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

Optimism album - September 1988 Orchestra Arcana Albums Menu Future Past Currently unavailable TRACKS: 01) Exactly The Way You Want It 02) Why Be Lonely 03) Everyday Is A Better Day 04) The Receiver And The Fountain Pen 05) Welcome Home, Mr. Kane 06) This Is True 07) Greeting A New Day 08) The Breath In My Father's Saxophone 09) Our Lady Of Apparitions 10) The Whole City Between Us 11) Deva Dance 12) Always Looking Forward To Tomorrow 13) World Thru' Fast Car Window 14) Profiles, Hearts, Stars 15) Daughter Of Dream Come True 16) Alchemia extra tracks: 17) Um, Ah Good Evening 18) Kut Up In Cartoonsville 19) Short Wave ALBUM NOTES: Orchestra Arcana is a pseudonym Bill Nelson initially devised to overcome contractual issues with CBS/Portrait, that, by the time of this second release, no longer applied. So although Optimism was credited to Orchestra Arcana in the UK, it was credited to Bill Nelson's Orchestra Arcana in the US. Optimism was available on vinyl, cassette and, for the first time in Nelson's career, simultaneously released on the UK CD edition contained 3 bonus tracks that were not replicated on the US release on Enigma the following year. US vinyl copies (on Enigma) came with a sticker that read "Vocals Discovered and Music Constructed by the Brain and Fingers Behind Be-Bop Deluxe". PAST RELEASES: Both the Iconography and Optimism albums were collected together with all their extra tracks and released on CD as The Hermetic Jukebox in 2003 (out of print). CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Currently out of print and a potential future Bandcamp digital download reissue. BILL'S THOUGHTS: "Whilst these recordings are "lo-fi" in nature, I have always been fond of them. These recordings serve as a reminder that expensive technology isn't always the key to creativity." _____ "It takes quite a while to get [the voice samples] to sit within the metre of the music. That's why they are sometimes 'slowed down' so that they fit the feel of the song's tempo. Its not simply a matter of just sampling them and then spraying them randomly all over the track. A lot of time is spent choosing their exact placement and fine-tuning their 'groove.' There are lots of carefully considered details in these instrumental pieces, not just the voice samples, but all the little background ornamentations, the subtle textures of individual sounds, the echoes, reverbs, modulations, eq, filtering, etc, etc...every component has its own reason for existing, its own aesthetic requirement. I spend a lot of time thinking about these tiny sub-structures. My goal is to produce worlds within worlds, spheres of sound and different but complimentary ideas spinning inside each other, gyroscopic fields of sound and meaning. The surface appears as one complete shiny thing, but the hidden interior is a galaxy of dark stars whirling around each other, waiting for the listener's telescope." FAN THOUGHTS: wadcorp: "Really like the samples used in the Iconography & Optimism discs. They are also some of my most-played Bill Nelson tracks." stormboy: "I also think Bill was the best sampler of the 80s. Orchestra Arcana, Map of Dreams , etc. all had fantastically, magically manipulated samples played as though another instrument, whilst the rest of the world nicked beats and bass-lines." paul.smith: "Um Ah Good Evening" (love it - always have) always tests friends of mine who claim to have broad musical tastes, resulting in comments such as 'what the fuck is this!?'...heh,heh,heh." Numbat: "The Receiver and the Fountain Pen": "I love that track. I always wonder where Bill found that voice sample. My guess is it's from some old instructional tape for aspiring secretaries. And yet it's so mysterious and alluring." Peter: "I hadn't listened to Optimism in a long time, and gave it a spin the other day, and quite enjoyed it. I was struck by how fresh so much of it sounds to me even now. One can hear foreshadowing of the Demonstration of Affections period, and even After the Satellite Sings , in some places. This album combines ambient with songs you can dance to (and I did dance to them, as several tracks from the album were featured on party tapes I made "back in the day"), loads of Bill's trademark voice samples, interesting rhythms and a lot of very nice compositions." Dar: " Optimism has that other mellow gem from the same era, "The Receiver and the Fountain Pen". I've got my early dreamy Nelson mix minidisc on now...you're all getting fuzzy...this stuff is so good it makes me feel all liquified and colorized inside...goodbye..." Albums Menu Future Past

Gagalactyca collection - 1990 Lightyears Away/Thundermother Production/Contribution Menu Future Past BILL: Guitar on the tracks listed under "Chris Coombs & Lightyears Away" (side A). Production/Contribution Menu Future Past

Silent Night Free Christmas download single Click image for cover Artwork Special FREE Christmas download single - Released December 2012. SILENT NIGHT Currently unavailable on any album Bill's instrumental version of the traditional Christmas carol. Watch the accompanying video in the Essoldo Cinema Performed, recorded and produced by Bill Nelson. All rights Bill Nelson 2012.

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2013 William's Study (Diary Of A Hyperdreamer) January 2009 Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Saturday 3rd January 2009 -- 6:00 pm For the last seven days, I've not been out of the house. And for the first five of those, I haven't been out of pyjamas or dressing gown...and for the first three of those, not even out of bed. Yes, I'm laid low with a nasty 'flu bug again, the third I've succumbed to since the completion of Nelsonica 08. I feel as weak as a kitten. Each time I've caught a different type of virus. The first one, in late November, early December, seemed to be focussed on the chest area more than anywhere else. It was pretty rough but the worst of it vanished after a couple of weeks, leaving me feeling drained. Not long after, Emiko suffered an inner ear viral infection which caused her to lose her sense of balance. She found it impossible to stand up or walk for a couple of days and couldn't go to work. A visit to the doctor and some prescribed medicine helped her to recover over a period of a week and she was back on her feet sooner than expected. I then, (typically), developed similar symptoms...dizziness, moments of panic whilst out and about. These subsided after a few days but I suspect it was exactly the same viral problem as Emi's, though not quite as acute. All this illness put us way behind with our seasonal preparations. The last couple of weeks before Christmas became a frenzy of dashing around, trying to find gifts for family and friends and then the last minute posting of cards. Far too stressful... Also, Emi had managed to secure a temporary and much needed job at a gift shop in town, so she wasn't available to help with Christmas duties, therefore it all fell to me, though that has been the situation for the last few years, even before she was made redundant from the flower shop. As readers of this diary already know, my childhood Christmases were magical, traditional affairs, (as they were for most children of my generation). I've faithfully attempted to preserve that vintage Christmas spirit for my own family, but I have to admit it becomes harder to maintain as time goes by. Perhaps I'm getting too old, or too cynical. This year, our own decorations didn't go up until a few days before Christmas and I didn't find time to display any of the cards we'd been sent until Christmas Eve. That was when I finally dragged the stepladder from the cobwebs of the utility room and pinned the Christmas cards to the wooden beams of our living room ceiling. This has been the first Christmas since my stepfather's death, last January, so I was naturally concerned about my mother being left alone. It's been a tough year for her, one way or another. Emiko and I had been invited by our friends, Julia and Steve, for Christmas dinner over at their house. It's become something of a tradition as we've (very splendidly), dined there just about every Christmas Day since we've lived in the area. I'd explained to Steve and Julia that I felt I should look after my mother this Christmas but they generously suggested that we bring her along to their house for dinner too. Mum can be a little shy with people she doesn't know so well, so when I brought up the subject with her she seemed, at first, a little uncertain. I assured her that she would be made very welcome and that our friends had three splendid dogs for her to pet. My mother adores dogs and this seemed to tip the balance towards the positive and she agreed to accept the invitation. I drove over to Wakefield to pick mum up on Christmas Day morning, then drove her back to our place before setting off down the lane to our friend's house for dinner. As usual Julia and Steve had prepared a huge feast...traditional fare with all the trimmings, a warm welcome and their family and friends along to share the day. Mum ended up being adored and fussed over by the dogs and I ended up in our friend's music room with their children and Julia's mum, (who is a talented pianist). A fun filled hour or so followed with me jamming on guitar alongside Julia's two youngest sons, (Eddie and William), on the drums. Then a run through of some old standards and evergreens with Julia's mum leading on piano and me trying to spontaneously figure out the melodies on guitar. A very mellow, woozy, enjoyable Christmas Day afternoon. My mother stayed over with us that night and then on boxing day, my daughter Elle and son Elliot came to our house for food and drinks and gift-giving. Another pleasant, warm family occassion. We took my mother back home to Wakefield later that night. She seemed to have really enjoyed herself. The following day, I began to feel out of sorts. I had developed a sore throat and sensed the onset of yet another 'bug.' The day after that, it shed all pretence of being an imaginary condition and revealed itself as a fully blown flu' virus and I felt so rotten that I couldn't get out of bed. Today, (one week on), I'm far from being free of it but I think I can finally sense a minute improvement, even though my body still seems pre-occupied with the mysterious manufacture of endless amounts of vile green alien goo. Nights are spent coughing and retching and days are filled with perpetual nose-blowing and throat-clearing interrupted by moments of vacant staring into space, numbed and distanced from the wider world by dull aches and sudden shivers. Emiko has caught this latest bug from me too, for which I'm feeling most guilty. Django and Tink, our telepathic cats, look up at us, concerned, then curl up in our laps like living, breathing hot-water bottles. Emi went back to work today which was, I think, a foolish thing to do, considering the state of her health at the moment. In fact, she's just now telephoned to say that she's about to come home early as her cough is so bad. I'm not surprised. These viruses seem to be everywhere and virtually unavoidable. The pre-Christmas crowds were full of people coughing and sneezing. It's impossible to stay clear of airborne germs in tightly packed shops. One other side effect of this latest flu bug is that I haven't bothered to shave for a week and am now sporting a full beard. It's several years since I last grew a beard but this time I've been surprised by its colour. My bristles are no longer dark but are now what I think is referred to as 'salt n' pepper,' (with the balance tipped far more towards the 'salt' side of the equation). Strange this as the hair on the top of my head shows relatively few signs of grey. I'm now trying to decide whether I should keep and maintain this beard. In the mirror it gives me a rather scruffy, tramp-like appearance, a sort of Dharma Bum persona, a ragged, crazy Zen monk look, even a bit Bukowski, which is quite at odds with the 'glam' image of my early career. Yeah, maybe I'll keep it for a while and see what music hides in it! I need to record here some of the other events of the last two months as my previous diary entry was October of last year. Nelsonica 08 was the main event during this time. The stresses and strains of getting everything in place had dramatically built up during the few days before the event. When the actual day arrived I was feeling totally drained before I even drove to the venue. I was little more than a bundle of nerves when I first took the stage but the audience, (the biggest attendance so far), were warm and wonderful. The live performances, (both solo and band), were extremely well recieved despite some hilarious mistakes due to the amount of material the band and myself had tried to learn in the two days available to us. There were some onstage technical and sound problems too, which caused a certain amount of confusion but none of this seemed to matter somehow. I felt shattered but happy at the end of it. Everyone commented on the quality and scale of the convention's decorations, which really transformed the room. The whole thing was run professionally with thought and care and a lot of love. I've said it before but Nelsonica feels more like the gathering of an extended family than a mere fan convention. This fact has very little to do with me but everything to do with the good people who attend the event and the organising team themselves. I just tag along with my guitars...and chat a bit. Anyway, the day was considered to be a great success and the best Nelsonica yet. This is extremely gratifying to know but always puts more pressure on the team and myself to come up with something to top it next time...which is never an easy task, bearing in mind how much we pack into the event as it is. I'm always super-critical of my own input anyway and usually find fault with my performance regardless of how well received it is. I suppose I have to accept that I'll never come up with a performance or recording that will satisfy me 100%. But that doesn't stop me from trying. Another feature of Nelsonica 08 was that it doubled as an early celebration of my 60th birthday. Fans were extremely kind and generous, bringing cards and gifts which I took home and saved until my actual birthday rolled around on the 18th of December. I've never had so many birthday cards in my life. Amazing! On the morning of my birthday, I had an enjoyable time unwrapping the thoughtful gifts I'd been given at Nelsonica. Such perfect gifts...it would be unfair to name just a few of the people and too time consuming and complicated to name everyone, but I'm attaching a photograph of all the gifts alongside this diary entry. There were some absolute gems amongst them too, things which I'll treasure for a long time. Emiko had bought me, (for my birthday), an Airline Lap Steel guitar in red with a black pickguard. In Japan, when you reach sixty, it is traditional to be given something in red, so this guitar was an appropriate gift. I've already got a track part completed which features the Lap Steel. I added a vocal too, before the flu' kicked in. All this helped to make my birthday a special one, even though I'm still having problems trying to grasp the fact that I've actually reached the venerable age of 60! Seems like only yesterday that I was unwrapping Christmas presents as a 1950's child. Another post-Nelsonica, pre-Christmas task was the making of a special, seasonal audio-visual piece for the Dreamsville website. This one was titled 'The Silver Bells Of Christmas Valley' and, whilst being quite simple, it turned out to be a charming little video Christmas card for fans. Seems to have been well received. I also wrote and recorded a single which I gave away as a free download on my site, a Christmas gift from me to everyone who has supported my music this last year. It's called 'I Hear Electricity.' Has a nice vocal too, as does the 'b' side: 'Kiss You Slow.' And, whilst on the subject of downloads, I'd also recorded another new song, titled 'A Million Whistling Milkmen' which I've donated to 'Sara's Hope Foundation,' a very worthwhile charity run by a good friend of mine who is also a loyal member of the Nelsonica organisational team. If you haven't already done so, check out the following website to find out more: www.sarashopefoundation.co.uk The 'Milkmen' song has been made available as a 'flac' lossless download, and can be obtained in return for a modest donation to the Foundation. It's a nifty piece of pop music and won't scare the horses. And now it is 2009, already rushing towards 2010. We should be in science-fiction land, enjoying the shining, clean, peaceful future we were promised in the fantasy comic books of the 1950's...but the reality is a continuing bloody conflict in the middle east, threats of religious wars and terrorism, the ongoing collapse of the global financial system and a very bleak midwinter to get through...and whatever dark clouds may lurk beyond. So much uncertainty. Music and art may seem, to some, to be a frivolous luxury in such difficult times. But art at its best helps us to transcend these things, to slip through the cracks to a place where regeneration dances amongst blasts of electricity. Here is a landscape of hope in a world of eternal beauty. Here is the best of us, the most worthy of our endeavours. These bright dreams, I'd venture, are worth preserving. Diary Of A Hyperdreamer wishes its readers a HAPPY, HEALTHY, PEACEFUL 2009! ***** The images accompanying this diary entry are as follows:- 1: Bill's photograph of Django the cat, admiring a minimal flower arrangement created by Emiko. 2: A vintage pack of 'Monopole' guitar strings, retained by Bill from his 1960's guitar playing days. 3: A previously unseen polaroid photo' of Bill playing live in his very early Be Bop Deluxe 'glam-rock' days, probably at 'The Fforde Greene' pub in Leeds or 'The Staging Post' pub in the same city. Possibly early 1973 but certainly no later.(Nick Dew in the background on drums. Note Nick's stage makeup, quite some time before Kiss did something similar!) 4: A few of Bill's favourite guitars photographed in the rehearsal room prior to Nelsonica 08. 5: Some of Bill's 60th Birthday cards on display in his home. 6: Bill's 60th birthday gifts from fans and the Airline Lap Steel guitar that Emiko bought for him. Top of page

