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Rice Music album - 1982 Masami Tsuchiya Production/Contribution Menu Future Past TRACKS: A1) Rice Music A2) Se! Se! Se! A3) Haina-Haila A4) Tao-Tao A5) Neo-Rice Music B1) Kafka B2) Rice Dog Jam B3) Secret Party B4) Silent Object B5) Night In The Park BILL: E-bow guitar on the tracks 'Rice Music' and 'Tao-Tao'. Production/Contribution Menu Future Past

Official Bill Nelson merchandise provided by Dizzyjam Music Store Dreamsville Merchandise Official Bill Nelson merchandise provided by Direct ... Featuring album covers, Bill's original artwork and designs by Stephen Weis. Make sure you select your preferred colour before adding to the cart!!! Before purchasing clothing, please check out their sizing guide!

Tony Goes to Tokyo The Revox Cadets single - 6 November 1981 Singles Menu Future Past TRACKS: A) To Heaven A Jet - Airfields B) The Revox Cadets - Tony Goes To Tokyo (And Rides The Bullet Train) ORIGINALLY: The b-side was a non-album track. NOTES: "Tony Goes to Tokyo" was a one-off track credited to The Revox Cadets , included as a double A side to a single entitled Airfields , issued by To Heaven a Jet on the Cocteau label. The Revox Cadets was a pseudonym used by Nelson, although he was permitted at this time to release material on Cocteau despite being under contract to Mercury. PAST RELEASES: Up until Transcorder , the track on this single had not appeared on Bill Nelson compilations. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: This track is available on the retrospective compilation album Transcorder (The Acquitted By Mirrors Recordings) . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "The Revox Cadets was not a real band, just me pretending to be one! The track was recorded at home on an analogue four track system. V.U. Disney was me too..." Singles Menu Future Past

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2013 William's Study (Diary Of A Hyperdreamer) November 2006 Jan Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Dec Friday 10th November 2006 -- 1:00 pm After four attempts at coming up with a suitable 8 inch by 8 inch artwork for the 'STARS ON CANVAS' exhibition and charity auction, I finally settled on the very first one I'd created. Two others went into the bin and a third I decided to give to a good friend. The canvas I've donated to the auction is called 'STARBOY' and will be exhibited at the Julie-Anne Gilbert Gallery, Arches 283a, Maderia Drive, Brighton BN2 1PT, from the 18th of November. The charity auction, (which is in aid of an organisation called 'Whoops-A-Daisy' which helps children suffering from cerebral palsy), will be held on the 26th of November. Emiko took a photograph of me holding the artwork. As usual, I was horrified by my appearance which seems to get more wizened every time a shutter clicks in my direction. All is vanity...especially in this business. Time still at a premium. I seem to be struggling to keep up, but that's always the case. I'm currently working on several pieces of art which I'm framing as gifts for the loyal and dedicated Nelsonica Team who put together the fan convention every year. I'm taking them all out to dinner in just over a week's time and will give each of them an artwork. The table is booked for ten people but I still need to complete a few more drawings to frame. I find I really have to be in the mood to come up with visual art, whereas with music, I ALWAYS seem to be in the mood. In fact I've got several musical ideas that I'd like to explore at the moment but no available time to do so. Perhaps I should list my plans for the coming months here, just to outline what I'm hoping to achieve. These are in no particular order but the future, at the moment, looks like this: 1: Repair and upgrade my Mackie hard-disk HDR 24/96 multi-track recorder and make a start on mixing the Be Bop Deluxe Decca tapes. 2: Work with Paul Sutton-Reeves towards establishing a 'coda' for his 'Music In Dreamland' book, bringing it up to date. It isn't due to be published until early next year so there's now an opportunity to update the text to include more recent developments. The book was finished almost two and a half years ago but has been delayed due to the publisher's serious illness. The latest information I have is that it will see the light of day early in 2007. 3: Upgrade my computer and video editing software and attempt to make a start on my 'Ghosts Etched On Glass' film autobiography. This will be a more sophisticated version of 'Memory Codex Number One' which I screened at this year's Nelsonica convention. 'Ghosts Etched On Glass' is planned to be part of a special live event at Leeds University's School Of Music next April. 4: Transfer some of my more recent backing tracks onto my multi-track machine and overdub lead guitar parts, then mix and assemble a running order for 'The Last Of The Gentleman Rocketeers' album that will constitute volume two of the 'Painting With Guitars' series. 5: Go through several hours' worth of previously unreleased home recordings from the 1980's and assemble an album from the best tracks. An official title for this project has yet to be decided but working title possibilities are: 'The Time Traveller's Companion,' 'Electrical Goods And Knitting Yarns,' 'An Imaginary History Of Magic. (Music To Conjure The Ghosts Of The Past)' 'Songs From A Secret Museum.' 'Snowballs And Oranges.' As usual, it's quite possible that NONE of these titles could be used and something entirely different concocted, once I've selected the album's track running order. 6: Make a special compilation album using only the oddest, most 'psychedelic,' trippy or eccentric tracks from my past home recordings and solo releases. Working title for this is: 'Superheads Recommend.' I want this to concentrate mainly on vocal songs but with perhaps a few instrumentals thrown in. It should be compiled from obscure tracks that were originally hidden away in dark corners of earlier albums plus some previously unreleased oddities along similar lines. 7: Assemble Volume One of a series of compilation albums focussing exclusively on Nelsonica recordings. These would not be literal copies of the original albums but re-sequenced tracks, set in a different context and with new packaging artwork. 8: Re-release the 'Noise Candy' recordings but as individual albums. Lenin Imports have not been in touch with me for a long time about the original release and have not responded to recent requests by my management for accounting so it's time I turned these recordings to my own advantage, rather than to anyone else's. 9: Attempt to write and record some brand new songs for an acoustic based vocal album. Possible working titles for the album are: 'Songs Of The Blossom Tree Optimists.' 'Every Blessed Thing Is So Damned Fragile.' 'December Lane.' 10: Choose and assemble a compilation album focussing exclusively on past guitar instrumentals, choosing my favourite tracks from various albums. Working titles for this project are: 'Great Northern Twang Magus.' 'The Guitar Room.' 'Six Lane Skyway' 'Like Time Machines.' Again, these are just initial titles. It could end up being something completely different. 11: Create some very short instrumental pieces, between one and two minutes in length which will become the basis of equally short video pieces. These to be made available as digital downloads from the Dreamsville Essoldo Cinema. 12: Work on the second volume of 'Diary Of A Hyperdreamer', to be published by Pomona. 13: Look at the possiblility of a select series of live concerts for next year. My idea is to stage them in interesting or unorthodox venues. 14: Work on my autobiography, 'Painted From Memory,' for publication by Sound-On-Sound. It would be nice to make this a quite lavishly illustrated book, along the lines of an art book. It should also contain an accompanying DVD. It would need to sell as a limited edition expensive item to justify the time and cost involved in its production but I think something very special might come of this. 15: Create a new, commercially available DVD, following on from 'Flashlight Dreams And Fleeting Shadows.' 16: Try to organise something around the 'Orchestra Futura' project with Theo Travis and Dave Sturt. 17: Work towards expanding the Dreamsville site, opening up the 'Museum Of Memory' and 'The Guitar Arcade.' 18: Choose certain tracks from my back catalogue to be made available as internet downloads. 19: Write and record a brand new instrumental album, placing minimalist guitar in a pure digital electronica setting. 20: Work towards an audio-visual exhibition/installation which would gather together drawings, photographs, album sleeve art and video work and present them in a gallery context with an accompanying soundtrack. This would depend on the help of fans who own some of my artwork. I would ask them to loan the pieces to the exhibition. The art would be returned to them afterwards and their names and help would be acknowledged in the catalogue and in the exhibition itself. The exhibition would need to find a sponsor to help mount it. 21: Find a choreographer/dance company who might be interested in collaborating with me in the creation of a contemporary dance piece. I've wanted to try something along these lines for many years now but have never got around to finding out if it could be practically realised. I'm not getting any younger, as they say, so I really ought to put the pedal to the metal and attempt the impossible. And that, for now, is enough. Plenty of goals to score, targets to hit. Went to Whitby last Saturday, just for the day. An absolutely glorious, fiery sunset over the town as twilight flooded the opposite end of the harbour. A breath-taking, magical moment. Unfortunately, I hadn't taken my still camera with me but did have my camcorder so, thankfully, I managed to capture some of the dramatic and beautiful light. It will be used in one of the short video downloads I'm planning. Emi and I had dinner at 'The White Horse And Griffin', as is our habit when in Whitby. On the drive home over the North Yorkshire Moors, we could see firework displays ringing the horizon. Starbursts and rocket trails. I told Emiko about my boyhood experiences of bonfire night, treacle toffee and the selection boxes of fireworks manufactured by such companies as 'Standard,' 'Lion,' 'Pains' and 'Brocks' that my father used to bring home for our own backyard display. Emi likes the idea of bonfire night, even though there's no Guy Fawks equivalent in Japan. Sunday we went to Salt's Mill at Saltaire, another fairly regular haunt for us. Emi managed a little bit of Christmas shopping. I guess mine will be the usual last minute panic, particularly as Emi will be busy at the flower shop until late on Christmas Eve. It seems like only yesterday I was taking down last year's Christmas decorations and packing them away in the cupboard under the stairs. And here it comes again, hurtling towards us driven by hyper-speed reindeers. Found some old photo's of Emiko when she was a little girl, dressed in traditional Japanese costume for a school play. They are black and white photographs but I've messed around with them and got some nice colour effects happening. I may use one or two for a future instrumental album sleeve. Went out with four of our best friends for dinner last night. A belated birthday celebration for Steve and for Emi. We went to 'San Martino' in Harrogate, an excellent restaurant that was introduced to me by my friend Paul Gilby. A very civilised, convivial evening and a further respite from my work. The last two days have seen another plunge in temperature. Feels quite wintery now. Big pullover time. I think I'll go set a log fire...ready to light later this evening. Get the smell of woodsmoke in the air. Top of page Tuesday 14th November 2006 -- 10:10 pm Spent the afternoon with Paul, (Gilby,) who is helping me to update my recording system software. He's fitted a new floppy drive and upgraded the memory of my Mackie HDR 24/96 multi-track recorder. Just a few more things to do to it tomorrow and then I'll be able to mix the Be Bop Deluxe Decca sessions for future release. Once I can set some personal time aside to deal with that, of course. Went to London last Saturday, just for the day. Emi to her usual Japanese Buddhist temple meeting, me to the Tate and the usual round of bookshops. I bought several DVD's: The original BBC TV series of Dennis Potter's 'Pennies From Heaven,' also DVD copies of films I have on VHS but wanted to secure as DVDs: 'A Kind Of Loving' and 'The Magnificent Ambersons.' I also got 'Hope and Glory' and a DVD titled 'Legends Of Western Swing' which features vintage performances by Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, Spade Cooley and several others. Finding time to watch all these is another matter. It was the Lord Mayor's Parade and fireworks display on the Saturday too, something of which we hadn't been aware of. The city was even more busy than usual. Late afternoon, when Emi returned from her temple service, we met up with her friend Kyoko and had a drink at a Cuban bar in Wardour street, not far from where the old Marquee club once stood. As Emi and Kyoko talked about this and that, my mind drifted back to the time when Be Bop Deluxe performed at The Marquee in 1974. We were booked to support a band called 'String Driven Thing.' It was at that same Marquee Club gig that we were finally signed by EMI Records, an event which led to our first ever album, 'Axe Victim.' In one of my ancient sketchbooks, I have a very rapidly executed drawing of the Marquee's interior that I scratched out under dim lights, whilst bored and waiting for our sound check. (I think one of the figures depicted in the sketch is our then manager, Colin Mawston.) I was thrilled to be playing there, on the exact same stage that my teenage heroes, such as Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix and The Who, had performed on in the '60's. That creaky old platform held a special magic for me, as did the tiny, scruffy dressing room behind the stage itself. Several years later, when they demolished the club, I was saddened. It played an important part in the history of British pop culture and should really have been preserved. But so much that should be saved is lost. (And so much that is preserved isn't worth the preserving.) One of the half-wild cats that live in the environs of our house fell sick on Sunday evening. A tiny, lovely little kitten that hasn't yet been given a name by us but has become one of our favorites. There are five or six feral, or semi-feral cats sharing our garden with us. We put food out for them and provide a rudimentary shelter in the form of a plastic waste bin, turned on its side and placed under a garden bench. This particular, recently born kitten is the tiniest of the litter, but the most affectionate and characterful. She is mostly a dark, cloudy grey colour with little patches of ginger and white. A little bumble bee of a thing. I took to her from first setting eyes on her when her mother, a gentle and elegant tabby we call 'Gizmo,' carried her round to our front door, as if the kitten were an offering to us. The kitten was fine midday on Sunday, before Emi and I went into town for the afternoon. Dancing around and mischievous. When we came back home, the other four feral cats all ran out to greet us, as is their custom, but the tiny kitten wasn't to be seen. After a few moments she emerged, painfully slowly, from the aforementioned shelter. She could hardly walk. We picked her up and took her into the house. There was fluid dripping from her mouth. We wrapped her in a thick towel and placed her in a shallow carboard box and watched her anxiously. It looked as if she was dying. I decided to call an emergency vet's number and made arrangements to take the kitten to a surgery not too far away from our home. I was informed that, as it was Sunday and an out of hours call, that it would be expensive. I coudn't have forgiven myself if the kitten had died without me giving it a chance of survival, no matter how slim, so I agreed to the fee and Emi and I drove to the vetinary surgery, the kitten still wrapped in the towel in the cardboard box. The lady vet, who was very sympathetic and pleasant examined the kitten. She said that the poor little thing's temperature was very low and that she thought the kitten might not make it through the night. But she coudn't figure out what the problem was. One possibility may have been poisoning, she thought. She asked if we knew whether any neighbour might have left rat poison around or something similar. I couldn't see any reason for our neighbours to use such a thing as the cats normally take care of vermin and, as a result, we live in a rat-free environment. The vet gave the kitten an injection of antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs but said we should expect the worst. It sounded hopeless. We returned home with the kitten and kept her indoors, wrapped up in a towel and laid on top of a hot water bottle to try and get her temperature back up. We had to keep checking on her heatbeat and breathing as, at times, it appeared as if she'd given up the ghost. Two anxious hours later, she moved slightly, her eyes flicked open, then closed again. Emi and I knelt beside her, fearing the worst. A little while after that, she slowly appeared to be more alert, looking up at us with such a pitiful gaze. Then suddenly she sat up and, after a moment's hesitancy, hopped out of her carboard box. Within minutes, she was playing with the fringe of a carpet, trotting around the room filled with curiosity. A miracle! We kept her inside overnight. She slept in the bathroom adjoining our bedroom, apparently content, even though she'd never spent a night inside before. Now, two days later, she seems fine. We've been anxious to keep an eye on her, dreading a relapse, but, fingers crossed, she is surviving. Last night, whilst I caught a little bit of late night tv, she slept curled up on Emi's bosom, as content as content can be. I'm in two minds as to whether we should keep her in the house as a domestic pet, or let her be part of the wild bunch who live outside in our garden. I have to think of a name for her too. It's odd but I wasn't much of a cat person as a child. My parents preferred dogs. Cats were always dismissed as being 'not very nice' by mum and dad. But now, I really love cats. William Burroughs adored them too and Jean Cocteau said that 'cats contain the soul of a house.' Well...I'm in total agreement with that. Looked through some photographs that Emi had taken of me at the Harold Budd farewell concert just over a year ago. I hate my appearance. That vanity thing again, I know but, I wish I could regain something of my younger appearance. Someone posted, on the website forum, an old picture of me when I used to sport dyed blonde hair. Wow! Couldn't believe it was really me. I should have been out chasing the girls looking like that instead of being Mr. Domestic. (Not that I've ever been particularly adept at the Mr. Domestic scenario.) I also found some photo's from way back, taken when my brother Ian got married. We were both slim young things back then. One particular photo that I like from that wedding day shows just the two of us, me in the backround and Ian in the foreground, outside the registry office in Wakefield, facing in different directions. It's only a casual snapshot but it has something that attracts me to it. Maybe it's my casual stance...I've got my hands in my pockets and one foot half off the ground. Or maybe it's my brother Ian's happy expression and the polaroid SX70 camera that he's holding, (which I think he'd borrowed from me as we had a Be Bop Deluxe SX70 club in the band in the late '70's). Anyway, Ian and I both look fit, happy and healthy. And so damned YOUNG! I had my Rolls Royce then and lived the archetypal rock-star life although I deliberately dressed as conservatively as possible 'off stage' to defuse people's expectations. I tried to avoid the rock gypsy vagabond look that was commonplace at the time and was attracted to the idea of looking as un-rock-star-like as possible whilst still being in a position to go on stage and take total command of a rock music audience. An audience which, at that time, was used to men wearing either denim, leather or glam satin. My rejection of this sort of signifying uniform was seen as a kind of inverse perversity, I guess. At least by those who measured authenticity by hair length and flared trouser width. I also recently saw some photographs of the Rolls Royce mentioned above, taken on the same day, (Ian's wedding day). It was a pale metallic-blue Silver Shadow, unbelievably, the least reliable car I've ever owned, apart from the pre-VW era Skoda that I drove for a year or so after my divorce claimed everything of value. I also have a photograph of the Rolls and my Panther Lima taken outside of Haddlesey House around the same time. There I stand, proud as punch, totally unaware of the tidal wave that was soon to sweep all that kind of thing away. I was apparently as unaware of the fact that such an ostentatious display was as much a sign of rock conformity as the tiresome heavy metal posturing I so despised at the time. But then, no one's perfect. But I digress... Wedding Days, Birthdays, Divorces, Solicitor's appointments and Funerals, the incandescent waystations of our lives. I've said this before but, when my brother Ian passed away on the morning of his 50th birthday in April of this year, an entire chapter of my life went with him. Just before he was buried, I arranged to have a little silver Buddhist medallion I owned placed in his suit pocket. It was in an envelope along with a farewell letter I'd written to him. The Buddha medallion had been a favourite of mine and, despite my current rejection of superstition, I wanted to give it to Ian to protect his soul and spirit in some way. Last Saturday, when I was in London, I managed to find an absolutely identical medallion. So, I bought it to carry with me as a physical connection between the two of us. I'd looked for one on my previous visit, a few weeks earlier, but hadn't been able to locate one that was exactly the same as the one that I buried with Ian. But, almost miraculously, an identical medallion appeared. In Watkins esoteric bookshop in Cecil Court in London. I don't know...Miraculously cured kittens and synchronistic Buddha tokens...it's enough to make me believe that there are more things between heaven and earth than I might suspect. If only in a moment of emotional need and weakness. Meeting up with my good friend John Spence on Thursday. We usually only meet under 'working' conditions at Fairview studios. It will be good to take time out from our respective career pressures to relax and chat without any other distractions. The Nelsonica Team Dinner coming up very soon, this Saturday. I've still got a drawing or two to finalise before then to give as gifts to the team members, (as I mentioned in my previous diary entry). Jon Wallinger and Paul Gilby have already claimed their 'thank you' artworks and taken them home. They are local boys so have picked up their prizes during recent visits to Nelson Acres. Reading a huge book about Edgard Varese at the moment, a massive catalogue from an exhibition held in Switzerland. Bought it second-hand locally. The pile of books by my bedside is now so high that I didn't bother to purchase a single book on my trip to London last weekend. And THAT is most unusual for me. I will now go downstairs and see if the kitten is o.k. Nestled up to Emi's breast, no doubt. Lucky creature. ***** The images accompanying this diary entry are as follows:- 1: A rough felt pen/Biro sketch made by Bill Nelson at The Marquee Club, Wardour Street, London, on the 14th of January 1974 when Be Bop Deluxe performed there. 2: A photograph of Ian Nelson, (foreground), and Bill Nelson, (background), taken outside Wakefield's Registry Office on Ian's wedding day. 3: A photograph of Bill Nelson outside Haddlesey House with his Panther Lima and Rolls Royce Silver Shadow cars. Early 1980's. Top of page Monday 20th November 2006 -- 7:00 pm Some tragic news yesterday. Chuck Bird, who fulfilled the role of webmaster at the American Bill Nelson 'Permanent Flame' website for several years, has sadly passed away, a victim of diabetes. I received an email from his brother Larry informing me that Chuck had died just one week previous. I was deeply shocked and saddened. Chuck was a genuine fan who ran the U.S. website without any thought other than to provide fans with a facility worthy of them. Chuck was forever loyal to the music and myself, never allowing temperament or personal ego to enter the equation. He always came across as a modest man and an extremely dedicated and knowledgeable fan. I'm proud to have counted him amongst my friends and I'm still trying to come to terms with this unexpected and unhappy development. I know that fans will feel the same sense of loss that I do. On those occasions when I was able to meet Chuck, he was positive, optimistic and enthusiastic, always polite, respectful and kind. And when the urgent need to provide fans with a reliable U.K. website arose, Chuck was one of several people who gave me the personal encouragement and moral support I needed to go ahead with the Dreamsville project, particularly when I felt like giving up completely as a result of lack of support elsewhere. Chuck, along with a few other generous and far-sighted people, (including Sound-On-Sound magazine, Jon Wallinger, Dave Graham, my management, my close friends and family), helped me to overcome any doubts and fears. They pursuaded me to go ahead and build a website to serve those people who cared about my work. It was thanks to their combined encouragement that the Dreamsville site has become so valued by fans. An example of Chuck's generosity: Without any prompting from anyone, Chuck suggested that I might like to take on the bill nelson.com address that the 'Permanent Flame' site had used since its inception. He offered to transfer the ownership of the internet address over to me for use by the Dreamsville site. He also passed on all the archived files that 'Permanent Flame' had amassed since it was originally created by Mark Rushton, back in 1995. Mark also approved of Chuck's altruistic act and I am indebted to them both for their help and co-operation, along with Paul and Ian Gilby, Sound-On-Sound magazine and the Dreamsville/Nelsonica team, who all have had a hand in setting up and running the current official website. As a tribute to both Mark and Chuck, the original site that Mark initiated and that Chuck came to maintain has been archived as a fixed item in 'The Permanent Flame Museum,' on the Dreamsville site. It will remain as a historical testimony to their initiative and enterprise. Once again though, for the second time this year, mortality has raised its spectre. Increasingly, I find myself experiencing personal bereavements. I accept that this is what must happen when one's friends and family enter a certain stage of life. But the knowledge that these things are inevitable does nothing to soften the blows when they come. When all tears are shed though, it's life we're left to deal with, and our own lives and personal ability (or inability) to face the future with equilibrium and hope. It's easy to lose sight of what matters, to become wrapped up in issues of no positive advantage to us. Maybe I'm allowing pessimism too strong a hand here, but the society we inhabit seems to have become an increasingly cynical and sick place. It's impossible to ignore the malaise that seeps into so many aspects of our daily life. I personally find myself struggling to deal with the general unfairness and moral ambiguousness of 'things', even though I'm sometimes unwillingly sucked into their twisted orbit. But it still comes as a shock to me that some people seem incapable of grasping the bigger picture, the preciousness and fragility of life, whether it be theirs or anyone else's. It's as if some souls are born genetically immune to anything other than the most petty concerns and obsessions. Why is it that gentleness and sensitivity are in short supply whilst cynical spite and small-mindedness flourishes? It seems that it takes hardly anything these days to build an ugly monster from the most insignificant of human emotions. Perhaps we have only two choices, either to resist the route of spiritless ignorance, or to turn our hand to the wheel, (the wheel of Dharma?) and steer away from the cheap and easy option, the tabloid mentality, the lazy temptation that leads to a profound loss of everything that might redeem us. But somehow, it becomes tougher than ever to resist the prevailing darkness and to shine our warm lamps into the cold, mean shadows. I've been personally struggling with various, similar issues of late. I feel as if matters should be directly addressed, that certain injustices need adjustment, that things that have been portrayed in a particular light should be revealed for what they really are. Then again, when I stand back and look at these things in context, they are so pathetic and trivial as to be not worth even the slightest effort on my part. Maybe I should simply let the rotten go to rot. Nature will take its course without any need of intervention by me or by others. No cause for concern. I must simply remember to get on with what experience has taught me to regard as true and real, no matter how meagre these experiences may appear in the overall scheme of things. But it's the only positive alternative and the only one I'm equipped to offer. The empty darkness is for those who have already shown themselves to be without a lamp to illuminate the way. Somemight advise me that life is dark enough without straying into the shadows of others. But....It's not in my nature to be blind to those shadows or indifferent to those who are lost in them. As selfish and pre-occupied with my music as I often am, I find it difficult to stand back and let the suffering suffer, whether that be the runt of a cat's litter or an adult human being. It seems cruel to turn away from these issues. But I am, more often than not, ill equipped to do much about it. Whatever I do will be flawed and stricken by my own inadeqacy. I'm not up to the task, nor do I pretend to be. But I do try. Does that excuse me? Or simply place me among the ranks of those whom I despair of the most? Perhaps only the music I create stands a chance of offering something approaching the value of healing. Some people seem to assure me that it has that quality, or at least a potential to attain that quality. And that's why I am, and will remain, an artist first and foremost. Best to leave the argument and debate about such things to those with little else to do and even less to offer.An old cliche but a true one: A Daffodil doesn't have to agonise about being bright yellow. Nor should an artist worry about what he naturally is. The kitten I referred to in my last diary has survived and seems fit and well, although she has continued to live the outdoor life with the other four cats that we feed. I was heartened by the response on the Dreamsville site to my telling of the tale in my previous diary entry. It says something positive about those people who appreciate my music that they are compassionate towards animals. There was such a warm response from cat-lovers on the site, many of them relating their own similar experiences and even posting photographs of their cats on the Dreamsville Forum. It was something I didn't expect but it was a pleasant surprise to get such warm support for such a simple act of kindness. As someone once said:" Never trust a person who has no empathy with cats." Last Saturday's Nelsonica Team official dinner was a happy occasion. Ten of us around the table, (Jon, Dave Graham, Ian Haydock, Ged, Eddie, Paul Gilby, Duncan, Martin Bostock, Emiko and myself,) even though one person, (Ian C,) couldn't attend as he was away on holiday. We all had a good time although I drank rather too much wine and felt a little worse for wear the next day. At the restaurant, I presented the team with framed artwork that I'd made for each of them. I'd been panicking, worried that I wouldn't get all the drawings finished and framed in time, so it was a great relief to finally give everyone their gift with no one left out. There will be two new members joining the offcial Nelsonica team this coming year too. They have enthusiastically accepted the invitation that Jon Wallinger and the rest of us extended to them,amidst jokes about the strange initiation rites that they would have to undergo. Maybe I really SHOULD devise something along those lines, turn it into a quasi-masonic, mock-esoteric secret society, just for laughs! On a practical note, the new team members will prove extremely helpful as the last couple of years has seen the annual convention becoming more complex and better attended than ever. The original team has expanded to deal with the increased content and organisational skills involved and they make a great job of it, which I know the convention attendees appreciate. This last week, my studio equipment software was updated to deal with the proposed mixing of the ancient Be Bop Deluxe Decca sessions. Paul came over to install new software and replace an ailing floppy drive. It took a couple of days but eventually everything was re-assembled, wired up and put back in place. I'm currently going through various old plug-in hard drives to convert and store specific multi-track masters that were recorded on the old operating system. They have to be put through a special conversion process, one by one, before I can use or store them on the new O.S. There are several pieces that I definitely don't want to erase, particularly the multi-tracks for the Sailor Bill album. That project took up so much time and energy and is so complex that it would feel like sacrilege to not archive the master tracks. I might even want to remix the album, (maybe as purely instrumental pieces,) at some point in the future. Who knows? Better not to lose them, I think. I had a brief listen to the multi-track Be Bop Decca sessions too and was taken aback by how flat and dead the recordings sound, even though they were recorded in what was the classic Decca Studios. When I put up a recently recorded piece alongside them, it suddenly became apparent how far recording technology has come since the early 'seventies. My humble little home studio system sounds expensive, rich and three-dimensional compared to the Decca recordings, which sound like they were made in a fake-fur lined box. I'm increasingly less sure of the 'vintage is best' argument, 'though to be honest, I've always been an early adopter of musical technology. In an ideal world, it's not about either/ or situations. It's fun to combine the vintage approach with the modern and that's generally the way I work with my own recordings. The cold weather back again today. Christmas stuff in town, everywhere you look. I ought to try and get an earlier start on the seasonal shopping this year. But it will probably be last minute, as always. ***** The photographs accompanying this diary entry show:- 1: The rehearsal room used for the Nelsonica 06 concert preparations. 2: Bill's mixing desk in his home studio. 3: A view of Bill's home studio room. Top of page

