She was in tears and could hardly speak. With difficulty, through the tears, she said "It's your mum on the 'phone...it's bad news...Ian's died..." I felt as if the whole world had ground to a sudden, violent halt and then I began to shake and weep uncontrollably. I felt as if my guts were being wrenched from me. My mother was crying on the 'phone as she told me what had happened only a short time earlier that morning. She had telephoned my brother Ian sometime around 11 am to wish him a happy birthday. (Sunday the 23rd was his 50th.) Ian's wife Diane had answered and told my mother that Ian was still in bed, having a lie-in, but that he really ought to be getting up as they were going out soon. She asked my mother to hold the line whilst she called up the stairs to Ian to tell him that his mother was on the 'phone. There was no answer and when Diane went upstairs to wake him she found that Ian had passed away in his sleep. The shock has been terrible. Feelings of disbelief, denial, sudden realisation, sickness and bottomless black pits of emotional despair. A violent assault on the depths of our hearts and souls. And it keeps on hitting and hurting. I'm battered and exhausted by its brutality. I feel as if a precious and essential part of my life has been suddenly ripped out of me. And, of course, it has. Ian was my 'little' brother. I'd known him all his life and, despite those silly sibling rivalries that all brothers experience from time to time, loved him deeply and respected him far more than he probably ever realised. Far, far more than he realised...Oh, Ian, if only I could tell you. Even though Ian had survived a stroke, nine years ago when he was 41, I always expected him to outlive me, to always be there with his warm smile and dry sense of humour. Ian had become a physically big man, partly as a result of the diabetes he suffered from in recent years, but this largeness suggested solidity, a rock that would stand strong, despite the surrounding waves. He seemed indestructible. Perhaps he felt that he was too. I saw him last a few weeks ago on Mother's Day, in March. Emiko and I had driven over to my mother's house in Wakefield with a gift and some flowers for her. Not long after we'd arrived, Ian arrived too, to give mum his gifts. I think it was actually the first time I'd seen him since the start of the year. I'm always so intensely, stupidly busy with one project after the other that family relationships and friendships regularly suffer as a result. Ian too had been busy with his freelance career as a funding consultant for arts projects. Both of us had been feeling a lot of stress, under pressure, the usual outcome of trying to keep things together on an unpredictable financial income. But Ian seemed cheerful, he'd recently got himself a new car and proudly led me outside to show it to me where it was parked in the drive of my mother's house. We chatted and joked freely for a while, just the two of us. I asked him if he fancied coming along to this year's Nelsonica convention in October, to play his saxophone with me as part of my solo performance there. I also asked him if he would like to perform with me at a special concert being planned for next year as part of a contemporary music festival at Leeds University's school of music. He was happily enthusiastic and positive about being involved in both projects so I promised I'd keep him up to date with progress for each event. (I've always enjoyed the instrumental duo's we've had in the past, feeling much more comfortable in those situations with Ian alongside me than being up there on my own.) Eventually, Ian had to leave for a prior appointment and we waved him off from my mother's doorstep. I had no idea then that that would be the last time I'd ever see him. Remembering that day now, Emi has pointed out to me that Ian had seemed really pleased to see me, his face being lit up with one of his warm smiles when he saw that I was there. I'm so pleased to have that pointed out to me because I needed his love more than he realised. More than I realised. Last week, Emi was sorting out some clothes of mine and came across some that were like new but that I hadn't worn. She'd put them to one side to see if Ian might want them. When she told me this I thought that I should give him a call and see how he was. As so often happens, I became so wrapped up in trying to finish some recording work in time for a mastering session next week that this intention slipped from my consciousness. (And now, I've cancelled that same session. I have no appetite for music. Its joy has left me.) Time always warps when my mind is concentrated on work, as my family and friends and regular readers of this diary know. I look down towards the faders of the mixing desk and it's winter. When I look up, it's Spring. Or so it seems. Months pass like minutes. Life evaporates. How I wish I'd made that call last week. I can't begin to express the anguish I feel at not being able to call Ian now, at this very moment. I can hear the sound of his voice clearly in my head, the way he sounded on the telephone. My mother called a few minutes ago to tell me the results of the coroner's report: Ian died because of heart disease. A blood clot touched his heart and he was gone. Apparently, there would have been nothing anyone could have done to save him. It was inevitable. Had he been awake when it happened, it would have felled him in an instant. That it happened whilst he was sleeping is a comfort of sorts. What if he had been driving his car with his family on board...? A mercy that he wasn't. The last two days have brought us a kind of hell. Ian's wife Diane and Ian's three children must have been truly in the depths of it. My mother, who is not in the best of health herself, is suffering terribly from the loss. We all are. We want him back. The next few weeks will be hard too, particularly the funeral which is to be held on the 2nd of May. I have no immunity or resistance to grief. It comes in sudden waves and drowns me every time. All composure gone. I want to say something about him at the service but know that I wouldn't have the strength, that tears and sobs would be all that would escape me, words buried beneath fathomless anguish. But we will have to get through these next days as best we can, together. I'm sure that Ian would have poured scorn on any solemnity. He wasn't a particularly religious man, in fact, almost the opposite. He often took a cynical stance regarding my own 'spiritual' foraging over the years. I remember, one late lost summer back in the early '80's, when I lived in West Haddlesey, the two of us sitting atop a haystack in a field outside the village, discussing various philosophies as the warm harvest sun sank towards the horizon. I was heavily involved in Rosicrucianism and esoteric occultism at that time and had been enthusiastically propounding its theories and principles in the hope of firing up Ian's imagination. I could, as they say, 'talk the hind leg off a donkey' in those days, such was my passion for the subject. But Ian remained scornful and humourously cynical about the whole thing, as he was about ever other 'ism' I experimented with. He couldn't see the point of all that and was far more down to earth and pragmatic than I ever was. It may be that, in this respect, as in so many other things, he had a better grasp of reality than myself. He might have been my 'little' brother in years but he was strong and stubborn and independent too. And sharp and bright and witty. There was so much in him that I admired. I was, and always will be, proud of him. He was his own man and lived his life the way he wanted to live it, and damn the torpedoes. I have so many fond memories of Ian. I couldn't possibly recount them all now but here are a couple: Back in the late 'seventies or early 'eighties, I was visiting my mother in Wakefield when she was still living on Eastmoor Estate, where I grew up. Ian, I think, was living there too at this point in time but had gone into town. Suddenly the 'phone rang and my mother answered it. It was a local corner-shopkeeper who knew my mother. He was telephoning to say that Ian was in his shop, injured. I jumped into my car and drove the half mile to the shop and found Ian in a bad way. He had been on his way home to my mother's house and had walked through a subway en route. In the subway, a gang of youths were trying to mug an elderly lady and were shoving her around. Ian had stepped into the situation and tried to stop these thugs from continuing their actions, trying to reason with them, asking them to leave the lady alone. The gang violently turned on Ian and beat him up before running away, leaving him to stagger to the nearby shop where the lady explained to the shopkeeper what had happened. He recognised Ian and rang my mother. I rushed Ian off to the hospital to have his wounds attended. I then set off in my car to search for the bastards that had done this to him. I drove up and down every street on Ian's route but couldn't find them, which is probably just as well as they would have more than likely done damage to me too, had I challenged them. But I was so angry that they'd done this to my little brother, I just wanted to beat the shit out of them. But this incident was a measure of Ian's public spiritedness and bravery. Many people would have left the old lady to her fate and kept out of danger but Ian's compassion wouldn't allow him to walk on by. He had to try to stop what was happening. He had principles and the guts to do something about it. I have memories of Ian and I first recording music together, in the mid 'seventies with Be Bop Deluxe on the song 'Ships In The Night'. It was the first public recording of mine that he was involved with and it was at Abbey Road studios in London. He was really young and must have been intimidated and overwhelmed by the experience. He'd only just begun playing saxophone at that time, 'though he'd played clarinet for a while previously. I knew he was talented and capable and pushed him hard, as big brother's do. I was often too demanding of him, all throughout his musical life, knowing just how good he could be, given that push. I wanted him to excel, to be great, to be the best he could possibly be. My only consolation now is, if I was too hard on him, too exacting, I at least treat myself equally as hard, was just as critical of my own attempts. I thought that, together, we could change the world with our music. But I was stupid and naive too. I demanded too much from both of us. Ian was a great player without need of any pressure from me. Later on, he became a member of Red Noise, playing Sax, Clarinet and second keyboards in the band. Red Noise was also his introduction to life on the road and to television and radio appearances. In the 'eighties he contributed his gifted playing to several of my solo albums and songs. One of the most memorable was 'Do You Dream In Colour?' which featured Ian's incredibly catchy harmony saxophone hook, an important, essential component for the song's commercial appeal. It was one of the most perfectly appropriate parts he ever came up with, an absolutely classic line that everyone who ever heard the song remembers. It was a great pleasure, on the 2004 'Be Bop And Beyond,' 30 year celebration tour, for me to be able to perform that song live and have Ian in the band to reproduce the saxophone part perfectly. The song would be incomplete without it. How can I ever perform that song again without Ian standing next to me? Ian later became part of Fiat Lux, a band that I initially had produced and released on my own independent 'Cocteau Records' label. The band showed great commercial potential and the single that Cocteau Records released earned them media attention and landed the band a deal with a major label, only for them to later fall foul of incompetent and corrupt management. An old, far too familiar story. Poor Ian suffered from the financial fallout of that situation for several years afterwards. I was going through similar tribulations myself so we both experienced the corruption and callousness of the industry at first hand. Ian's experience soured his hopes of being a full-time musician and he decided to reserve his music for situations that were less likely to produce further unhappiness. He began playing with friends in local bands and occasionally taught music, teaching both privately and in college situations. Of the two of us, Ian was the one who had a formal, academic musical education. He began playing clarinet under the tuition of our late father, Walter Nelson and then had more formal lessons that resulted in him passing various examinations and gaining certificates of accomplishment. He eventually earned himself a place at Huddersfield College Of Music where he studied the subject academically. Ian was the real deal...not a dumb 'busker' like me who, to this day, still can't read a note of music. My father was so proud of the fact that Ian had done it the proper way. The ironic thing was that, whilst my formal education was in fine art and Ian's was in music, Ian eventually worked in the field of art, and I found myself with a career in music. Not what either of us had originally intended. Years ago, Ian took a temporary job at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. He worked in the on-site shop, selling Sculpture Park merchandise. The park's director was, and still is, Peter Murray, who had been my painting tutor at Wakefield School Of Art when I was a student there in the 1960's. Ian was eventually employed at the Sculpture Park full time and worked his way up to become part of the park's management team. It was a job he enjoyed tremendously and I was impressed by the way he handled it whenever I visited him at the park's office. I was so proud of his achievement with this. It was a job that I would have had neither the intelligence nor the social skills to do well. He was appparently in line for a directorship until his stroke put him out of commission, nine years ago. Eventually, he recovered from the stroke, only to discover that he had to deal with diabetes as well. Of course, all of those who loved him got sanctimonius about it and we gave him our glib advice, admonishing him if we felt that he wasn't strictly adhering to whatever health regime was appropriate to his condition. Ian, characteristically, didn't respond well to being prodded about these things. His life was his life and back seat drivers were not easily tolerated. To use a nautical metaphor, he was the captain of his own ship and he intended to sail it wherever HE wanted. Both of us were born stubborn so-and-so's but perhaps Ian had the upper hand on me in this department too. So...stubborn, yes, but he was never unforgivable. One of the things that people seemed to remember most about Ian was his warmth and the way he had of putting people at ease. There was something relaxed, open and easy going about him that made this possible. Again, I lack that quality, being too self-absorbed, nervous or intense, (or something), and was often surprised and amazed by the positive response he elicited from total strangers. He could make people feel they'd known him for years. And he did it without any artifice. It was 100% genuine empathy. One thing we had in common was a first marriage that didn't work out. I also had a second one that didn't but when Ian met Diane it felt as if he'd found his soul mate. I remember Ian and Diane's wedding day and the good vibes they gave off. And when Emiko and I had our wedding day, Ian and Diane were our witnesses. Diane has stuck with Ian through good times and difficult ones and she has a deep understanding of Ian's character and life. What she has endured these last two days is powerfully moving and impossible to fathom but she has shown kindness and bravery to all those in her circle and I know that Ian would be proud of her, and of his three children. Ian's eldest son, Julian, (from his first marriage), has been a pillar of strength to Diane, to my mother and to his step-brother Louis and step-sister Lucy. I've been so impressed by Julian's thoughtfulness, saneness and compassion. Ian's younger son Louis and daughter Lucy, (both from Ian's marriage to Diane), have shown tremendous dignity and self control too.They are a tribute to Ian and Diane's parenting skills. I'm proud to be an uncle to all three children 'though I ought to have been a much more present and regular one. I hope they realise just how much their father meant to me. During these last two days, I've been overwhelmed. I've been overwhelmed not only by what has actually happened, what also by the changes it has thrust upon so many people, overwhelmed by emotions that were far deeper and far stronger than I'd ever expected. At night, a little cinema of memory has opened up in my mind. I close my eyes and, there on the flickering screen are images of Ian and I as young children, anticipating Christmas...Me reading to Ian the story of 'Peter And Pam's Christmas' from a now long lost childhood book, huddled under an eiderdown together on a snowy Christmas Eve at our home at number 28 Conistone Crescent, Eastmoor Estate on the edge of Wakefield. We were electrified with excitement and anticipation, unable to sleep, eager for the morning and our presents from Santa. A dissolve...School holidays now. I've built plastic model aeroplanes from Airfix kits and hung them from the bedroom ceiling. Ian takes pot shots at them with his pop gun and decimates half a squadron. We run around the back garden in super-hero capes, Batman and Robin, Superman and Superboy, Dan Dare and Digby. Other kids, more inclined to army games, think that we are weird. We don't care what they think. The scene shifts and Ian and I are at the coast, or outside a caravan, or on the beach with a toy boat named St. Christopher, or on a clifftop flying a home-made kite together. There are images of us standing by our father's car... me with my arm around Ian, protecting him, my little brother. (He had curly blonde hair when he was small, cute as a button.) These images keep coming, flickering, changing, on through the years, our innocence gradually being left behind and with it the wonder and simplicity of childhood. Exhanged for something wilder and more dangerous: real life itself. And real life has taken Ian from us, as real life does. It takes us all eventually. What can we do? What's the point? Well...to live until we can live no more. But above all, to love and be loved in return. And I love my brother so much. I'll miss him terribly. Ian carried with him a part of my life, a shared childhood, memories of distant times. I think it's not overdramatic to say that a part of me has died with him. But, conversely, a part of him lives on with me. I want to recall more of our times together, to share them with readers of this diary, to let them know what a lovely person he was, to help them understand just why I'm so sad and heartbroken about losing him. For today though, perhaps this is enough, a beginning. So many warm tributes have appeared on the Dreamsville website forum for him. He would have been amazed by how much love he'd generated, how respected he was. You left too soon, Ian, too soon. ****** The photographs accompanying this diary entry show Ian alone on Lantern Hill in Ilfracoombe in Devon, myself and Ian on Ilfracoombe harbourside and Ian and I outside our parent's caravan at Skipsea, (with Dad's Austin Cambridge car). The photographs were taken around 1959/'60, I think. Top of page Jan May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2013