Kiss of Light Be-Bop Deluxe single - 6 August 1976 Singles Menu Future Past TRACKS: A) Kiss Of Light B) Shine ORIGINALLY: "Kiss of Light" was issued in advance of the Modern Music album, from which is was lifted. "Shine" was a non-album cut stemming from a one-off session sometime in 1976. NOTES: Kiss of Light was the sixth Be Bop Deluxe single issued during the band's existence. The single came in a generic record company sleeve. Promo copies exist with the words "Demo Record Not For Sale" and a large 'A' printed on the label. As Charlie Tumahai was unavailable for this session, Nelson decided to change the band name (for the 'B' Side only) to Funky Phaser and His Unearthly Merchandise . PAST RELEASES: Both tracks would be included on The Best of and the Rest of Be Bop Deluxe double album (1978), and the Singles As and Bs compilation (1981). "Shine" would also grace the reissue of Sunburst Finish as a bonus track when it was issued on CD in 1991. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: The single is long deleted, but both tracks can be found on the Cherry Red/Esoteric Recordings reissue of Modern Music (2019) - both in physical form and as a digital download. Singles Menu Future Past

Nelsonian Navigator - Issue Four- Published September 1996 Back to Top

Acquitted By Mirrors - Issue Three - Published October 1982 Back to Top

Magazine Interviews & Features Acquitted By Mirrors (Magazine Series) The Nelsonian Navigator (Magazine Series) Electronics & Music Maker - Novemeber 1982 Music UK - April 1983 Electronics & Music Maker - August 1983 Home Studio Recording (Part 1) - December 1984 Home Studio Recording (Part 2) - January 1985 Electronic Soundmaker - April 1985 Sound On Sound Magazine - July 1986 Making Music - August 1986 Bill Meets Robert Wyatt - 1992 Sound On Sound Magazine - March 1991 Sound On Sound Magazine - October 1995 Sound On Sound Magazine - February 1999 DavidSylvian.Net Interview - 2002 East Bay Times - Feb 2005 My Rare Guitars Feature - June 2006 Post-Punk Monk Article - June 2011 Prog Magazine - 2011 (Published Dec 2023) Guitar Player Interview - December 2012 Bill Interviews Duane Eddy - January 2013 Vintage Guitar Magazine - February 2014 Yorkshire Post - October 2014 Admirable Nelson, Yorkshire Post - March 2016 Classic Rock - May 2016 Eastwood Guitar Guide - February 2017 Eastwood Guitars Interview - February 2017 Songwriting Magazine - February 2018 Vintage Guitar Magazine - June 2018 Record Collector - February 2019 Classic Rock - February 2019 Vintage Rock - March 2019 Goldmine Magazine - March 2019 Paste Magazine US - April 2019 The Strange Brew Podcast - April 2019 Mix Magazine - May 2019 Interviewing The Legends Podcast - May 2019 Interview with Frank Mackay - June 2019 Hit Channel Website Interview - July 2020 Music Republic Magazine Interview - July 2020 Cherry Red Podcast - July 2020 Flood Magazine Interiew - October 2021 Guitar Player Article, Scott Rowley - December 2021 Prog Interview - December 2021 Be Bop Deluxe on 'Jazz Rock Soul' - January 2022 Bill Talks About Ziggy Stardust - June 2022 Martyn Ware Podcast (Part 1) - Feruary 2023 Martyn Ware Podcast (Part 2) - March 2023 Anil Prasad Interview - April 2023 Guitar World Interview - December 2023 Prog Magazine Interview - May 2024 Guitarist Magazine Interview - June 2024 Goldmine Interview - July 2024 Treasure Island Discs Podcast - May 2025 Vinyl Relics...The Story Of Axe Victim - August 2025

Wednesday 9th March 2005 -- 1:49 pm A quick diary entry today. Lots going on. Have now finished 16 pieces of music for my latest guitar instrumental album and I'm trying to settle on the correct running order. As I mentioned here before,12 tracks is my goal but it's good to have more to choose from. I'm hoping that, by my next diary entry, I'll have a final list to announce. (And an idea of when it will be available.) This task is occupying me almost full time but I think it will be well worth all the effort. Now, I have a special message to convey: Regular users of the Rooms With Brittle Views website will have noticed that it was no longer in existence today, due to webmaster Alan Myer's switching it off for good. Unfortunately, it seems that Alan no longer felt that he could spare the time and energy to operate the site and, sadly, has decided to close it down. Like many others, I want to express my thanks to Alan for his input over the last five years and for doing his best to maintain the site under sometimes difficult circumstances. I'd hoped that Alan might have felt like continuing his site alongside the forthcoming 'Dreamsville' one but it was not to be. Alan's day-to-day business has increasingly taken up more of his time of late and maintaining RWBV has become an obstacle. As I have said in earlier diary entries, I have no desire to add further pressures to Alan's situation and I wish him well and hope that he will find life somewhat easier without the time-consuming responsibility of running a BN fan site. Which brings me to the future... We are reasonably close to opening up the new Dreamsville website, which it now seems will have to function in a slightly different capacity to the one I originally planned. I'm looking at ways to develop the new site in a broader direction, providing some of the facilities to fans left by the closure of RWBV. By this, I mean more than just the production and distribution of my recordings, which was the original reason for starting Dreamsville. This will obviously be a little more time-consuming for me but, because of the help I've been generously offered by various people who have already contributed to RWBV's past existence, I think everyone will eventually be satisfied by our efforts. I'm now looking at setting up a discussion board to replace the loss of Northern Dreamer so that fans will continue to have a place to meet and talk. Eventually, this will be incorporated within the Dreamsville site. It will take the form of a 'pub' which, for the moment, is to be called 'The Dreamsville Arms'. This pub will be located within an area of the site known as 'The Pleasure Park' . The Pleasure Park will hold various buildings connected with general entertainment, including a 'box office' where live concert tickets and so on can be purchased on line. There will also be a facility to secure tickets to special fan events such as the annual fan convention which we're hoping to put in place as before, perhaps in an expanded form. More news of this as it develops. The Pleasure Park will also contain 'The Guitar Arcade', an essential building to visit for anyone with an interest in guitars and guitar playing. Dreamsville is a fictional town and it's various buildings will have different functions. There will be a 'Villa Nelsonia' where my diary entries will be found. Villa Nelsonia will also contain other odd musings. Then, there will be 'Dreamsville Town Hall' which will act as a central office for the site. Here is where the 'Mayor of Dreamsville' will reside. The Mayor will act as a public interface for fans and will work closely with myself on the development of Dreamsville itself. My good friend Jon Wallinger has kindly volunteered to fulfill this role and will become the official 'Mayor Of Dreamsville' the moment that the site goes on line. The Town Hall will also contain a guide to the site and regular messages from The Mayor and The Architect's Department about the ongoing development plans. In the Architect's Department, a team will work on the site's structure. Obviously, I will be overseeing this with the help of my long-time design collaborator David Graham and also with technical assistance from Paul Gilby and others. News will be handled by the newspaper office of 'The Dreamsville Rocket'. This will be a fairly regular news bulletin with the visual look of a newspaper. People will be able to subscribe to this for free and will be sent e-mails linking them to each new edition. It will contain visual treats as well as text. Copies of 'The Dreamsville Rocket' will be archived at the newspaper office in the town. Another building will be 'The Museum Of Memory' . This will hold my personal memorabilia and photographs from my private life. Much of the material contained here will not have been seen by the public before. 'The Academy Of Art' will contain examples of my visual work, 'The Music Salon' will document my musical career and 'The Dreamsville Department Store' will provide a facility for people to obtain my recordings, both old and new, plus other merchandise. 'The Post Office' will contain a guest book for visitors to Dreamsville to sign. 'The Transit Lounge' will be where links to other interesting sites can be found and 'Dreamsville University' will provide an unusual educational facility where all kinds of odd ideas will be gathered together. 'Sunny Bungalow' , a sweet looking 1930's style building, will contain photo's of my toy collection and other kitsch collectables. And so on and so forth... More things will be added to the town as time goes on, including a radio station and a cinema if the technical side of things works out. A LOT of work to get it up to full strength but all websites have to start somewhere and, with determination and patience (and some encouragement from the outside world), we should eventually end up with something quite special and unique. Until the first stage of the site goes on line, these diary pages will act as a news bulletin as well as a regular diary. As soon as facilities are in place for people to subscribe to the Dreamsville mailing list, I will let everyone know and we can start to populate Dreamsville with real citizens. Keep checking billnelson.com and this diary to stay in touch. More news as it happens. Now it's back to working on the new album. Its title, by the way is: 'ROSEWOOD... Ornaments And Graces For Acoustic Guitar'. It will be released on my own 'SONOLUXE' record label. A rough draft of the artwork already underway. Patience, dear reader and... Stay tuned! Top of page Friday 18th March 2005 -- 6:00 pm Rosewood now has a front cover. Dave Graham and I finally arrived at the best solution. It's appropriate, colourful and fun... It has fish on it! And electrical circuits! And a guitar! Now I have to make and choose images for the rest of the package. Went out and took more photographs of an old Hoyer archtop guitar of mine for this purpose but need to work with these in my computer before passing on to Dave for him to work his layout magic. I've now recorded 24 pieces of music to choose from for the album but haven't begun the final selection process. It's going to be difficult to boil them down to my intended 12 track running order. The one's that don't fit will be made available on this year's Nelsonica convention album, so nothing will be wasted. The basic form of my Dreamsville website is at the technical assembly stage and should be up and running in a week or two. It will be in a rudimentary form at first but I'll fill it with content over the next year or two. It will look great once it's properly 'stocked.' Whilst on the subject of websites, Jon Wallinger pointed me in the direction of a temporary Bill Nelson discussion board that someone has set up. He said I should check out a posting by Alan Myers on there, so I did. When I read them, Alan's comments came as a real disappointment to me as I've always been appreciative of Alan's website (and Mark and Chuck's too, for that matter), and have tried to offer what input and help I could over the years as well as be supportive of events Alan asked me to endorse. I know that Alan has had some difficult personal times of late and can only think that these have contributed to the underlying bitterness suggested by his posting. What a shame. I won't comment further other than to say that the only reason I've had to look at ways of putting a website of my own together was a direct result of Alan telling people, last year, that he was shutting down his site. And yes, as I once pointed out to some people who were getting far too unhealthily wrapped up in things, it is only a website and, in fairness to Permanent Flame, RWBV was neither the first or only Bill Nelson website on the planet, just the one that I was once pursuaded to contribute most towards. I had hoped that Alan might, once he'd come to terms with his personal life, seen fit to continue the site alongside Dreamsville, as a purely fan oriented site, which is what it was supposed to be when it began, but it seems that was simply naive of me. After all the previous co-operation between us, I'm extremely sorry that Alan has seen fit to make such negative comments in public. What's the point in that, other than to cause damage and distress to myself and my friends? But, needless to say, there's probably much more to this sad story than meets the eye. I'm personally upset but, from past experience, not at all surprised. So... perhaps it really was for the best, after all, despite my initial doubts. Life's way too short for these kind of intrigues, especially at my advanced age (and with the amount of work I've got to accomplish before I'm too old to accomplish it). In any case, people are intelligent enough to judge the real situation for themselves without me getting involved. But at least I know where I stand now. Move on, move away. Life's stressful enough. An e-mail from Harold this morning. He's sending me a brochure from an exhibition of English watercolours that he attended. Harold's Maytime Brighton concert coming up soon. I'm trying not to get too nervous about it at this stage. Hal is his usual laid back, 'when it happens, it happens' self. For all his protestations to the contrary, he's one of the most Buddha natured people I've ever met. Absolutely artistically ruthless but sweet as a nut with it. I envy him his balance. And his aesthetic gifts. Finished reading 'What Did I Do?' by Larry Rivers. I enjoyed it tremendously and ended up admiring the guy for his totally self-absorbed, passionate mission to squeeze as much out of life and art as possible and fuck himself senseless at every available opportunity. An irredeemable rogue who led a scandalous life driven by a fiery, burning intelligence. It really inspires one to cut the crap out of one's own life and make art with all the energy available. Ed Ruscha's book, (which I'm still reading), on the other hand, is cooler, more collected and, at times, as dull as dishwater. More greats gone to Valhalla: Phillip Lamantia, Arthur Miller, Hunter S. Thompson and Jimmy Smith (the latter the best organ grinder in the business). One of my planned but unnanounced live performances in May now cancelled due to venue unsuitability. So I won't announce it. Still one more up my sleeve though, besides the Harold spectacular. Now it's dinner time and then a mixing session. Next week... the Rosewood assembly begins in earnest. Top of page Wednesday 23rd March 2005 -- 9:00 am Signs of Spring on the increase and some sunshine, 'though yesterday was wet and grey. I ended up stuck in the house anyway as I suddenly found myself unable to send any e-mails. I usually deal with the first e-mails of the day immediately after breakfast and before taking my bath. Yesterday, however, I was still stuck in front of the computer at 4pm... and still in my dressing gown. The e-mail service provider I use had changed the way their system worked, now insisting on smtp authorisation. I followed the provider's website instructions to reset my e-mail settings but to no avail. My computer still wouldn't send any e-mails at all, various error messages flashing up on screen. It took me a long while and several phone calls to tech support teams to discover that the problem was with my e-mail browser software... .It basically didn't support smtp authorisation, being somewhat antiquated. Antiquated? Hell, it was only five years old! Software ages rapidly in computerland, it seems. I then had to find and download some new e-mail browser software and install it. This was accompanied by panics about whether I would lose my many thousands of stored e-mails from my older system. I eventually figured out how to make back up copies of these and installed the new software. It took only seconds to install, despite having taken almost one hour to download. Thank goodness everything worked once more and nothing was lost from my e-mail archives. I was surprised by how panicked I was by this escapade. A few years ago, before I had a computer, I poured scorn on those people who seemed unable to function out of arms reach of their PC's and Macs. I couldn't see the need for e-mails and the internet and even avoided the telephone unless it was absolutely neccesary. Now, I realise just how pathologically dependent I've become on the computer to communicate with the outside world. In some ways it's quite amazing, in other's it's sad. The truth is, I now have to give up a great deal of time to answering e-mails and dealing with computer-related activities, time that was once spent making music. My intention, yesterday, was to work on the final selection of tracks for the 'Rosewood' album. Unfortunately, this task was postponed whilst I dealt with the technical problems posed by my Mac. I'll try again today, after dealing with this diary entry. 'Rosewood' has now accumulated 27 possible tracks. As I've mentioned in these pages previously, I need to select around a dozen of these to go on the album proper, the rest being reserved for the Nelsonica Convention album. Choosing the 12 that will best work together will be difficult. The trick will be to only use tracks that work together towards a particular goal. There's some variety amongst the pieces but I think I need to make this album head off in one fixed direction, rather than become too diverse. It has elements of the 'Dreamland To Starboard' album in that it is quite 'interiorised' for want of a better word... 'Mellow' might suit it better, I don't really know. Until I start to get to grips with choosing and sequencing the running order, it's difficult to say exactly what the final effect will be. At this point in time, I'm feeling a bit clueless about it all. I recently remarked to Harold (Budd) that I approach music like a blind man with a stick. I should have qualified this further by saying, 'like a blind man with a stick approaching a dangerous highway'. I changed the titles of two or three pieces to better suit their mood. The list of possible track choices for 'Rosewood' is now made up of the following pieces: Filament Ventura Bramble Appolonian Tremolo Cascade (Improvisation For 3 Harp Guitars) Lumia See Through Nightie Lacuna William Is Wearing The Cardigan Of Light She Swings Skirt Aliumesque Tinderbox Cremona Mexico City Reflections (For Gil Evans) Little Cantina Giant Hawaiian Showboat Blues For Orpheus Autumn Tramcar (Yorkshire Raga No.2) The Girl In The Park In The Rain Blue Cloud Hi Lo La The Land Of Lost Time Swingo Collapso Rising Sap Pilgrim The Big Buick Rolling Home (Yorkshire Raga No.1) Somehow, I have to boil these down to twelve cohesive tracks for the album. I must make some progress with this today. In my last diary entry, I mentioned that one of my proposed May live performances had been cancelled due to venue unsuitability. I also mentioined that I had one more live concert up my sleeve. Well, as bad luck would have it, this also didn't work out. I had been asked to play at the Coventry Jazz Festival but the organisers seem to have changed their plan and I'm left clutching empty air. So... the only scheduled appearance for me at this point in time is at the tribute concert for Harold Budd being held as part of the Brighton Festival on the 21st of May. From three shows to one. Received a nice letter from Harold yesterday. Briefly discussing some concert performance plans but mainly talk of other things. Also got an e-mail from the Carlsbro Amplifier company. Seems that my custom, self-designed Carlsbro amp and speaker cabinet has generated a fair bit of interest and the company are proposing that they manufacture a limited edition run of the design, with my approval. Each amp would carry a metal plaque with my signature and a number to indicate its limited edition status. Apparently, quite a few people have asked if they could buy an identical amp to mine. I'm pleased it has captured some player's imaginations. Dave Graham has come up with Rosewood's CD 'on-body' label and it perfectly suits our front cover image. I still have to create the images for Dave to fit into the rest of the package and will try to make a start on this today. I could do it whilst listening to and assembling the draft running order. I'll need to book Fairview studios soon to master the album prior to manufacturing it. I'm praying that 'Rosewood' will be appreciated. Certainly, those who enjoyed my 'Dreamland To Starboard' album shouldn't find it too much of a challenge. After getting sore fingers and thumbs with the acoustic guitar at the heart of 'Rosewood', I'm itching to record some new electric guitar pieces, using a plectrum. I also ought to think about getting to grips with a new song-based vocal album. Right now, though, I'm not in a lyric-oriented mood. I'm sure that something will come to me sooner ot later... it usually does. I'm told that the launch of 'Dreamsville' is not too far away now. I'm in the hands of Adam, the technician who is building the mechanical side of the new site. I'm told he's on with the job and I'll have something to look at very soon. But, there's months and months of work ahead to get all the actual content I have in place on the site. Still, fans can watch it grow bit by bit. The idea is to get the essential stuff in place first, including the town's 'pub' (The Dreamsville Inn), where fans will be able to communicate and discuss to their heart's content over a 'virtual pint' of Dreamsville's best ale. I may even make a real bottle of 'Dreamsville Ale' available in the future, a limited brewing to be sold exclusively at Nelsonicas. I'll need to liase with a nice, small, local brewery to see how this could be manufactured and what the costs would be. Absolutely inessential, of course, but sort of fun in a surrealist way. There's no shortage of ideas for Dreamsville, just a limited amount of time available to put them into action. Ultimately, the music has to take pride of place. I've had a nice response from fans to my request for Red Noise era photos. I now have a few good ones to send off to Paul Sutton-Reeves for his 'Music In Dreamland' book. Music to be selected now, so... back to work. Top of page Tuesday 29th March 2005 -- 10:30 am Almost April. That time thing again. Life passing me by whilst I work myself into a state of stress. And for what? For what I hope will be a beautiful body of music. I complain, I endure, no matter what the turn of events. In an apparently meaningless world, music is the one illusion of meaningfulness that I cling to. My personal, proud folly. I've been struggling and struggling with the running order for my 'Rosewood' album. I'd hoped to keep the track count down to twelve tracks but couldn't slim it down beyond nineteen. (The total recorded now stands at 29 pieces of music.) Listening back to my choice of nineteen tracks in the correct sequence, I was struck by how rich the listening experience was. Perhaps too rich for some people. I worried that it might overwhelm the listener and be difficult to take in at one sitting, thereby diluting its impact. So... I eventually decided to split Rosewood into two separate albums. Not a double album set, but two individual volumes: 'Rosewood Volume One' and 'Rosewood Volume Two'. That way, I won't be frustrated by losing some of the music to lesser projects and the album's audience can access the music in two, much more easily digested, chunks. Having said that, the track count on Rosewood Volume one is still more than my original twelve track target. But at least it is fifteen tracks now and not nineteen. And, more importantly, it works a treat. I listened through to a draft CD-r assembly of it last night and I think it constitutes some of my finest work. It's intense, emotional, thoughtful and spontaneous and very musical, avoiding the fashionably glamourous lure of 'avant-guardism'. I guess you could say it's a mature work. Or as mature as my Peter Panic nature will allow. I think that the final track listing for Rosewood Volume One will be as follows: Blues For Orpheus Escondido Oleander Lumia Filament Lacuna Cascade (Improvisation For Three Harp Guitars) She Swings Skirt Mexico City Dream (For Gil Evans) Ventura The Girl In The Park In The Rain Apollonian Tremolo Giant Hawaiian Showboat Cremona The Land Of Lost Time Sleepless In The Ticking Dark I e-mailed Dave Graham the sleeve notes, credits and track listing last night so that he can lay them into our design package. The album artwork is virtually complete for volume one. It looks really strong and features a lot of my photography. A package as rich as the music it contains. The next task is to assemble a running order for volume two of the album. Dave is already making draft layouts and I need to sort out which remaining tracks fit where. I suspect though, that I'll record at least couple more pieces of music for this to balance out volume two's 'feel'. Rosewood, for all its acoustic implications, is a dense and complex piece of work. It has taken a real bite out of my being, one way or another. I've worked on Rosewood all through the Easter weekend (and for the last couple of months as well). Emi is off work for a week as the flower shop is closed whilst its owner goes on holiday to Egypt. Our lot is far less exotic. Emi gave the kitchen a spring clean yesterday whilst I stayed hunched over my mixing desk in my workroom. We've not been anywhere. Can't really afford to anyway. My output certainly overshadows what comes in. It's been a horrendously expensive few months... so many bills and unforseen domestic expenses. Poor Emi... I'm so lucky that she understands and tolerates my almost non-stop work ethic. I'll try to take her out somewhere today. Hundreds of Caravans lined up in the field opposite... At night, each one flickers with the cathode glow of its internal television set. These folks like to get away from it all but not too far from their soaps and game shows. Or from other people. I don't really understand the attraction of spending a weekend cheek by jowl with hundreds of other campers all boxed up together in a field. Maybe it's a social thing, rather than an escape. I'd prefer to be somewhere miles away from the herd. Of course, I'm an absolutely unrepentant social misfit anyway, so that's to be expected. More and more, these days, I look at the world outside my window with a mounting sense of semi-amused horror. I'm amazed by the shabby attitudes that seem to have become the norm in our society. What happened to the idealism, optimism and enlightened ideals of our 'swinging 'sixties?' Where did our liberated and liberal attitudes go? I suppose these once sweet dreams became nothing more than cheap, easily manipulated signifiers of an impossible utopia, fodder for advertising copywriters, unimaginative designers and middle aged, one-time mods, now sofa-landlocked on an endlessly nostalgic faraway domestic atoll. Poor sods. Maybe I'm one of 'em. Saw a rough draft of the Dreamsville site last week. Some things need a bit of a tweak. The trick is balancing graphic visual quality with practical download times. Something of a trade-off. The site is still in the hands of the technical chap and being knocked into digital shape, 'though the main visual components have been completed. I'm hoping we can launch the site fairly soon. But I've said that before. The consolation in all of this is that I don't want to just 'knock something up' for the sake of getting the site in place. It needs to be right. It will be, as I've also said before, an open-ended, ongoing project... something that will be developed slowly and carefully with attention to aesthetic detail. An extension of my musical and personal life, rather than a peripheral thing. I really need to escape from my room today... health suffering again, various aches and pains, twinges, numbnesses, a general feeling of being drained, exhausted even. I really ought to limit how much of myself I allow to be damaged by all this stuff. My own fault entirely of course. I can't even begin to address the problem. I'm hardly likely to change the habit of a lifetime at this stage of the game. If I really wanted to, if I genuinely felt more than just a romantic revulsion for this arty-farty lifestyle, I would. Throw it all away. It's obviously a tender trap I'm caught in and my wriggling is nothing more than a token defiance. Well... there you go. In the end, I submit to the painful deliciousness of it all. What a loser, what a lucky guy. Top of page William's Study (Diary Of A Hyperdreamer) March 2005 Feb Dec Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2013