By The Dawn's Early Light album - 1991 Harold Budd Production/Contribution Menu Future Past BILL: Electric and Acoustic Guitars. Co-Writer on one track, "The Place of Dead Roads". Production/Contribution Menu Future Past

Live Archive Pl ectronica A celebration of Bill Nelson at 70 - Saturday 1st December 2018 - To celebrate his 70th birthday, Bill put together his 'Plectronica' live show. The event was held at one of Bill's favourite Yorkshire venues, the Clothworker's Centenary Hall at the University of Leeds. Unbelievably, tickets to this show sold out in just 5 hours. Catching the organisers and fans completely by surprise, unfortunately it meant that a great many fans were left disappointed as they were unable to secure tickets due to strict 'Fire Regulation' maximum numbers. To enable more fans to enjoy the show, Bill decided to offer a live streaming service of the event, this was new territory for both Bill and the organising team, but it seemed to work extremely well. The show consisted of a live solo set by Bill, who was joined on stage for three numbers by his 'Orchestra Futura' band, featuring Theo Travis (Flutes & Saxes) and Dave Sturt (Bass), plus Bill's special 'Mystery Guest', none other than Harold Budd, who had flown over from America for the event. Set List:- 1: 'Gloria Mundae' 2: 'I Always Knew You Would Find Me' 3: 'Forevertron' 4: 'The Eye Of Heaven Shines' 5: 'Beyond Yonder' 6: 'Luxeodeon' 7: 'Blue Amorini' 8: 'Golden Dream Of Circus Horses' (With Theo Travis) 9: 'The Institute Of Enchantment' (Department One) (With Orchestra Futura & Harold Budd) 10: 'The Institute Of Enchantment' (Department Two) (With Orchestra Futura & Harold Budd) 11: 'The Antiquarian Futurist' (With Orchestra Futura & Harold Budd) 12: 'A Dream For Ian' 13: 'Beatniks From Outer Space' 14: 'Beyond These Clouds, The Sweetest Dream' 15: Encore Bill Nelson was a patron of the charity Sara's Hope Foundation. For this event, Eastwood donated one of their guitars, which Bill decorated. The guitar was raffled off, raising a great amount for the charity and it meant that a very lucky ticket-buyer took this fantastic guitar home with them. After the live set, Bill took a short break and then returned to the stage for an interview conducted by event organiser Ian Haydock, covering Bill's recording career. Ian included reading out tributes from Bill's musician pals including Harold Budd, John Foxx, Laraaji, Kate St John... Read all the tributes here. Bill was also given a nice surprise...the news that for his 70th birthday present, his fans had clubbed together to buy him a limited edition guitar, a Backlund 'Super-100', which was due for production and would arrive in January 2019. A cardboard cut-out of the guitar was presented to Bill at the end of the interview. PICTURE GALLERY If you have any pictures of the event that you would like to share - please get in touch! MARTIN BOSTOCK PICTURES FAN PICTURES BILL'S THOUGHTS: "The audience were, quite simply, wonderful. From the moment I walked on, right through to 'goodnight,' they were extremely warm and very enthusiastic. I couldn't have wished for a kinder crowd and their appreciation went some way to calming my usual nervousness." "This year was extra special as I was joined by 'Orchestra Futura' for three improvised pieces. And to put the icing on the cake, the trio of Theo Travis, Dave Sturt and myself were joined by very special guest Harold Budd on piano. Harold is one of my oldest and dearest friends and it was a joy to be on stage with him again, (the last time being his 'farewell' concert in Brighton, quite a few years ago.) Harold had flown over from his home in California to attend the concert, initially just to see my performance but generously agreed to sit in with us without any rehearsal." "Another huge surprise came when it was revealed that a number of fans had got together to fund the purchase of a very special 'Super-100' guitar for me...it seems some very generous fans have solved the problem by purchasing one for me. It will be delivered sometime in January, (once built,) and I'm very much looking forward to playing it. I may even have to set up another performance next year to show the instrument off..." FAN THOUGHTS: The Mad Scouser: Let's get the easy bit out of the way first--Bill was bloody brilliant. I know you're always hypercritical of your own performances Mr N, but from where I sat you were faultless. Too much good stuff to pick out individual tracks, but your collaborations with Dave Sturt and Theo Travis always leave me jaw agape in astonishment at the sheer musicality you manage to produce in each other. There is surely no greater pleasure in life than watching three ridiculously talented musicians combine so well....unless you are one of those three musicians, of course? andygeorge: After missing last years shindig, I was really looking forward to this one and boy, it exceeded my expectations. Bill's health issues didn't seem to hamper his ability to put on a terrific performance, attacking each number with gusto and leaving us all mesmerised with his unique style and class as he showcased his guitars with each number. The Q and A section was expertly handled by Ian Haydock, who is brilliant at these Nelsonica events, along with the rest of the team and Bill comprehensively covered a lot of his history...a lot we all knew, but some new revelations that I haven't heard before... As someone has said already, it was a great moment when Bill's lovely mum came out and received a very loud round of applause! Bill's reaction was priceless when he was handed a cardboard cut out of the Buckland Super..."Am I really going to get a real one?" he asked, genuinely surprised! Chimera Man: Another fabulous event and a big thanks to everyone involved in setting it up and helping Bill make it a success. I was genuinely shocked that Harold Budd was the special guest and I am even more convinced that "Orchestra Futura" should create and release an album. I was really gripped by the Q&A - I thought Ian did a superb job of posing the questions and did well to focus on some key landmarks within Bill's career. The story about Bill's Dad buying him his first "proper" guitar plus the move from focusing on guitars to synths and back again and the GTHGA recordings were of particular interest. Most touching were the comments read out from fellow artists. Great to hear the heartfelt comments from all, especially those from Iain Denby, John Foxx and Cabaret Voltaire. Tremendous to see old friends again and so many who had travelled from across the pond. The amount of American (and possibly Canadian) accents I heard in the crowd was very impressive. Chris N: A truly splendid evening in a great setting. Bill played with passion and verve throughout. What more could you want? Except for about 3 more hours! EERO: I am so thrilled that I was finally able to make one of these events after years of pining away looking at photos of all the fun and scrambling to order the special cds before they were sold out. Bill was spectacular, it has been nearly 40 years since I last heard him in New York, but as Gloria Mundae began, and the soaring notes of the ebow engulfed us in their luxurious velvety swoon, I teared up. It was profoundly emotional. Thanks to so many for making me feel welcome. I hope there will be more events in the future and that I may have the opportunity to tell the great man to his face how much his music and his conviction have meant to me through the years. Peter: I'd like to add my thanks to all. It was a wonderful day and evening. The performance was sublime, as always. Like Eric and others, I was tearing up at times. So special. And there are almost no words to express how amazing it is to be in the company of so many incredible, friendly, kind, generous and fun people. From Bill and Emiko, to Dave and Theo, to Ian and the entire team, to every single fan who was there...everyone was fantastic. I hated for the day to end.