Stereo Star Maps Bill Nelson album - 10 November 2014 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) The Golden Age Again 02) Luminatron 03) Light In The Head 04) Drift Fictions 05) The Sleeping Body Sings 06) Stereo Star Map Number One 07) These Minutes Are Ours 08) Wondertown 09) Tangle Of Wires 10) Atoms, Neutrons, Strangeness And Charm 11) The Art Of Thinking 12) Tingalary Man And The Scarlet Fever Kid 13) Chiming Church With Rusty Bell 14) Another Planet 15) Stereo Star Map Number Two 16) The World Is Lost To Us All In The End ALBUM NOTES: Stereo Star Maps is an album mixing vocal and instrumental pieces, issued in a one-off print run of 500 copies on the Sonoluxe label. The album began life with the working title of Drifters and Steamers , with news of it first appearing on the Dreamsville forum in March 2014. By the following month it had been renamed Stereo Star Maps , although both titles remained possibilities through to May. At this stage in development the album was being planned as a double album, although Nelson kept his options open, admitting that it could turn out to be 2 separate single albums. With 21 tracks completed, 14 of which were instrumentals, Nelson began to assign particular tracks to other album projects, including Swoons and Levitations and Shining Reflector , which between them swallowed up all but 4 of the completed tracks. The remaining Stereo Star Maps material was produced during the second half of May through June, with a draft running order announced on 4 July 2014. This was ultimately finalised with some very minor adjustments to the order at the tail end of the album. Shortly after finishing the music for Stereo Star Maps Nelson was diagnosed with conductive hearing loss in his left ear, which effectively forced him to give up live performances, and sadly brought an end to events such as Nelsonica . However these restrictions in turn led to an increase in his already prolific recorded output, as it gave him more time to devote to making music. Stereo Star Maps went on sale on 10 November, and was removed from sale a week later due to an overwhelming number of orders being received at S.O.S. Unfortunately, it appeared to some that it had sold out, and at least one copy was sold on eBay for an extortionate amount before S.O.S could put the last few copies on sale again. It finally sold out of its print run on 1 December 2014. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . IF YOU LIKED THIS ALBUM, YOU'LL PROBABLY ENJOY: Shining Reflector , Swoons and Levitations , Fables and Dreamsongs , Dreamshire Chronicles , Loom , Fantasmatron , Blip! , The Awakening of Dr Dream , Signals From Realms of Light , Quiet Bells BILL'S THOUGHTS: "Some of you may be aware that I'm working on a possible DOUBLE album for early autumn release. The album's title is Stereo Star Maps . Quite a lot of material recorded so far, but I really want to keep going with this one and build up a large number of tracks worthy of inclusion. When it comes to the cut-off date for assembling the final running order I will decide whether to make it a double album or two individually-titled single ones. A recent acquisition of a Fractal Audio Axe FX unit has inspired a couple of ambient guitar improvisations which sound wonderfully ethereal. They definitely fit the title Stereo Star Maps . "Of course, a variety of styles have been embraced by the tracks I've already recorded for this project, but a certain, nebulous direction is beginning to emerge, based on the two tracks hinted at above. (Well, for one of the discs at least.) As always, these things are in a state of flux until the Muse says that it's done, but, right now, she's rocking me in her arms and has stars in her eyes! Hopefully, another treat in store when the leaves begin to turn gold." _____ "The title I initially came up with for this project was Drifters And Steamers , which was inspired by a Felix Kelly painting. Also, because the first gathering together of possible tracks for inclusion was fairly eclectic in style, I thought of some of them as being 'drifters', (ie: fairly gentle, contemplative pieces in no hurry to get anywhere), and others as 'steamers', (rather more 'driven' or in a hurry)." _____ "The guitar atmospheres on many of these tracks have been created via my recently acquired Fractal Audio Systems 'Axe-FX 2-XL' digital processor. The approach I've taken has been to attempt to slightly blur the structures of these pieces, to locate them in ambiguous, spectral spaces, to scramble the arrangements and sounds in such a way that the songs seem to emerge from a benevolent digital fog, yet still embrace meaning and melody, albeit in nebulous form. You'll have to hear it to understand what I'm driving at. As always, I'm still struggling with my music, still trying to locate my deeper self within it, and, hopefully, guiding it towards your deeper self too...xxx" _____ "Tingalary Man and The Scarlet Fever Kid": "This is a weird one: I didn't write any lyrics down before singing it, just opened up the mic and sung whatever entered my head. No going back over it either, just one single, spontaneous first take. Stream of consciousness stuff, straight from some deep well within. When it was done, the song turned out to be about a long ago childhood experience when I was four or five years old and caught Scarlet Fever, a dangerous illness which has now been eradicated from the world but, back in the early 1950s was very serious. I was hospitalised and not just sick with the disease but deeply traumatised by the experience of being taken from my parents. After a week or so, my father, against the hospital's advice, insisted on taking me home where I slowly recuperated in my own bedroom, the walls of which were hung with sheets soaked in some sort of disinfectant solution. One morning, during this recuperation period, I awoke to see a snowman materialise alongside my bed, walk down to the foot of the bed, cross over to the other side of it and walk back towards my head and vanish through the wall. A hallucination from the fever, perhaps, or a ghostly figure from the beyond which my infant self interpreted as a snowman? Anyway, that strange incident came back in the free association of the song's lyric. "And the 'Tingalary Man?' Apparently, when I was a very young child, I had a tin toy which was a kind of a circular music box which had a handle on the side. When you turned the handle a short musical phrase emerged, with a sound similar to an African 'thumb piano'. This device was referred to, by my dad, as a 'Tingalary'. Somewhere in the back of my mind it echoes still. So, this is basically what the song is about, a sick child, a snowman/ghost and a man turning the handle of a tin music box...all set to a kind of abstract, ambient, semi-atonal guitar loop. It's a very strange thing." FAN THOUGHTS: jetboy: "From the opening guitar effects on "The Golden Age Again" to the closing bars of "The World is Lost to Us in the End" this album opens yet another door to the seasoned listener and welcomes all to yet more musical discoveries from the creative mind of Bill Nelson - a world Bill is constantly exploring, and, thankfully for other fans and visitors to this site, releasing in limited edition albums. Stereo Star Maps is release number 35 under the Sonoluxe imprint and yet again, for this listener it breaks new ground. This album has a sense of playfulness and lightness, is dreamy, haunting and at times relaxed and contemplative." Tourist In Wonderland: "Isn't it just a fabulous album and listening experience?! "Bill pushing forward, moving into unchartered waters, mapping a new course of wonderful musical possibilities for us to discover and share, if we dare take the plunge...Well I'm in!...100% and all the way, following the guiding, twinkling star on the horizon and what a wondrous journey lies ahead... Stereo Star Maps is really having a very deep and profound affect on me, something I've not experienced quite so intensely in a record for some time, (although I do think the last six or seven years has seen Bill Nelson release consistently progressive and fabulous albums, some of the best of his career so far IMHO) and for that, I am truly grateful, nobody does it quite like Bill..." "I have found some of my best experiences when listening to this particular album are when I'm a little frazzled, a bit stressed mentally, a little 'world weary'...it always seems to get me back on track. Sometimes I feel like an old negative roll of film, neglected and left on a shelf, but gradually being reanimated by an infusion of mesmeric Bill Nelson aural chemicals and alchemy...shaped, bent, stretched...pulled back into focus...becoming a proper picture once more...the healing powers of 'proper' music... Stereo Star Maps is a wonderful experience...I love Bill Nelson music..." Holer: "Ahhhhhh Bill...I do love it when you are in Interstellar Space Transmission mode. I've been listening to your new album all week as I drive to work in the dark, rain and fog and am finding it to be the perfect contemplative accoutrements to my travels. About the only critique I would level is that this record should come with a warning label that listening can transport you to other realms. I've had hallucinating snowmen dancing through my head all week." tm14: "I can't pick out individual pieces as special because the whole album has that touch of magic about it. I was only going to play a couple of tracks a second time but ended up listening to the complete disc a second time. I think I have a new favourite. Don't miss this one." Palladium: "Drift Fictions":- "one of those seemingly effortless organic pieces that makes me think Bill has a device from the future which enables him to record direct from his unconscious to disc." "There's so much I love about this album. By the end of track six, you've already got "your money's worth", but the album's only just begun! Current favourite track: "Stereo Star Map Number One" - one of those atmospheric instrumental pieces that puts you straight into another world." December Man: "The Sleeping Body Sings":- "Takes you by the hand and walks you into one of those strange fictional worlds hinted at previously, where 'church bells chime their rusty bells' and 'ghosts' and 'demons' inhabit the darkest hours of night...the past not only haunts the 'now' but also seems to give it a strange kind of meaning by breathing new life into it and feeding the imagination which is the 'life blood' that keeps the artist creating his/her art... "Tingalary Man and The Scarlet Fever Kid" feels like a folk song from out of a contradictory wrinkle in the space-time continuum where Mr. Nelson seems to enter and exit at will...a kind of future-past dimension where dreams become part of the waking world and the waking world enters the realm of dreams...it's a place Mr. Nelson inhabits effortlessly like a musical shaman in order to return and report what’s been revealed to him... In "Stereo Star Maps Number Two" Bill sings for guidance to be brought back 'home' to his own ' centre ' or true self. He repeats the refrain like you would a prayer or incantation as a way of focusing all efforts and energies into traveling back toward that (musical) place that can only be found by following the direction of your own instinctual 'stereo' map of the heart... "The World is Lost to Us All in the End" completes the SSM journey on a poignantly sad note...an honest summation of the realities facing all of humanity...all the beauty as well as the sadness of life that even the artist is at a loss to explain and can only offer us his own sense of helplessness in our struggle to find hope and meaning when we reach that final hour...(and the rusty church bell begins to ring...) Thanks Bill...really enjoying this one!" Albums Menu Future Past