Gleaming Without Lights Bill Nelson album - 28 April 2007 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) Gleaming Without Lights 02) North-East 03) Rialto 04) Billy Builds The World Of Tomorrow 05) Glittering Rails 06) Dreamland Illuminated 07) Pilgrim (Fantasia On A Distantly Remembered Hymn) ALBUM NOTES: Gleaming Without Lights is an instrumental album issued on the Sonoluxe label in a single print run of 1000 copies. The album shares its catalogue number with a reissued edition of the 1986 release Getting the Holy Ghost Across , due to a mix up made during production (meaning that there is no Sonoluxe CD-007). The album was first made available at the merchandise table at a concert Nelson staged at Leeds University before going on general sale through S.O.S two days later. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: On "Pilgrim": "My school days go right back to the post war '50s, but, yes, I sang the hymn about 'those in peril on the sea' too, and another one about fishermen. (And I liked the 'Peril on the sea' one very much, it had a lovely series of upward semitone shifts before the resolve of the title phrase.) "Also one that mentioned a lamplighter, which I loved because my great grandfather was a lamplighter. As an infant, frightened by his first day in school, that particular hymn gave me some comfort by connecting me, albeit distantly, with a member of my family. "The melodies were strong in those days, the lyrics hewn like furniture from English oaks and, though I wasn't particularly happy at school, those melodies and words have stayed with me all these long years. "Also, in music lessons, we sang 'Speed Bonny Boat' and 'Barbara Allen' and several other old English songs that held wonderful melodic and visual associations for me. 'Hearts of oak are our ships, hearts of oak are our men, steady, boys, steady...we'll fight and we'll conquer again and again...' Stirring stuff for a boy barely out of infancy. "But 'To Be A Pilgrim' still has something that I find meaningful, especially when the Christian connotations are removed. 'He who would valiant be, 'gainst all disaster...' seems almost like a personal motto to me." FAN THOUGHTS: Earthling: "I lost all track of time during "Dreamland Illuminated" and was almost late to work because of refusing to stop the music for any reason. Another great addition to the collection. Bill, Thanks for being so prolific and dedicated to bring us your music." Swan: "A few weeks ago I was listening to "Dreamland Illuminated" at work at about 4am on my i-pod. Whether it was the unearthly hour or the music or both I actually felt like I left this world for a brief time, it was weird! It's a long track but it felt like a microsecond...bloody marvellous!" EERO: "Man, I love this record. It keeps unfolding with new delights and has grabbed me in quite unexpected ways...Thanks for the great music." Radium Girl: "An absolute sonic caress! It puts me into a fantastic state of mind as it all unfolds....Bill!" AJ: "This is a remarkable release. Interestingly it touches on "rock" more than I anticipated along with its masterful elegance. The most complete and grown up guitar based instrumental album BN has ever done." amok: "It is certainly a great CD. You can hear echoes of Sailor Bill , Neptune and "For Stuart" to name just a few." BobK: "Must say I am very impressed by the new album. In particular the suite "Dreamland Illuminated". I love the way the melodies, motifs and electronic sounds drift in and out creating such beautiful soundscapes. (Especially the melody around at nine and a half minutes when the piano drifts in, just before the 'saxophone' - gorgeous). Rarely has 20 minutes or so gone so quick!" Dar: "There are many sections where everything we know to this point comes together into a perfectly completed whole. Of course I like some parts more than others, but the way "Dreamland Illuminated" morphs and evolves effortlessly is really something to behold. OK, enough gushing." wonder toy: "Rialto": "is an excellent track, really nice guitar work on that one. The whole album is just amazing. "North-East" is an outstanding song. Thanks for putting this music out." Johnny Jazz: "Pilgrim": "I'm rather pleased Bill chose to do an improv around this on Gleaming . It reminds me of the early morning assemblies when I was at primary school mid 60's. Without fail, at least once a week we'd be singing 'to be a Pilgrim' or whatever its proper title is. It's kind of engrained in my psyche, despite the fact I hated singing hymns, they seemed at the time so bloody depressing. As of now it's a real favourite of mine on Gleaming . It certainly stands out. I think I can appreciate Bill's sentiments regarding this track on the sleeve notes. C of E schools in the '60s have a lot to answer for." Flying: "Play "Glittering Rails" very loud...It's top of my current top 10 'play really loud in the car' tunes. Love the percussion and the swirling expansive space in the sound which creates the perfect backdrop for the guitar to do it's hypnotising thing. Music to get lost in." Albums Menu Future Past