The Last Lamplighter Bill Nelson album - 24 August 2019 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) The Lamplighter's Lament 02) Tick Tock Ticking 03) Wide Awake In The Heart Of You 04) The Winter Mermaid 05) Strictly For The Birds 06) Plastic Mac 07) House Of Mystery 08) Ghosts Of Utopian Cities 09) The Woman Of Tomorrow 10) Vulcan Street 11) Serene In Silver 12) What's A Boy Supposed To Do? 13) My Life In Neon, My Life In Sound 14) Lost Light 15) The Last Lamplighter (For John Henry Griffiths) ALBUM NOTES: The Last Lamplighter is an album of songs and instrumentals issued as a download only via Nelson's Bandcamp page issued on 24th August 2019. Originally titled The Last Lamplighter (Return to Vulcan Street), the subtitle was dropped at the artwork stage. The album was recorded between January and May 2019 and was largely compiled from material that had been omitted from the Stand By: Light Coming... album issued simultaneously. The recordings making up this album are likely to be amongst the last completed on Nelson's trusted recording and mixing set up that has served him so well since 2002. This operational change stemmed from Nelson's Mackie D8B mixing console having become unreliable and expensive to repair. It will be interesting to see how Nelson makes the transition to his new computer-based system that he acquired in March 2019 and which will receive its inaugural use in time for his next recording project. Amongst the guitars used on these recordings were two new acquisitions – a Backlund Super 100 MDX purchased by Nelson's fan base in honour of his 70th birthday the previous December and a Musicvox Space Cadet that Nelson acquired from the funds left over from the donations received for the birthday gift. The album took shape immediately after Nelson had selected material for Stand By: Light Coming... on 18 April 2019. The starting point for this was to select the best material from the 11 surplus recordings from the January to April recording sessions. As this material was insufficient to make up a full album, Nelson recorded additional tracks in late April and early May 2019. He then added in two tracks, 'Serene in Silver' and 'The Woman of Tomorrow' recorded for, but not used on, Auditoria and Drive This Comet Across the Sky. The Last Lamplighter was mastered at Fairview by John Spence on 10 May 2019. With the album successfully mastered, Nelson turned his attention to the album artwork. Assembly of the sleeve design fell to Martin Bostock working with images that Nelson had selected as the recording sessions that resulted in this album neared completion. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: 'The Last Lamplighter' :- "Is a brand new album and is intended as a companion piece to 'Stand By: Light Coming...' Many of its tracks were originally intended for the latter album but running times dictated otherwise. I decided to combine them with tracks I'd laid aside for an album titled 'Vulcan Street', an album and title I'd abandoned. A few more tracks were also recorded to make up the track count and the 'The Last Lamplighter' was the end result. 'The Last Lamplighter,' at first, had a subtitle: ('Return To Vulcan Street,') but this was dropped from the final artwork. "The album contains 15 tracks of mostly vocal-based songs but with a couple of instrumental interludes. It has an eclectic mix of styles. "The title track is dedicated to my Great Grandfather on my Mother's side of the family, (John Henry Griffiths,) who actually worked as a lamplighter in the city of Wakefield in the 1930s and '40s. He passed away in the early 1950s when I was very young but I can remember visiting him in his bedroom at Marriot's Buildings where I was born. He spent his last couple of years in bed and seemed to be a gentle old man although my Mother tells me that he was sometimes difficult and often drunk when she was a child. She acknowledges that he mellowed in his old age and that he liked and looked forward to seeing me. My Mother also recalls, as a young girl, sometimes accompanying him on his rounds as a lamplighter on the then cobbled streets of Wakefield. A romantic image that inspired the album's title track. "What was to be the central track of 'Vulcan Street' is also included on the album. 'Vulcan Street' conjures images of terrace houses, infernal factories and sparks and fire in my mind, the industrialised grey and foggy North of the 1940s and '50s. Had there been a Vulcan Street in Wakefield back then, I'm sure it would have had its lamps lit by my Great Grandfather. "This new album is a download only release and is exclusively available from my Bandcamp page or via the link this website. It comes complete with downloadable artwork which you can print out to use when burning the album to a CDR. I hope you will enjoy it!" _____ "Have been more or less constantly working on the 'overflow' album, titled 'The Last Lamplighter,' which will contain tracks that did not find a place on the 'Stand By: Light Coming...' album. Some tracks were left off that album because there wasn't room for them, others were left off because they didn't really feel right to me, (although several fans have expressed an interest in hearing them.) So, I've been experimenting with different track lists for 'The Last Lamplighter' in an attempt to make an interesting album from the left over material. "After some soul searching, I think I've come up with a good solution. A few of the left over tracks have now definitely been consigned to the waste bin. These are not songs that I consider worth hearing and I certainly won't miss them. Others, however, sound ok and I have included them in the album. "But to make sense of it all, I've had to record some new tracks to not only bring the track count up to scratch, but to add mood and variety. I now feel the album has a real purpose, both as a companion piece to 'Stand By: Light Coming...' and as an album in its own right." _____ " And what about 'The Last Lamplighter (Return To Vulcan Street.)' ? This is an album made up of tracks left over from the sessions that produced 'Stand By: Light Coming...' so, inevitably, a certain amount of the thematic structure is carried over from one album to the other. There are a couple of references to 'clocks ticking' and the passage of time in these songs too, but there are a few diversions, particularly in the five instrumental tracks that are included to break up the vocal ones. "As for the sonic qualities of these albums, I'd say that they were textured and richly rendered, noisy at times, spontaneously put together, never perfectly executed, sometimes abrasive, quirky, even scary, sometimes tender and naive. Hopelessly flawed, but perhaps forgivably and poetically so. At the end of the day, it's just stuff that emerges from Being." FAN THOUGHTS: Tourist: "Well, I'm on my own, it's late and everyone else here is peacefully resting...I've just, literally, just finished my first full listen through of this new album of Bill's and I really don't know what to say...don't know where to start...I certainly won't try some kind of mini-review or walkthrough, I think all I'm going to say is that it's just knocked my socks off!...It really is absolutely wonderful and the whole one hour? (I think) running time seemed like it was over in a flash. I honestly think Bill is currently writing and composing some of the best music of his life, it really is quite superb and I think The Last Lamplighter is right up there...I believe Bill just gets better and better as the years go on, and you can't say that, with hand on heart, about too many musicians. I wouldn't do the album justice with any form of track reviews, I won't highlight any specific songs, but I will say it's a 'killer' album, every track is a gem. I think it's been put together fantastically well, the running order sounds great, the interspersion of instrumental tracks perfectly placed and if there are any people out there who aren't sure whether to buy this download, I would urge you to go ahead, as I'm pretty sure you will love it!...If you don't, I'll regret it for you! And, I just noticed it says on iTunes, 'Bill Nelson The Last Lamplighter Unknown Genre'...finally they begin to understand. Great album Bill!!….seriously folks, don't miss this one." "The more I listen to this wonderful album, the more I fall in love with it...It's actually competing with Sailor Bill ...sometimes I think it might be my favourite Bill Nelson album. ...And!...any Be Bop fans that haven't jumped into Bill's solo recordings, well, that's fine too, but if you're looking for mind-blowingly fabulous guitar work, please try this album...Fantastically haunting, always touching the melancholy, reaching back to something we once knew, but definitely a firm message for the here and now!...gloriousness...it's superb!!" lee_elliot59: "Another stunner...and very much a compliment to 'Standby '. Worth any price of admission for just 'Strictly For The Birds' which towers amongst Bill's finest. "With these most recent releases it's easy to hear Bill reaching for new expressions which straddle various aspects of his technique." Alec: "Along with everything else that's great about this recording is it's a great rock 'n roll record as well, full of great rock grooves." mo497: "Like fine, vintage wine, Bill Nelson's guitar virtuosity continues to improve with age. Case in point, this wonderful new release. Not to be missed! Thank you, Bill!" Albums Menu Future Past

Original Album Series box set - 2 June 2014 Be-Bop Deluxe Collections Menu Future Past NOTES: A 5CD box set issued at a budget price that comprises all 5 studio albums issued by Be Bop Deluxe in its lifetime. Each album is presented in a mini version of the original vinyl sleeves but with no lyric sheets or booklet to inform the uninitiated. Compared to Futurist Manifesto (which offers all five albums plus bonus tracks and previously unreleased material), this release is clearly the less desirable to most fans. However for anyone discovering the band at this late stage who wants to delve a little deeper than the few tracks they might hear on radio these days, but doesn't want all the bells and whistles, it's a decent enough place to start. PAST RELEASES: All the material presented in this box set can be found in the Futurist Manifesto box set, and each of the five albums was previously available on CD separately in jewel cases with lyric books and sleeve notes (initially issued in 1990). Prior to their appearance on CD each album appeared on vinyl and cassette between 1974 and 1978. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: The box set is now out of print. Collections Menu Future Past

Frost-O-Matic Free Christmas download single Special FREE Christmas download single - Released Dec 2010. FROST-O-MATIC Currently unavailable on any album Written, performed, recorded and produced by Bill Nelson. All rights Bill Nelson 2010.

Atom Shop Bill Nelson album - 12 September 1998 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) Wild And Dizzy 02) Dreamsville 03) Magic Radio 04) Pointing At The Moon 05) Train With Fins 06) Popsicle Head-Trip 07) Propellor Of Legend 08) Viva Le Voom-Voom 09) Billy Infinity 10) She Gave Me Memory 11) My World Spins 12) Rocketship 13) Girlfriend With Miracles 14) Spinning Dizzy On The Dial 15) Atom Shop (Is Closing) ALBUM NOTES: Atom Shop is another album of demo material recorded in 1996-97, that Nelson had planned on re-recording with outside musicians, but financial constraints led to this more modest approach. The album was licensed to Robert Fripp's label DGM, and initially was available as a mail order item via the DGM website before gaining a more general release a couple of weeks later. Nelson purchased the remaining stock from DGM to sell through Sound On Sound, the album sold out in February 2018. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "The album was recorded at home on my old analogue 16 track system and the songs were originally intended as demos as I had hoped to re-record them with Mitchell Froom producing, (another tremendous world-class record producer). Mitchell told me that I'd be wasting my money employing a producer for those recordings as I'd got the songs to work in exactly the way they needed to. "In terms of the actual recordings, though, that 'demo' thing can be psychologically misleading, (as I've come to realise over the years). It's both a relative and a subjective term. What I personally think of as 'demos', others might think of as finished pieces and vice-versa. It's sometimes entirely dependent upon just how I describe them in my sleeve notes or in interviews. Minds are soft and vulnerable and, as William Burroughs once said, 'words are a virus.' Perhaps I've sometimes been too dismissive of some of my work, maybe I should have dressed it up in glad rags more... "Did the demo tag indicate an unfinished work there or not? With hindsight, that particular album sounds like a complete, finished statement to me now, 'though I referred to it as a collection of demos and sketches back when it was released." _____ "Atom Shop , like many of my albums, was considered a little bit odd by some fans at the time of its release. These days though, most listeners will realise that many of my recordings exist in a kind of suspended gravity...ie: It sometimes takes a while for the penny to drop!" FAN THOUGHTS: Johnny Jazz: " Atom Shop is bloody wonderful...A most wonderous and charming collection. A perfect blend of bluesy poppy jazz in our Bill's own inimitable style." Twilightcapers: "Thought I would just say how great Atom Shop is. Love those Jazzy Drum 'n' Bass tunes. If you like After the Satellite Sings you'll love this." Ishikawa: "On Atom Shop , Bill seemed to be exploring a whole new approach to structure, and the use of powerful, resonant sounds. I was about to list a few songs of note, but it ended up being about 90% of the whole thing. "Train with Fins"... boy, does that one moooove. Suffice to say, it's a cracker..." Parsongs: "If you're a jazz fan, be sure to track down a copy of Atom Shop by Bill Nelson. By far the coooolest contemporary jazz this side of fliptown." "I often think Atom Shop was overlooked by the music press. It's the most alternative of the alternative rock records..." donger: " ATOM SHOP is the coolest Bill Nelson release and "Dreamsville" is his hippest song." alec: "And how cool is the track "Dreamsville" from Atom Shop ? I always think of that track when I'm here at this cool place. Dreamsville, drivin' thru Dreamsville. Love everything about the track not LEAST of which is the AWESOME wah-wah guitar and disjointed be-bop trumpet." james warner: "I have always had a particular soft spot for "Propeller of Legend". Apart from the gloriously wigged-out guitar, the marimba riff has me thinking of baby elephants as it reminds me of the kind of theme used in those sixties safari movies." BobK: "One morning about 7 years ago me and Mrs K were awoken, by the sound of "Popsicle" blaring out on the CD player. Very strange we thought, particularly as BN sounded a bit out of tune and in an uncomfortably high register. Strolled downstairs to find our 4 year old had put it on, pulled out the lyric sheet and was happily singing along!" TheGlassGuitar: "It grew on me slowly and incessantly, to the point where it's now one of my favourites ." Telecat: " Atom Shop is one of my favourite albums which brought to a close one of Bill's best periods. Along with The Hyperdreamer set and the superb After the Satellite Sings they represent a period when the albums were rarely off my system." wonder toy: "Go listen to Atom Shop again and report back. That guy IS cool." Albums Menu Future Past