Fantastic Guitars Reeves Gabrels - Bill Nelson album - 7 July 2014 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) And The Train Left The Station Trailing Sparks And Stars 02) Infernal Apparatus 03) Revenge Of The Coda Kings 04) A Brilliant Night For Rain 05) Ghosts Behind Glass 06) Ambiguity 07) Honeybee In Autumn 08) Orange Turning Blue 09) Santos 10) Radio Andalusia 11) Fantastic Guitars ALBUM NOTES: Fantastic Guitars is a collaboration with fellow guitarist Reeves Gabrels (Tin Machine, David Bowie, The Cure), an instrumental album issued on the Sonoluxe label. The project appears to have been suggested by Gabrels in or around 2003, and was first added to Nelson's schedule of projects shortly after Nelsonica 10 but would take a further two years to take off, with the first tentative recording sessions occurring over a couple of days in January 2013. Those initial sessions produced 2 finished tracks, and in the run up to the recording Nelson seemed content to assume it would simply result in "an interesting EP." The pair reconvened the following month, and by June, the project had most certainly developed into a full blown album, with 5 tracks completed by then and a view to doing a further 5 to complete their work. Gabrels and Nelson then added to their work in progress that September with a further 3 tracks, before finally completing the project the following month. The album title took some time to stabilise, and at one point was referred to as Plectrajet before settling on Fantastic Guitars , which was confirmed to the Dreamsville community in April 2014. As with Joy Through Amplification and Blip! before it, Fantastic Guitars was unveiled with a launch party, held in London on 7 July, at which pre-release copies of the album were available to purchase. In order to provide enough copies for fans of both musicians, 1500 copies of Fantastic Guitars were pressed, instead of the now traditional run of 500 copies. The album went on general sale on 18 July 2014 and sold out in November 2018. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "The mighty Reeves Gabrels and myself, (Sonic Masons By Appointment to the Emperor Ming), have spent the last two days sitting next to each other in my little home studio, guitars slung around our shoulders, grinning like Alice's Wonderland Cheshire Cat as we laid down tracks for our collaborative recording project... All I can say is that you are going to get a genuine kick out of this, just as I have done from enjoying such a relaxed and positive relationship with Reeves these last two days. Unfortunately, I did have to use duck tape to strap two of the fingers on his left hand down, (in an attempt to even up the odds), but he still managed to make the jump to hyper-speed and left me spinning my rocket motors in a cloud of stardust!" _____ "What's been interesting about the project for me, is just how compatible our playing is on the recordings...we probably have as much in common in our approaches as we have differences. The blend is such that the listener may well be wrong-footed over who is playing what...it sounds organic and integrated. It's not at all like those old-school guitar battles that can feel artificial and forced...Instead it flows naturally and you can hear our friendship and mutual respect in the music we make together." _____ "Both Reeves and I are musicians with broad and eclectic tastes...rock, jazz, blues, classical, country, pop, avant-garde and more, which inform our musical sensibilities and you'll find evidence of all that in 'Fantastic Guitars' but in what I consider to be a uniquely mutated form. There's spontaneity and thoughtfulness, little 'in-jokes' and oblique musical references. Lots of fun and games, intelligence and passion in the album...and certainly no lack of melody. It's two guitarists celebrating their favoured instruments in a spirit of shared joyfulness." _____ "The album contains lots of detail...some of it on the surface, some almost hidden but revealing itself the more you listen. It all fits together like a colourful psychedelic jig-saw puzzle. There are some deliberately confrontational, avant-garde moments too, mainly in "Ghosts Behind Glass" and "Orange Turning Blue", but I think perhaps the album's underlying idea was to create a 'mash-up' of guitar sounds and styles, something that constantly mutates in generic terms throughout each piece, rather than 'here's a rock track, and this one's a jazz track, and the next one's a funk track' or whatever. Each track is in a constant state of flux, shape-shifting and twisting and morphing. It's an adventure, guided by two like-minded explorers." _____ "What we've come up with so far can only be described as non-blues, non-pentatonic, neo-modernist, expressionistic, electro-jazzmatazz, rock n' roll surrealism. Or something like that. Or even not..." _____ "You want fast, searing solo lines? Tick! You want sustained legato passages? Tick! You want jazzy phrases? Tick! How about harmonic complexity, multiple layers, quirky textures, experimental noises, non-linear arrangements? Yep, you can tick all those too! Not so much a duo, more of a seething guitar orchestra." _____ "This album is not for the faint-hearted, nor for those with short attention spans or conservative tastes. It's a full-on assault for real men with rayguns and those who yearn for hyper-active, super-cosmic guitars! Not so much afternoon tea in the high street, more like an intellectual bar-room brawl on Mars. Tequila, Vino and Vibrance!" _____ "It's a multi-layered thing, kind of sonic architecture, or a six-string action painting. Just take your time with it, be patient, and eventually the window will open wide a present panoramic realms of guitar risk-taking. Trust me, I'm an artist!" ALBUM REVIEW: Review by David Quantick for Classic Rock Magazine FAN THOUGHTS: Martin Bostock: "I called in on Bill & Emi yesterday, and Bill was kind enough to play me some of the new material he has been working on, including the pieces with Reeves. I do have to say this collaboration is something very special. Reeves and Bill both complement and contrast each other perfectly, and the material they have so far recorded is nothing short of awesome. I wholeheartedly recommend you snap this up quickly when it sees its release, else you will be kicking yourself for a long, long time!" loversaremortal: "My head is spinning from some of the amazing guitar licks...how many fingers do you two fellows have?!! Brilliant...Yes highly recommended...I wish there were more musicians out there like Bill and Reeves...the envelope has moved again...thank you very much." tom fritz: "I think it's really beyond "Fantastic!" Especially the out of control feedback/trem/improv passages. You can tell the boys had fun with their toys. Cheers!" Holer: "I like how Reeves brings out Bill's spikier edge on some of these songs. It's fun to hear Bill do some hard rockin' too." seakret: "Fun stuff. An all out attack of effects guitars with the typical trademark "Billisms" (found voices, some keyboard whooshes, and stereo effects). Good times." Tesh: "I made the mistake of popping it in to my car stereo while going to see a friend. I arrived at my friend's house simultaneously drooling and giggling...which was rather embarrassing considering I was standing in his living room at the time...I'm still at the "shock and awe" stage of listening, as some of the guitar tones are just other worldly...maybe that's what caused the drooling. A summertime sonic sorbet that reveals new flavors with every listen. Delicious AND fat-free!" December Man: "I had a similar experience. I had to go across town yesterday so I burned a copy of FGs for the "trip" and headed on down the road...unsure of what I was about to hear. L.A. 101 freeway traffic, graffiti lathered walls, looming skyscrapers, gritty streets just west of downtown, hustle and bustle of city life, the chaos of people moving in all directions, etc... and it was all just fine with me! Drove around with a big fat grin on my face while listening to Fantastic Guitars ! This one is not just right up my alley, it's also down my street, over my overpass, through my tunnel, and flows down my freeway!" Twilightcapers: "Well, I absolutely love this album. A Guitar work without tired blues licks, with some spine tingling moments and a bit of hooliganism thrown in. It's been a while my friends since I've felt compelled to play air guitar, but "Coda Kings" took me away. "A Brilliant Night For Rain", and a brilliant night for buddies to jam too by the sound of it, Jeff Beck-ish in places! Non cheesy, non metal rock guitar. And "Ghosts Behind Glass" had me smiling from ear to ear, one of the highlights I think. It's one of those rare CDs that seems to be over too soon. Can't wait for the follow up! I can't stop playing it, only my other recent purchase, the marvellous Signals From Realms of Light is competing with it. With every release Bill's playing seems more confident and extrovert, always evolving..." MondoJohnny: "I find that I cannot take this off my player. What can I say? I love it! I find myself humming the tunes to myself absent-mindedly lately!" "There are some tracks on this that just blow my mind...and I'm not even a "guitar guy" really." Mozo: "In my opinion, this CD is exactly what its title states... Fantastic Guitars . It is a CD of fantastic guitar performance and sounds. In fact, I jotted down my initial remarks after listening firsthand which were as follows..."A myriad of guitar mastery and technique exploding into a vortex of constant yet an ever changing, cascading, waterfall of sounds." A true treasure of a CD that will undoubtedly take the listener to new worlds with every continual listen. Considering the amount of time that Bill and Reeves actually spent together on this project, and the music that they have created in that short working time in itself...is absolutely astounding! Great songwriting is something that doesn't usually just happen... "Thank-you most graciously Reeves and Bill for your Fantastic Guitars !!! Hopefully, this will not be your last works together as I'm sure you both realize the possibilities of your artistic merits together are endless." Albums Menu Future Past

Panic in the World Be Bop Deluxe single - 9 January 1978 Singles Menu Future Past TRACKS: A) Panic In The World B) Blue As A Jewel ORIGINALLY: A) Edited version of the Drastic Plastic album cut. B) Non-album cut stemming from the Drastic Plastic sessions. NOTES: Panic in the World was the ninth Be Bop Deluxe single issued during the band's existence. The single came in a generic record company sleeve. UK Promo copies exist with the words Demo Record Not For Sale and a large 'A' printed on the label. In North America Mono/Stereo promo copies were pressed (separately in US and Canada) to encourage airplay on both AM and FM radio. PAST RELEASES: Both tracks would be included on the Singles As and Bs compilation (1981), and "Panic in the World" would find its way onto the Bill Nelson's Be Bop Deluxe 7" EP included in the Permanent Flame Box Set (1982) and on the re-promoted stand-alone 12" EP on Cocteau in September 1983, with an extra track "Jean Cocteau". "Blue as A Jewel" would first re-appear on the Best of and the Rest of Be Bop Deluxe double album issued later in 1978, before being added as a bonus track to the Modern Music album when it was issued on CD in 1991. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: The single is long deleted, but both tracks can be found on the Cherry Red/Esoteric Recordings reissue of Drastic Plastic (2021) - both in physical form and as a digital download. Singles Menu Future Past

Feels Like Winter Again single - 1982 Fiat Lux Production/Contribution Menu Future Past BILL: Producer Production/Contribution Menu Future Past