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

Fancy Planets Bill Nelson album - 20 July 2009 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) Fancy Planets 02) The Golden Days Of Radio (Compact Mix) 03) Kiss Me Goodnight, Captain Marvel 04) The Land Of Dreams Is Closed 05) This Leads To That Leads To This 06) Where Are We Now 07) Twice In A Blue Moon 08) Everyday Now Is Forever Again 09) She Dreams Of Fires 10) I Hear Electricity 11) Mysterious Object Overhead 12) Dream Cities Of The Heart 13) Mystery Engine 14) Golden Days Of Radio (Hypermix) ALBUM NOTES: Fancy Planets is (mainly) a vocal album issued on the Sonoluxe label in a single print run of 1000 copies. The album had a working title of Sway and Swoon and was designed to complement another album then called Sparkle and Spin (which was issued as Theatre of Falling Leaves ) which were being worked on in tandem. Eventually Nelson renamed the album Fancy Planets . As the album was being mastered, Nelson noticed that the vocal track on "The Golden Days of Radio" wasn't coming through as clearly as he had wanted. Nelson therefore re-did the vocals on an alternate mix version (sub-titled Compact Mix) and added the original version (sub-titled Hypermix) as a bonus track. Additionally, to avoid having an album with 13 tracks, Nelson then created an extra track "Mystery Engine" from scratch on the eve of the final mastering session and added that to the album too. The album was - alongside Here Comes Mr Mercury – the first Bill Nelson CD to feature 'CD text' allowing you to see the title of each track as it played on certain in car and hi-fi systems. The album includes the 'A' side of the free digital single I Hear Electricity , issued previously on Nelson's 60th birthday (18 December 2008). CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "Fancy Planets will have a rock/pop orientation, albeit with a twist. I'm not sure how to exactly describe the music to you as, even within one song, there are lots of ideas at play. The music is very rich sounding, sometimes a 'wall of sound' with lots of guitars and crunchy, chunky drums and beats. It's big, tough and flamboyant, but beautiful too. A couple of tracks, (at least), conjure up the term 'retro-contempo psychedelic glam rock with poptone tints'. Yes, a weird and funny description but it fits some of the material like a glove! "Many of the songs offer an ironic and post-modernist tip of the hat to my rock band past whilst warmly embracing certain nostalgic elements. The material can be enjoyed on multiple levels and I'm sure many of you will have fun spotting the various musical references and cross-references contained on the album. For instance: The song "Dream Cities of the Heart" contains a reference to Be Bop Deluxe's "Night Creatures". In the same verse comes a mention of a much later solo album song of mine, "Fairyland Before the Fire". It's meant to hint at that ambiguous, bisexual, glam thing of first line-up Be Bop. (Later in the same song, there's a veiled reference to sexual magic/tantra too.) "The album is smart and dumb, subtle and flashy, gentle and ultra-violent, funny and serious, all at the same time. It's a terribly irresponsible album for a sixty year old to make!" _____ "That little zip-cut [in the beginning of the title track] is intentional, as if someone had spliced the tape. Also, the second repeat of one of the bridge sections, where the vocal sounds like tape cut-ups, ("all moments exist at once...") is also deliberately fractured...but not by digital, Pro-Tools style cutting and pasting. I actually sung it like that in real time to produce the sliced n' diced effect. Hopefully, it's the real time elements in all this music that separates it from the general software/sequenced/copy and paste methods used by every man and his dog these days." FAN THOUGHTS: Peter: "Wow. On first listen, love Fancy Planets ...Bill, you can still rock, dude. And don't EVER believe the guy in the mirror or anyone else...there isn't an electric guitarist on the planet that can do what you do. And the songs? Again, wow!" WalterDigsTunes: "Easily one of my favorite 21st century releases. With classics like "The Golden Days of Radio", "Where Are We Now", "She Dreams of Fires" and "I Hear Electricity", it's no wonder I feel like it ought to be required listening for anyone curious about the artist's recent output. If there's any album that could lure back fans of 70's guitar heroics or 80's/90's songcraft, it's certainly this one." BFD: "A real gem which is bound to resonate with all BN fans, a very satisfying listen...all the more amazing when you consider its all one (overworked) hyper-perfectionist playing everything. As a guitar freak I especially appreciated the pics/liner notes." knight on the tiles: "It's not a Be-Bop Deluxe album, which I didn't really expect it to be, or want it to be - sometimes the past is best left alone. But the heritage is clear and that works for me. The same sort of things that attracted me to BBD are there; the guitars, the distinctive phrasing Bill has, the subject matter, the balance of pace, the sweet tunes, the staccato rhythms but there's a lot of new stuff too. I also love the retro futurism setting that the cover artwork sets the scene for and the music backs up." wondertoy: "Holy Crap!!! This is some potent stuff. Thank you sooo much Bill for bringing this to the outside world. If this planet had any brains, "The Golden Days of Radio" would be a top ten hit right now. Give it time and maybe it will. The guitar solo on "She Dreams of Fires" is the most brilliant guitar solo I have heard in quite some time. "Mysterious Objects Overhead" totally blew me away. And "Mystery Engine" is a very beautiful piece of sonic artwork that I am very happy to have hanging in my musical gallery. You have outdone yourself once more, Bill. Again the fact that this music is being made by one man in a room upstairs should make a lot of musicians feel REALLY embarrassed to be walking into high priced studios today. Pure magic. Go buy this album now. Can't wait to sit down with this album over and over." Sue: "HOW on earth did Bill fit that band into his bedroom, for surely that can't all be him...But what an amazing album, only had time for a couple of listens so far but I love it, and with all the nods to the past it's a bit of a trip down memory lane too." andygeorge: "Fancy Planets is bloody amazing! Got it this morning and I can honestly say that every track is a beauty. Bill's playing is exquisite, especially on "Dream Cities of the Heart", and as for "Mysterious Object Overhead"...WOW!!" BobK: "These are 13 incredibly catchy and beautifully melodic songs. After quite a few plays they are whirling round and staying in BK's conscious! Lots of retro nods to the past, in the playing, tone and lyrics which are fun spotting. Easy to underestimate how tough it is writing a great melody or a great song. Take a listen to the guitar intro to "Land of Dreams", simple(ish) to play, maybe, but dammed gorgeous and try coming up with something as good as that yourself - few artists do. This is a terrific set of songs!" Merikan1: "I am really loving this one. Right now the two favourites are "Where Are We Now" and "Mysterious Object Overhead". "Where Are We Now" is dreamy, beautiful. Almost a lullaby. The warmth in Bill's voice is perfect. It just wafts me away. "Mysterious Object Overhead" just rocks gloriously. Licks abound. GEEETAR. An instant classic." swampboy: A Favorite Track of Bill's?: "I'd have to say "Twice in a Blue Moon" from 'Fancy Planets'. Like most of Bill's songs, a rollercoaster ride in the dark. You never know when the twists and turns are coming. Pure adrenaline joy!" Littlun : "Thanks for this album. It's as Little Richard once said about Jimi Hendrix - you have made our toes shoot up in our boots once more. You've always been at your best when you are getting down and dirty, and Rocking. Now what's my favorite track again?!" KEVWILKINS: "Where Are We Now": "has totally blown me away. I got really emotional listening to this today. Ten times. I can honestly say I have never been so choked listening to a track in my entire life. Absolutely beautiful." Swan: "Oh!...at the end of the alternate mix of "Golden Days of Radio" Bill plays the riff from "Sister Seagull" as it was and then plays it slowed well down, as if it is dying and struggling for breath. Symbolic I'd say...there won't be another album like it." Colourbox: "Caught myself whistling "Kiss Me Goodnight, Captain Marvel", in that whistling to yourself through the teeth stylee whilst in Sainsbugs this morning." seakret: "His best in years - and I thought Clocks & Dials was extraordinary. I have nearly all of the past 15-20 Sound on Sound discs and this is way up top already. Lots of nods to the past - the guitar is riveting and way up front (short, sharp shades of Red Noise in some of the faster rhythm guitar parts). If you downloaded the "I Hear Electricity" free download and thought Bill was onto something, then this album not only contains that song but also an amazing collection of similarly catchy tunes. Nice one Bill!" Angie: "Just listening to Fancy Planets for the first time...shivers up and down my spine. I love them all, but I think this album is going to be one of my favourites. Thanks, Bill, for thrilling my ears, painting pictures in my mind, and feelings in my heart for over 30 years." GettingOnTheBeam: "Fancy Planets is a classic...I can't stop playing it. I was going to burn a copy for a friend of mine...but couldn't bring myself to thievery, so I ordered him a copy through SOS." captainknut: "From some other thread in this forum I saw someone give someone else the advice to start with Fancy Planets if you like the BBD sound and want a way in. So I followed it, too, and ordered Fancy Planets from SOS. It arrived in the post a few days ago, and I just can't stop playing it. It's that good." Albums Menu Future Past

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

Marvellous Realms Bill Nelson album - 13 January 2023 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this CD Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) Nevernoon 02) Marvellous Realms 03) The Way Of The World 04) The Gold Beyond The Blue 05) The Weather Song 06) Signalling As We Go 07) Some Jiggery Pokery 08) Here On Earth 09) Whoops! I'm Going Back In Time 10) It's A Long Time Between Dreams 11) The Mystic 12) Imaginary Music 13) The Illuminator 14) Heaven Is A State Of Mind 15) A Thought In Passing 16) Your Magic Man In The Sky 17) Bonus Track: The Weather Song (Monitor Mix) ALBUM NOTES: Marvellous Realms is an album comprising a mixture of song based and instrumental material issued on the Sonoluxe label in a limited edition of 1000 copies. The bulk of the material was recorded between November 2021 and May 2022, initially being seen as a natural follow up to Mixed Up Kid . The first mention of the album, then called 'Man of Dreams', came in a Dreamsville Forum post on 18 December 2021. At this early stage Nelson had completed all but a couple of tracks for the proposed album, and in a follow up forum post, on 28 December 2021, went as far as saying that the album was "almost complete" promising a track listing soon. However, as with many of his projects, time would see those plans significantly change over the next six months or so. On 5 January 2022, in a further forum post Nelson revealed a list of thirteen songs destined for 'Man of Dreams', while also stating that the album title may change. Nelson decided that 'Man of Dreams' was too similar to his 1987 release Map of Dreams and suggested that two alternative titles, 'All the Fun of the Fair' or 'Signalling As We Go', were now being considered. From that initial list of tracks, just three would make it to the completed album... 'Some Jiggery Pokery', 'Signalling As We Go' and 'The Weather Song'. Further details emerged in a Dreamsville Forum post on 11 March 2022 in which Nelson announced that the 'Man of Dreams' album had developed into two separate projects, Marvellous Realms being the first album, and a second then called 'Here on Earth'. A total of 33 tracks were listed as being currently recorded and mixed for the project with no indication at that stage as to what tracks would feature where. Comparing this list with the final track running order reveals that a total of seven songs would make the final cut of Marvellous Realms . Further progress on the album was reported on 1 June 2022, when Nelson posted in the Dreamsville Journal that he had by then completed a total of 53 tracks from the new album projects, again without revealing what tracks would appear where. In fact, he had by then completed a total of 13 tracks that would eventually make up the Marvellous Realms album, the remaining three tracks - ' Heaven Is A State O f Mind' , ' A Thought I n Passing' and ' Your Magic Man I n T he Sky' , being completed in the intervening months. Marvellous Realms was mastered at Fairview Studios by John Spence week commencing 21 November 2022 with the artwork, prepared by Martin Bostock as usual, already underway. Pre-orders for Marvellous Realms were announced by Burning Shed on 2 December 2022, with a release date for both the physical CD and Bandcamp digital download on 13 January 2023. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase here in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "Marvellous Realms emerges from another intensive, almost perpetual, recording session. The studio is my favoured outlet for my creative endeavours (and perhaps has always been so), especially having now forsaken live performances due to various unwelcome health concerns . Creating music in my modest home studio is an absolute joy, never a chore. I'm constantly exploring an evolving and very personal universe of sounds, concepts, thoughts and whimsical imaginings. Dreaming whilst awake perhaps, ongoing real time fantasias, embracing both the past and the future with equal enthusiasm. From the latest batch of 80 or so new recordings comes this album, Marvellous Realms , a meditation on time and impermanence, wonder and mystery, magic and melancholy, all familiar themes to those who are attuned to my music, but with their own peculiar twist and distinctive flavour. So, sit back and enjoy the view, on the musical journey that never ends…" Albums Menu Future Past

Tomorrow's Just Another Day album - 1983 Yukihiro Takahashi Production/Contribution Menu Future Past BILL: Guitar and Vocals. Production/Contribution Menu Future Past

Discography Menu Retrospective Collections Clicking on a cover below will take you to a full page devoted to that album. Bill Nelson - Transcorder The Acquitted By Mirrors Recordings 2020 album Bill Nelson - Dreamy Screens Soundtracks From The Echo Observatory 2017 box set Be Bop Deluxe - Original Album Series 2014 box set Bill Nelson - The Dreamer's Companion Volume Two Songs Of The Bel-Air Rocketmen 2014 download album Bill Nelson - The Dreamer's Companion Volume Two In This I Reveal My Secret Identity 2014 download album Bill Nelson - The Dreamer's Companion Volume One How I Got My Secret Powers 2014 download album Be Bop Deluxe - At The BBC 1974-1978 2013 box set Be Bop Deluxe - Futurist Manifesto The Harvest Years 1974-1978 2012 box set Bill Nelson - The Practice Of Everyday Life 2011 box set Be Bop Deluxe - Postcards From The Future 2004 album Orchestra Arcana - The Hermetic Jukebox 2002 album Be Bop Deluxe - Tremulous Antenna 2002 album Bill Nelson - Electrotype The Holyground Recordings 1968-1972 2001 album Bill Nelson - What Now, What Next? The Cocteau Compendium 1980-1990 1998 album Be Bop Deluxe - Tramcar To Tomorrow 1998 album Be Bop Deluxe - Air Age Anthology 1997 album Be Bop Deluxe - Radioland BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert 1994 album Bill Nelson - The Strangest Things A Collection Of Recordings 1979-1989 1989 album Bill Nelson - Duplex The Best Of Bill Nelson 1989 album Be Bop Deluxe - Raiding The Divine Archive The Best Of Be Bop Deluxe 1987 album Be Bop Deluxe - Bop To The Red Noise 1986 album Bill Nelson - The Two-Fold Aspect Of Everything Demo tapes, minor arcana and artificial pop from the archives of Bill Nelson 1985 album Bill Nelson - Vistamax 1984 album Bill Nelson - Permanent Flame The Beginner's Guide To Bill Nelson 1982 singles box set Be Bop Deluxe - Singles As & Bs 1981 album Be Bop Deluxe - Best Of And The Rest Of Be Bop Deluxe 1978 album Discography Menu