The Years Bill Nelson album - 22 June 2015 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) Capricious Skies 02) The Bel-Air Rocketman 03) Atlantika 04) Southport 05) In The Realm Of The Super-Cute 06) The Invisible City Of Christian Rosenkruetz 07) A Charming Trick 08) Method Acting 09) A Garden That Sings To The Sky 10) Odeon 11) The Years 12) The Last Romantic ALBUM NOTES: The Years is an instrumental album issued in a one-off print run of 500 copies on the Sonoluxe label. Nelson revealed little in the way of detail about the development of this particular album, but it's likely that it progressed over a period of some time, and only really took shape once he had assembled sufficient material to make an album from his symphonic-based instrumentals. A posting on the Dreamsville forum from February 2014 refers to him nearly having completed "an epic neo-classical, pastoral, symphonic piece" during the writing sessions for the Velorama film soundtrack which may well have ended up on The Years album. The title The Years was first announced on the Dreamsville forum in late January 2015 when Nelson revealed it as an album he was then working on, and for which the final track running order was confirmed just a few weeks later. The album was originally to be issued after Loom , but once Nelson heard the mastered version he decided to bring its release date forward. It was also intended to be the third in the 'Super Listener Series' but in the end Nelson deemed The Years to be insufficiently challenging to be awarded that status, and it was given a normal Sonoluxe catalogue number. The album went on sale on 22 June 2015, and was in stock for a month before finally selling out on 1 August. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "The Years could mean the many years of making music, or the 66 years of being on this planet, or the 'wear and tear' of the years, or a looking back at them...I wanted it to be enigmatic, and slightly melancholy and nostalgic. "However, the music on the album, in the main, is kind of kitsch and easy-listening, quite jolly in parts but with deeper reflective moments. As always, it's not turned out quite the way I expected. It's not as pure or perfect as I'd hoped, but it's been made very spontaneously with a feeling of urgency. It's not an album that I've pondered too deeply or furrowed my brow about. It's emerged almost of its own accord. No doubt it will find its place, in time. "It's all instrumental, uses orchestral sounds with some guitar parts. Neo-classical/light music forms. The nearest thing to it would be parts of Picture Post , Pedalscope and the instrumental tracks from The Alchemical Adventures of Sailor Bill. It's a strange thing in some ways, seems quite straight and easy on the surface but has a complexity in structure that undermines that. It's not quite what it appears to be!" _____ "Neo-classical composition isn't really about playing technique...it's more of a compositional approach. It takes classical music and re-frames it in a kind of 'post-modernist' atmosphere, referencing much older musical forms but with a twist. On this album, I pick up on the kind of music you might hear in those old black and white, between the wars and WW2 documentary films, (you know, those GPO film unit productions like 'Listen to Britain' by Humphrey Jennings, etc.) I'm particularly fond of that era and musical style but bring a more contemporary feel to bear on this album. It appears deliberately kitsch in places, superficially verging on easy listening but revealing more complexities and conundrums on deeper listening. It's meant to offer a somewhat enigmatic listening experience which never completely resolves itself." _____ "Not a 'down' album at all, despite my health issues and general darkness. It's an album of hope, of positivity, of beauty triumphing over drabness, a transcendent album, with a tinge of nostalgia and gentle melancholy at the heart of it." FAN THOUGHTS: felixt1: "I tell you what - it's a bloody great album! It actually took me a few days to really understand what's going on. It's kind of like what happens if a UFO lands in Model Village . The cinematic quality of the music cannot be exaggerated and there are some truly great moments from start to finish. The Years , is for me yet another special release. It hit me today, like a sledgehammer - really stopped me in my tracks. Gobsmacked" andygeorge: " The Years is a delightful collection of music and, as some have said, sits well with Model Village. But, as I sit here on a sunny Sunday morning in my study, with a cup of tea, catching up on paper work and other bits and pieces with The Years playing I can straight away hear that it is a rather more complex composition than Model Village punctuated with wonderful, sweet guitar sounds that only Bill can pull off..."Capricious Skies", "Southport", "Method Acting", "The Years'...all truly stunning!" Tourist in Wonderland: 'This new release really demands your attention...lots going on (in a good way)...many questions, much to discover, much wow-factor-ness. Initially blown away by "The Invisible City of Christian Rosenkruetz", "A Charming Trick", "Odeon", "The Years", "The Last Romantic". Can't stand chatting all day...got some seriously jaw-dropping music to listen to." Palladium: "The guitar (as you won't be surprised to hear) is blissful, and combines wonderfully with the ' orchestral ' sound/arrangements. A complex album, I think, which will take more than a few listens to get a proper sense of it." mark smith: "Once again the more you play it the more it makes sense, in my opinion. Another Bill Nelson masterpiece. It seems to sound even better listened to very late at night. Thank you again Mr Nelson." December Man: "After I'd finished listening to it on day two, I absent-mindedly pushed the FM button on my stereo, which was on the classical music station, and went outside for a bit, and when I returned I became aware of this beautiful sound coming out of my speakers and assumed it was still The Years that was playing! This went on for a good while before I realized what had happened! (Sometimes aging brings with it these little miracles of absent-minded fun.) But that kinda sums up this album in a strange way. It is 'deceptive' as Bill has stated. Each day that I've listened, it feels like I'm playing a whole new album! This is not unique in itself as many of Bill's albums do this, but The Years seems to make me more aware that this is happening somehow. This album also has a Bill Frisell kinda vibe to it (in its subtlety and strange beauty). Definitely one of Bill's best ever recordings." Albums Menu Future Past

Buy Bill Nelson's music directly from the artist. The Dreamsville Store Support the artist...please buy from these outlets! Official Bill Nelson Merchandise Store - Click Here! Orchestra Futura - Live At Nelsonica & Clothworkers Hall Release due 13th February 2026 For album info and audio clips - Click here Pre-order options £15 + P&P My Private Cosmos (Disc Five ) Digital release January 2026 (Original release December 2021) For album info and audio clips - Click here Purchase download £10 + VAT My Private Cosmos (Disc Four ) Digital release December 2025 (Original release December 2021) For album info and audio clips - Click here Purchase download £10 + VAT My Private Cosmos (Disc Three ) Digital release November 2025 (Original release December 2021) For album info and audio clips - Click here Purchase download £10 + VAT My Private Cosmos (Disc Two ) Digital release October 2025 (Original release December 2021) For album info and audio clips - Click here Purchase download £10 + VAT My Private Cosmos (Disc One ) Digital release September 2025 (Original release December 2021) For album info and audio clips - Click here Purchase download £10 + VAT Caliban And The Chrome Harmonium (Extended Version) Digital release August 2025 (Original release August 2001) For album info and audio clips - 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What Now, What Next? retrospective 2CD collection - 12 September 1998 Bill Nelson Collections Menu Future Past TRACKS: CD1 01) The Strangest Things, The Strangest Times ( Giants Of The Perpetual Wurlitzer ep, 1984) 02) Do You Dream In Colour? ( Quit Dreaming And Get On The Beam album in 1981) 03) Radiant Spires (Chance Encounters In The Garden Of Lights album, 1987) 04) Lady, You're A Strange Girl (Chimes And Rings album, part of the Demonstrations Of Affection set, 1989) 05) Exactly The Way You Want It (Optimism album, 1988) 06) Playing Jesus To Her Judas (Chimes And Rings album, part of the Demonstrations Of Affection set, 1989) 07) Over Ocean (The Summer Of God’s Piano album, part of the Trial By Intimacy set, 1985) 08) Devil In Me (Nudity album, part of the Demonstrations Of Affection set, 1989) 09) Several Famous Orchestras (Sex-Psyche-Etc ep, 1985) 10) Working Man (Chimes And Rings album, part of the Demonstrations Of Affection set, 1989) 11) First Boy On The Moon (previously unreleased; later included on Sunflower Dairy Product, part of the Noise Candy set, 2002) 12) Let It All Pass You By (Details album, part of the Demonstrations Of Affection set, 1989) 13) The Profaned Sanctuary Of The Human Heart (Simplex, 1990) 14) Sell My Soul (Chimes And Rings album, part of the Demonstrations Of Affection set, 1989) 15) The Garden (La Belle et La Bete album, 1982) 16) Edge Of The World (previously unreleased and unique to this compilation) CD2 01) Heartbreak Thru' The Telephone (Heartbreakland album, part of the Demonstrations Of Affection set, 1989) 02) Fellini's Picnic (Map Of Dreams album, 1987) 03) The World Wakes Up (previously unreleased; later included on Sunflower Dairy Product, part of the Noise Candy set, 2002) 04) Skies Are Not Cloudy (previously unreleased and unique to this compilation) 05) Love's Immortal Shining Angel (Heartbreakland album, part of the Demonstrations Of Affection set, 1989) 06) A Promise Of Perfume (A Catalogue Of Obsessions album, part of the Trial By Intimacy set, 1985) 07) Bronze (Simplex, 1990) 08) Bride Of The Atom (previously unreleased and unique to this compilation) 09) News From Nowhere (Iconography album, 1986) 10) Les Amoureux ( Pavillions Of The Heart And Soul album, part of the Trial By Intimacy set, 1985) 11) Kiss It Off (Nudity album, part of the Demonstrations Of Affection set, 1989) 12) Opium (Sounding The Ritual Echo album, 1981) 13) Astroluxe (previously unreleased and unique to this compilation) 14) Windmills In A World Without Wind (A Catalogue Of Obsessions album, part of the Trial By Intimacy set, 1985) 15) Um, Ah, Good Evening (extra song on the UK CD version of the Optimism album, 1988) NOTES: This compilation taken from the Cocteau back catalogue was another product of the licensing deal with DGM, and was issued simultaneously with Atom Shop . While lacking the more commercial successful material to be found on Duplex , What Now, What Next? stands up well alongside its more prominent predecessor, and at least had the dignity of being available for a lot longer. Six of the songs were labelled as being from unreleased albums, named Noise Candy , Console , and Bungalow Funland . Noise Candy was eventually released almost four years later, and included a CD entitled Console . The album title Bungalow Funland was never used (see Bill's quote below), and in the end, four songs remained unique to this compilation (A16, B4, B8 and B13). PAST RELEASES: Several songs on this collection have been previously released on compilations like: The Strangest Things , Duplex , and The Practice of Everyday Life box set (all three out of print). CURRENT AVAILABILITY: This compilation is out of print, but may be made available through Bandcamp at some point. BILL'S THOUGHTS: "For anyone who has missed much of my '80's work, the double album What Now, What Next? provides a reasonable cross section of what I was up to back then. Most of the tracks were recorded on analogue equipment and use what I affectionately think of as 'steam driven' keyboards, (ie. mini-moog, vintage string machines, simple drum boxes, etc). The production values are very much of the time too, (particularly if you recall that the credits on my albums sometimes said 'recorded in a room above my kitchen'). "The set contains both instrumental and vocal tracks, some of them in the 'quirky' category and provides a listening experience that is, paradoxically, both consistent and full of variety." _____ "Bungalow Funland was an idea that never materialised. Or at least never materialised under that name. The tracks were absorbed into the Noise Candy box set. The tracks were not inspired by an American trip but by more English capers." Collections Menu Future Past

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Nelsonian Navigator Nelsonian Navigator was a twice-yearly magazine, first published in 1995 it ran for six issues before sadly coming to an end. Issue 1 - Published July 1995 Issue 2 - Published December 1995 Issue 3 - Published June 1996 Issue 4 - Published September 1996 Issue 5 - Published March 1997 Issue 6 - Published September 1997 Please reload

Studio Cadet Bill Nelson album - 6 December 2024 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this CD TRACKS: 01) A Splendid View 02) Phantom Island 03) Crystal Springs 04) Barely There 05) The Ecstatic Transfiguration Of The Great Northern Twang Magus 06) An Interval 07) Dance Of The Anti-Gravity Enthusiasts 08) Deep Sky 09) Space Age Dreamer 10) Slow Smoulder 11) Sunglasses After Dark 12) My Giddy Levitation 13) I Saw You In A Sailplane 14) Night Boats Pass Beneath The Stars Purchase this download ALBUM NOTES: Studio Cadet is an album of guitar instrumentals issued on the Sonoluxe label in a limited edition of 1000 copies and simultaneous digital download. The album was first mentioned by Nelson as 'half finished' in a Dreamsville forum post dated 20 May 2015 and was later confirmed as complete with confirmed track listing on 1 June 2015. On 14 July 2015, a week after completing work on his very next album of new material, Magnetic Travels , Nelson announced plans to release both albums as a double CD initially to be entitled The Grand Imaginarium (Intergalactic Rhapsodies for Electric Guitar) , although the word 'Intergalactic' was dropped later the same day. A few months down the line however Nelson had reverted back to his initial plan of releasing Studio Cade t and Magnetic Travels as two standalone albums and this plan remained despite Nelson's continued uncertainty of the format. The album was mastered at Fairview Studios by John Spence in February 2024, with artwork compiled by Martin Bostock using images selected by Nelson as the album approached release. Pre-orders for Studio Cadet were announced by Burning Shed on November 1st with a release date scheduled for December 6th. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available to pre-order here in the Dreamsville Store. BILL'S THOUGHTS: "Studio Cadet is one of several previously unreleased albums tucked away in my archives. Recorded in 2015 it contains 14 guitar-based instrumental tracks. The atmosphere is relaxed and sometimes dreamy. The album comes in a triple-fold digi-sleeve with a four page booklet insert. A gleaming guitar melodic soundscape." ALBUM REVIEWS: Review on Plus One Albums Menu Future Past

Discography Menu Singles Clicking on a cover below will take you to a full page devoted to that single. All Dressed Up In Your Art School Clothes 2023 Saras Dream Foundation charity download single Brave Flag 2022 charity download single The Lockdown Song 2020 download single The Rumbler 2017 download single Starland 2013 Sara's Hope download track Think And You'll Miss It 2012 download single Holey Moley, It's A Parallel World 2010 Sara's Hope download track Soluna Oriana 2010 Mick Karn Appeal download track Rocket To The Moon 2009 Sara's Hope download track I Hear Electricity 2008 download single A Million Whistling Milkmen 2008 Sara's Hope download track Dreamsville Poetry Experiment 2007 download track Contemplation 2007 2007 download track Six Strings For Sara 2007 Sara's Hope download track The Dead We Wake With Upstairs Drums 1992 single Life In Your Hands 1989 single Secret Ceremony 1987 single Cote D'Azur 1986 fan club ep Wildest Dreams 1986 single Sex-Psyche-Etc 1985 ep Giants Of The Perpetual Wurlitzer 1984 fan club ep Acceleration 1984 single Hard Facts From The Fiction Department 1984 fan club ep The World And His Wife 1983 fan club ep Touch And Glow 1983 single Dancing On A Knife's Edge 1983 fan club ep King Of The Cowboys 1982 fan club ep Flaming Desire 1982 single Eros Arriving 1982 single Sleepcycle 1982 fan club ep Tony Goes To Tokyo (And Rides The Bullet Train) 1981 single (b-side) Living In My Limousine 1981 single Youth Of Nation On Fire 1981 single Banal 1981 single Rooms With Brittle Views 1981 single Do You Dream In Colour? 1980 single Revolt Into Style 1979 single Furniture Music 1979 single Electrical Language 1978 single Panic In The World 1978 single Japan 1977 single Hot Valves 1976 compilation ep Kiss Of Light 1976 single Ships In The Night 1976 single Maid In Heaven 1975 single Between The Worlds 1975 single (withdrawn) Jet Silver And The Dolls Of Venus 1974 single Teenage Archangel 1973 single Discography Menu