Acquitted By Mirrors - Issue Two - Published June 1982 Back to Top

Return To Tomorrow Bill Nelson album - 29 September 2012 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) Piano-Guitar 02) Give A Damn My Dear 03) Walking On Thin Air 04) The Mysterious Bath 05) Madhouse 06) You Freak Me Out 07) Chills For You 08) The Plastic Flower Show 09) Send The Rain 10) Always And Everywhere 11) Feeling Floating Away 12) Lucis 13) Secret Song (Oh, Emiko) 14) She's Got The Power 15) Flowers Within (Version 2) 16) Rehearsal Of Thought 17) Dark Eyes 18) Not As Easy As It Looks 19) Deep December (Bright & Shiny Day) 20) Lazy, Lazy Bones 21) Cowboy Song 22) We Two In Love Forever Dreaming 23) Ripples On A Blue Pool 24) Let's Dance ALBUM NOTES: Return to Tomorrow (These Tapes Rewind: Volume One) is a vocal album, issued in a single print run of 1000 copies on the Discs of Ancient Odeon label. The album was first made available to attendees of Nelsonica 12 , included within the ticket price of that event, before going on general sale 2 days later through S.O.S. The material contained on Return to Tomorrow was compiled in July 2012, and is drawn from Nelson's "PCM-F1 archives", recorded in the period between 1984 and 1995. Fans had received a sample of these archives when they were first raided for the Hip Pocket Jukebox mini album issued a year previously. Further volumes taken from these archives are planned for the future. The album sold out in February 2019. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download in the Dreamsville Store . IF YOU LIKED THIS ALBUM, YOU'LL PROBABLY ENJOY: Hip Pocket Jukebox , Luminous , My Secret Studio , Blue Moons & Laughing Guitars , Practically Wired , Confessions of a Hyperdreamer , Whistling While the World Turns , Noise Candy , The Romance of Sustain BILL'S THOUGHTS: "From the mid '80s and into the early '90s, my home studio ("The Echo Observatory"), used a reel-to-reel analogue tape recorder, initially a 4-track machine, then an 8-track and finally a 16-track. I mixed down the recordings I made on these multitrack recorders via a modest analogue mixing desk onto a very early digital stereo machine, a Sony PCM F1, which used Betamax video tape as its storage medium. Whilst I released several albums recorded this way, there was a huge amount of material left "on the shelf". These were demos, rough sketches, unfinished songs, outlines of ideas for advertising commissions, library music, TV drama soundtracks and various late-night experiments. I chose not to release these recordings as I considered them flawed, either with regard to the technical failings of the mixes themselves or inconsistencies in the performance and execution of the material. For many years I chose not to listen to them or consider the possibility of their release... In 2000, my studio equipment was updated to what was then the latest digital domestic home studio multitrack system. A few years previously, my Sony PCM F1 machine had given up the ghost, so there was no way to retrieve or re-archive the material that had been stored on the old F1Betamax tapes. By this time, the unreleased '80s recordings had become legendary amongst fans, particularly those fans to whom the '80s represented their first introduction to my work. However, although I still had no great desire to release these "lost tapes" I thought that they should be transferred to a more current storage medium for posterity's sake. After some research, a working PCM F1 machine was found and purchased via contributions from fans. My good friend Jon Wallinger volunteered to take on the task of archiving this vast amount of material, copying any unreleased tracks from the PCM machine onto recordable CDs. It was a long and slow process and Jon ended up with a huge number of discs containing hundreds of unreleased recordings. These discs then gathered dust in my current home studio until very recently. It is only now, in 2012, that I've had the curiosity or inclination to listen through this archive of old recordings. I was surprised by what I found. Whilst the flaws mentioned earlier still exist, they do not detract from the imagination and vitality of the music. In fact, they often add to its charm. I've selected 24 of these recordings to present here as the Return to Tomorrow album, Volume One in the "These Tapes Rewind" series. Other volumes will follow...I hope you will enjoy this first glimpse into my private archive." _____ "Let's Dance": "It's my version of the old Chris Montez song, which I loved way back in my teens. I recorded it in my home studio, just for fun, back in the '80s. I didn't have a copy of the original lyrics, so this version has some that I remembered but some that are probably made up on the spot..." FAN THOUGHTS: Holer: "Wow. This may be a collection of home recordings, but it sure sounds like a great 'lost' 90's Bill Nelson album to me. A choice batch of exuberant, quirky pop songs, most of which seem to be about the first blush of new love..." "You sound like you're having the time of your life playing a lot of these cuts and enthusiasm often transcends imperfection, especially when it comes to Rock & Roll." "So many stand-out cuts; this is an instant classic to my ears." Billy Wakefield: "I too detect a joyous feel to the album, and if these are outtakes, give me what's on the studio floor! Not trying to be presumptuous Bill, but whilst I appreciate your incredibly high standards of Sonic excellence, I can also appreciate a rougher, less polished piece of work. In many ways I think it can add a certain quality to a track!" Puzzleoyster: "The PCM Era has taken a lot, if not all of us by very pleasant surprise! Open mouthed agog as how comes most, if not all these songs and sketches found themselves down the back of the Proverbial PCM Settee!!??? and did not get a release, then again, when listened to...the PCM are timeless!" "(Frankly I Don't) Give A Damn My Dear!" is an instant classic...it's an awesome jubilant song and works perfectly." chymepeace: "I am glad that Bill's quality control is high but also allows us a glimpse of what didn't quite make the grade (for him) so we get to appreciate a 'lost' gem like "Piano-Guitar". I hope Bill keeps his single-mindedness and lets us hear what he wants us to hear." Peter Cook: "Like a warm blanket, there are some tracks that send me back quite a few years to My Secret Studio and other albums of that era. At this point in time I am drawn back to "Piano-Guitar" over and over. Reminds me of some of the work Bill did with David Sylvian." WalterDigsTunes: "Everything on here feels like a lost pop gem. It really does get better with every play." "If you dig Luminous , Return to Tomorrow will be a must-have!" Prey: "Good music seldom sounds dated. Even though it contains selections from years past, they still sound fresh. I enjoyed all of it, another fine release." mitchellmichael: "I have been waiting for soooo long to hear these tapes and this release did not disappoint!! Can't wait for more in the series!!!" Albums Menu Future Past

The Last Of The Neon Cynics Bill Nelson album - 21 May 2012 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) Riding The Go-Tubes 02) Interstellar Courier 03) Decimal Point For The Thousand Races 04) Jericho's Armband Counsel 05) Cassidy's Electric Campfire Song 06) The Colonel Has An Anti-Decimal Scheme 07) The Blue Taint 08) Mathematical Prairie 09) Do Space Trams Dream Of Fictitious Passengers? ALBUM NOTES: The Last of the Neon Cynics is an instrumental album (with a single vocal track) released on the Sonoluxe label issued in a single print run of 500 copies. The album was a collaboration with illustrator Matt Howarth that was commenced in 2003. At one point it had been hoped that the artwork would be presented in book form with the accompanying CD but manufacturing costs ruled this out. Instead, the album was pressed as an Enhanced-CD, with the Howarth's illustrated story included as s a PDF file, accessed by loading the CD onto a PC. On May 4th, 2012 (Star Wars day!) a taster track "Decimal Point for the Thousand Races" was officially released through Soundcloud with the full album finally available on May 21st, 2012. The limited nature of the release (Nelson's first CD restricted to just 500 copies since Arcadian Salon in 2006) meant that collectors had to be alert to get their hands on a copy. Consequently on June 26th an announcement was made on the Dreamsville forum that the CD was almost sold out, with the last copy being snapped up on July 2nd. A few lucky latecomers though were able to get autographed copies by ordering from Matt Howarth's website in October that year. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "Neon Cynic is a collaboration between myself and respected American comic book artist Matt Howarth. Its full title is The Last of the Neon Cynics , a project I began working on quite a few years ago now, (in 2003 to be exact). "The Last of the Neon Cynics was conceived as a sci-fi comic book/graphic story, about a cosmic cowboy called 'Cassidy' who has a robot guitar as his side-kick. Cassidy travels the multiverse in an inter-dimensional tram that utilises galactic wormholes to get from one place to another. The story takes in his battle with an evil entity called 'The Blue Taint'. "Matt wrote and illustrated the tale, (after we originally discussed the idea, way back when), and I have, over the last seven years, written, performed and recorded the musical soundtrack for it. "This project has taken a very long time to come to fruition, mainly my fault due to my unrelenting, intense work-schedule which has only allowed me to devote time to the Neon Cynic music in between other projects. And as Dreamsville citizens know, there are virtually no 'in-between' times in my schedule at all!" [2010] _____ "Whilst there are only nine tracks on the album, they're all long ones and act as a 'soundtrack' to the sci-fi story contained within the CD, (you'll be able to access this by popping the disc into your computer). All the tracks are instrumental with one exception, a rather novel song written and sung from the central character's point of view. The song also features a kind of robot guitar that can play any style of music, (in the song's case, with touches of Jimi Hendrix and Chet Atkins!)" FAN THOUGHTS: BenTucker: "It has a lot of really incredible guitar, and it's mostly instrumental (just one song with vocals). It's an essential purchase for any aficionado of Bill's guitar music." "The Colonel Has an Anti-Decimal Scheme": "How outrageously great is that track!! Just incredible..." mitchellmichael: Best Bill Nelson release of 2012 Poll: "No puzzle here! For me it wins hands down. Great concept, great art/artist, and great music!!! Download Neon Cynics . Best BN release of 2012!" martin jordan: Best Bill Nelson release of 2012 Poll: "Overall my vote has to go to The Last of the Neon Cynics - I love every track and the guitar playing is incredible!" swampboy: "While I think that all of the albums released this year [2012] are very good to excellent, I still think that The Last of the Neon Cynics was the best release out of the bunch. Tight, concise songs with layers of gorgeous guitar." "The whole CD is a smorgasbord of aural delights." Iron Man No. 28: " The Last of the Neon Cynics is the standout release for me: particularly like hearing the music in sync with reading the comic. Personal favourite track is the coda, "Do Space Trams Dream of Fictitious Passengers", for its incredible sense of yearning and regret for what might have been. When I put it on, it's like I've died and gone to Twangolia Heaven. Transcendentally wonderful. Thanks, Bill." GettingOnTheBeam: "Some very heavy rock oriented instrumentals in this one. This CD is extremely underrated." felixt1: "On "Cassidy's Electric Campfire Song", Bill is channelling - Johnny Cash, Jimi Hendrix and Jeff Beck! On the following song, "The Colonel Has An Anti-Decimal Scheme", Bill delivers a bit of a guitar tour de force along similar but different lines to "Machines of Loving Grace"." novemberman: "Mr. Nelson you've done it again - another masterpiece! After one play through, stand out moments are "Interstellar Courier" and "The Colonel Has an Anti-Decimal Scheme". Now I've got to have a look at the book to find out what these tantalising titles are all about." Albums Menu Future Past