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2013 William's Study (Diary Of A Hyperdreamer) July 2009 Jan Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Tuesday 21st July 2009 -- 8:20 pm Just checked my website to remind myself when my last diary entry was posted. Could it really be so long ago? As long ago as January? Apparently that's exactly when it was. Somehow I'd imagined that there had been at least one further entry since then, but evidently not. Perhaps I was merely thinking about it. A conceptual diary, words written in smoke on thin air, ghosts of good intentions. So why the biggest gap yet in this ongoing literary ramble? Well, it's the result of one damned thing after another and very little of it worthy of mention here beyond what readers of this diary may have already surmised. My main (and daily), concern has been for my mother and the unfortunate circumstances she found herself in after the death of her husband, (to whom she had served as a dutiful wife for 28 years). The last 14 months or more have been an unwelcome ordeal for her, not just because of the bereavement she has suffered, but also as a direct result of the litigation she was forced to undertake and the emotional toll it subsequently imposed. Her legal struggle has only recently come to some sort of modest resolve but, although two months have already passed since she accepted the offer which was finally made to her, she has yet to see the practical results. Now, it seems, there are further legal fine-tunings to be dealt with before she can, hopefully, put this regretful and miserable business behind her and get on with her life. Naturally, it has been an extremely stressful and unpleasant time for her and a worry for friends, neighbours and family who have expressed their concern about her situation and well-being...and, although I'm trying not to make too much of it, it's proved a depressing and demanding experience for me too. Sadly, as is so often the case with inheritance disputes, much grief and a great deal of expense could have been avoided had some sort of fairness prevailed at the start. But, human nature being what it is, especially where money is concerned, fairness was always going to be too much to hope for. Damning as that conclusion is, it's hardly more than what was expected. If nothing else, the experience has been revealing. However, the subject is unworthy of further attention so I'll not offer any further comment but simply move on and away from it. Despite the many months of dealing with the above situation, I've continued to work extremely hard to maintain some sort of creative flow. It's been far from easy under the circumstances but, by putting in even longer hours than usual, I now have FIVE new albums awaiting release and a SIXTH album almost complete. (Plus, I should add, a seventh album, which is a collaborative project, finally coming to fruition.) Could it be that I've sought some sort of internal release from various external problems and pressures by allowing myself to become lost in music? Well, if so, it certainly wouldn't be for the first time. In any case, I've become a little bored with the notion than albums should always be 'major statements,' torn from the very core of one's being, precious highly polished jewels to be dispensed to the masses as if they were pearls beyond price. Or, as Todd Rundgren once expressed it, products of 'The ever popular tortured artist effect.' My own albums are like personal letters, monthly magazines, glimpses into private sketchbooks, whispers in a lover's ear, keys to secret wardrobes filled with fetish clothing that only priveleged and trusted friends are allowed to see. (Strange how often eroticism creeps into these metaphors!) But, even so, the music still emerges, unavoidably, unbidden, from somewhere deep inside, the complex result of endless little struggles with myself. It's just that I try not to make too much of a fuss about it. (So many artists' declarations of creative 'angst' ultimately turn out to be little more than romantic self-promotion, or cunningly contrived marketing ploys.) So, here's a summary of work accomplished in my home studio this year: ALBUM 1: A vocal based album titled 'FANCY PLANETS.' This is something of a departure from the work of recent years in that it attempts to reconcile my '70's era style with my more contemporary output. The balance seems to be tipped slightly in favour of the past though...which for me, as someone whose natural inclination is to never return to fields long ago harvested and left barren, amounts to a kind of heresy. Maybe there's an element of nostalgia involved too, albeit tinted with post-modernist irony. I suppose I'm not entirely convinced that this is a credible or dignified album for a sixty year old man to have recorded, though I'm probably far too close to it to tell. However, I do expect that it will be warmly embraced by a certain percentage of my audience, despite any apparent trepidation or nervousness on my part. There are, of course, a few stray tracks that reach beyond the album's central concept, (or maybe they're just attempting to escape it). Perhaps it is these tracks that will provide me with the most creative satisfaction. But, who knows? I have no clear idea what people want from my music any more. Maybe that's always been the case. The truth is, I make music simply because I derive great pleasure and a certain degree of personal insight from doing so. For all my clouds of unknowing, this album could be as bright as a full moon sky filled with shining stars. Anyway, the track list for 'FANCY PLANETS' runs as follows:- 1: 'Fancy Planets.' 2: 'The Golden Days Of Radio.' Compact mix. 3: 'Kiss Me Goodnight, Captain Marvel.' 4: 'The Land Of Dreams Is Closed.' 5: 'This Leads To That Leads To This.' 6: 'Where Are We Now.' 7: 'Twice In A Blue Moon.' 8: 'Everyday Now Is Forever Again.' 9: 'She Dreams Of Fires.' 10: 'I Hear Electricity.' 11: 'Mysterious Object Overhead.' 12: 'Dream Cities Of The Heart.' 13: 'Mystery Engine.' 14: 'The Golden Days Of Radio.' Hypermix. ALBUM 2: A guitar-based instrumental album titled 'HERE COMES MR MERCURY.' This is an album of, (mainly), bluesy-jazzy tinted improvisations and tunes. All electric guitar and some groovy beats mixed with a touch of electronica and occassional weirdness. The track list is as follows:- 1: 'Never A Dull Day.' (For Les Paul.) 2: 'Coop's Place.' 3: 'Six String Skyway.' 4: 'The Standard Fireworks Stomp.' 5: 'Teatime In The Republic Of Dreams.' 6: 'Soda Fountain Swing.' 7: 'Attempt To Re-assemble My Fragmented Self.' 8: 'Autumn Noodle No1.' 9: 'A Dream For Ian.' 10: 'Mars Welcomes Careful Drivers.' 11: 'Here Comes Mr Mercury.' 12: 'Dance Of The Pagan Energy Ghosts.' 13: 'Tomorrow Today.' 14: 'Red Planet Blues. (The Ritual Transfiguration Of Spaceman Albert Fitzwilliam Digby.)' ALBUM 3: A keyboard-based instrumental album titled 'THEATRE OF FALLING LEAVES.' This album has subtle hints of guitar on two or three tracks but is predominantly a keyboard-oriented project. There are deliberate, somewhat ironic '80's touches where mono-synth sounds are merged with more contemporary tones. The album is a surreal mixture of melancholy and mirth. My personal favourite track is 'SuperSerene,' an 'outsider' track in that it bears little resemblance to any of the other pieces on the album. This particluar track is another component in an ongoing series of orchestral compositions and, if I may presume to plead, achingly beautiful. The full track list is as follows:- 1: 'Thoughts Travel. (For Miles.)' 2: 'You Here Now In William's World.' 3: 'The Darcey Bussell Rubberwear Fantasia.' 4: 'Tiny Mice Are Dancing In The Cottage Of Her Dreams.' 5: 'Planet Of Sleeping Buddhas.' 6: 'Pagoda Dreamhouse.' 7: 'Tumbletown.' 8: 'Dance, Mighty Robot, Dance!' 9: 'SuperSerene.' 10: 'Theatre Of Falling Leaves.' 11: 'Sparkle And Spin.' 12: 'Space Ace Gets His Girl.' 13: 'Django Dreams Of Twinkleland.' 14: 'From Here To Far Orion.' ALBUM 4: This year's 'Nelsonica' fan convention album titled 'THE DREAM TRANSMISSION PAVILION.' This, as is usual with the Nelsonica convention albums, contains an eclectic mix of music featuring both vocal and instrumental tracks, ('though mainly vocal). I often think of the Nelsonica albums as being made up of 'left-overs' or 'B-list' material but this year's album could quite easily qualify as a full-blown 'A-list' release. It has some very interesting material on it. The track listing is as follows:- 1: 'Billy And The High Blue Horizon.' 2: 'Beauty Lifts Her Skirts.' 3: 'The Sound From This Recording Travels To The Stars.' 4: 'Once More Around The Moon.' 5: 'Prarie Hula.' 6: 'Kiss You Slow.' 7: 'The Boy Who Knew The Names Of Trains.' 8: 'Picture In A Frame.' 9: 'Sway And Swoon.' 10: 'A Thought For You.' 11:'Where Does It Come From, Where Does It Go?' 12: 'Trancendental Radios.' 13: 'The Walls Of Which Are Made Of Clouds.' 14: 'I Am The Captain.' 15: 'Here I Am For You.' 16: 'Once More Around The Moon.' (Monitor Mix.) ALBUM 5: An instrumental album titled 'PICTURE POST.' This album contains music I created for the American television documentary film, 'American Stamps.' It's an eclectic collection of styles but hangs together very well and manages to work interestingly outside of the film's immediate visual content. I have given the pieces titles, although they don't neccesarily connect directly with their usage in the film. (The tracks originally had no titles, only cue numbers.) The 'Picture Post' album has yet to be mastered at Fairview studios but the track list will be as follows:- 1: 'Sunny Day For A Happy Postman.' 2: 'Postcard To A Penfriend.' 3: 'Music Spins My Globe.' 4: 'I Send My Dreams To You.' 5: 'A Christmas Cowboy Outfit.' 6: 'Skimming Stones.' 7: 'In Anticipation.' 8: 'Shibuya Screen.' 9: 'September Promenade.' 10: 'Airmail Guitar.' 11: 'A Day At West Acre.' 12: 'Greetings From Surf Guitar Island.' 13: 'Beach Hut Beauties.' 14: 'Dream Of An American Streetcar.' 15: 'Mobile Homes On The Range.' 16: 'Surf King Sails In.' 17: 'Big Ship.' 18: 'Filigree Balcony.' 19: 'Clouds Drift North.' 20: 'The Toy Trumpet.' 21: 'Pagent.' 22: 'Emphatically Yours.' ALBUM 6: An instrumental/spoken word album titled 'NON-STOP MYSTERY ACTION!' This album contains 'long-form' instrumental pieces that feature voice samples/cut-ups and, on one piece, my own spoken prose-poetry. The concept is built around two 15 minute-plus pieces created as soundtracks for last year's and this year's Nelsonica convention opening videos. I'm in the process of recording more tracks to complete this album but it's almost there. No final running order decided as yet but the album will probably include the following titles:- 1: 'The Departure Of The 20th Century In A Hail Of Memory.' 2: 'Yes And No.' 4: 'Like A Woman Levitating.' 5: 'Machines Of Loving Grace.' 6: 'This Is Like A Galaxy.' 7: 'Welcome To The Dream Transmision Pavilion.' 8: 'Stranger Flowers Now Than Ever.' There will also be a 7th album. This will be the long anticipated collaboration between myself and renowned American comic book artist Matt Howarth. It's a kind of graphic art 'space opera' with music. Titled 'THE LAST OF THE NEON CYNICS,' this album will carry a pdf file of Matt's comic book illustration of the story, along with the special music I created as its soundtrack. The album will contain 9 lengthy compositions, all of which relate to episodes and characters within the story. (More about the track list in a future diary entry.) It's the tale of a space cowboy who travels through galactic worm-holes in a 'intergalactic-tram,' accompanied by his guitar. (A guitar that can actually talk and features as one of the central characters in the story.) A whimsical and wonderfully surreal slice of sci-fi. Matt and I began working on this collaboration some years ago, (maybe 2003?) but, due to my busy work-load and several distracting issues outside of my creative life, it has taken me far longer to deliver the finished music than would normally be the case. Even now though, with several other albums finished and already lined up for release, it will have to await its turn at the end of this year, before it can be manufactured and made available. But it is something extra, (and rather unusual), for fans to look forward to. One relatively new aspect of my home studio involves Django, (the cat), who seems to have developed the habit of curling up next to me on one of my studio chairs (the one with the kitsch 'Elvis in the army' cushion), whenever I'm recording. In fact, he's close here beside me now, as I type these words, black, sleek and handsome. He's an intelligent and affectionate creature and we've become great pals. The volume of the studio monitors doesn't seem to bother him at all and he will happily spend a fair proportion of his day dreaming along to the music whilst sleeping on Elvis's face. It is this pleasant development that gave me the title 'Django Dreams Of Twinkleland' for the 'Theatre Of Falling Leaves' album. A thought: Maybe I should compose another piece with the title ' The King And The Cat.' Well, yes...I think I will. A major pre-occupation for me at the moment is to make sure that everything is ready for this year's Nelsonica fan convention. Lots to do, as always. It seems to have come around even quicker this year, but maybe that's because we had a late start to the planning process and have an earlier convention date than usual. (Last year's Nelsonica was held in November but this years will be on the 19th of September.) Consequently, I'm under some pressure to keep everything on schedule. This year, Nelsonica will be held at a new venue, the rather elegant 'Crown Hotel' in Harrogate, once the haunt of Sir Edward Elgar. We've secured a very nice room, complete with a modest built-in stage, which should suit the style of Nelsonica 09's live performances perfectly. The loyal Nelsonica team are adding their special talents to the mix too, (as always), and it promises to be a unique and memorable day for fans who are able to attend. I've just completed this year's opening video for the event, after one month's constant work on it. It lasts over 15 minutes and is titled ' Welcome To The Dream Transmission Pavilion.' It functions as a companion piece to last year's epic ' The Departure Of The 20th Century In A Hail Of Memory ' video. Whilst that piece dealt with the passing of time and the nature of memory, this year's video is loosely themed around the way that memories and dreams sometimes become entagled as the mind gives way to the gentle erosion of the passing years. I think it's about how the real becomes unreal and vice-versa. Or something like that. These things are often arrived at by intuition. It can be somewhat like dowsing or like feeling one's way through a 1950's British fog. There's a vague sensation of where I'm going but it is often only afterwards that I fully grasp where I've been and what it means. Guided by invisible forces, unconscious impulses, strange currents, dim lamps. Beautiful, and all the more so for the uncertainty. Sections of the video are a 're-mix' of familiar themes from some of my previous visual work but there are several sections that use previously unseen footage from old home 8-mm cine film. Amongst this archive material are glimpses of Be Bop Deluxe in America, not on stage but in casual, 