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

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2013 William's Study (Diary Of A Hyperdreamer) July 2007 Jan Feb Apr May Sep Oct Nov Dec Wednesday 11th July 2007 -- 8:20 pm It's been an intense few weeks. All of June spent working on music for an American documentary film about the visual design history of U.S. postal stamps. Ongoing too...until the end of July. The subject of stamps is far more interesting than one might initially presume. The film, produced by a company called 'twenty2 product' in San Francisco (and funded by the American PBS TV network and the US Postal Service), is beautifully photographed and edited and features several interviews with the highly talented visual artists and designers who have been involved with postage stamp design over the years. A wide range of subjects, including music, literature, science and art are covered by these stamps and each interview has required me to create an appropriate musical setting. 18 scenes or 'segments' in total but I've so far made approaching fifty tracks for the filmakers to select from. These are not fifty different tunes though but variations and mixes of perhaps 30 individual compositions. Still, it's been constant and intense work...12 hours per day on average and 7 days per week. I'm feeling burned out at this point in time but I think I'm not too far from a conclusion of sorts. I've booked Fairview Studios on the 28th and 29th of July to master the final choice of music cues, once the film makers have made their selection. Everything has to be decided, completed and prepared by then. The most challenging part of the work has been the attempt to create music that stays out of the way of the dialogue without becoming dull and ordinairy. Not easy as there is constant 'talking-heads' style narrative throughout the film. Some musical cues are very brief too, which means it's tricky to build musical dynamic tension over such a short period of time. I'm currently working on two promotional-advertising clips for the project, trailers basically. One is 20 seconds long, the other 30 seconds. Not a lot of music in terms of time but just as much work as the longer pieces within the film, if not more so. I also need to revisit some of the cues for which I've already created music, to see if I can bring even more alternatives to the table. All this highly focussed and time-consuming work has confined me to my little studio room since the start of June. My social life has gone out the window. Emiko has seen much less of me too, as have the rest of my long-suffering family. It's taken a toll on my health and nerves, as is to be expected. Sitting hunched over keyboards and mixing desk for 12 hours a day isn't the healthiest of pusuits for a man approaching 60. My waistline has expanded again and stress levels have reflected the obsessive nature of the work. Can't be helped, I suppose. Part of the job and part of the challenge. But that old cliche, 'not as young as you used to be' applies perfectly. I wonder if it will all be worth it in the end? Not in financial terms, (this isn't a Hollywood blockbuster, after all), but in terms of what the music adds to my 'canon.' I think there's an album to be got out of this, 'though it may be an unusual one. If I can gather the more interesting tracks together, there may be yet another aspect of my musical activity worth presenting to the public, beyond that of the music's function within the film. I've already come up with an album title for this: 'PICTURE POST.' ('Picture Post' was the title of an old 1950's photo-journalistic magazine, here in the U.K.) Despite my confinement to recording studio barracks, I did manage to attend my nephew Julian's wedding, a few weeks back. Julian is my late brother Ian's eldest son. He married a lovely girl, called Lindsay. They make a charming couple and it was good to see them surrounded by their friends who all wished them well. The marriage ceremony and reception was held at Walton Hall near Wakefield. I'd not visited to Walton Hall before, despite growing up in the city. It's a remarkable old house, built on an island in a lake and surrounded by a beautiful tree-blessed landscape. Quite magical. One of the pleasant side-effects of Julian's mariage was the fact that it gathered together what remains of the Nelson clan. Not a lot of us left, sadly. My eldest daughter, Julia, travelled up from London with my bright-star grandson Luke, (o.k, I'm biased), and my mother and my youngest daughter Elle and my son Elliot were there too. Also my sister-in-law Diane and my niece Lucy and nephew Louis and my Mum's husband George. I only wish Ian could have been there to see his son tie the knot. It was a bitter-sweet occassion in that respect. Ian was aware of the date of Julian and Lindsay's wedding before he passed away. I know he was looking forward to it with his usual sense of warm bemusement. There were some poignant moments for us all when we missed Ian's prescence. It doesn't really get any easier, despite it being around 17 months since I last saw Ian. I don't imagine time will ever make much of a difference to the emptiness that has been left in the lives of his loved ones. And, yes, I will say it again, I miss him tremendously. The world continues to roll by my window, indifferent to whatever plans or idealistic imaginings I might harbour. Summer, for what it's worth, seems to have been a season of floods so far. Terrible suffering for hundreds of families in Hull, Doncaster and Sheffield. Freak conditions for this time of year? Global warming the cause? Whatever the conclusion, it's a major topic in the media and already a subject for 'live aid' style pop concerts. But there's something hollow, something not quite right in our response to the problem. Hard to put into words but it's as if it's a kind of game, a fashionable badge to wear instead of a life and death issue. We're not doing anything near enough to redress the balance. Future generations will reap the terrible harvest of our casual attitudes, I'm afraid. Sometimes I feel as if the human race is a lost cause...Life fading fast on this bright blue pebble amongst the stars. Another great British cultural icon has passed away. The vibrant, colourful, joyous bundle of atoms that was George Melly has finally 'gone fission.' I never met him, (though my brother Ian did), but I liked him tremendously. George's great passions were jazz, surrealism, fishing, booze and sex. I'm somewhat fond of that sort of stuff too...but without the fishing. He was a bright, witty, intelligent and enthusiastic man who knew what wonders were hidden beneath the world's voluminous skirts. And he wasn't afraid to lift those skirts and have a good old lusty fondle. A bit mad and scary for some folks, our George. But for those of us who shared his wide-eyed hunger, he was definitely on the side of the angels. His autobiographical trilogy, 'Owning Up' should be compulsory reading for all those who think life begins and ends with reality tv and pop music. A force for the good and the world poorer without him. You'd think I'd have more to write about, considering how long it's been since the previous diary entry, but I haven't really got much else to say or the time to say it. Over the weeks I've made a mental list of topics to bring to these pages, but they've either faded from my memory or suddenly seemed inconsequential. It's all inconsequential really though, isn't it? Just babble... A brief note though: The ongoing demise of record stores. The rather wonderful Track Records in York is sadly shutting up shop. A result of the downloading malaise that is slowly eroding the way we access music, I suspect. Even our local Borders store is selling off cd stock at silly prices and has cut back on its album racking space Seriously junked its stock of jazz and other non-pop/rock records too. Some say it's the future. But it's greed really, cheapness and laziness triumphing over magic. And another step towards conformity of taste. It will strip the truly creative leaves from the trees, leaving only a sterile and barren thicket of fruitlessness. Thank goodness I'm not alone in thinking this. More and more critics and intellectuals seem to be coming 'round to the same conclusion. A recently published book presents the same argument: Basically it says that the internet is killing our culture and impoverishing truly creative musicians. There's too much plain old commodity and not enough treasure. Soon, no one will want to choose music as a 'career,' unless they're very young and desperate for attention. There will simply be not enough in it, either financially or aesthetically. No one will care in the way that my generation cared. We're the last of the line. Music, as a career or lifestyle choice will devolve to the lowest common denominator. The moronic will hold sway. What a marvellous prospect! Little enclaves of genuine music lovers meeting in secret, like Catholics at the gates of the reformation. The cathederals of record retailing in ruins, music as an illuminating force finally snuffed out in favour of free downloads, mediocre retreads and lousy sound quality...The enthusiast as the new outcast, an antiquated, nearly extinct species. Science-fiction's worst nightmares come home to roost and crouching at the foot of your bed, screaming. I once wrote to the NME, back in the '70's, pre-punk, with a manifesto for a renewal of 'real' music, music that needed commitment, energy and intelligence. Music that you'd be prepared to risk your life for. I wrote this under the humerous guise of 'The New Music Liberation Front' and signed it 'Christian Spink.' I didn't really think the NME would publish it, but they did, in heavy type, surrounded by a black border to make it highly visible on their letter's page. I had my tongue planted partly in my cheek but also, so I hoped, on the erectile tissue of the spirit of rebellion. There's nothing revolutionary about the current music industry, despite the dull, interminable trumpeting about so called 'new technologies.' It's just the same old tired, manipulative, nonsense, despite the gadgetry. Just another angle on the 'let's charm the pocket money out of kids sweaty hands' trick. Or, If we can't sell cds, lets flog 'em MP3 players, software, website subscriptions. Money for (very old) rope. People demanding music without any cost and an industry seeking profit without any risk. It will, I predict, all end in tears. No diary photo's this time. Too busy. When I get the film music completed, I'll hopefully find more time and energy for such things. Top of page

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

So...who is Bill Nelson? Founder of Be-Bop Deluxe in 1973, guitarist Bill Nelson, with the exception of one track, wrote all of the bands material. Signed to EMI, the band released five studio albums and scored a top ten UK hit with the single "Ships In The Night." In 1979 Bill disbanded Be-Bop Deluxe and launched Red Noise whose 'Sound-On-Sound' album is often cited as an inspiration by many younger bands. Bill then formed his own independent record label, Cocteau Records, and throughout the 80's and 90's he released many solo albums as well as collaborating with other musicians such as Yellow Magic Orchestra, David Sylvian, Harold Budd, The Associates, Cabaret Voltaire, Sandy And The Sunsets and Channel Light Vessel. As a producer he has worked on albums for Roger Eno, The Skids, Gary Numan, The Units, The Rhythm Sisters, Nash The Slash and many others. Bill has composed and recorded music for film, television and theatrical productions. Since 2000 he has released many solo albums on his own label. Explore this website to discover the astounding amount of work that Bill has created throughout his career!

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

The Dreamshire Chronicles Bill Nelson double album - 27 November 2012 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download DISC ONE TRACKS: 01) Prelude: The Night Is Lit By Diamonds 02) Welcome To Dreamshire (Monitor Mix) 03) The Pleasure Boaters 04) This Everyday World (Vocal Version) 05) Rainboy And Whistledog 06) Young Marvelman 07) Garden Railway 08) The Shimmering Threshold (On Your Bike Emperor Ming) 09) Evening Star Electric Park 10) Sailing To The Moon 11) The Milky Way (Burning Bright) 12) The Sparkling Idea 13) Ghosts Wind The Parlour Clock 14) Spooky Little Thing 15) Now I Come To Think Of It 16) Spinning Pentagrams 17) The Ruins Of Youth, The Twang Of Tomorrow DISC TWO TRACKS: 01) The Reality Of Imagination 02) Smoke Drifts Silent In Autumn Air 03) Bubbledreamer 04) My Little Book Of Secret Knowledge 05) Robots On Parade 06) Dark And Complicated 07) Blue Beams 08) More Than Glory, More Than Gold 09) The Lost Planet Of Sunday Afternoon 10) Mass Equals Energy 11) The Light Gathering Garden Of Omar Kadiz 12) Windsong Of The Flying Boy 13) Henrietta Through The Looking Glass 14) Luna On The Beach 15) Neither Puck Nor Pan 16) Welcome To Dreamshire (Luxe Mix) 17) This Everyday World (Instrumental Version) ALBUM NOTES: The Dreamshire Chronicles is a double album mixing vocal and instrumental pieces, issued in a single print run of 1000 copies on the Sonoluxe label. The album was first announced on the Dreamsville forum in February 2012, and though it was completed inside two months, a busy schedule throughout the year meant that its release was held back in deference to other albums. The Dreamshire Chronicles sold out in July 2021. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "It contains a wide variety of styles, all of which have proved popular with many fans these last ten or fifteen years...and every track sounds, I'd say, just like 'me'. "As for 'rock' music, there are a couple of tracks on the 2 discs that are direct outakes from the Joy Through Amplification sessions, ("Luna on the Beach" being the most obvious of these). But there are also tracks that would have fitted perfectly on albums such as Clocks and Dials , Non-Stop Mystery Action , Fables and Dreamsongs , Captain Future's Psychotronic Circus , Fancy Planets and Fantasmatron , amongst others...The only way to describe it is for you to hear it. It's a cornucopia type of album, mixing styles and genres as if they were ingredients in a sonic cocktail. A track may start out in one mood but mutate through several others to end in a completely different place. It's music to listen to and follow as if you were reading an adventure story." _____ "Dreamshire is richly blessed with golden and beautifully artificial orchestras. The whole kit n' imaginary caboodle! It also has warped blues guitars, sublime jazz guitars, ambient keyboards, broken beats, ethereal loops, haunted lyrics and oblique arrangements. It's not in the least 'experimental', as I know exactly what I'm doing with it...but it will challenge anyone who thinks a few synth bleeps equals adventure. This is adult music and not a throwback to '80s big-shoulder, analogue fashion, or '70s rock guitar macho chest-beating histrionics. It will confuse the bejesus out of anyone expecting the obvious pop 'avant-garde' signifiers. (At least, that's what I'm hoping for...) "Speed of light, speed of sound, stand back, mind the blast! This will be a sublime listening experience for those whose lightbulb is switched on! It's neither experimental nor rock, it's kind of beyond those categories." _____ "It's like a bunch of different coloured fireworks going off at once and I just enjoy the individual bangs and whooshes, then try to decipher patterns from it all later, when the smoke clears." _____ "Dreamshire isn't meant to be an exterior location...it's an inner landscape, located in some mysterious backwater of the mind, surreal and illogical." _____ "A thought struck me as I was listening through this album to prepare the listening notes: If there was to be such a thing as a Bill Nelson 'steampunk' album, The Dreamshire Chronicles might well qualify. There's something antiquated, rustic yet futuristic about this one, a kind of neo-Victorian rock n' roll, steam-powered guitar amps and Tesla-coil keyboards coupled with a symphony orchestra staffed by women in long leather dresses and tall hats. Patinated copper pipe flutes and oboes, drums fashioned from old stoves and railway engine boilers, guitars that resemble a cross between crystal sets and concert harps. Everything lit by candlelight." _____ Bill's Listening Notes for the album: 'Dreamshire Chronicles' Listening Notes FAN THOUGHTS: BenTucker: "May I recommend Bill's latest, The Dreamshire Chronicles , for your listening pleasure (assuming you don't already have it). If you could imagine what Be Bop Deluxe would sound like in the second decade of the 21st century, then this is it. Intoxicating melodies, amazing guitar...the works! And it's a double album. Basically unmissable!" "Much that's instantly addictive, with rich melodic hooks & glorious guitar in abundance. All the songs seems like stand-outs to me." "Spinning Pentagrams"...an incredible song - from a quite amazing 2 CDs of material...It's one of those albums that leaves you speechless. A very heady, potent and mysterious brew. References? For me, Fables and Dreamsongs type no-holds-barred psychedelic romantic adventurousness with alternate-universe dark Victorian JTA atmospheres... Star rating? Completely off the scale, obviously. You really have to buy this one." Prey: "Dreamshire arrived today, and I'm pissed! How can one man be so talented?! I'm beginning to think I got short changed in life... Amazing work Mr Nelson, I was left speechless." Stumpybunker: "This is such a superb work, one that is growing on me daily with each listen. It is amazing that Bill can excel himself with each release so repeatedly (not that I am surprised, or complaining!), to provide us all with such masterpieces. Long may this state of affairs continue! Many thanks Bill." felixt1: "You're getting there Bill, with a bit of practise...who knows? Very much enjoying "Evening Star Electric Park". I love the piano on this also. Seriously, some absolutely awesome guitar playing on this album." "The Dreamshire Chronicles is one of those albums, like Fantasmatron before it - that gets better and better with each listen. Definitely an essential release. Whilst there is always great new music to look forward to from Bill, I must admit I look forward to albums of this type (multi-layered, lush strings, mixture of vocal and instrumental, utilising an uninhibited sonic canvas) perhaps most of all..." aquiresville: "Smoke Drifts Silent in Autumn Air": "Be Bop Deluxe LIVES, Baby! Bill, I absolutely love the singing style that you re-visit for this track, as well as the musical cues (the electric piano track-out notes, at the end of the song, perfect!) A lovely, lovingly sly-aside, wink-and-a-nod slice of music! Wonderful, Bill!" BobK: "Dreamshire Chronicles really is brilliant isn't it?... For an album that is so stylistically diverse it really hangs together well. Just love the way the vocal tracks blend and compliment the instrumentals and vice versa. By the end of each CD it is almost like you have been through a rather wonderful journey. So many highlights it feels a bit unfair to single out individual tracks, (could probably pick almost ANY of them and rave), but one track no-one has mentioned is "Henrietta Through the Looking Glass". Wow. It is damn catchy and melodic throughout with plenty of twists and turns and quirky strangeness throughout. For me this is up there with my all time fave BN albums. A list that does seem to be getting longer each year!" swampboy: "Bubbledreamer": "This is one of my favorite cuts from The Dreamshire Chronicles . As a matter of fact, you could make a stunning mini-album out of just the instrumentals from this set. The whole album sounds like it was recorded in The Palace of Strange Voltages ." Holer: "It is jaw-droppingly good. The songs are just outstanding and it definitely plays like a soundtrack of sorts, conjuring and evoking." Asinbasil: "There is something very deep and profound about this album...Personally, I don't think this is Bill's most immediate album, but it is a highly intriguing and desirable one that will demand many listens from you. I also think that in the not too distant future, some of us will look upon this work as amongst Bill's very finest, maybe even his magnum opus? I love "Spooky Little Thing", but the song "More Than Glory, More Than Gold" is a song right up there with the finest love songs ever written. Thank you for this album Bill, it truly is a thing of beauty and one you should be justifiably proud of." Albums Menu Future Past