Mixed Up Kid Bill Nelson album - 3 December 2021 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this CD Purchase this download TRACKS 01) Aeroplane Mind 02) The Autumn Balloonist 03) A Pond For The Moon 04) Channel Surfing 05) Flowers And Stars 06) Saturn's Groove 07) She Sees Me Sleeping 08) Switchback 09) Maybe It's My Eyes 10) The Enchanted Cathedral 11) She's Got Flower Power 12) Nowhere In Particular 13) Mixed Up Kid 14) Far Beyond The West Of Me 15) This Information Arrives From Dreams 16) Wild And Serene 17) Moon Over Echo Lake 18) A Touch Of Body And Soul 19) Longing For Light ALBUM NOTES: Mixed Up Kid is an album comprising a mixture of song based and instrumental material issued on the Sonoluxe label as a limited edition of 1000 copies. The material was recorded between August and October 2021 immediately on completion of My Private Cosmos . Mixed Up Kid is the fourth Bill Nelson album to be released since he moved to his Cubase recording set-up assembled in 2019. Plans for the album were first announced on the Dreamsville website in a forum post on 8 September 2021 in which Nelson referred to it as a "mystery album" available for download before the appearance of My Private Cosmos . On 27 September 2021 Nelson announced in a further forum post that he had recorded and mixed 12 tracks for the album, now titled Mixed Up Kid , but that he was still deciding on the track listing. However, anyone assuming that the album was finalised were informed to the contrary on 8 October 2021 when Nelson confirmed that a further 3 songs had been completed with another song being worked on. On 23 October 2021 Nelson revealed further developments in this project, the most notable being that it would appear as physical CD release rather than as a download. Nelson also confirmed that he had completed 19 songs for the album but intended that only 18 of these would make the final cut (assuming there was enough space on single CD to fit them all on). In fact, Nelson had mis-numbered his final running order meaning that 19 songs were indeed destined to feature on it. Mixed Up Kid was mastered at Fairview Studios by John Spence on 1 November 2021 with the artwork, prepared by Martin Bostock as usual, already underway. Pre-orders for Mixed Up Kid were announced by Burning Shed on 11 November 2021 with it appearing on 3 December. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase here in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "You could think of this album as a kind of 'prequel' or even a sequel to My Private Cosmos (though I'm hoping to release it prior to that massive six disc set.) The Mixed Up Kid title comes partly from the fact that the album is a mix of styles with instrumental and vocal tracks covering a range of genres, from meditative, introspect to jazz funk, pop and rock. It's an interesting listen..." _____ "I headed over to Fairview Studio today to transfer all the tracks to the studio's's computer in readiness for the mastering process under the watchful ear of my buddy John Spence...Listened back to the tracks on Fairview's big monitor speakers which reveal a lot of detail that isn't always available on my home studio system. But, thankfully, the tracks sound pretty good." _____ "I chose the title of this album simply because it is, when all's said and done, an eclectic mix of tracks without adherence to any one particular genre. In that sense it certainly is a 'mixed up' album! On another level, the title harks back to my 1950's childhood when the term 'mixed up kid' was often applied to any child who didn't quite fit the behaviour patterns expected of children back then. I've never thought of myself as a 'mixed up kid', (though others may have done), but my tastes in music are wide and eclectic and I suppose, in that respect, they could be categorised as somewhat mixed up. I've always enjoyed fusing different genres together and I try not to lock music into tightly defined categories. Most of my work has taken that approach and this album is no different. These days, in music at least, there's no need to show your passport at the frontier. So, sit back, listen and enjoy the kaleidoscopic Mixed Up Kid !" Albums Menu Future Past

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

Das Kabinett Bill Nelson album - 25 November 1981 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this reissue TRACKS: 01) The Asylum 02) Waltz 03) The Fairground 04) Doctor Caligari 05) Cesare The Sonambulist 06) Murder 07) The Funeral 08) The Sonambulist And The Children 09) Caligari Disciplines Cesare 10) Caligari Feeds Cesare 11) Caligari Opens The Cabinet 12) Jane Discovers Cesare 13) The Attempted Murder Of Jane 14) The Dream Dance Of Jane And The Sonambulist 15) Escape Over The Rooftops 16) The Unmasking 17) The Shot 18) The Cabinet Closes ALBUM NOTES: Das Kabinett (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) is an instrumental album recorded at The Echo Observatory. The music was composed for a theatre production of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, staged by The Yorkshire Actors Company. Das Kabinett was the first full length album to be issued on Cocteau in November 1981. The album sleeve displayed the title as "Das Kabinet", whereas the label had the correct spelling. PAST RELEASES: Das Kabinett was reissued on vinyl as a double album with La Belle et la Bête (Cocteau, 1985), sporting new artwork. It was given its first and only US release on CD (Enigma, 1989) as two albums on one disc (again with La Belle et la Bête ). Das Kabinett was reissued by Esoteric/Cocteau Discs in December 2017 as part of a 3-CD set of Bill's early soundtrack work, entitled Dreamy Screens . CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Das Kabinett will be made available as a digital download at some point in the near future. BILL'S THOUGHTS: "In 1919, German film director Robert Weine made what was to become one of the classics of the silent cinema, The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari. Using stark, expressionistic sets and highly stylised acting techniques, Weine created a nightmare world with insanity and murder at its core. "Some sixty-two years later, early in 1981, I was approached by The Yorkshire Actors Company, to provide a musical score for a modern adaptation of the Caligari story. The Company's director, Andy Winters, wanted to preserve the stylised, expressionistic gestures of the film whilst introducing elements of the mime and even dance. The production would rely heavily on the performers acting techniques as very few stage settings or effects were to be employed. Although this was not the first play I had been involved in musically (I provided an electronic score for a production of Ibsen's "Peer Gynt" in 1966), I found the whole idea extremely challenging and set to work taking notes and timings during the play's early rehearsals. "The story starts and ends in an asylum presided over by Dr. Caligari. The action in between involves, amongst other things, a fairground, a caravan, a prison, and the crooked streets and rooftops of a small medieval town known as Holstenwall. "The music was recorded on the same domestic four-track machine I had previously used to create the Sounding the Ritual Echo album, and as the music had to be delivered to the Yorkshire Actors Company in time for them to complete their final rehearsals, a high degree of self discipline was in order. After several days intense work and a certain amount of last minute editing the soundtrack was complete." FAN THOUGHTS: UrbanCanvas: "What a fantastic atmospheric album this is, I have fond memories of The Yorkshire Players doing excerpts of this during The Invisiblity Exhibition, something that is etched in my mind forever." tommaso: "There is a lot of interesting detail here, and as usual, marvellous and unique sounding synths, creating an appropriately spine-chilling character in places." Mozo: "As the years have passed, I find that if I have Das Kabinett , Trial By Intimacy (The Book of Splendours) and Savage Gestures for Charms Sake playing in the background, I seem to become more creative at anything that I happen to be doing, at the same time I'm listening. So I've come to appreciate the different facets of Bill's creativity all the more. Am I getting older (Brrr), mellowing, maturing?" Albums Menu Future Past

Now Available! find it here

Albion Dream Vortex More Listening Notes Go to Album Listening Notes to accompany the album Albion Dream Vortex by Bill Nelson General introduction: 'Albion Dream Vortex' is an instrumental album blending guitars and keyboards in a variety of styles. It contains subtle references to instrumental music I've made throughout my career, embracing ambient, electronic, vintage and modern, wrapped up in a dream-like vortex of sound. The word 'Albion,' for me, signifies the post-World War 2 era I grew up in. It also reminds me of a company called 'Albion Motors' who built art-deco styled buses in the 1930s and '40s. But 'Albion' is actually the oldest known name for the island of England and inevitably conjures up swirling spirits from the mysterious past. The subject of dreams, their nature and purpose, has fascinated me since childhood. Dreams have also been a recurring motif in my creative life, and will continue to be so until, somewhere in the future, I will become little more than a flickering, ghostly dream of myself...atoms of memory, spluttering and sparkling like tiny fireworks in a long ago November sky. We inhabit two worlds, one of which we assign to reality and the other to dreams. Our lives are spent half awake and half asleep, adrift in realms of reason and unreason. The boundary between these realms, for the artist, is often deliberately blurred, nebulous, ambiguous. Yet our creative imagination holds the ticket that allows us to travel between these two states and permits mysterious goods to be imported and exported. This luminous traffic, this flickering mystery, is the foundation of 'Albion Dream Vortex.' 1: 'Thought Bubble Number 1.' An opening, an introduction. Shiny, chrome-plated guitars breaking through a grey veil, pushed by percussion...A brief taste of something always just out of reach. 2: 'Behold These Present Days.' Percussion looping back in time to 'After The Satellite Sings.' Voice samples trapped like insects in amber...a simple, brief burst of synthetic energy. Ice skating on the frozen river of time. The present day lost to the past. 3: 'Like A Boat In The Blue.' Aching guitar, the melancholy sound of six philosophical strings underpinning a found-voice sample. Tubular Bells and ocean sound. Sailor Bill laments beneath an ancient lighthouse. 4: 'Sparky And The Spearmint Moon.' Sparky may be perceived as the character featured in 'Sparky's Magic Piano,' and 'Sparky's Magic Echo,' children's records which often played on the BBC's Saturday morning 'Children's Favourites' radio programme in the 1950s and of which I was, as an infant, quite fond...but the music here has no literal reference to that piece, (other than echoes applied to the guitar sound.). Instead, it presents a mock easy listening experience, Liberace and Mantovani smothered beneath a pink blanket of electric guitar candy floss. Short and, in some ways, violently sweet. 5: 'Tomorrow Will Not Be Too Late.' More found voices, introduced by a burst of distressed electronica. A music box from Planet X tumbles helplessly over itself as the track's inexorable mad chant reminds us that 'Tomorrow Will Not Be Too Late.' It will, of course, always be far too late, yet the voice sample presents us with a sort of kitsch and surreal optimism. Ghostly voices at the track's conclusion try to console us but ultimately only serve to underline the disembodied and temporary nature of our brief lives. It's a cheerful tune about a melancholy subject. 6: 'Start Beaming And Get On The Gleam.' An obvious variation on the title of an old early 1980s track of mine. ('Quit Dreaming And Get On The Beam.') Actually this piece has no real musical connection with that track but instead heads into more ambient jazz territory...I just liked the play of words on that old title. It opens with a rather melancholy piano section before percussion enters and a chromium guitar excursion kicks in, underpinned by marimba and a bubbling sub-bass pattern. E-bow sections and orchestral counterpoint bring further textures to the piece. Piano mixes in with marimba, Wurlitzer and guitars...the longest track, (so far,) on the album at this point. 7: 'We Who Are Awake Will Not Be Asleep.' This could be seen as a wilder, more intense development of the mood of 'Like A Boat In The Blue,' but it eventually develops into a sort of filtered, distorted, guitar jig to which brief brass riffs are added before the track's fragmented conclusion. It's ecstatic but intoxicated, maybe possessed by some perverse spirit of electrical pagan revelry. 8: 'Thought Bubble Number 2.' Remember those old comic books where a character's inner dialogue would be represented by a graphic 'thought bubble'? Well, these thought bubble tracks are a sort of musical equivalent of my own inner dialogue. This one illuminates the darker, foggier corners of my mind's dusty attic. Uncertain, tremulous, slightly spooky. Guitars and radios mess with each other under a moonlit sky. 9: 'Electrical Adepts Of The Celestial Bed.' Sex, inevitably, enters stage left...erotica embodied in the opening chords of this slinky, trippy neo-jazz fantasy. Title inspired by words found in a book about William Blake's bedroom life. The ghost of Miles Davis gets horny and shiny whilst Fender Rhodes and Wurlitzer pianos bring the bitches brew to the party...extended improvisation, ethereal interludes, cosmic star-fields and fuzz bass suggest heaven and earth. A weird old wah-wah guitar enters as if Haight-Ashbury was still, after all these years, the centre of the hipster universe...Dissolve to tides of static, moog pitch wheel aberrations...Miles returns as a synthetic ectoplasmic spirit...now is the time to drop the body and transform to radio waves. 10: 'The Mastery Of The Thing.' More found voices...a quiet, reverse collage of guitars underpinned by trippy percussion..."Higher and higher" the voice urges us...Guitars alternate between forward and reverse gears, chromium, liquid, tuned mercury. Strange. 11: 'Albion Dream Vortex.' The absolute heart and soul of the album, the hidden pearl at its centre. This is the track that birthed the entire album. It's one of those neo-classical adventures that I embark on from time to time, poignant and sometimes sad, yet uplifting, bright and optimistic. An embrace, an affirmation...strings, electric piano, acoustic piano, found sounds, music boxes, church bells, ethereal choirs, cellos, oboes, English horns, electronica...a ten minute sixteen second symphony from my heart to yours. 12: 'Thought Bubble Number 3.' Back to guitars. Filtered, delayed, set to sail on some far distant, slow cosmic surf. An ancient 1980s drum machine rattles and claps beneath as if the 21st Century never actually arrived. Dissolves in a pool of shimmering electric piano. Brief...an interlude. 13: 'Long Ago By Moonlit Sea.' Eleven minutes and thirteen seconds of slowly evolving fantasy...a drift, a flow, a hovering, angelic cloud of lights. Persevere...it goes through change after change. Beauty rewards patience...this one swims deep. 14: 'Let Us Melt And Make No Noise.' A fitting conclusion...to both this album and our time as actors employed in the theatre of Planet Earth. A found voice urges us to "Melt and make no noise..." Guitar sounds slide in and out. Buzzy, electro-static percussion enters and soon fades, an electronic ocean of sonic textures, re-tuned radios, distant echoes and close whispers. A kind of conclusion...but far from absolute. More Listening Notes Go to Album