'off-duty' situations at gas stations, in a dressing room, or outside a rehearsal studio in Los Angeles. These are fleeting, tantalising glimpses, filmed by myself in casual moments, but made even more poignant by their brevity. No digital camcorders back then so it was shot on short reels of super-8 film, film that only ran for three minutes before a new reel had to be fitted.This involved finding a room or cupboard where all light could be exluded from the camera so that the film would not be exposed whilst changing reels. Because of this restriction, I tended to take very quick shots, lasting only a few seconds, so as to make as much use of a single reel of film as possible before having the hassle of loading up another reel. Now, of course, the digital camcorder offers much longer shooting times. Even so, with hindsight, I wish I'd have captured much more of the band and far less of American barns and trucks rolling past car windows. What little footage there is of Charlie, Simon and Andy is precious, so I've trimmed away all the above mentioned passing landscape and tried to focus on the band members. I only seem to feature as a camera-toting reflection in dressing room mirrors, and even then for only fractions of seconds. I'm always there but virtually invisible, a facilitator. the means by which others are seen. There's something appropriately Cocteau-esque about that! One of the people glimpsed in the footage is Jeremy Fabini who acted as our projectionist on the later Be Bop Deluxe tours. Jeremy carried his own home-cine camera and filmed lots of the band's adventures on the road...also at our Juan-Les-Pins recording session in the South Of France. Jeremy used to live, (I think), in Italy, maybe Milan. I wonder where he is now and if he still has the extensive film footage he shot? There would be lots of it and I would probably feature quite a bit in it too, (in contrast to my own cine footage where I'm behind the camera). I'd love to get it all digitised and transferred to my computer so that I could combine it with my own shots and make some sort of personal documentary about those long-lost times. Other archive 8-mm cine footage I've incorporated into 'WELCOME TO THE DREAM TRANSMISSION PAVILION' video shows the exterior and gardens of my old home, 'Haddlesey House.' It also gives a glimpse of the Rolls Royce and Panther Lima cars I drove at that time. Looking at this footage now feels very strange. It's as if I'm observing someone else's life, as though in a dream, and yet, at the same time, it's extremely familiar, as if it happened only yesterday. But, of course, it was more than thirty years ago... The music soundtrack I've created for the video is slightly unusual in that it features a spoken prose-poem, (with myself as narrator), recorded specifically for the piece. This voice-over runs through much of the video. Hopefully, it will set the scene for the convention attendees in an interesting and curious fashion. As usual, I'll be performing live as part of the day's programming. The plan is for a solo set of instrumentals AND a separate trio set with my occasional 'Orchestra Futura' project which features my wonderfully talented friends Dave Sturt and Theo Travis. I'm hoping that we'll have six pieces of music to offer our audience. These pieces will be spontaneously improvised around loops and pre-recorded tracks and atmospheres. I'm also hoping to perform a separate improv piece as a duo with Steve Cook on keyboards. We're thinking of naming ourselves 'Bleep n' Booster' for this one! (An arch reference to a vintage British television children's cartoon series.) I'm currently working on several new pieces for my own SOLO performance at the convention and have already completed two or three of these but will decide which ones to incorporate in my set, (if any), a little nearer the time. Actually, I need to give some further thought to the set's running order and decide upon it's contents before mastering the backing track cds at Fairview. All being well, John Spence will be mixing the live performances at the convention. I also have to prepare my guitars and various other items of equipment in advance of Nelsonica. Because I give concerts so rarely these days, my somewhat complex stage rig doesn't get used very often. My studio guitar set-up is comparitively basic, due to the extremely small space I'm forced to work in here at home more than anything else. Consequently, it's essential that I re-aquaint myself with the comprehensive live effects rack and its numerous pedal boards each time Nelsonica rolls around. To this end, a day in a rehearsal studio has been booked, near the convention date, so that my full set of equipment can be properly set up and tested. Hopefully, this will allow me to familiarise myself with the technical demands of the live set, which pedals connect to which sounds and compositions, etc, etc. I find live performance more nerve-frazzling each year, not just because I'm unused to playing live, but because my creative standards and targets have evolved, often beyond the limits of my basic technical abilities. Sometimes I leave the stage feeling down and frustrated by it all. It can be demoralising and depressing for me, though not, I hope, for my audience who generally seem to enjoy themselves, regardless of my self-critical nature. But that's how it goes...the old cliche of, 'the more you know, the less you know.' The hardest thing is to trust one's instincts and intuition and just PLAY. What's the point of a daffodill agonising about whether it's yellow enough or not? But here at home, there are other, more important concerns. The most recent regarding Emi's mother, who has just been admitted to hospital in Tokyo. The intestinal cancer, for which she underwent surgery last year, has returned and also now spread to her liver. She is too frail to survive further surgery and it seems that there is little that the doctors can do for her. It is difficult to say exactly how long it will take for things to progress towards their ultimate conclusion but maybe six months at best, according to the doctor's current estimate. Of course, Emi is extremely distressed about the situation and has now made plans to fly to Japan to spend some time with her mum. I would prefer to go with her to lend whatever support I can but Nelsonica responsibilities won't allow that, The fact is, there's far too much still to prepare and if I went to Japan, it would almost certainly mean that the convention would have to be cancelled, (and tickets have already been sold, venue booked, etc, etc.) So I must stay here in Yorkshire and do my best to stay focussed on what must be done. Nevertheless, it's a very difficult and worrying time. When Emi went to visit her mother in hospital in Japan last year, readers of this diary will probably recall how much we missed each other and how pathetically useless I was at dealing with everyday domestic issues. And this time, there will be my convention preparations to deal with too. But I have no right to feel sorry for myself. Emi's situation will be far more difficult and stressful than mine...in comparison, my selfish concerns amount to nothing. And, in any case, she is hoping to return in time for Nelsonica. It's been a difficult year for Emi in so many ways. After being made redundant from the flower shop where she'd worked for for eight years, she then suffered further redundancy at her next job when the company that employed her went under due to the current economic climate. Subsequent attempts at finding employment have been fruitless. it's proving difficult for many people to find work at the moment, but Emi, being both sixty years old and Japanese has found it particularly hard, (especially when prejudice and ignorance have come into the equation). But being the sweet-natured lady she is, she doesn't see these things quite as cynically as I do. Still, there have been some encouraging developments. Emi's talents as a floral artist have brought some freelance commissions to her during the last few months. Without any proper advertising or self-promotion, she's picked up several orders for floral arrangements, mostly for personal gifts, mother's day bouquets, birthdays and funerals, but also for some weddings. Last week she was busy creating beautiful flower arrangements for the third wedding in two months and has a fourth wedding booked for mid August. In fact, it is the wedding work that has prohibited her from travelling to Japan earlier. (Her flight to Tokyo is booked for just after her next wedding commision.) Emi has also been giving private flower arranging lessons to several ladies, some English, some Japanese. These have become pleasant social occassions for her as well as floral art classes and she has been able to convey something of the refinement and beauty of Japanese culture to her students, sometimes preparing traditional Japanese food as part of the lessons. That this attention has come her way purely by recommendation is heartening. People seem to appreciate her talents and the personal, one-to-one service she provides.They've spread the word amongst their friends and families without any immediate need for advertising. That said, I'm planning a glossy printed brochure for her and hope to complete the design of it, (with the essential and valuable help of my good friend David Graham), once my Nelsonica duities are fulfilled. Whilst ALL business are struggling to one degree or another at the moment, I'm trusting that there is still a market for something a little more special than the standard florist approach. It seems to me, as (I admit), an outsider, that commercial floristry is as depressingly predictable and uniform as the popular music scene. But hopefully, there are people who will appreciate something more sophisticated, something with a touch more depth, just as there will always be music consumers who require something other than the manipulative fluff they're sold by the mainstream music industry. In any sort of creative work, music or otherwise, I hold on to the (perhaps naive), belief that it's important to provide people with unique alternatives...alternatives that aren't neccesarily defined by commercial taste...Timeless, thoughtful alternatives too. But then, who knows? Maybe I'm just an old-fashioned idealist. (And some other old-fashioned idealists might say that the meek have no chance of inheriting the earth because the mediocre but bold already own the lease.) ;-) Well, sod that for a proverbial game of tennis. Back to my own work: One of the consequences of spending so much time in my studio is the negative effect it has on my health, mentally and physically. I have to admit I haven't felt great of late and the studio lifestyle definitely does nothing for my middle-aged waistline. Which brings a thought: Am I still allowed, at SIXTY, for Christ's sake, to refer to myself as middle-aged? Wouldn't it be far more appropriate to refer to myself as 'old' or maybe as a senior citizen' instead?' Whichever way I look at it, I can't quite grasp the concept of actually BEING sixty, other than via the daily physical aches and pains, creaks, groans and depressions that have become impossible to ignore. And the infamous, capitulating, milestone, millstone, Bus Pass, (which I've steadfastly refused to claim). But as far as creating music goes, I feel just as motivated as before. And I suppose, for what it's worth, seven albums lined up for release in one year is something of an achievement ...for anyone, let alone a depressed sixty year old. It gets a little scary at times though...I mean, why do I feel such a compulsion to make music...and where are all these different ideas coming from? Each of the seven albums listed above has its own identity, its own tale to tell whilst still, I imagine, sounding exactly like me. But, every album I make, in some strange way, feels like it's my first, even though I've filled a small universe with albums over the years. I've contemplated these things before...they're part of an ongoing mystery that I'm reluctant to delve too deeply into for fear of short-circuiting whatever magic might be at work. Maybe if I drew back the curtain, instead of a wizard, all I'd see is an obsessive, driven, fearful, socially-inept personality suffering from low self-esteem, (hiding a desparate need to feel loved and approved). Hmmm...better not go there. I once vowed that I wouldn't allow myself to fall into these self-analytical musings in my diary entries any more but the temptation, it seems, still remains. And what was it I was saying earlier about artists flagging up their angst like a banner advertising a supermarket sale? I'll move on. My reading, over these last few busy months, has been confined to bedtime, as per usual. Books read (or still being read), are:- 'LAFF' by John Boyle. 'WHY MRS BLAKE CRIED: (William Blake and the Sexual Basis of Spiritual Vision.)' by Marsha Keith Schuchard. 'THE PALACE OF STRANGE GIRLS.' by Sallie Day. 'THE BOYS BOOK OF AIRFIX.' by Arthur Ward. 'CARTOONS AND CORONETS. (The Genius Of Osbert Lancaster.') by James Knox. 'PHILOSOPHY. The great thinkers.' by Philip Stokes. 'IN THE COUNTRY OF COUNTRY.' by Nicholas Dawidoff. 'THE ILLUSTRATORS. The Art Of British Illustration 1800-2007.' 'THE MAKING OF WAKEFIELD. 1801-1900.' by Kate Taylor. 'THE GOLDEN BUILDERS.' by Tobias Churton. 'THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE.' by Peter Marshall. As far as listening to music goes, (as opposed to making it), my pleasure tends to be restricted to the car, whilst driving. Albums recently played are: 'TOGETHER THROUGH LIFE.' by Bob Dylan. 'LAST NIGHT THE MOON CAME DROPPING ITS CLOTHES IN THE STREET.' by Jon Hassell. 'HALLMARKS.' by Jim Hall. ''I, FLATHEAD.' by Ry Cooder. 'HISTORY, MYSTERY' and also 'FOLKSONGS.' by Bill Frisell. ' WRITTEN IN CHALK.' by Buddy and Julie Miller. 'FINGERPICKING GUITAR DELIGHTS.' by various artists. 'HANK WILLIAMS-The Absolutely Essential Collection.' by Hank Williams. 'SO MUCH GUITAR!' by Wes Montgomery. 'GREEN STREET.' by Grant Green. 'ELLA FITZGERALD SINGS COLE PORTER.' by Ella Fitzgerald. 'EAST!' by Pat Martino. 'GIL EVANS.' by Gil Evans. 'SWING IS THE THING.' by The Mills Brothers. 'THE BEST OF GEORGE FORMBY.' by George Formby. 'PORGY AND BESS.' by Miles Davis. There are various other happenings, doings, commentaries, observations, trials and tribulations that I might have added to this diary entry, if only I'd found more spare time to bring the reader completely up to date...but I've already spent far too much time typing when I really should be working on Nelsonica preparations and projects. Already, despite several omissions, this long overdue entry has taken a couple of days to assemble. So, I'll close here. Hopefully, another entry before too long...or at least a little sooner than it took for THIS one to appear. I'll attempt to include a few more of the events of the last six months in it. For now though, it's back to the mixing desk and the drawing board. But back with you soon, given a little luck and a following wind. ***** Attached images are:- 1: Django in my studio. 2: Some of the guitars I use for jazz tones. 3: A self-made 'Fancy Planets' advert. 4: Another variation of same. 5: Just one of several recent wedding floral arrangements by Emiko. 6: Nelsonica 09 T-shirt design. Top of page