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

Acquitted By Mirrors - Issue Fourteen - Published Autumn 1987 Back to Top

Monday 5th June 2006 -- 9:00 am Spent most of today at Fairview studios with John Spence. We mastered my two newest albums in preparation for their manufacture. I'm hoping to release 'Neptune's Galaxy' in July, although this has yet to be confirmed. 'Return To Jazz Of Lights' will be held over until autumn. It's a relief to know that the musical and technical aspects of these two projects are finally complete. All that remains for me to do is work with David Graham on the tidying up of each album's packaging art. John was kind enough to comment on the quality of the recordings as he mastered each album. He's always positive and supportive and understands that, recording alone as I do, encouragement and appreciation of my work is very much needed. Sometimes I feel as if I'm working in a vacuum and that only a small number of people grasp the implications of the music I make. But that's partly a result of ploughing an individual furrow, or because I willfully ignore pressures to either conform to my own past or to someone else's present. Occasionally it's tough but it's absolutely the correct way forward. Ultimately, I have no regrets or qualms about any of the difficulties that this approach throws up. I follow where the muse leads and damn the consequences. Is this why the character of Orpheus has always fascinated me? Or Don Quixote? My trip to Japan soon...very soon. In fact just over a week away. I have to start packing clothes. I'll probably take too much, as usual. (I find it impossible to travel light.) Like Don Quixote, I need my armour. I'm not looking forward to the flight. It's not a direct to Tokyo one as there's a long wait at an airport in Holland for our connection to Narita. I don't enjoy flying at all, hate it actually, so I'm now wondering whether I should have stuck to my original plan of staying at home. But, if I'd done that, I'd have been terribly lonely without Emiko and not taken care of myself properly. I'm hopeless at self-sufficiency, at least in real world terms. In creative terms, I'm the captain of my own ship, but that seaworthiness limits itself to the world of art and music. Elsewhere, I'm a fish out of water. Emiko has become my life support system as well as my wife, lover and friend. So...off to Tokyo I go! Actually, it will be good to see my mother-in-law and my two brother's-in-law. Plus my old friend Nick and his wife Yoko. And there's bound to be a guitar adventure or two. We're staying in a inexpensive business hotel in the Shibuya district of Tokyo. When I say 'inexpensive' I mean inexpensive by Tokyo standards. It's still a largish chunk of cash for Emi and I, even though it will be a room the size of a broom cupboard. At least I know the surrounding area like the back of my hand and will be able to find my way around. Shibuya is quite lively and we'll only need the cupboard for sleeping. We're planning a trip out to Kamakura and the Gretsch guitar company have invited me to visit their factory which is about two hours out of Tokyo by train. (In Nagoya, I think.) When I return, a long list of work projects awaits my attention:The EMI box set's live recordings need mixing. I also have a long list of Nelsonica 06 tasks to work my way through. (The annual conventions get more and more elaborate, partly my own fault for trying to raise the bar each year.) Then I have to seriously get down to business with the film I must make for next Spring's contemporary music festival at Leeds University....such a lot of work needed for that. I made a sort of start last week when I paid a visit to Wakefield Museum to talk about the possibility of accessing their archives for info and still photographs.The film is intended to be a poetic, autobiographical exploration of memory. It's working title is 'Ghosts Etched On Glass.' I've also discovered two film archives, one in London, one in York, that may be able to supply me with some historical footage that I'd like to weave into the film. At a price though, from what I can tell. When I get back from Japan, I have to make an appointment to see the curators of Wakefield Museum and also of the two film archives. Just researching this project will take time, before I even begin to deal with its creative practicalities. Nevertheless, I have an outline vision of how this thing should develop and I'm prepared for it to be a long and ongoing process. It's initial showings will be as 'a work in progress' rather than a completed film. I've been speaking with Dean Campbell about my Transitone signature guitar. I gave him a list of my thoughts after working with the prototype model. The prototype plays extremely well but Dean tells me that the finished model will be even better. He seems to think that he can accomodate the majority of things I've suggested. Looking forward to seeing the finished item! Emi and I went to Whitby yesterday. It took ages to get there as a section of the road over the North Yorkshire Moors had been closed by the police due to an accident that apparently killed a biker. A large, yellow, air-sea rescue helicopter was brought in. It landed, just ahead of us, on the road at the site of the crash. After an extensive wait, the police directed us towards an alternative route, a long way 'round but picturesque. We eventually got to Whitby, only just in time for lunch last orders at 'The White Horse And Griffin.' But I couldn't stop thinking about the biker and how his family's life had been changed in the instant of that accident. After lunch, we walked out on the harbour walls to the very end, where the two small stone, lighthouses stand.The sea and sky blurred into one another, a smear of pastel pink and hazy blue, small white-sailed yachts floating in the early summer sunday luminescence, big blue sky arcing overhead. It was blissfull, transcendant. And I hadn't brought my camera. Then, on our way home, we stopped off at Robin Hood's Bay and marvelled at the view from the top of the hill that leads down to the old village. Again, absolutely sublime, so magnificently beautiful, the cliffs of the far coastline framing the bay, sea stretching out to horizon. I turned to Emi and said, " This is what makes life worth living. A place like this and someone to share it with..." Emi said, "That's the important thing, someone to share it with.." We both treasure the times we can get out into the Yorkshire countryside together. No surprise to us that North Yorkshire has just been voted the most beautiful county in the whole of England. I'm intimately connected to this particular landscape. My heart beats in it. Visited my brother's grave last week with my Mother and Emi. We laid flowers. I need to speak with Diane about our plan to raise a headstone for Ian. I must call her before I leave for Japan. For now, that's all I can write. Tired. I'll try to write another diary entry before my trip to Japan. Oh, still reading Lindsay Anderson's diaries and have four new books to take to Tokyo with me. (Or one if I can make up my mind which one to read first.) They are: 'The Necropolis Railway' by Andrew Martin, (author of 'The Blackpool Highflyer'). 'The Mysterious Flame Of Queen Loana' by Umberto Eco. 'Attention All Shipping' by Charlie Connelly and 'Strange Angel' by George Pendle. But right now, I'm going to sit downstairs with my wife and eat strawberries and ice cream. ***** The images attached to this diary entry are as follows: 1. The latest cover art for 'Return To Jazz Of Lights' (The model is Emiko, photographed in the 1960's.) 2. A view of Robin Hood's Bay. Photo by Bill Nelson. 3. An early Campbell Transitone Bill Nelson signature model sketch Top of page Monday 12th June 2006 -- 12:00 pm Only two and a half days until the start of my trip to Japan and I'm feeling unwell. Last Thursday, I awoke in the middle of the night with an excruciatingly sore throat, really painful.This continued for three days before easing off a little but has been replaced by a flu-like lethargy and clamminess. My chest is a bit tight too, irritated but not a fully blown cough. It feels virus-like but is sort of veiled, fogged over. Maybe my system is trying to fight it off or maybe it hasn't yet fully developed. Whatever it is, it's come at a bad time as I have had so much to prepare before we leave for Tokyo. I've been taking my usual daily multi-vitamins and have supplemented these with echinacea which is reputed to boost one's immune system. I just hope that I can shake this thing off before Thursday. All those hours cooped up in an aeroplane won't help matters at all. I've put a few things in place before we leave. Album artwork for 'Neptune's Galaxy' and 'Return To Jazz Of Lights' has now been fully completed and signed off. I need to speak to Paul (Gilby) before leaving to let him know that 'Neptune' is all ready to go to the pressing plant. 'Jazz' can go a little later, once 'Neptune' has been available for a while. I've also made an image for the central 'logo' of Nelsonica 06. It's a fairly free-handed drawing of a satyr-like creature with ram's horns and goatee. I've framed the original. Not sure if I should keep it for myself or offer it for auction at Nelsonica. Further refinements to my Campbell Transitone signature model guitar and another drawing sent off to Dean. Maybe there will be something solid for me to look at when I get back from Tokyo. I've packed everything, suitcase-wise, now. Just a few final toiletries to cram in on the morning of our departure. I had second thoughts about some of the clothes I'd packed and did a bit of a swop around. A token attempt to cut back on the bulk. I think I've got fractionally less in there now but it still feels damn heavy. Emi's case is smaller. (But then she's a lot smaller than me anyway. Her clothes take up less room, even when the quantity is the same as mine.) Have also packed my carry on bag. I need to charge my camcorder batteries before packing that though. All that boring waiting around at Amsterdam airport will give me plenty of time to wander about the concourse with video and still cameras. See if I can come up with images that could be used in future creative projects. I have two pairs of trousers to collect from the alterations shop this afternoon. Damn! Does this mean I'll have to find space in my case for them? Probably. Have been trying to catch up with emails again but with only partial success. People must think that I don't care to respond but I'm actually full of good intentions to do so. It's just that my life is so full of distractions. One has only to look at my creative output to understand that. Went over to Wakefield to visit my sister-in-law Diane last week. Life has hit her hard again...her mother has just passed away, only six weeks after she lost her husband, (my brother Ian). I couldn't believe it or come up with anything to say that would have been of any solace. I just felt absolutely inadequate. It's mind-numbingly sad. Her mother was buried at the weekend in a plot directly behind Ian's. Diane's mum and he were actually very fond of each other, not at all the cliched comedy relationship of 'mothers-in-law' perpetuated by the likes of Les Dawson. I'd last seen Diane's mum two days after Ian's funeral. I'd gone with my mother to visit Ian's grave and, by coincidence, Diane and her mum and dad had also chosen to visit the cemetary at the same time. Diane's mum was in a wheelchair and she'd shed a tear at Ian's graveside. She spoke warmly of him. My generation has reached an age when the harshness of mortality is brought home to us on a fairly regular basis. Knowing that doesn't make it any easier to accept though. Diane told me that she missed Ian even more at this sad time. He would have been a pillar of strength for her in such a situation. After years of marriage, he understood her emotional responses more than anyone and knew exactly how to steer Diane away from too much despair. Other, less depressing news: Emi and I took my son Elliot out for a meal last week. A local Tapas place. We sat on the roof terrace surrounded by sun-tanned girls in skimpy vests. A bit of a cleavage exhibition. Of course, I'm far too old and decrepit to notice such things, (but Emi sometimes points them out to me... She knows I'm an art lover). Got an email from my daughter Elle in London. She's picking up some work designing websites at the moment. The plan to licence my 'Getting The Holy Ghost Across'/'On A Blue Wing' album from Sony is going ahead. It's ironic that I have to pay them an advance and a royalty share as part of the deal for them to give me permission to re-issue the album on my own label. But that's what happens when you dance with the galloping majors. I just hope that enough people want to buy it to warrant me paying out so much to Sony. Still...it will be the first time its officially beenavailable on CD. I really want to start work on 'Romance Of Sustain' volume two. I have several unreleased guitar compositions that I've been performing live over these last two or three years. They should be put onto an album. I still need to dub the lead guitar parts onto the backing tracks, though, and mix them carefully. It shouldn't be too difficult a process as most of the 'writing' is done and the basic recording too. (Nevertheless, I'd like to write at least a couple of brand new pieces for the project.) I'm thinking of calling this album, 'The Last Of The Gentleman Rocketeers.' (Or perhaps have one of the instrumentals called that.) But...before I can even contemplate starting on the project, I have to mix the ancient Be Bop Deluxe live recordings for EMI RECORD'S forthcoming box set. And begin work on my 'Ghosts Etched On Glass' film. Plenty to do. Now I have to attempt to weigh our suitcases. Emi called from work just now to say that she'd heard that new airline regulations restrict the weight of individual cases, rather than the collective weight of the total. If this is so, there may be a last minute frennzy of re-packing to distribute the tonnage between both our cases. As if the trip to Japan wasn't difficult enough already. I do get so stressed out by travel these days. I'll try to take a notebook to Tokyo to jot down some day to day happenings so that I can write them up in this diary when I return. Hopefully, I'll have some photos to attach too. ***** The images attached to this diary entry are: 1. Bill Nelson's drawing for Nelsonica 06 'Arcadian Salon.' 2. Another of Bill's sketches for his Campbell signature guitar. 3. Another photo of Emiko from the 1960's. Top of page Thursday 29th June 2006 -- 7:00 pm THE TOKYO CAPER: PART ONE. Returned from our trip to Tokyo last night. A long journey and a busy, exhausting time in Japan. Far too frought and intense to be called a holiday, but we were not really expecting it to be anything other. I'm feeling jet-lagged and sleepy but Emiko went to work at the flower shop this morning so she's had a much tougher day than me. I spent the day unpacking suitcases and gifts for friends and family and then headed off to town and later to the supermarket to stock up on food and other essentials. It now feels as if we've not been away at all but while we were in Tokyo it felt like we'd been there for at least a month, so much activity did we cram in to our stay. There's too much to tell in a single diary entry and I'm too tired to tell it all in one attempt anyway, so I'll spread it out via two or three entries over the next few days. I also have several photo's to add to the forthcoming diary entries so will select three images for each. I returned to find dozens of emails and Dreamsville Forum private messages awaiting my attention. And a pile of posted mail in the letterbox. (Various bills, unfortunately.) I will only be able to deal with the most pressing correspondence as there is a long list of work-related projects to catch up with. My list of 'things to do' seems to have doubled since I've been away. The most recent of these is the task of photographing my musical instrument collection for a Japanese magazine called 'Player.' This magazine, one of the largest musician's magazines in Japan, interviewed me whilst I was in Tokyo for a six page feature which will appear in an Autumn issue. They arranged a two hour photo session along with the actual interview. Emi acted as translator. It was the first time I'd been in a proper photographer's studio for several years and I wasn't really looking forward to it, (nor was I 'sartorially prepared'), but, as it turned out, it was reasonably painless. I've attached two rough polaroids from the sessions to this diary entry along with a self-portrait that I snapped whilst visiting Zen Master Dogen's memorial monument in Kamakura. The most difficult part of the Player magazine feature is the photographing of my musical instrument collection. The editor wants me to take individual photos of every guitar, mandolin, banjo, ukelele, keyboard, amplifier etc, etc, that I own. The magazine also wants a list of all the serial numbers of the instruments, (a typically Japanese thing, detail being everything) and also would like photos of my recording room from various angles. The individual items must each be photographed against a plain background, keeping the proportions identical. As there are no plain backgrounds in our house, (due to shelves of books, ceramics, paintings, prints, etc), I'll need to go out and buy a roll of plain coloured cloth to pin and drape from the house's ceiling beams to provide a suitable backdrop to photograph the instruments against. Once the photographs are taken, I have to get them burned to a CD to post to Japan...and they must have them by July 10th if the feature is to meet their Autumn schedule/deadline. It looks as if I'll have to make a start very soon as it will take at least a couple of days to photograph everything, if not longer. On the positive side, it will provide an opportunity for me to catalogue my collection and will also double up as source material for the Dreamsville site's 'Guitar Arcade.' As my computer doesn't have a disc burner, I'll have to enlist the help of a more technically articulate friend to get the pics stored to disc for posting to Japan. I desperately need a more up-to-date Mac but can't afford it at the moment as there are so many other, more pressing, domestic problems around the house. Both Emi's car and mine are in need of repair too and I've just booked them in for servicing, repairs and MOT examinations. They have to go in to the garage next week, one at a time so that we're not without transport. Of course, the Tokyo trip has been mind-numbingly expensive. Despite talk of the Japanese economy being less strong these days, we were horrified by how much things still cost. A small glass of fresh orange juice, an iced-tea and an iced- coffee at the hotel cafe came to just over 15 pounds. A two-hour trip from Tokyo to Nagoya to visit the Terada guitar factory cost us one hundred pounds each. A similar length trip from here to London and back can be had for around thirty pounds each, so we were shocked by the quite dramatic difference. Nevertheless, the Japanese Shinkansen is a superb way to travel and makes our British rail system seem antiquated and slow. The trains in Japan are marvels of engineering, clean, fast, smooth and silent...I was seriously impressed. I was also tremendously impressed by my visit to the Terada guitar factory, a family business begun back in 1915. I was expecting something very high tech and modern but it's a very old-fashioned set up and labour intensive. This factory is number one in Japan for building artchtop guitars. They build for Gretsch, D'Angelico, D'Aquisto, Sadowsky and some other makes. the quality and attention to detail is remarkable. I took some camcorder footage of the craftsmen at work which I'll try to assemble into a little video documentary- souvenir of my Japan trip to show at this year's Nelsonica convention in October, (another addition to the day's events. It's going to be a jam-packed convention this year). Tomorrow I have to hunt for plain fabric for those 'Player' magazine guitar photograph backgrounds so I'll keep this diary entry brief. But much more to follow over the next few days. Stay tuned. ***** The images attached to this diary entry are:- 1. Bill Nelson 'Player' magazine Polaroid number one. 2. Bill Nelson 'Player' magazine Polaroid number two. 3. Bill Nelson 'Self Portrait at Zen Master Dogen's memorial, Kamakura, Japan. All photos taken in Japan during Bill and Emi's visit in June 2006. Top of page Friday 30th June 2006 -- 6:00 pm THE TOKYO CAPER: PART TWO. Perhaps I should start at the beginning of my recent trip to Japan, see if I can recall all the relevant details. It seems to have already become a distant blur but this may partly be due to my jet-lag and low energy level. As noted in my diary entry of 12th June, I wasn't feeling well two days prior to leaving. This was due to a virus I'd picked up and, in fact, I was feeling even worse the night before we were due to leave...(so much so that I seriously considered not going at one point). I couldn't imagine how I could endure the long journey. I'd been dosing myself with all the usual remedies but to little avail. I felt weak and decidely virus-stricken. Nevertheless, I decided to pack as much 'medicine' as I could, 'Night Nurse' tablets, vitamins, sore throat tablets, pain killers, etc, etc...(my carry on bag resembled a mobile pharmacist's shop), and made the effort to get myself half-way around the world to Japan, for Emi's sake, if nothing else. I hardly slept the night before the flight, a combination of anxiety and sickness. Our friends Steve and Julia had generously offered to drive us to the airport but we still needed to be up early to get there two hours ahead of our scheduled take-off time. When we got up at the crack of dawn, I was in grumpy old man mood from lack of sleep. My mood didn't improve when we arrived at the airport to find that the airline had seated Emi and I in totally separate parts of the aeroplane, on both legs of the journey. (We were flying first to Amsterdam's Schipol airport, then transferring to another flight to travel to Tokyo.) On top of this, due to new cabin baggage restrictions, one of our carry-on bags was deemed too heavy so some items had to be taken out. During this messing about, my electric razor fell on to the floor and broke. Time for a beard development fortnight, I thought. Eventually we made it through to the departure lounge and grabbed a light breakfast from the cafe before boarding the plane to Amsterdam. Luckily, we were able to wangle two seats together which cheered me up a little. The trip to Amsterdam was short, around 55 minutes actual flight time, but we then had a long wait in the transit zone of Schipol Airport before boarding our Boeing 777 for the connecting flight to Tokyo. We passed some of the time sitting in one of airport's many cafe bars. I nursed a glass of red wine which, in turn, nursed me. By the time we boarded the aeroplane, I was feeling pleasantly, er...shall we just say 'vague?' Once again, we negotiated to obtain seats sitting next to each other and finally succeeded, 'though it was in a row of three. As it happened, our third party companion spoke nary a word throughout the 12 hour flight. After taking off, I had my cutomary Bloody Mary cocktail, something that I only ever seem to drink whilst on long-haul flights. (It's a habit going back to the days of Be Bop Deluxe touring America in the 1970's.) Anyway, it did the trick and my virus-stricken discomfort was slowly buried under a rapidly increasing alcoholic haze. I looked through the list of movies available on the in-flight entertainment centre, a surprisingly large selection covering several tastes. Of course, each seat has its own integral video screen nowadays and each occupant their own individual selection of films and entertainment, but I can recall when things were somewhat different. On those long-ago Be Bop Deluxe U.S. tours of the mid 1970's there was just one solitary screen at the head of each section of cabin and an equally solitary RGB projector suspended from the cabin's roof. As far as having a choice of films goes, there simply was no choice at all, passengers just watched whatever was selected by the airline. Usually, there was a main feature plus a supporting one. (A bit like the old, early '60's days of British cinema minus the ice-cream lady, the cinema organist and the agonisingly slow attempt to slide your hand beneath your new girlfriend's angora sweater, then under her bra...Oh, what sweet joy when the target of one's lust was reached...) But even those 1970's Be Bop American tour long-haul single screen flights seemed high-tech to us back then. I can recall an incident when Charlie Tumahai, a little 'worse for wear', decided to start up a running commentary on the film being shown. He did this in a loud, pantomime 'aussie' style accent, shouting out perceptive phrases such as 'He's behind ya, yer dim-brained bastard!!' and 'I'd shag the arse off that Sheila, mate!" He was always ready with a sophisticated turn of phrase. When the cabin staff asked him to stop spoiling the film for the other passengers, he sulked for a couple of minutes before coming up with the idea of using his hands to cast shadow puppet images onto the screen.These hand shadows, representing birds, elephants, foxes, etc, interacted amusingly with the various characters in the film, although the other passengers seemed to think otherwise for some reason. Eventually, cabin staff and the rest of Be Bop Deluxe had to pursuade Charlie to cease and desist. It wasn't easy to get him to stop but eventually, with the aid of a trip to the toilet for him to smoke a clandestine 'jazz woodbine', he'd settle down and eventually drift off to sleep for the remainder of the trip. A right card was our Charlie...I still miss him. Back to the 21st century and our KLM flight to Tokyo: I decided to watch the recent re-make of King Kong which was listed on the in-flight movie menu. I hadn't gone to the cinema to see it when it was released, (last year?) as I'd always been fond of the black and white original with Fay Wray and didn't feel that a new version would add anything to that. However, after watching the first 15 minutes or so, I was sufficently impressed to decide to rent it out on video when I returned to the U.K. and view it on a larger screen, rather than watch it on the tiny one built into the seat on the aeroplane. So I stopped the playback of 'King Kong' and selected 'Wallace And Gromit And The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit' instead. Well, in the absence of 'Meshes Of The Afternoon' or 'The Testament Of Orpheus', what did you expect? After an amusing chuckle at the wayward adventures of the much celebrated animated plasticine man and his dog, I settled down to read 'The Necroplis Railway' by Andrew Martin which turned out to be not too bad at all. (Now there's a riveting, perceptive review-cum-advertising quote for you:- "Not too bad at all"... Bill Nelson, KLM Airlines.) The author skillfully evokes a vivid picture of the sooty, grim, steam-driven London of the early 20th Century. The fact that the central character hails from Robin Hood's Bay, just outside Whitby, is an extra bonus for me. At this point in time, I'm just over half-way through the book, having found little time to read whilst in Tokyo, but I've been gently entertained by the story so far. Perhaps Mr. Martin and myself have some interests in common. The flight to Japan seemed endless. I slept fitfully, sporadically. Actually, it wasn't sleeping at all, just a semi-unconcious state, the Boeing's engines droning like a million bees in a metal hive, a constantly humming background to the half-stupor I found myself in. The in-flight meals were slight and inconsequential but the little bottles of wine that came with them found whatever edge I had left and hammered, then smoothed it into a rusty bluntness. After what felt like an eternity, we landed at Tokyo's Narita Airport. Emiko, because she is still a Japanese passport holder, was able to go through passport control/immigration like a knife through butter. Myself, being a foreigner, (or 'Gaijin'), went through it like a feather through stone. I joined the back of a long, long line of non-Japanese and awaited my turn to be given entry to the country. After such a long flight, this long wait proved difficult. I felt dizzy and exhausted but eventually I reached the head of the line and presented my passport to the immigration officer. After a few moments of checking on his computer screen to make sure that I wasn't on any list of known terrorists, football hooligans, drug smugglers or people who cross the road whilst the little walking-man signal is still on red, I was waved through to the baggage reclaim area where Emi was waiting patiently for me. But our journey was not yet over. We now had to haul our luggage onto the Airport Limousine. This vehicle is actually not nearly as glamourous as it sounds. The 'limousine' is nothing more than a plain old bus that ferries passengers from Narita airport into Tokyo. We bought our tickets and climbed on board and found two seats at the back, settling down for the two-hour drive into Tokyo itself. Not exactly Tokyo airport at all, really, as Tokyo is a two-hour ride away. But that's Japan. I dozed as the bus swept along the motorway but woke as we hit the first traffic snarl-ups that signalled that we were entering the city at last. We finally, gratefully, got off at the Hotel Excel, (one of the buses several scheduled stops) and wearily hauled our luggage to a taxi to drive to another, much less expensive 'business hotel' that we'd pre-booked from England.The taxi driver, much to my annoyance, stood by and watched me struggle to load our heavy and bulky cases into the boot and the back seat of his cab. Not once did he offer to help me. I was, by this time, beyond verbal complaint and felt like a mere robot switched to automatic...A suitably appropriate condition for Tokyo life. Our cheap business hotel was in Shibuya, up a little hill on a small side road, not too far from Shibuya station. The hotel was due to close down, three days after our check-in, but for now, it was to be our home. The room was tiny, the bathroom even more so, almost microscopic but we were too exhausted to care and simply unlocked our cases, took a bath and wandered out into the neon Shibuya night. It was as if I'd never been away from the place. Tokyo is a kind of glittering hell, a consumer orgy lit by advertising signs, giant video screens and scored by dozens of discordant broadcasts from loudspeakers situated on every building.The message is simple, "Buy me! Buy Me! Buy Me!" It is, as so many first-time vistors say, 'just like Blade Runner'...but the more often you visit, this romantic, futurist impression is diluted and then replaced by something far more mundane. In fact, Tokyo is neither 'Blade Runner' nor 'Lost In Translation' but instead is a city of millions of lives banged up together in a desperate fight for either survival or aquisition. In many ways, it embodies everything that has gone awry with human society, even though, as the tour salesmen say, there is much less crime than in the West. But in Tokyo, to one degree or another, nothing is as it seems and almost everything is fake, simulated or appropriated from somewhere else. I've known this from the beginning of course but, with each subsequent visit, it becomes more and more apparent, less interesting, less humourously ironic, less 'post-modern'. Eventually, it simply becomes something to be endured. A candy-coloured purgatory that can only be safely navigated by a wallet full of cash and a credit card willingly sacrificed to the max. Outside of Tokyo though, Japan has its compensations, its unique solaces. Emi and I spent a day with two of her Tokyo friends visiting Kamakura, a not too long train ride out of Tokyo, near the coast. Kamakura has become a kind of spiritual theme park. It has what seems like an endless collection of old temples which one can visit. A tourist thing, not just for westerners but for the Japanese too. We crammed several of these into one day and it became something of a blur. I can't recall the various names of them, 'though I paid attention to each one that we visited. Each temple seemed to involve the climbing of a hill. In the June heat and high humidity, this was even more strenuous than normal for me. But there were one or two brief moments of grace and beauty. And some very good, locally brewed Kamakura beer. No wonder those Zen monks were looking so blissed out. At one point on our tour of the temples, I got Emi to take a snapshot of me standing in one of the Zendo rooms, where the monks would sit in meditation. I wanted to climb up onto the sitting area mats and pose in Buddha fashion but Emi said I'd better not. Perhaps I would have profaned the space with my lazy Buddha posture... But this opportunity to behave like tourists was an anomaly as the rest of our time in Japan was taken up with a punishing schedule involving meetings with Emi's relatives and friends, plus the Player Magazine interview and photo session and my visit to the Terada guitar factory in Nagoya. (Actually, this last was the highlight of the entire trip for me.) Now I'm tired again so I'll continue with the story in a day or two's time. Meanwhile, don't touch that dial. ***** The photographs attached to this diary entry are as follows:- 1. A Kamakura Temple. 2. Kamakura Beer. 3. Bill Nelson in a Kamakura Zendo. Top of page William's Study (Diary Of A Hyperdreamer) June 2006 Jan Apr May Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2013