Sunburst Finish Be Bop Deluxe album - 9 January 1976 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this box set Purchase this double CD TRACKS: 01) Fair Exchange 02) Heavenly Homes 03) Ships In The Night 04) Crying To The Sky 05) Sleep That Burns 06) Beauty Secrets 07) Life In The Air Age 08) Like An Old Blues 09) Crystal Gazing 10) Blazing Apostles ALBUM NOTES: Sunburst Finish is the third album by Be Bop Deluxe. It was recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London during October 1975, and represents the band's commercial breakthrough. The band lineup on Sunburst Finish is that established for Futurama - Bill Nelson, Charles Tumahai and Simon Fox, with the addition of new member Andy Clarke on keyboards. The album appeared on vinyl and cassette and was promoted by the release of the single Ships in the Night , which became a Top 30 hit in the UK, and exposed the band to a much wider audience. Vinyl copies were released in a single sleeve, and the record was housed in an inner sleeve bearing lyrics to all songs. For the North American market an 'Airplay' edition of the album was pressed for radio use only. This comprises the same material as the commercial release but the segued tracks are individually banded. When reissued on CD in 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. "Shine" stems from the same period as the Sunburst Finish album (albeit recorded after the album sessions, without Charlie Tumahai), but was released in tandem with the follow up album Modern Music as a single 'B' side, so arguably belongs with Modern Music . Both of the other 2 bonus tracks hail from the Drastic Plastic period, and one of them, "Speed of the Wind", is a bonus track on Futurama , so shouldn't have been included on both albums. Conversely, the experimental track "Blimps" which can be found as a bonus track on the Drastic Plastic reissue in the same series, was recorded around the same time as Sunburst Finish and should have been included on that album instead. If you no longer kept your vinyl copy, and require song lyrics, then this CD edition satisfies that need, and the informative sleeve notes penned by Kevin Cann provide useful context. In April 2017 Cherry Red and E soteric R ecordings , who, since 2011, have done so much to raise the profile of Bill Nelson's solo recordings from the period 1980 to 2002, acquired the rights to release the Be Bop Deluxe and Red Noise material issued between 1973 and 1979. While this resulted in the deletion of existing physical editions, Cherry Red kept Sunburst Finish on catalogue from 1 June 2017 via the usual download sites such as Amazon and iTunes while an expanded edition was prepared for a 2018 physical release. On 23 November 2018 Sunburst Finish became the first Be Bop Deluxe album to be issued as a Deluxe Edition comprising: a freshly remastered version of the original album, a 2018 remix of the full album. 6 unreleased studio recordings. previously released live and studio material recorded for Radio 1. the original album presented in a 5.1 mix and three filmed performances. the previously released OGWT appearance from 13 January 1976. a super rare promo video for Ships in the Night that was made in 1976 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 Abbey Road Studio, previously unseen photographs from the period and a couple of reproductions of advertising posters. 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) Fair Exchange 02) Heavenly Homes 03) Ships In The Night 04) Crying To The Sky 05) Sleep That Burns 06) Beauty Secrets 07) Life In The Air Age 08) Like An Old Blues 09) Crystal Gazing 10) Blazing Apostles Disc 2: 01) Fair Exchange (New Stereo Mix) 02) Heavenly Homes (New Stereo Mix) 03) Ships In The Night (New Stereo Mix) 04) Crying To The Sky (New Stereo Mix) 05) Sleep That Burns (New Stereo Mix) 06) Beauty Secrets (New Stereo Mix) 07) Life In The Air Age (New Stereo Mix) 08) Like An Old Blues (New Stereo Mix) 09) Crystal Gazing (New Stereo Mix) 10) Blazing Apostles (New Stereo Mix 11) Ships In The Night (First Version) 12) Beauty Secrets (First Version) 13) The Mystery Demo 14) Crystal Gazing (Alternate Vocal Version) 15) Crying To The Sky (First Version) 16) Ships In The Night (Alternate Vocal Version) Disc 3: 01) Life In The Air Age (BBC Radio 1 In Concert 15 January 1976) 02) Sister Seagull (BBC Radio 1 In Concert 15 January 1976) 03) Ships In The Night (BBC Radio 1 In Concert 15 January 1976) 04) Maid In Heaven (BBC Radio 1 In Concert 15 January 1976) 05) Third Floor Heaven (BBC Radio 1 In Concert 15 January 1976) 06) Blazing Apostles (BBC Radio 1 In Concert 15 January 1976) 07) Crying To The Sky (John Peel Session 10 February 1976) 08) Piece Of Mine (John Peel Session 10 February 1976) 09) Blazing Apostles (John Peel Session 10 February 1976) Disc 4: 01) Fair Exchange (5.1 Surround Mix) 02) Heavenly Homes (5.1 Surround Mix) 03) Ships In The Night (5.1 Surround Mix) 04) Crying To The Sky (5.1 Surround Mix) 05) Sleep That Burns (5.1 Surround Mix) 06) Beauty Secrets (5.1 Surround Mix) 07) Life In The Air Age (5.1 Surround Mix) 08) Like An Old Blues (5.1 Surround Mix) 09) Crystal Gazing (5.1 Surround Mix) 10) Blazing Apostles (5.1 Surround Mix) 11) Ships In The Night (BBC 2 Old Grey Whistle Test 13 January 1976) 12) Fair Exchange (BBC 2 Old Grey Whistle Test 13 January 1976) 13) Ships In The Night (Unreleased Promo Video 1976) PAST RELEASES: The original edition of Sunburst Finish was deleted sometime around 1979/80, but was reissued as a budget release in 1982 by EMI on their Fame imprint. The album was reissued again on Revolver in 1986. Neither reissue came with the benefit of the lyrics on the inner sleeve. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: The deluxe box set and the 2-CD set is available for purchase in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "On Sunburst I had more control. The song "Crying To The Sky" on that is still my favourite Be-Bop track - it was called 'ecstatic' guitar. I wanted to get away from the bombast of Led Zeppelin and follow Hendrix; "Crying To The Sky" was my homage to Hendrix. I used a Gibson ES345 stereo and a Carlsboro 100 watt amp. I'm always asked how I got the sound on it but there was no gadgetry or secret devices. The amp was just put right at the back of Studio Two at Abbey Road, where the Beatles used to work, right at the back wall. I turned it up until I couldn't turn it up any further, stood right at the other end with a very long lead, to avoid feedback, and just played. I approached it from the angle that Hendrix had approached his more lyrical pieces." (from an interview in Guitarist Magazine, September 1991). _____ "There were THREE perspex cylinders on that tour. They were used to make a visual connection between the Sunburst Finish album sleeve image and the tour itself. They were also inspired by my fondness for a cult 1950's sci-fi film, 'This Island Earth'. (If you've seen the film you'll recall the scene where the hero and heroine step into perspex tubes that turn their flesh transparent, revealing the underlying physical structure of muscles and skeleton.) "The show that Be Bop presented back then was designed around a stage set that included our own theatre-style procenium arch, complete with scarlet velvet curtains with the band's name embossed in gold at the top. The curtains would part to reveal the stage in semi-darkness with the three cylinders spread out at the front. The cylinders had tracer lights inside them and were filled with dry ice. (Not smoke.) Charlie was in one tube, Andy in another, and myself in the central one. Simon was hidden behind us, up on his drum riser at the rear of the stage. The tubes would be winched up and out of sight, revealing Charlie, Andy and myself, before we'd pick up our instruments to play. All this was choreographed to a tape of opening music...(Which, I think, was the abstract instrumental "Blimps"). There were three projection screens at the rear and sides of the stage, the central screen being used for specially edited film and the side screens for slide images of old pulp magazine covers from the 40's and 50's. Again, everything was co-ordinated to music cues and all the images were chosen to reflect the musical content. Once the stage lights went up, we'd go straight into the first song of the show which used clips from the Fritz Lang film 'Metropolis'." _____ "Actually, I have silver discs on my studio walls for Sunburst Finish and Modern Music . These represent sales to the value of "more than £100,000" according to the little plaque mounted under each disc. I guess the ambiguity lies in the words 'more than'. It could, I suppose, amount to a heck of a lot 'more than', but no one's telling. I do remember being told that Sunburst had gone gold towards the end of the band's career but I was never given a gold disc." ALBUM REVIEW: Review by Dmitry M. Epstein Review on ProgNaut FAN THOUGHTS: Tim Barr: "It was with Sunburst Finish that the band achieved their most significant commercial success, reaching the charts with both the album itself and the "Ships In The Night" single. Stretching out across ten tracks, Sunburst Finish sounded like the product of some weird, future jukebox; from the Hendrix stylings of "Crying To The Sky" and the dreaminess of "Heavenly Homes" to the raw, vamped-up punk of "Blazing Apostles". Outside of the band's increasingly obvious "signature sound" it was evident that something special was happening." (Interviewer for Guitarist Magazine) Returningman: "Sunburst Finish - the ultimate 70's album (and album cover)." Old Darkness: "One day in 1976 my world changed forever when an older friend (to whom I shall be eternally grateful) introduced me to Be-Bop Deluxe via Sunburst Finish . From the very first listening I recognized that here was something very special and unique. Be-Bop had it all, the music, the lyrics, the voice, the perfect triumvirat for the perfect musical storm." aquiresville: "I consistantly return to those incredible soaring guitar runs that Bill crafted for the dynamo-of-a-song "Sleep That Burns", a track that, once I bought the CD (and lovingly shelved my vinyl), I had to resist (and fail) multiple "repeat" playbacks. Sunburst Finish is an incredible collection of art, each track a beauty, story-sets blazing with characters, drama, location and energy." quitdreaming: "In my mind it is more aggressive, edgier, rawer - more basic - but at the same time so polished and honed to within an inch of perfection. There is incredible beauty & poetry in the slower compositions ("Heavenly Homes" being an absolute gem - along with, of course, "Crying To The Sky") balanced with the sheer energy of "Fair Exchange" and "Blazing Apostles". The soundtrack of my youth and an absolute classic." mvande2: "I was on a "cosmic cruise" in my buddy's Mercury at night navigating the two-tracks in local forests. He had recently purchased 8 track tapes of Sunburst Finish and Futurama because he like the covers. I've been forever hooked. Peter: "Was at home doing my homework and listening to KSAN, a local AOR station that was my favorite at the time. On comes this amazing song! I was transfixed and transported. I waiting for the DJ to give the title and it turned out the be "Fair Exchange". I decided that BBD deserved another chance. I went out and bought Sunburst Finish and an obsession was born." soteloscope: "I was waking up for another 2nd grade school day when my big brother put on "Beauty Secrets" on Sunburst Finish . The opening guitar with its folky chords and almost Spanish solo notes were magical to me." Prey: "I went into K-Mart (1976) to look through the limited record rack... there was a naked girl in a tube holding a flaming guitar on the cover of an album, I thought even if the music sucked the cover was cool, I bought it. Side one was awesome, turned it over and side two was defective after track 2, so I went back to K-Mart to get another, they offered me my money back... I kept the album defects and all rather than give it up altogether. It was years later I got to hear the 'rest' of Sunburst Finish ." Puzzleoyster: "I listened to the entire Sunburst Finish album, in the car last weekend and was once more blown away by the quality and freshness of the music - there's STILL no other band like Be Bop Deluxe...I will certainly continue to enjoy them, along with all of Bill's more recent music." Quinault: "I won Sunburst Finish off the radio, went to the concert later that week and have bought everything I could get my hands on ever since." John Leckie: "I first met Bill Nelson in 1974 when I mixed most of the album called Axe Victim over a weekend. I then went on to co-produce and engineer Sunburst Finish , Modern Music , Live! In the Air Age , Drastic Plastic and Red Noise and Bill's solo album Quit Dreaming ." Albums Menu Future Past