2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2013 William's Study (Diary Of A Hyperdreamer) February 2007 Jan Apr May Jul Sep Oct Nov Dec Sunday 11th February 2007 -- 6:00 pm An entire month has passed since the previous diary entry. I've simply not felt able to write 'though there's been more than enough to write about. I just haven't had the energy or inclination to do so. An emotional low, as if dark clouds have been gathering and getting darker each day. I'll attempt an explanation of some kind but, I don't think it's wise to lift the lid too high on this latest Pandora's Box of tricks. I've already dwelt far too long on the mortal thoughts that it inevitably contains (and there's always the possibility that further introspection may conjure even darker skies). Nevertheless, I have to admit to feeling more melancholy than is probably healthy for me and it would be dishonest to pretend that things are otherwise. I've hesitated to call this feeling out and out depression, but maybe that's what it is, 'though I don't feel I have the right to allow myself such an excuse. The cause? Several possiblilities. Some that are understandable and some that are less so. Some external, some internal. Whatever the reason, the accumulative effect is the same. I seem to be caught in a negative space of my own making. Just before Christmas, my mother's husband George, (whom mum married several year's after my father died), was diagnosed with cancer. Coming so soon after the passing of my brother Ian last April, this has come as an additional family blow. George is in hospital at this moment, recovering from the major operation he underwent last week. His condition seems fragile, 'though we're hoping for improvement. George is in his '80's and we're all concerned about him, particularly my mother who is by nature a worrier. She frets and fusses about everything and no amount of sage advice can change that. Perhaps that's where my own nervous disposition stems from. I try not to think of myself as being overtly prone to such things but people who know me well always seem to come up with the cliche "you worry too much." I deny it, of course, but maybe they're not far off the mark. Anyway, I'm worried about George and worried about my mother who, as regular readers of this diary know, has herself been fighting a skin cancer problem for some years. (Thankfully, this has responded to treatment and, whilst there's still progress to be made, she is much better than she was a couple of years ago.) Unsurprisingly, this latest development has made her feel as if her world has been thrown even more off balance. I've tried to keep in touch with mum far more frequently than usual, calling her two or three times each day to offer whatever support I'm able. Currently laid low with a nasty cold bug though, I've been unable to go to the hospital with her. Unwise to risk passing on my germs as George is especially vulnerable at the moment. The last thing he and mum needs is to catch a virus from me. So I've tried to help from a distance, which is far from ideal but perhaps the wisest course for the moment. And whilst a cold virus is a minor complaint compared to what else is going on, it's been debilitating enough to add to the lowering of my own spirits and energies. In view of everything else though, I have no right to complain whatsoever. I've tried to get on with my work...and there's plenty of it to deal with as usual, all backed up and demanding immediate attention. As I've probably noted in these pages before, a lot of it feels more like duty than inclination. For instance, do I really want to deal with those ancient Be Bop Deluxe Decca audition tapes? I know that there are certain fans eager to hear these recordings but...I'm finding it harder than ever to get up the head of steam required to mix them. Not that I'd ever consider passing the job on to anyone else...I'm absolutely determined to do it myself, once the creative compass swings in the right direction. Right now though, it's pointing towards a far distant island of dreams, uncharted territory, not to harbours long since left behind. I'm by no means ungrateful for the commercial success that Be Bop Deluxe brought me back in the '70's...but sometimes, just sometimes, it feels more like an a millstone around my neck, rather than just one of several milestones on a long and ongoing musical journey. (Oh, poor, self-centred me!) But as I've so often noted in these pages, that sort of frustration goes with the 'job.' Even modest success tends to fix the public's conception of an artist at a particular point in time, like a butterfly pinned to a board, identified, dated and framed under glass. Over the years, I've fought hard against the kind of industry stereotyping that has, perhaps predictably but also lazily, branded me as 'ex-Be Bop Deluxe front man,' but, no matter how reluctant I've been to acknowledge that tag, it's proved a tough one to lose. Surely there's more to it than that? O.k, so to some people I probably DO sound unfairly dissmisive of my past, but...any ambivalence I express regarding my own musical history may simply be the result of an awareness of failure, of how much distance I still need to travel to find creative satisfaction. Even after all these years, I still feel as if I'm at the start of something, rather than at the conclusion of it. And, the older I get, the more acute is my sense that time spent re-visiting my musical past is time that could be spent searching for my musical future instead. Then again, it may simply be part of a desire to escape the limitations of labelling, a sheer cantankerousness in the face of anyone attempting to 'figure me out.' And yet...I DO go to some lengths in this diary to make myself understood, to offer a kind of clarification, to give some intimate indication of the various experiences that underpin the music. All part of the equation, I guess...and riddled with the usual personal contradictions. I don't pretend to understand why these issues should be so complex, but...in my defence, I do struggle, perhaps amusingly rather than heroically, with the implications of the complexities and contradictions that I find myself tangled up in. Weirdly, (and sometimes shockingly,) it's a struggle that is conducted as much in public as in private...the former via the pages of this diary and with every new piece of music I allow out of the studio. In any case, it's not just me, is it? Isn't everyone on the planet riddled with similar contradictions? It's the swiss cheese of existence. Even God is full of holes... Ask Richard Dawkins: wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Dawkins And he's a professor as well as an existential cheese maker. Why anyone should expect consistency from artists is laughable. Contradictions and uncertainties are an artist's lifeblood. All this endless pondering is part of the process, the fundamental fabric of the artist's curse. Being measured by mass appeal, (or more correctly, SALES revenue), rather than artistic merit, is an unavoidable fact of life in the wonderful world of the music business. Fairly obvious, but I never thought that 'business' was where I was headed when I picked up a guitar all those years ago. I was naive enough to think that I was setting sail for my aforementioned island of dreams. Guitar in one hand, telescope in the other. But it seems these are dreams that money can buy, hence the inevitable entry of 'business' to the arena. Dreams for sale, the fevered imaginings of creative minds piped into the consciousness of a dream-hungry public via the conduits of industry. It's a kind of science-fiction. Amazingly, I still eke a living from this stuff. I stand on street corners and whisper into the ears of passers-by. " Hey, kid, wanna hear my dreams?" I'm drifting...writing a book instead of a diary. Back to recent news: I've now completed the music for my collaboration with American comic-book artist Matt Howarth. The final two pieces of music were posted to him last week. 'The Last Of The Neon Cynics' is an ambitious tale of a tram-travelling, (yes, that TRAM not 'time'), space-cowboy with a talking guitar. I've worked on the music for the last two or three years, on and off, (mostly 'off' due to other work pressures), and poor Matt has displayed the patience of a saint whilst I've labouriously got my act together. (Or found time to deal with it.) The idea we have is that pictures, story and music will be available as a download, though details of exactly how we'll do this are still to be finalised. I've also completed some additional recordings for an instrumental album that currently bears the title 'Gleaming Without Lights.' As mentioned in previous diary entries, this album is centred around the almost 40 minute long soundtrack that I created for the 'Memory Codex' autobiographical video which was screened at last year's Nelsonica. The title of the piece is 'Dreamland Illuminated.' To make up the rest of the album I've recorded some new instrumentals that compliment the soundtrack. I've also decided the album's running order, which is as follows: 1: 'Gleaming Without Lights.' 2: 'North-East.' 3: 'Rialto.' 4: 'Billy Builds The World Of Tomorrow.' 5: 'Glittering Rails.' 6: 'Dreamland Illuminated.' 7: 'Pilgrim (Fantasia On A Distantly Remembered Hymn.)' The entire album is instrumental and electric guitar oriented, falling somewhere between the 'Dreamland To Starboard' and 'Neptune's Galaxy' album stylings. I've also added extra textural details to the 'Dreamland Illuminated' piece that were originally absent from the Memory Codex soundtrack recording. This isn't a 'major statement' album but an interesting side-project, a pleasant diversion which will only be manufactured in limited quantities. Next job up on my list of to-do items:- The aforementioned Decca audition tape mixes plus selection of some live Be Bop Deluxe bootleg recordings to be included on the 'Tomorrow The World' album. Also the Mitchell Froom remix project which I haven't yet found time to address. (But will do as soon as time is available.) One frustrating bit of business has been the repeated attempts to install some new effects in my Mackie D8B mixing desk. Technical mysterioso. Different operating systems, system conflicts, various software builds, and most of all a rather indifferent and sometimes confusing user back-up service have confounded expectations of performing a simple, straight-ahead installation. And this isn't exactly software installed in a computer but a dedicated hardware recording system. We may be nearer, (Paul and I), to success,as nearly all our available options have been exhausted. One more thing remains to be done, (in the next week or so), which, fingers crossed, may see the problem finally resolved. I love my Mackie recording system but...there are certain issues that the company needs to talk about with artists such as myself, not least because they've now stopped manufacturing the particular equipment I've come to rely on so much and seem to have left those of us who use it to flounder with a less than clear, (or working), website. Another rapidly looming task: Preparation for my live concert at Leeds University School Of Music on the 28th of April. I'd originally hoped to have created an autobiographical video/film titled 'Ghosts Etched On Glass' to screen before my performance. Unfortunately, events have overtaken me and I don't have enough time available to begin work on this particular visual piece. For one thing, I need to gain permission to browse through the Yorkshire Film Archives as well as applying to search for suitable photographs at Wakefield City Museum's archives if I'm to gather the period footage and still images needed to add to my own family photographs and 8mm cine material. (There's also the matter of obtaining legal and financial clearance for the officially archived footage that I might want to incorporate in my film.) Then there's the script writing and recording of my own voice narration for the story, plus the assembly of appropriate music. And all this before I can actually sit down and concentrate on the painstaking process of editing all this diverse material into something resembling a cohesive documentary film. There's simply not enough time available to do all this before 28th of April, especially as I have a list of other pressing things to complete . So...I'm unfortunately going to have to fall back on plan 'B.' Instead of 'Ghosts Etched On Glass' I'll screen the 'Memory Codex Volume One' video that I made for last year's Nelsonica convention. I may also show 'Personal Ghosts' from the 'Flashlight Dreams' DVD as it ties in with the generally autobiographical theme of the evening. If time allows, I'll try to create a video for 'North-East' (from 'Gleaming Without Lights'), using east coast footage I've personally shot during the last couple of years. I have some evocative Whitby sunsets that would work well with this, along with some Flamborough Head and Reighton Gap material. But lots to do, including sorting out a live performance set for the event. It will be all instrumental and, (as the performance constitutes part of a contemporary music festival), more in the area of contemplative, introspective, exploratory music than straight ahead rock. For like-minded souls only, I suppose. As some might say, an art event. I'm confused...Why the hell do I still try to explain and segregate this stuff? Am I SO conscious of the fact that some potential listener's need a guide book when I stray outside of the Be Bop Deluxe territory alluded to in the earlier part of this diary entry? The venue in the School Of Music is more suited to a carefully controlled sound system than anything like the heavy duty thunder of rock. It's a kind of converted church or chapel within the School Of Music building, the same venue I gave a brief performance in a couple of years ago as part of a guitar-oriented event put on there. So, it will be a narrowly focussed, possibly quite intense, listening experience. And tightly connected to the concept of inwardly oriented music. Not remotely Be Bop Deluxe for those who are expecting a set featuring songs and mainstream music. Ironically though, Be Bop Deluxe tracks such as 'Blimps' and 'Futurist Manifesto' gave ample warning of where certain aspects of the music was headed. Even all those years ago. Let me try to return to more personal issues:- I visited my brother Ian's grave again a couple of weeks ago. Only the second time since his headstone was erected and the first time since the turn of the year. Emi and I took flowers and placed them in the two vases that are an integral part of Ian's headstone. It was twilight, lighter than the occasion of our previous visit, just before Christmas when our car's headlights had been neccesary to see the gravestone. This time there was a soft electric blue sky stretching overhead, puncutated by pastel-smudged cream and orange clouds. In the near distance, Sandal Castle Hill was visible, a place that Ian, once upon a time, like myself, enjoyed visiting. Church bells echoed on the breeze and evening birdsong was audible. Just beyond the walls of the older part of the cemetary, across Sugar Lane, could be seen the lighting towers surrounding the grounds of Wakefield Trinity rugby football club, a location famously featured in Lindsay Anderson's film of David Storey's 'This Sporting Life' novel. I thought, once again, of the transcience and fragility of life and the distance I've covered, the overwhelming amount of change I've experienced, the losses and gains, the things I've sacrificed to expediency and progress. I thought about Ian's own life and the absence of his prescence amongst the lives of those of us who loved him. I looked at his headstone and the dates boldly carved in silver script on it: 23 April 1956 to 23 April 2006. Such dreadful symmetry, exactly fifty years from start to finish. Then, next to his name, a tied pair of musical notes cut into the grey Indian marble and, at the headstone's base, the inscription 'Tree Of Life' in Latin. I felt angry, then hurt, then suddenly and unexpectedly overcome. I held close to Emi for a little while, then took a deep breath and tried to gain a hold on my emotions. Should I relate this kind of thing in a public diary? I have my doubts about the wisdom of it. But there it is. So why do it? Do I believe that by doing so it may help me come to terms with it in some way? Or that it may be of some use to others who have experienced, or may in future experience, similar grief? The bottom line is, I don't really know. I don't know much of anything anymore. What little I know is this: The loss of my brother is still difficult for me to accept. I still expect him to drop in for a chat and a cuppa, (as he sometimes did when his work brought him within striking distance of our home.) I still imagine that the 'phone will ring and he'll be on the other end of the line with some dryly humourous tale to tell. I still expect that we'll find each other on a stage together, faking our way through the music we shared. I didn't spend nearly enough time with Ian since we attained our debatable 'adulthood'...but I wish I had, I really wish I had. And there you have it. Another reason why my spirits are less than positive. You see, I'm far from over it yet. One further negative outcome of all this introspection has been my decision to postpone the proposed American Nelsonica convention that a handful of dedicated and enterprising US fans were hoping to stage in the 'States later this year. I've come to this decision reluctantly but with a great deal of thought. I've been agonising over what I should do about this for several weeks now, (as close friends know). I've fretted about it, wrestled with it, lost sleep over it, turned it this way and that... but, until a couple of days ago, I couldn't face up to the reality of the situation. The reality being that I already have far too much on my plate this year,that I'm going through an inner crisis of some kind, that I have neither the will nor the strength needed to make such an event the success it deserves to be. For these and other reasons, I've come to the conclusion that it's just not the right time for me to engage wholeheartedly with the proposal. I finally got up the nerve to write to the American team's chief organiser and offer my apologies, explaining that I've basically got more to deal with than I can confidently handle, both in terms of work and personal issues. I explained that an American Nelsonica would be one responsibility too far, for this year, at least. Nevertheless, I've suggested to the US team that I'm willing to keep the option open for next year but right here and now, it's something I sadly don't have the strength to cope with. Thankfully, despite my concerns, the team members have all responded to this disappointing news with kindness and unqualified support, letting me off the hook with generous grace. They're thoughtful, perceptive and understanding of my current situation. Such a relief... I still, unsurprisingly, feel terribly guilty about not being able to commit to the project as I know that quite a few people were looking forward to it becoming a reality, but they've generously told me, in typically positive American fashion, 'not to beat myself up about it.' Well, I'll try to ignore the bruises already inflicted but I can't help but feel bad about declining, even though an American convention was, at this stage, still a possibility, rather than a certainty. There were still some essential details to finalise before a green light could be given, although the team were very optimistic that it would soon become a more than feasible proposition.Perhaps waiting for a better opportunity to stage such an event might, in the long run, prove practical, allowing further planning and more programme content to be added. It could prove to be to everyone's advantage. Or am I just trying to justify my inability to commit? Unfortunately, for me it's a complex issue. Nevertheless, I'm grateful that some of the stress I've felt has been lifted from my shoulders. It will give me a better chance of dealing with the other tasks in front of me. Of course, there's still a UK Nelsonica to consider...At the moment, we've yet to settle the various issues linked to staging the English convention. We haven't properly begun to look at venue options either. It may be that last year's Hilton venue in York is used again, (provided we can get the hotel to provide a much larger number of seats than last year), but we would still like to investigate possible alternatives before making a final choice. Of course, this means putting time aside for Jon Wallinger and myself to draw up a list of venue possibilities and then make appointments for the two of us to visit them to inspect their facilities. Then comes the team meetings where various details are discussed and fine tuning takes place. A lot of thought goes into these annual conventions, perhaps more than is apparent to the casual observer. Jon and I still plan to concentrate on York and it's environs as we feel it offers a reasonably practical location for travel from around the UK. York is situated more or less in the centre of the country and is on the main north-south rail route as well as being connected to major motoways. It's certainly far more user, (and family), friendly than the North Ferriby location that we booked in previous years. Also, being 'local', York is practical in terms of the movement to and fro of my equipment and so on, which allows more time for preparation, sound checks, etc. Anyway, at the time of writing these words, there's nothing definite decided about the UK convention. It may well end up being a last minute thing...but, as it's intended to be here, on the 'doorstep' so to speak, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. I'm sure that the team will work their usual magic. But first we need to secure a venue and a date, then I need to give it a conceptual title, (last year's was 'Arcadian Salon'), before we make any official announcement. Then, of course, comes the little matter of programme content, visual design, live performance set, special presentations, limited edition cd and the rest. (Last year's convention saw me preparing my personal input over a three month period. A lot of work for a one-off event.) Besides the above, there are still hopes of tackling some of the other projects on the wish-list that I made in an earlier diary entry. The main one, for me at least, is the writing and recording of a new vocal album. This will occupy the greatest amount of my time, once the process gets underway. But decks must be cleared first. Then inspiration found. Fitting some kind of domestic life into this work schedule doesn't get any easier. I generally try to reserve the weekends for spending quality time with Emiko but, I often find myself stealing an hour or three to answer website forum questions and to generally connect with the Dreamsville community. And, as I've noted before, even this diary takes up a fair amount of time, once I sit down to write it. (Especially this entry, for some reason.) Despite the above, I HAVE had one or two brief opportunities to escape the studio this last month. I recently spent a couple of days with my old friend John Leckie who came up to visit me before heading over to Sheffield to meet up with a young band he's been hired to produce. John stayed overnight at Maison Nelson and, during dinner at a local Italian restaurant, we had tremendous fun discussing music, past, present and future. John has become a highly respected and famous producer since those distant days when we first worked together as a production team. His work covers a lot of ground, from XTC, Simple Minds, Magazine, The Stone Roses, Kula Shaker, to Cast, Muse, Radiohead and all time legends such as Doctor John and Los Lobos. A great portfolio that started with Be Bop Deluxe's 'Sunburst Finish' album. John's success is very much deserved and I'm so pleased to see that his talent has been so widely recognised. Whenever we meet up, it's as if there's not been a gap in our conversation. John had lots of interesting stories to tell me about his experiences with various 'artistes' he's worked with...some of them highly amusing and possibly scandalous. I'll not divulge these confidences here, (or anywhere,) but just say that rock music doesn't seem to have become any more sophisticated or adult since the days when John and I sat next to each other at the mixing desk in Abbey Road studios. Quite the opposite, in fact. John brought lots of old photographs he'd taken of me during the Be Bop Deluxe recording sessions at various studios we worked in together. He'd digitised them and put them on his laptop as a slide show, complete with music. Most of them I'd not seen before. It was unavoidably nostalgic looking through them but at the same time it did, weirdly, feel as if it were only yesterday rather than thirty years or so ago. Only the music felt like it was made in another era and by a different person. John also, generously, brought me a very generous gift: a vintage Japanese Railway Station Announcer's microphone, (and in pristine working order too). The microphone has a predicatably nasal, high-mid frequency dominated tone but will work perfectly as a special vocal effect on the right piece of music. I'm looking forward to using it, perhaps on the proposed new vocal album. Emi and I managed to get to Whitby for a Sunday trip. Lunch at the 'White Horse And Griffin,' (not up to its usual standard this time for some reason,), then a browse around the old town, followed by a walk out to the edge of the harbour to sniff the ocean, the nearby smokehouse with it's kipper aroma coming and going on the evening breeze. After that, across the old harbour bridge for a drink at a relatively new place, a cafe bar called 'The Moon And Sixpence' which we were both impressed by. It has great views across the harbour towards the church on the cliffs. We resolved to try the food there on our next visit. It was my son Elliot's birthday last week. He's now 26. I can't quite grasp that fact, especially as he's the youngest of my three children. He requested a Chet Atkins DVD and album for his birthday so I sorted them out for him. He's been wanting to give himself a new challenge by getting to grips with music and techniques that fall outside of his usual rock music style, so has been learning some Django Reinhardt pieces. He thought Chet Atkins might provide another angle too. I'm pleased to see him taking such a broad interest in the wider potential of his instrument. So many young guitarists seem to think that music doesn't exist outside the boundaries of the latest skinny jean fad. But, come to think of it, Elliot isn't exactly a 'young' guitarist anymore. Not by today's infantile standards anyway. Emi and I recently went to see him and his sister Elle play with the latest incarnation of their Honeytone Cody band in the basement bar at the City Screen cinema, in the centre of town. I was impressed. Their new drummer is absolutely terrific and the bass player, whilst the youngest member of the band, is talented and imaginative. Elle's vocals and Elliot's guitar playing just gets better and better.They sounded like real stars and completely outshone the other two bands on the bill, including the headline act. Such power and authority. They could easily stand proud alongside any well-known band and aquit themselves with honours. I just hope that, this time, they hold this line up together and get the break needed to bring their music to the wider audience that it deserves. And, no, I'm not saying this because I'm their father, but because they're just so damn good. Really. Valentine's day coming up this week. I've managed to book a restaurant to take Emi out for the evening. Being a florist, she's always extremely busy around this time, especially on the 14th when she works late. The only table I could get at the restaurant of my choice was for 8:15 pm so, all being well, Emi will have finished work by that time and we can have a romantic dinner together. Even though we've been a couple for 14 years now, (since 1993), we're still very much devoted to each other and enjoy each other's company tremendously. True love. In that respect, I'm a lucky guy. Have been playing my Campbell Nelsonic Transitone guitar which is featured on some tracks from the 'Gleaming Without Lights' sessions. I'm particularly fond of the sound of the neck pickup, a Seymour Duncan Jazz humbucker. It really suits the cleaner tonalities I've favoured of late. Dean Campbell is building a special Campbell Caledonian model for me at the moment. I need to get back to him with a pickguard design idea. When I find time to design it, that is. This guitar will have three P90's, a Bigsby vibrato and a powder blue paint job. Guitars still thrill me, even after all this time. As readers of this diary may have noticed. Whilst on the subject of guitars, the long awaited issue of the Japanese 'Player' magazine featuring an interview with myself plus photographs of my guitar collection has finally been published. (Since the article was put together, there have been some further additions to the collection so, whilst relatively comprehensive, it's not completely up to date.) Four copies of the magazine arrived by mail from Tokyo. It's a big article. The guitars look good, though I'm not so keen on the photo's of myself that they've used. Don't misunderstand, technically, they're excellent, but it's just that they seem to have chosen rather unflattering shots. But, these days, there's probably no possibility of obtaining a 'flattering' photograph of me whatsoever. I'm beyond the reach of such a thing. It's beyond the laws of physics. And I used to be such a pretty boy too. Weather is cold but none of the snow that has troubled London and the south. Some signs of spring in the garden already though too early, I suspect. Nature not what it used to be, or should be. A weird winter. The latest scientific information on the subject of climate change/global warming reads like the stuff of nightmares, like a science-fiction disaster movie. And still world leaders dance around the topic. Some of them pick up on it but as if it were a fashion trend, to be worn but not completely understood. What sort of planet are our grandchildren going to have to deal with when they hit old age? No wonder so many of us feel down these days. The news is always bad. Books: Bedtime reading only, (as usual), but the personally signed Les Paul autobiography that was given to me as a gift at Nelsonica 07 is proving to be a delight. A hero. How I wish I could shake his hand and add my appreciation to all the thousands of other grateful people he has inspired through the years. Music: mostly working and therefore listening, to my own but, in an odd moment or two, I've enjoyed listening to some swing era stuff and also Ella Fitzgerald. I've felt the need for a kind of patinated elegance, copper-plated 78's rather than shiny gold discs or silver CDs. Sex under sophisticated wraps, silk gowns, nylon stockings and patent red leather stilletos. Oh, well. This could be one of the longest diary entries I've ever written. I could, amazingly, add more but won't. Time to deal with other things. Top of page