Orpheus In Ultraland Bill Nelson album - 22 October 2005 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) The Man Who Haunted Himself 02) Duraflame 03) Suburban Mermaid One Twenty Three 04) Dreams Run Wild On Ghost Train Tracks 05) Tin Sings Bones 06) Tantramatic 07) Every Tiny Atom 08) And Now The Rain 09) Super Noodle Number One 10) Moments Catch Fire On The Crests Of Waves (Alternative Mix) 11) Big Broken Buick 12) The Whirlpool Into Which Everything Must Whirl ALBUM NOTES: Orpheus in Ultraland is an album of mainly vocal pieces issued exclusively for Nelsonica '05 in the then customary limited pressing of 500 copies, on the newly created Discs of Ancient Odeon label. Due to problems with delivery of the artwork, Nelsonica 05 attendees were issued copies of the album in a plain jewel case with the artwork distributed by post on 23 November. The past practice of offering second copies for sale was ceased for this event, which meant that the remaining 250 copies or so were available (with complete artwork) on the merchandise desk on Nelson's UK tour, which commenced on 6 November. After the tour, the small number of copies that remained were sold through SOS, although within a day or so these were snapped up. On November 28 an announcement was made on the Dreamsville Forum that the album had completely sold out. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . IF YOU LIKED THIS ALBUM, YOU'LL PROBABLY ENJOY: Satellite Songs , Fancy Planets , Joy Through Amplification , Modern Moods For Mighty Atoms , Electric Atlas , Fantastic Guitars , Special Metal , Captain Future's Psychotronic Circus , Golden Melodies of Tomorrow , Blip 2 BILL'S THOUGHTS: "Amongst the album's 12 tracks are some personal favourites of mine such as "Suburban Mermaid One Twenty Three", "Tin Sings Bones", (which has featured in my live concerts in recent years), "Tantramatic", "And Now the Rain". Plus an alternative mix of "Moments Catch Fire on the Crests of Waves". It's an accessible album which will appeal both to guitar fans and those who enjoy my vocals/songwriting." _____ "[The title] "Duraflame" comes from a cigarette lighter that my Dad had, back in the '50s, a 'Ronson Duraflame'. A nice design, chrome modernist/deco style. Very cool. I actually have one that I picked up from somewhere many years ago...it sits on a shelf in my little study, next to Dad's old Bolex clockwork cine camera, his (now vintage) Automobile Association enamel badge, his RAF official issue shoe brushes, and the Westminster Electric Door Chimes that sat inside the front door of 28, Conistone Cresecent, Eastmoor Estate when I was a wide-eyed, dreaming boy." _____ "Tin Sings Bones": "is about mortality and identity. 'Tin Sings Bones' refers to the human machine, the fact that we're almost like tin toy robots who dream of being human. The verses with their 'Maybe I'm a fly upon your wall, maybe you're the pride before my fall' lines, (and the rest), refer to a personal uncertainty about myself and things in general. My mid-life crisis hasn't ended, 'though I should be well past that point by now as I'm only three years away from my 60th birthday! But even at my supposedly settled and mature age, things can happen that test one's understanding of whom one is, and where one is in life. I'm as mixed up as I was as a teenager and very little wiser, I'm afraid. The song, whilst chirpy and poppy enough, is actually all about the fear of growing older and loss of certainty." _____ "The extended 'intros' and 'outros,' (or preludes and codas), are somehow, for various reasons unknown to me, set deep into my creative psyche. Hard to escape. The intros are a warm red carpet laid down a narrow corridor into the compositional heart of each piece. The codas are a reflection of possible alternatives, different resolutions, echoes of other potentials, the sound of a lingering kiss." FAN THOUGHTS: thunk: "What you would deem 'classic' Bill Nelson - appealing to the 'core' of fans, who love to hear Bill 'rock it' with fancy fretwork et al...it bursts at the seams with hooks & catches." "The work of the mature artist telling it like it is - young pretenders take a bow if you please!" Face in the Rain: "Provides an excellent link between Be Bop and where Bill is now. Most listeners manage to make the jump (it's all connected - it's all Bill, after all) but OIU is a great bridge if you feel you may need one." Pathdude: "Defiinitely one of the best Nelsonica discs. Every song is top notch with some mind-blowing guitar thrown on there." next move: "It is a very emotive piece of playing, when I first heard it I welled up!!" "Thank you so much for all your hard work, emotional input and creativity on this beautiful recording." jetboy: "Dreamyblisteringjazzrockblues with romanticeccentricenigmaticnosaltigic powerpoptecho undercurrents. A must for every admirer of Bill's work...believe me." John Izzard: "Cohesive collection of pieces - flows well despite the breadth of styles and the nature of its compilation. Lyrically very strong. Unsurprising attention to detail. Numerous musical points of reference, including nods at Bill's own past from Be-Bop Deluxe to Rosewood . It exudes passion - Bill is clearly loving what he is doing and continues to push the envelope...My wife likes it. Far more than a 'convention CD'. Or for a 'one word review'...enigmatic." Merikan1: "Orpheus is one of the best BN CDs - period. It is my personal favorite and a must have." "The Man Who Haunted Himself" - One of my all time favourite BN tracks. Killer. That opening just screams out of the stereo." dbodom: "Is it possible that "The Man Who Haunted Himself" from Orpheus in Ultraland has some of the most beautiful guitar work Bill has ever done? At the :35 mark, and again at 2:53, the guitar work is so overwhelmingly emotional that it brings tears to your eyes. I've always felt great emotion streaming out of his music over the years, and that's what makes Bill's music special to me. You only get better with age William. "And for anyone needing a reminder that Bill is one of the best guitarists in music today, just listen to "Tantramatic" or, if you just can't get enough of Bill's guitar work, listen to an old school number like "Super Noodle Number One". It will provide you with your guitar fix for the day." Wasp In Aspic: "This album is a must have for all Nelsonians...When "And Now the Rain" comes on I just have to stop what I'm doing and marvel at its poignancy and brilliance." BobK: "I think "Duraflame" has one of the most thrilling solos BN has ever played, namely the final one. Melody, beauty, technique, wow...I am drooling. BN has a unique ability to make the guitar sing." alec: "Tin Sings Bones": "This has entered my head and will never leave. It seems to be playing constantly. Hooks galore." "Moments Catch Fire on the Crests of Waves": "One of my favourite songs of yours, beyond a shadow of a doubt." neill_burgess: "Tin Sings Bones": "the standout song of Nelsonica 05 and the standout track on the CD. Voice and instruments combine in meaty & memorable riff. "The Whirlpool Into Which Everything Must Whirl" - An epic song, and not just because it lasts 8 and a half minutes and has tubular bells! The complexity and scope of this number would overwhelm most songwriters, but Bill pulls if off effortlessly. An instant classic for all Nelsonians. To Bill, thanks for a great Nelsonica , for this wonderful music, for constant surprises and for the oxygen of inspiration." eddie: "Get it downloaded, you are in for an absolute treat. Possibly the best Nelsonica album out there." Albums Menu Future Past