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

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

Castles in Spain single - 1985 The Armoury Show Production/Contribution Menu Future Past BILL: Co-Writer of "Ring Those Bells", a B-side on the 12" single. Production/Contribution Menu Future Past

Nelsonian Navigator - Issue Five - Published March 1997 Back to Top

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

Secret Club for Members Only Bill Nelson album - 27 October 2007 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) Blues For A Broken Time Machine 02) Symphony In Golden Stereo 03) Station Clock In Cloud Of Steam 04) All Hail The Happy Captain 05) Boyhood Shadows 06) I Remember Marvelman 07) Secret Club For Members Only 08) Venus Over Vegas 09) Superhappyeverafter 10) The Futurian 11) Ghost Show 12) Jet Pack Jive 13) That Was A Beautiful Dream, She Said 14) Men In Search Of The Milky Bosom 15) Astron 16) Hey, Bill Diddley! ALBUM NOTES: Secret Club for Members Only is an album mixing vocal and instrumental pieces issued exclusively for Nelsonica ‘07 on the Discs of Ancient Odeon label. Due to the previous convention CD selling out in 11 days, the decision was made to increase the print run of Secret Club to 1000 copies, although this was not declared in advance (maybe to protect interest in the convention). In a genuine attempt to stem the practice of selling the Nelsonica CDs for extortionate prices, the decision was also taken to officially offer copies of Secret Club at 'Buy It Now' prices on eBay over the Nelsonica weekend. This back-fired to a degree, and caused some criticism on the Dreamsville Forum, as it left fans unsure whether to trust the listing. For whatever reason, this approach was never repeated. As soon as Nelsonica was over, the remaining copies of Secret Club for Members Only were sold through SOS, and on 14 January 2011 an announcement was made that the album had completely sold out. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download in the Dreamsville Store . IF YOU LIKED THIS ALBUM, YOU'LL PROBABLY ENJOY: Return to Jazz of Lights , Here Comes Mr Mercury , Arcadian Salon , Fantasmatron , Modern Moods For Mighty Atoms , Clocks & Dials , Astral Motel , Whims y BILL'S THOUGHTS: "I Remember Marvelman": "Weird and Beard are very much tongue in cheek...those who have the requisite background and are as old as me may have a knowing chuckle at the entire song. At least, that was my plan. The song refers to an English comic book hero from the '50's, 'Marvelman', whose everyday persona was a youngster called Mickey Moran. If Mickey shouted the word 'Kimota' a flash of power zapped down from the skies and transformed him into the mighty Marvelman. If you reverse the word 'Kimota' and change the 'k' to 'c' it spells 'Atomic'. (And Mickey's surname only needs a one letter change to transform it into 'Moron'. Don’t know if this is what the character's creator intended though!) The "weird" and "beard" refer to '50's beatniks, as perceived by the popular media of the time. The connection of that with Marvelman is an obscure but personally resonant one and I approached the song in a humorous, pop-art, nouveau-kitsch, bubble-pop spirit of surrealism style. It's meant to raise a smile and the Dali-esque eyebrow of absurdity. OK, so it's an art-student's song. As someone once said, "the art school ball goes on forever". And I'm just an old-school beardy-weirdy art student at heart!" _____ Bill's Listening Suggestion of the Day: "From my cabinet of musical erotica: "Men in Search of the Milky Bosom". (And let's face it gentlemen, old habits die hard...) This one comes from the Secret Club for Members Only album and takes a quiet, improvised, piano-led path over a mid-tempo trip-hoppy beat. For those of you into compiling compatible tracks, this would sit nicely alongside some of the piano-based pieces on the Theatre of Falling Leaves album. Music for a bedroom lit only by scented candles and shining eyes." FAN THOUGHTS: Peter: "My god, Bill...you are simply amazing. What it must be like to have that much unbelievably great music just flowing through your being...you are blessed, dude, blessed. As are we who are lucky enough to be listening. Pity the fools who are missing out on all this musical treasure." Sue: "I love the title track, it has a really different feel to it...dark, brooding and mysterious." Pathdude: “Jet Pack Jive”: “is the highlight of the album (although it’s crammed full of goodness).” emotionalhooligan: "JET PACK JIVE": "..............what a track. Proper old school Nelson." PhilK: "I think of all Bill's albums I have this one has the near perfect mix of vocal and instrumental tracks. Particular favourites for me are: "Station Clock in Cloud of Steam" (my current favourite Bill track, an absolutely beautiful instrumental, perfect for chilling to). "Symphony in Golden Stereo" "Boyhood Shadows" "The Futurian" "All Hail the Happy Captain" "Men in Search of the Milky Bosom" "Hey, Bill Diddley!" In fact I could list the whole album, what other artist has so much high quality material to be able to give an album of this brilliance away to his fans [at Nelsonica ], amazing." major snagg: "This is high class collection of material...songs and melodic instrumentals. This is a fabulous CD. I've just been rediscovering the hidden jems on it. "Symphony in Golden Stereo", "Ghost Show", etc. These are just two that I like, and how different they are from each other. The first is a lush optimistic 'ballad' (?) and the later, an exciting up tempo, 'Rocker'! This is why I continue to be a 'fan' of Bill Nelson." A Kinder Light: "Symphony in Golden Stereo": "is really hitting home...I don't know why I'm surprised after all of this time that you continue to exceed your own high standards, but I have to tell you that these last five years or so have been an absolutely stellar period for those of us that are enjoying it." Merikan1: "I think that this one is highly underrated. A classic Nelsonica CD encompassing many styles and moods." Kalamazoo Kid: "Academically, I can get from "Heavenly Homes" to "Men in Search of the Milky Bosom," but 30 years have gone by between those songs and in our lives. It's the fact that BN has happily discarded his past to pursue his present (and imagine a bunch of futures) that makes the story worth following. I've certainly enjoyed BN's nostalgia for the past, but only because it has been refracted through steadily older and more restless perspectives - and communicated through dramatically different aesthetic approaches. Change is the measure of life. Stasis is the measure of death. And Bill Nelson is alive and well at 60 - which puts him in a class nearly by himself, in any artistic genre at any time in history. 60 is the age of retirement, of coasting, of resting on dusty laurels, of reunion tours, and of being 35 years past your last startling piece of new work - or of being 35 years dead. All hail BN, delighting and pissing people off into his seventh decade." Timbaugh: "My copy of Secret Club arrived yesterday...in the last week I obtained five of Bill's CDs and am yet to be disappointed...Sell your wife and buy the lot..." Albums Menu Future Past

Whimsy Bill Nelson double album - 17 June 2003 Albums Menu Future Past DISC ONE: Whimsy 01) Nostalgia (For The Future) 02) Slumberlite 03) Let Flow The Wine 04) Switch Off That Desert Sunset 05) Magnetism Made Me Do It 06) A Simple Thought Flashes Through My Mind 07) Senor Mysterioso 08) Ocean Full Of Wishes 09) Swept Away 10) Islands In The Sky 11) Always Summer 12) The Fundamental Blues 13) My Favourite Urban Chrome-Green Sky 14) Dizzy In The Head 15) I Looked At The Sea 16) The Girl Who Disappeared Into A Cloud 17) Whimsy 18) So Far 19) The Violins Of Autumn 20) Will Purchase this download DISC TWO: A Garage Full Of Clouds 01) Showtime 02) Dumb Palooka 03) Garage Full Of Clouds 2 04) Organola 05) Perfect Bliss 06) Powder Blue 07) Here We Go 08) When We Were Young 09) Fairyland Before The Fire 10) Cowboy Christmas 11) Struck Dumb By Beauty Again 12) Don't Be A Stranger 13) The Light This Universe Attracts 14) Sing Ye Golden Sunbeams, Sing 15) Superslippy 16) The Fabulous Fountain Of Your Savoir Faire 17) A Star Named Desire 18) Buzz Was Honey 19) Over The Moon 20) Close Your Eyes (The Sleepytown Symphony) Purchase this download ALBUM NOTES: Whimsy /Whimsy Two is a double CD issued on the Fabled Quixote label in a single print run believed to be of 1000 copies. The album was commenced in February 2001, a month after Nelson took delivery of a new digital recording set-up and had become accustomed to the digital sound (and a few operational gremlins that plagued his early use of the equipment). The album was originally planned as a single album to be called A Garage Full of Clouds (before a note of it had been written or recorded), but in the end this became the sub-title of the second volume (Whimsy Two), completed in the same period. By June 2001 a total of 15 tracks had been recorded, at which point Nelson had decided on Whimsy as a title for an interim album, quite separate in style to the original planned A Garage Full of Clouds album. However by the end of January 2002 the number of tracks completed had grown to fill a double album comprising 40 tracks initially recorded for the two separate projects. In March 2002 Nelson announced that the second album, now officially called Whimsy Two (A Garage Full of Clouds) , would be a limited edition companion album to Whimsy , and that both would be handled by Voiceprint. With completed tracks transferred to Nelson's DAT machine, technical problems caused unrepairable damage to a number of masters which reportedly resulted in Nelson having to replace those tracks with new material. At Nelsonica '02 , held on 7 September 2002 at The Duke of Cumberland in North Ferriby, those in attendance were treated to a preview of 18 tracks from Whimsy a full nine months ahead of release. By then the format of the album had been confirmed as a double CD, Nelson having abandoned the idea of restricting Whimsy Two to a few hundred copies. After mastering the album later in September 2002 and getting artwork prepared and ready for the printers early in 2003, Whimsy was finally released in June 2003 in a fold out digi-pack sleeve complete with lyric booklet. With a few copies having been sent out mail order, the fanfare was then muted somewhat when it became clear that the CD labels had been juxtaposed requiring a re-print to be ordered. The album was back on sale in July 2003 ahead of the special 'preview showing' for the Flashlight Dreams and Fleeting Shadows DVD on 14 August 2003, and the 2 day long Nelsonica '03 (once again staged at The Duke of Cumberland in North Ferriby on 19/20 September 2003). Thanks to the marketing power of Voiceprint combined with the CD being a strong seller on the merchandise stalls at various Nelson live shows staged in 2003/2004, Whimsy sold out of its print run within 2 years of going on sale. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Both Whimsy and Whimsy Two: A Garage Full Of Clouds are available to purchase as digital downloads here in the Dreamsville Store . FAN THOUGHTS: A Lad Inane: "Immediately, the artwork intrigued me and lunged me headfirst into Bill's retro-nostalgia world. Likewise, the song titles struck me as incredibly original, intelligent, and rife with imagery. I was hooked...When I got back into my car, I put on the first CD and was immediately taken with the sonic complexities, bubbling charm, and DIY instinct of "Nostalgia (For the Future)." "Whenever I listen to Whimsy , I envision a little boy in 1950's smalltown America sitting before a Christmas tree and playing with a toy train. And then, in my daze, I accidentally drive my car off an embankment." paulnery: " Whimsy is a great album, starting by the wonderful cover!!! I think that just the graphic art already makes the album a "must buy"...but the music is even better." Quinault: "I love Whimsy ! It was one of my personal recommendations to everyone seeking new musical enlightenment." JohnR: Favourite solo album: "For me, this has to be Whimsy , and for very personal reasons. When this came out, it was the first of Bill's albums I had bought for a while. The music was a revelation and I could not stop playing it over and over again." sauropod: " Whimsy is one of my favorite Bill albums and is the album that got me back into his music after an extended hiatus. "Nostalgia for the Future" is absolutely brilliant." Timbaugh: "From the classy sophisticated pop with a twist of "Always Summer", to the infectious riff in "Magnetism Made Me Do It", the album exudes class...The use of spoken word samples is inspired – adds another dimension." Holer: "I think these are some of Bill's sunniest, catchiest tunes yet, and stylistically, there are some really unique numbers ("Let Flow the Wine", "Fundamental Blues", "Dumb Palooka", etc. etc.). Bill is a real chameleon on the guitar here also. Just wanted to say thanks Bill, and give Whimsy a proper shout out as an album that deserves attention. I know Magnetism made you do it!" tomk: " Whimsy never gets "Old" to me. There's so much going on and it's always a new experience to me. I have always admired Bill's Vocals. "Always Summer" is my fav. I find it quite mysterious, haunting, sad and uplifting..." james warner: "A double album of weird and wonderful vocal tracks, lyrically looking back with fondness to more innocent times. Voices from the past are blended with electronic sounds of things to come, while Bill's vocals and guitar exist in both realms at once. This is retro-futurism in musical form." "Slumberlite": "is THE classic track from Whimsy ." alec: "A Simple Thought Flashes Through My Mind": "from the amazing Whimsy is a lovely combination of samples. Love this song, and the way Bill sings "under control" in the very low register." paul.smith: "Powder Blue": "My wife Sam's favourite song has always been this track off Whimsy . It's a great summer song and full of pure pop sensibility. Burnt sienna as rich dark shadows and powder blue as a cloudless sky on those timeless flight days we all remember as children. Very evocative of all those days spent in a semi-rural landscape for both of us at different times at different ages." stormboy: "It's easy enough to recognise the Bill Nelson Spirit of Adventure in all his work. I love all of Bill's work and applaud his commitment to following his creative nose (can I say that? Yes, I think so), and enjoy the results of his audio excavations. I was worried when Bill switched to digital, as I feared for the loss of some of the BN sound, but I needn't have worried... reliable as ever, he proved he can still stand out from the crowd. Bless his cotton socks." Gary Lensman: " Whimsy was my first Bill Nelson purchase just over a month and half ago after a gap of far, far too long. Bought quite a few since then. Major musical addiction now - I've heard there's no known cure this far from Galactic Central for the Nelsonian Rocketeers on board the Lightship Silvertone pulsing towards Andromeda ." Albums Menu Future Past