Hard Facts From The Fiction Department Bill Nelson ep - May 1984 Singles Menu Future Past TRACKS: A1) Hard Facts From The Fiction Department A2) Daily Bells B1) Rhythm Unit B2) Junc-Sculpture ORIGINALLY: All four songs were initially non-album tracks. NOTES: Hard Facts From the Fiction Department is a 4 track EP of instrumentals issued on the Cocteau Records label. This was the fifth in the series of Cocteau Club EPs issued to fan club members, included in Issue #9 of the club magazine, Acquitted By Mirrors . All four tracks had been recorded at The Echo Observatory. PAST RELEASES: A1) was later included on the 7" and 12" releases of the Acceleration single (see separate entry), and The Two Fold Aspect of Everything comp (out of print). A2) was later included on the US 2CD version of The Two Fold Aspect of Everything comp (Enigma, 1989), which is also out of print. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: All tracks are available on the retrospective compilation album Transcorder (The Acquitted By Mirrors Recordings) . BILL'S THOUGHTS: From the Acquitted by Mirrors fan magazine: "With this magazine you will find included the first of the club EPs. "Hard Facts from the Fiction Department" was recorded in the autumn of 1983 for the BBC as part of a programme about the Orwellian 1984. The remaining three pieces come from the instrumental archives of the Echo Observatory." Singles Menu Future Past

A Flock of Seagulls album - 1982 A Flock of Seagulls Production/Contribution Menu Future Past BILL: Producer on re-recorded version of "(It's Not Me) Talking". Production/Contribution Menu Future Past

Quit Dreaming And Get On The Beam Bill Nelson album - 8 May 1981 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this box set TRACKS: 01) Banal 02) Living In My Limousine 03) Vertical Games 04) Disposable 05) False Alarms 06) Decline And Fall 07) Life Runs Out Like Sand 08) A Kind Of Loving 09) Do You Dream In Colour? 10) U.H.F. 11) Youth Of Nation On Fire 12) Quit Dreaming And Get On The Beam ALBUM NOTES: Quit Dreaming and Get on the Beam is a vocal album recorded between February and June 1979 at RAK studios, Rockfield, and on a mobile recording unit in Yorkshire. The album finally emerged nearly 2 years later on the back of a new 3 album deal that Nelson had signed with Mercury. The album sold well enough to achieve a top 10 placing on the UK album chart, entering the chart at No.7, a career peak for Nelson. Issued on vinyl and cassette, limited editions (10,000 of each) contained a bonus instrumental album Sounding the Ritual Echo , a collection of home instrumental recordings quite unlike anything Nelson had previously released - but a clear pointer towards future work. The original album featured an inner sleeve with lyrics and credits. The limited edition on vinyl was in a slightly deeper single sleeve to comfortably house the bonus album. The limited cassette had the bonus album on the reverse side of single long play tape. Following the deluxe box sets of the Be Bop Deluxe and Red Noise albums, Esoteric Recordings and Cherry Red Records obtained the license to give Quit Dreaming And Get On The Beam the deluxe box set treatment. With a release date of 16th May 2025, following several delays from its original planned release, the 3-CD & 1-Blu-Ray Deluxe Edition comprised of: a freshly remastered version of the original album. a 2024 remix of the full album. a previously unreleased radio session from March 1981. a BBC John Peel session from June 1981. the rare promotional film of ‘Do You Dream in Colour?' the original album presented in a 5.1 mix. remixes of singles and b-sides from the time of the original album. Includes a lavishly illustrated book with many previously unseen photographs & new essay, plus postcards and a replica poster. The full track listing for the Deluxe Edition is: Disc One Remastered Original Stereo Mix 01) Banal 02) Living In My Limousine 03) Vertical Games 04) Disposable 05) False Alarms 06) Decline And Fall 07) White Sound 08) Life Runs Out Like Sand 09) A Kind Of Loving 10) Do You Dream In Colour? 11) U.H.F. 12) Youth Of Nation On Fire 13) Quit Dreaming And Get On The Beam Disc Two Singles & Radio Sessions 1980 - 1981 01) Ideal Homes (Original Single Mix) 02) Instantly Yours (Original Single Mix) 03) Atom Man Loves Radium Girl 04) Dada Guitare 05) Banal (Extended Mix) 06) Turn To Fiction 07) Hers Is A Lush Situation 08) Mr. Magnetism Himself 09) Youth Of Nation On Fire (Extended Mix) 10) Be My Dynamo 11) Rooms With Brittle Views 12) All My Wives Were Iron 13) Living In My Limousine (Remix) 14) Birds Of Tin 15) Love In The Abstract 16) Konny Buys A Kodak (Radio Session 1981) 17) After Life (Radio Session 1981) 18) Boom Year Ahead (Radio Session 1981) 19) Art Of Vision (Radio Session 1981) 20) Rooms With Brittle Views (Radio Session 1981) 21) Stay Young (Radio Session 1981) 22) Sleep Cycle (Radio Session 1981) 23) Jazz (Radio Session 1981 Disc Three New Stereo Mixes By Stephen W Tayler 01) Banal 02) Living In My Limousine 03) Vertical Games 04) Disposable 05) False Alarms 06) Decline And Fall 07) White Sound 08) Life Runs Out Like Sand 09) A Kind Of Loving 10) Do You Dream In Colour? 11) U.H.F. 12) Youth Of Nation On Fire 13) Quit Dreaming And Get On The Beam Bonus Tracks 14) The World And His Wife 15) Dancing Music Disc Four High Resolution 5.1 Surround Sound Mixes By Stephen W Tayler - Blu-R ay 01) Banal 02) Living In My Limousine 03) Vertical Games 04) Disposable 05) False Alarms 06) Decline And Fall 07) White Sound 08) Life Runs Out Like Sand 09) A Kind Of Loving 10) Do You Dream In Colour? 11) U.H.F. 12) Youth Of Nation On Fire 13) Quit Dreaming And Get On The Beam Bonus Tracks 14) The World And His Wife 15) Dancing Music 16) Do You Dream In Colour? (Promotional Video) PAST RELEASES: Quit Dreaming was originally issued on CD by Cocteau (1986), on which the b-side "White Sound" was added as a bonus cut, and the remix of "Living In My Limousine" replaced the standard album version. When issued on CD in the U.S. in 1989, fans were presented with an altered version of the album. Fan favourite album track "A Kind Of Loving" and album single "Do You Dream In Colour?" were deleted from the original running order, while three songs from period singles were added. This was done in an effort to make sure the track listing on this independent (Enigma) CD reissue did not overlap with the CD of the major label (CBS) U.S. compilation album, Vistamix . 1989 U.S. CD of Quit Dreaming and Get on the Beam: 01) Banal 02) Living In My Limousine 03) Vertical Games 04) Disposable 05) False Alarms 06) Decline And Fall 07) White Sound (B-Side from the Living In My Limousine 12" single) 08) Life Runs Out Like Sand 09) Indiscretion (B-Side from a 1983 club EP, Dancing On A Knife's Edge) 10) The World And His Wife (From a 1983 club EP of the same name) 11) U.H.F. 12) Youth Of Nation On Fire 13) Quit Dreaming And Get On The Beam In 2005 Mercury reissued Quit Dreaming as a remastered CD, producing the definitive edition of the album. The package is well presented with sleeve notes and photographs, and contains the original version of the album as released in 1981, together with seven bonus tracks taken from current singles. Note that all of the bonus tracks on the Mercury reissue, except for "Birds Of Tin", had previously appeared on the Cocteau compilation The Two Fold Aspect of Everything . Extra songs on the 2005 CD: 14) Mr. Magnetism Himself (Banal B-side) 15) Living In My Limousine (12" remix) 16) Birds Of Tin (Living In My Limousine B-side) 17) Love In The Abstract (Living In My Limousine B-side) 18) Be My Dynamo (Youth Of Nation On Fire B-side) 19) Rooms With Brittle Views (non-album single, then Youth Of Nation On Fire double single B-side) 20) All My Wives Were Iron (Youth Of Nation On Fire double single B-side) CURRENT AVAILABILITY: The deluxe box set is available to purchase via the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "I was still with EMI Records when Quit Dreaming and Get on the Beam was recorded. It was always intended that the album would be released under the Red Noise banner." ____ "The idea behind Red Noise was that it would be a flexible, ever changing unit, adapted to whatever ideas I came up with. It wasn't intended to be a permanent fixed band but a kind of cover-all concept for all manner of adventures. Unfortunately, the first Red Noise album proved too much of a leap for our American record company and, (for slightly different reasons), for EMI in the UK too. So, the second Red Noise album ended up being shelved until, quite some time after it was recorded, it was picked up by Phonogram/Mercury. This was, of course, the Quit Dreaming album...but, by the time it did eventually emerge, I'd become bored/disenchanted with the Red Noise idea and decided instead put it out under my own name." ____ "During the sessions for Quit Dreaming major changes took place at EMI Records and the label dramatically cut back on their roster of artists. The major labels were all nervous about releasing music that didn't sound immediately commercial and so I set up Cocteau partly out of necessity and partly out of an idealistic desire to release music that I wanted to hear. I got so swamped with demos that I soon realised that I only had time for Cocteau to mainly cater for my own music. "I used Cocteau to release one of the tracks from the unreleased Red Noise album, "Do You Dream in Colour?" as a single under my own name. Then, Dave Bates who was head of A&R at Phonogram Records heard the album and then decided to release it on the Mercury label. David came into the studio in which I was working and asked me what I was doing. I explained that I had recorded a second album for EMI which hadn't come out. David asked me for a tape which I got to him quickly and then he negotiated a deal with EMI to take the album off their hands." _____ "The Quit Dreaming and Get on the Beam album was recorded using the [Stones mobile] truck...but, this time, no band was involved. It was just John Leckie and myself in the Yorkshire village of West Haddlesey where I lived at that time. We hired the village hall, (which was then a wooden hut-like structure), and parked the Stones mobile outside for several weeks. My equipment was set up in the village hall and cables for microphones were run from the truck into the hall. "Once a week, we had to push my guitars, amps, synth and drum kit to the back of the hall to make room for the village ladies keep fit class. "I remember John and I walking, under a starry twilight, from the village hall, down the narrow tree-lined lane back to my home, (Haddlesey House), to have dinner. John stayed with us at Haddlesey House throughout the recording. Sometimes we'd return to the village hall after dinner to overdub something or other, or maybe we'd just go for a pint in a local pub. Very happy days indeed." _____ On "Decline and Fall": "The guitar solo on the song is an artificially created thing. I recorded the solo on a standard two track stereo tape machine running alongside the main multi-track. Then a razor blade was taken to the taped solo on the two-track machine, cutting the tape into random lengths, some only an inch or two in length. All the pieces of cut tape were then unceremoniously jumbled up. Once this was achieved, the pieces of tape were picked up at random and stuck back together with splicing tape. This random method of assembly meant that some pieces of tape were running forward, (in the correct direction), other pieces were accidentally reversed...and NONE of the bits of tape were re-assembled in their proper order or sequence. "Doing this meant that a phrase that originally began at the start of the solo might now appear in the middle or at the end...and in fragmented fashion. Every phrase was now chopped up and re-assembled in a completely random way. This 'Frankenstein's Monster' tape, with dozens of spliced segments, was then 'spun-in' to the main multitrack tape at the appropriate point where the solo was to occur. The result is a totally bizarre, scrambled, 'non-linear' guitar solo that would be impossible to play live. It is, quite literally, all over the place." ALBUM REVIEW: Review by Graham Reid FAN THOUGHTS: Holer: "Certain albums not only hold up, but get better with age, and Quit Dreaming is definitely one of those. It was way ahead of its time and still enchants and invigorates me every time I listen to it. "It's still my favourite BN record and one of my top favourite albums of all time. 30 years from now, if I'm still alive, I will be grooving to it at the old folks home." "Deconstruction may not be the proper term for it, but it seems appropriate. One can almost draw a direct line from Drastic Plastic through Red Noise and into Quit Dreaming which is Bill's ultimate deconstructionist pop masterpiece. It seems as if, once he had completely taken himself apart, only then could he put himself back together in a completely different form. And indeed, from Love That Whirls onward, his music sounded very different. "It's fun listening to artists who dare to go through phases of artistic development rather than just pooping out another elpee's worth of tunes." Radium Girl: "This was one of those albums that upon first hearing it I was instantly transfixed and played it over and over and over. My original vinyl copy has several of the songs worn down past audible. This whole album is absolutely imbued with magic for me and I still listen to parts of it every week." sauropod: "This may be my very favorite BN album. In my not so humble opinion, it's *still* ahead of its time. "Banal" has one of the tightest, most musical lead guitar parts I have ever heard." Waspy: "Like many others, Quit Dreaming and "Do You Dream In Colour?" were my doorway into the fabulous world of Bill Nelson. I think the album was already a couple of years old when I first heard it, but it sounded newer than tomorrow...I was blown away. It was just so impossibly cool. Suave & stylish, manically optimistic while at the same time rather disturbing in a sort of comical way, it abounded in layers and layers of effortless, sparkling creativity. Of course I was hooked, and worked my way both forwards and backwards in time, picking up anything of Bill's that I could find. For a while, my post-punk musical prejudices were a barrier to enjoyment of BBD, but after a while it all clicked." Ed: "I played Quit Dreaming to death, and eventually knew every crackle and pop on the coveted piece of vinyl. At the time it seemed to me like a perfectly normal 'pop' record, but as time has gone on I've come to see it as quite a strange album, still pop, but in a rather abstract way. Some cracking tunes on there (always particularly loved the sneering, contemptuous "Banal", and the Stan Barstow homage, "A Kind of Loving"), but interspersed with some more esoteric stuff (eg, "Vertical Games"). I still find it quite amazing what a dramatic musical journey Bill made to get from Modern Music to Quit Dreaming - hard to believe in some ways that it was the same artist at work - I'm sure Bill would tell us that it wasn't..." alec: "Bill goes all out with the vocals on this album, all the emotions are hit and hit hard. They're all over the shop. Zany at times, wild and moody, and yet they sit so well in the mix and never overwhelm. "Disposable" is a great example. Love the vocals on this album, Bill!" MondoJohnny: To Bill: "I mean you listen to [Quit Dreaming ] and you were a wild man! You were like some kind of synth berserker impervious to musical harm." Martin Bostock: "Quit Dreaming was my first exposure to Bill's Music. I was around 13 and used to borrow records from the library in Blackpool (it was 50p to 'hire' them for three weeks). It was a great way to discover new music, and my choices used to lean towards the LPs with interesting or quirky cover artwork. I remember Quit Dreaming' s sleeve leaping out at me from the racks! I loved Bill's photography, it had a kind of surreal 'film noir' quality. Then, as an added bonus, the music revealed a whole new world to my young, adolescent ears - I was hooked! The cherry on the cake was hearing the 'bonus' album of strange instrumental music that was universally at odds to the pop sensibilities that dominated the music industry at the time. It was these I would often listen to in my first makeshift darkroom (a piece of black plastic over my bedroom window) and am sure that the sounds had a direct influence on the prints that would manifest under the dim red glow of the safety lamps. Good times indeed!" thunk: "Quit Dreaming and Get on the Beam remains a classic of its time, brimming with energy and invention." Albums Menu Future Past