Albion Dream Vortex Bill Nelson album - 2 September 2013 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) Thought Bubble No 1 02) Behold These Present Days 03) Like A Boat In The Blue 04) Sparky And The Spearmint Moon 05) Tomorrow Will Not Be Too Late 06) Start Beaming And Get On The Gleam 07) We Who Are Awake Will Not Be Asleep 08) Thought Bubble No 2 09) Electrical Adepts Of The Celestial Bed 10) The Mastery Of The Thing 11) Albion Dream Vortex 12) Thought Bubble No 3 13) Long Ago, By Moonlit Sea 14) Let Us Melt And Make No Noise ALBUM NOTES: Albion Dream Vortex is an instrumental album issued in a one off print run of 1000 copies on the Sonoluxe label. Although generally print runs were now set at 500 copies, the fact that Nelson elected to issue Albion Dream Vortex in digipack artwork meant that he was forced to produce 1000 copies. The music that eventually made up the Albion Dream Vortex album was initially intended for a DVD project with the title Atom Totem Apparitions , which Nelson first made subtle reference to in April 2012. By November that year, Nelson revealed more recording details for the planned DVD project, including a track called "Mind is a Map of Sparkling Galaxies", that remains unreleased. By June 2013, Nelson had long abandoned the DVD idea in favour of what was, by then, the Albion Dream Vortex CD. His published running order at this point included as track 3 "Glisten", which had recently appeared on Blip 2 , leading Nelson to replace that track with "Like a Boat in the Blue" during the mastering sessions in July. Albion Dream Vortex sold out in the summer of 2019. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "Albion Dream Vortex is an instrumental album blending guitars and keyboards in a variety of styles. It contains subtle references to instrumental music I've made throughout my career, embracing ambient, electronic, vintage and modern, wrapped up in a dream-like vortex of sound. "The word 'Albion', for me, signifies the post-World War 2 era I grew up in. It also reminds me of a company called 'Albion Motors' who built art-deco styled buses in the 1930s and '40s. But 'Albion' is actually the oldest known name for the island of England and inevitably conjures up swirling spirits from the mysterious past. "The subject of dreams, their nature and purpose, has fascinated me since childhood. Dreams have also been a recurring motif in my creative life, and will continue to be so until, somewhere in the future, I will become little more than a flickering, ghostly dream of myself...atoms of memory, spluttering and sparkling like tiny fireworks in a long ago November sky. "We inhabit two worlds, one of which we assign to reality and the other to dreams. Our lives are spent half awake and half asleep, adrift in realms of reason and unreason. The boundary between these realms, for the artist, is often deliberately blurred, nebulous, ambiguous. Yet our creative imagination holds the ticket that allows us to travel between these two states and permits mysterious goods to be imported and exported. This luminous traffic, this flickering mystery, is the foundation of Albion Dream Vortex ." _____ "It's not written in an obvious, 'intro, verse, chorus, bridge, verse, repeat chorus, end' form. The music is rather more fluid, sometimes 'non-linear' and develops along different lines to a rock or pop song...It doesn't attempt to arrive at a particular stylistic conclusion but grows organically from point-to-point without being forced to make obvious 'points'. In that sense, its 'point' is simply to be pure music, music for its own sake, as much concerned with sound and atmosphere as note choices or hooks, etc. "Also, with this album as with several others of mine, no one track is meant to stand alone as the album's signifier (though the title track comes conceptually close). Instead, each track forms one single building block of an entire edifice. It's a complete album rather than a collection of separate tracks and should be 'read' as a whole construction, from start to finish. "Albion Dream Vortex treats you like an adult, doesn't talk baby language to you, doesn't feel the need to lead you by the hand through its mysterious corridors, but simply opens its doors for you to enter and explore. I hope, as you familiarise yourself with its twists and turns that you'll want to spend more and more time with it." _____ "If you enjoyed the trilogy of, Illuminated At Dusk , Mazda Kaleidoscope and Silvertone Fountains , then Albion Dream Vortex will carry you up the escalator of dreams to the next level." _____ "It's perhaps the most 'spiritual' (for want of a better word), album I've released for some time. Those of you who treasure deep listening will, I hope, truly appreciate this album for the rest of your lives..." _____ "With this watershed album, I aimed for a future that might humanise, console, enlighten and soften the day to day cruelties and unkindnesses we all endure. It's an album for the tender of heart and the strong in spirit. I hope it's for all of you. And, at this point in time, I think it is one of the very best, of this style, that I've ever recorded." _____ Bill's Listening Notes for the album: 'Albion Dream Vortex' Listening Notes FAN THOUGHTS: paul.smith: "It's turning into a solid, bona fideeeah! classic...and I really can't/won't stop playing it...probably what Bill wanted us to do...but this one just keeps moving on and on with its revelations of sound... "Behold These Present Days" has got to be one of my favourite tracks of the last decade...and I like a lot of what's gone on in the last decade... If you have overlooked this album for one reason or another, please be assured it is utterly essential if you like Bill's found voices/instrumental music...I have gained so much pleasure from this album in the short time since its release..." December Man: "ADV arrived on the West Coast USA yesterday like a beautifully packaged gift out of some future, musically evolved civilization -- a kind of reverse Time Capsule of musical things to come, things to look forward to! Like others, I put it on (wore it?) last night and HAD to listen to it from start to finish! Certainly Bill's best instrumental album to date and arguably his best work in any form! Congratulations, Mr. Nelson! Good stuff, sir! Met and exceeded my already high expectations of all you create! This album is simply a masterpiece in MHO. "The Mastery of the Thing" sums up the whole album! "Electrical Adepts of the Celestial Bed" is breathlessly beautiful, as I write and listen. Can't say enough about how good this is...so I better stop here. Back to Albion!" BenTucker: "For me, it's Mysterious & Beautiful 21st Century English Romantic Psychedelia - the same deep, rich seam (or labyrinth of seams) mined in The Dreamshire Chronicles and Fables and Dreamsongs , but all-instrumental. What incredibly lovely sounds, melodies, textures and moods it evokes." Pathdude: "After the first listen I must concur with other reviewers and state that this album is simply stunning. Lovers of Bill's instrumental music will not be disappointed. Something for everyone. Plus, added bonus, I think it will grow on you with repeated listenings. There are layers here people! "Behold These Present Days" has got a grip on me and won't let go. And I love it. Thank you Bill for this marvelous piece of work." felixt1: "Albion Dream Vortex": "Wow, what a beautiful track. More immersive synth, choral effects, birdsong, electric piano. Very mellow...and then a church bell rings and a distant bass drum strikes. The keys mutate gently and the woodwind section and layered strings begin...to take us further...My favourite so far. You could describe this album as a spiritual successor to And We Fell Into A Dream , although it is quite different again. I think Albion Dream Vortex delves deeper into the subconscious mind than the aforementioned, and as I have said, it really does entrance you at times, just as AWFIAD does but, it feels and sounds different somehow - it stands on its own." andygeorge: "The Mastery of the Thing"..."a beautiful, magical piece of Nelsonic wonderfulness from a terrific album...you've excelled yourself there Mr Bill." Chimera Man: "Like a Boat in the Blue": "...achingly gorgeous." Puzzleoyster: "We Who Are Awake Will Not Be Asleep": "A track which never ceases to excite and amaze regardless of ultra repeating. The track soars hammers and collects the musical matter from its own universe like gossamer from a spiders web which has the same density of steel. A BEAUTIFUL fizz bang... synths piano fills Bass guitar soars upwards from a Beautiful Bill guitar solo, synth fills to accompany a fanfare. All over too soon...but a definitive guitar rolls out the outro, the guitar has the last word. How very apt..." Returningman: "If you don't have this in your collection yet you are missing a rare and precious gem of an album." "Thanks Bill for enriching my life with this mellow gem." steve lyles: "As always superb...really am continuously baffled as to Bill's ability to create such deep beautiful emotional and intellectually interesting music..." garyd: "Currently listening to my recently purchased Albion Dream Vortex . Oh my. My Dad raised me to see everyone as equal. He knew nothing!!" Prey: "Bill Nelson was light years ahead of the rest in the 70's with Modern Music , Sunburst Finish and Futurama , I have said here many times, I knew it then, and after listening to Albion Dream Vortex I am still convinced Bill produces the music others may do someday, but for now we get a preview of the future right here, right now. I do have one fear - this CD is so good I can't see how it's possible to make it better, so future releases may damage your reputation." Albums Menu Future Past

Tremulous Antenna retrospective collection - 27 May 2002 Be Bop 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: Tremulous Antenna is a remastered edition of the Radioland CD (1994) which provides 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 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: Previously released as Radioland (1994). CURRENT AVAILABILITY: This compilation is now out of print. Collections Menu Future Past

Magic Boomerang single - 1990 The Mock Turtles Production/Contribution Menu Future Past BILL: Producer Production/Contribution Menu Future Past