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

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

Stand By: Light Coming... Bill Nelson album - 16 August 2019 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) Flicker And Fade 02) Ghostland 03) I Really Don't Exist 04) Headlamp Moon 05) This Is Not A Dream 06) Falling Into Blue 07) The Angel With Television Eyes 08) Rusty Bells 09) Stand By: Light Coming... 10) My Shadow Cast By Midnight Moon 11) The Way My World Works 12) No Room In My Head 13) As Quickly As A Kiss 14) Like Autumn Leaves We Fall 15) Fading Away ALBUM NOTES: Stand By: Light Coming... is an album of songs issued on the Sonoluxe label in a limited edition of 1000 copies. The Stand By: Light Coming... album was recorded between January and April 2019, in parallel with a separate project, currently unreleased, called Cathode Paintbox. It was the first new Bill Nelson CD to be sold through Burning Shed , who took over from Sound on Sound as the official on-line outlet for Bill Nelson's music following an announcement to this effect on 1 February 2019. This new arrangement allows Bill Nelson fans to pre-order his new music in advance of its official release date, an arrangement that Sound on Sound hadn't been able to offer. The recordings making up this album are likely to be amongst the last completed on Nelson's trusted recording and mixing set up that have served him so well since 2002. This operational change stemmed from Nelson's Mackie D8B mixing console having become unreliable and expensive to repair. Consequently this necessitated a major shift to a computer-based system, requiring Nelson to invest considerable time in becoming familiar with his new equipment. 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 began life with the working title of Vulcan Street but by Mid-February Nelson was having second thoughts about this title (and eventually its original title track). Having wrestled with this issue for 2 months Nelson finally abandoned the original album title on 16 April 2019 and from the 25 pieces composed since January 2019 assembled a 15 track album with the title Stand By: Light Coming... One of the tracks included on this album, 'My Shadow Cast By Midnight Moon', is an outtake from Auditoria recorded in 2018. The surplus material from the January to May 2019 sessions were then either used for The Last Lamplighter companion release or rejected altogether. Stand By: Light Coming... was mastered at Fairview by John Spence on 11 May 2019 with a pre-order announcement by Burning Shed on 27 June 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 album neared completion. Stand By: Light Coming... sold out in March 2021. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "Stand By: Light Coming… is a 15 track, vocal-based album recorded in my home studio earlier this year. If there is a point of unity to the album's diverse sounds, it could be said that it generally uses the enigmatic nature of 'time' as its theme. Images of watches and clocks abound in the lyrics which deal with the increasing rush of time and the rapid retreat of the past into nostalgia. Vocal and electric guitar-driven, it plots a path of aggressive melancholia and offers a meditation on impermanence." _____ "Finally knocked the new album into shape. Have arrived at a running order and chosen which tracks should be used and which left off. So, 'STAND BY: LIGHT COMING…' is now ready to go to Fairview studios for John Spence to master prior to manufacture. I'll need to fix up a date for the mastering as I think John is pretty busy at the moment. "There will be 15 tracks on the album in total but, even so, there are still 10 tracks left over, either as 'rejects' or simply because there wasn't enough room for them." _____ "Some changes to the content of the album...I discovered a few songs left over from the 'Auditoria' sessions that I'd forgotten about and will try to incorporate a couple of them into this latest album. One of these is the song 'The Woman Of Tomorrow' which I've revisited and remixed. I guess things aren't finished until they're finished..." _____ "Stand By: Light Coming... surprised me by the way it revealed its inner meaning. Hearing the songs in their correct order at Fairview showed that the songwriting 'theme' as such is all about Time. Time passing, our perceptions of time, the need to make the most of the time we have left to us, and the way that time and memory are inextricably intertwined. Images of clocks ticking through the night abound in these songs. "The other thing that emerged from listening to the album is the deep sense of melancholy in many of the songs, and the frustration and anger that life 'runs out like sand', (to quote a lyric from my 'Quit Dreaming And Get On The Beam' album from the early 1980s.) Maybe I've had an awareness of the brevity of life from a young age. I can remember thinking about this kind of thing when I was still a very young child... "So, 'Stand By: Light Coming...' can perhaps be described as 'music for aging melancholiacs.' It has a lot of sadness, but a sadness tinged with joy...like dark clouds surrounded by golden rays. It should ring rusty bells for people of a 'certain age' but may also bring younger listeners to a more acute awareness of how precious every moment of life is. A cliché, I know, but life is all too brief, even if we're lucky enough to live long enough to make a real mark on it..." FAN THOUGHTS: Bill Connor-Clark: "This is possibly the best CD Bill has produced for years, the fantastic opening track is a gateway to a CD that is all killer and no filler." Alan: "I just listened for the first time, and what a powerful album this is. A great first release for the year! Our Bill does Bill Nelson better than anyone. I'm looking forward to the album further revealing itself over time." Michael: "Have had two listens and first impressions are that, wow, this is really chock-full and Bill seems to be pulling out all the stops. I'm hearing similarities to Satellite Songs and gasp...Blue Moons and Laughing Guitars . I don't know if the Brits have this expression, and maybe it's me being an American southerner, but this is a 'humdinger'!" lee_elliot59: "My copy arrived last Saturday and it's been my work commute companion all week. Gotta say, this one knocked me over immediately and is up there will my favorite Bill albums. Ironically, I can't get 'No Room In My Head' out of my head. What a deliciously funky track." Neill Burgess: "Loving the new album, Bill! Lots of really great tracks (especially enjoying the opener). I know we all keep saying it, but how on earth do you maintain this level of creativity?" Albums Menu Future Past

A collection of Bill Nelson memorabilia, pictures submitted by fans. Fan Memorabilia A collection of memorabilia pictures submitted by fans! If you would like yours included, please get in touch

Acquitted By Mirrors - Issue Thirteen - Published September 1986 Back to Top

Live Show Archive We would like to build a comprehensive archive gallery of Bill's shows. If you have any great pictures or memories that you would like to share... Please contact us HERE Competition Winner's Meet & Greet - 1983 Nelsonica 02 Nelsonica 03 Be Bop & Beyond Tour - 2004 Nelsonica 07 Plectronica - 2018 Old Haunts Launch Party - 2019

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

Living in My Limousine Bill Nelson single - 20 August 1981 Singles Menu Future Past TRACKS: 7" Single: A) Living In My Limousine (Remix Edit) B1) Birds Of Tin B2) Love In The Abstract 12" Single: A1) Living In My Limousine (Remix) A2) White Sound B1) Birds Of Tin B2) Love In The Abstract ORIGINALLY: The lead track was remixed for both 7" (edited to 3' 40") and 12" (extended to 4' 20"). A2, B1 & B2) were non-album tracks. NOTES: Living in my Limousine was the fourth and final single released from Quit Dreaming and Get on the Beam . The single made good use of multiple formats, with an exclusive edit on the 7" and another 3 bonus cuts gathered together on the 12". The artwork is a stylistic indicator of many future Nelson releases – vintage imagery housing futuristic music (even if most of it was now over 2 years old!). Note that "White Sound" is printed as "White Sounds" on the record sleeves and labels, and that the song was listed as "White Sound" on its later appearances (see below). Interesting note: consider the possibility that Bill recorded this song a few months before Gary Numan premiered his hit, "Cars" in a June 1979 Peel session. PAST RELEASES: A1) the remix of "Living in My Limousine" appeared on The Two Fold Aspect of Everything (Cocteau, 1985 & 89). It replaced the album mix on the CD version of Quit Dreaming (Cocteau, 1986), and was included on the Duplex compilation (Cocteau, 1989). A2) was included on the 1986 and 1989 CD issues of Quit Dreaming , as well as The Two Fold Aspect of Everything (UK vinyl and US CD editions). B2) was included on The Two Fold Aspect of Everything comp (unfortunately out of print). CURRENT AVAILABILITY: All these tracks except for the edited 7" mix were added to the remastered 2005 CD reissue of Quit Dreaming and Get on the Beam . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "When I made the Red Noise album, it proved unappealing to many Be Bop fans who found it too aggressive or edgy. When I made the Quit Dreaming and Love That Whirls albums, some Red Noise fans found them too 'synthetic' and cold. But oddly, nowadays I often meet people who tell me how important and seminal those albums were for them. The albums seem to have found more fans now than they ever did back then. Strange." Singles Menu Future Past

Sunday 2nd July 2006 -- 11:00 am THE TOKYO CAPER: PART THREE. As previously mentioned, our trip to Japan was dominated by an intense schedule of meetings, mostly connected with Emi's family obligations and with her friends. Her diary was crammed with appointments throughout each day and we hardly had a moment to ourselves. These meetings were sometimes difficult for me as, due to my small grasp of Japanese, I couldn't really join in the various conversations and so had to politely sit there smiling, offering an occasional "Domo Arigato" when someone would re-fill my beer glass. I did, however, appreciate that this was a rare and important opportunity for Emi to meet up with her old friends and I felt content to just sit on the side-lines and allow her as much time and space as she needed to talk with them. She bought a mobile 'phone as soon as we got to Tokyo, (at under 20 pounds it was actually cheaper than renting one,) and within a few hours had set up a network of connections. We were deluged with invitations, so much so that we couldn't fit them all in to our 12 day schedule so some meetings had to be politely declined. Of course, one of the most important reasons for our trip was for Emi to see her mother and two brothers. She hadn't seen them for three years, the last time being when her father died. Emi's mother is in her eighties now and looks frail although her health is reasonable at the moment. She was, naturally, extremely pleased to see Emi. Emi's family have always been very good to me and they all made me feel very welcome. Food and eating plays a central role in Japanese family and social life so there was lots of sitting around tables sampling various delicacies and much uttering of the word 'Oishi', which means 'delicious.' I do enjoy a lot of Japanese food but there are a few things that don't particularly appeal to me. These tend to be things of the glutinous variety, certain sweet things and, whilst I'm a firm lover of seafood, I'm not a fan of the eel-like fish that are sometimes served up and which Emi adores. Not because of their flavour, but because of the tiny bones one must encounter whilst eating them. Good wine tends to be very expensive in Japan and cheap wine is, to western tastes at least, almost unpalatable so I contented myself with Japanese beer which was very clean and refreshing, particularly with all the heat and humidity that we encountered. Every day required us to do a fair amount of walking and also to take train rides on the busy Tokyo local railways and subway systems. At rush hour, these trains are crammed full of commuters. It's amazing how many people are compacted into each carriage, squashed up together like sardines in a tin. It can be a little disturbing to the unwary 'gaijin' such as myself. I'm sure that, in this country, such intense overcrowding would break all safety regulations but no-one seems to think anything of it over there. There's even uniformed, white gloved platform staff who help push people through the doors, squeezing as many of them into the trains as possible. This makes for some rather intimate physical encounters between the passengers. For a still red-blooded male like myself, it can provide one with a pleasant few minutes of travel if one is lucky enough to be crushed up against an attractive Japanese lady or two. (And yes, I really should feel guilty about admitting that!) Less so if it happens to be a halitosis stricken Japanese businessman bearing down upon you. But my, oh, my...aren't the girls out there skinny? It's kind of worrying. Many give the appearance of being virtually anorexic. There seems to be a widespread obsession with being super-thin. I get the impression that this is connected more to fashion's dictates than anything else. One of the first things I noticed upon returning to the U.K. was that women here have dangerous curves and full breasts. Of course, these variations and sexual preferences are cultural inheritances as much as anything else, 'though it seems that many Japanese men hanker after a more 'meaty' physicality and fantasise about western women quite a lot. But then, we English men often find the Japanese female face and form beguiling, so maybe it's our perception of 'difference as exotic' that makes the grass appear greener on the other side of the fence. Oh dear, I fear I'm beginning to sound like a stereotypical, old-school, un-reconstructed, politically incorrect male here, (or one of those cartoon randy old-goats of the Leslie Phillips variety...) Perhaps I should change the subject! Not all of our time in Tokyo was given over to Emi's busy schedule. I was allowed a couple of indulgences of my own. One of these was to accept an invitation to visit the Terada guitar factory in Nagoya, which is a two hour train ride from Tokyo on the super-fast Shinkansen train. We were met at Nagoya station by one of the factory's executive staff, Mr. 'Chet' Nakagawa who turned out to be a lovely guy. Chet treat us to lunch at a small restaurant that served one of Emi's favourite Japanese dishes, 'Unagi', (The eel-like fish I mentioned earlier.) She was very pleased to have an opportunity to eat this. I ate some very good Sahshimi, (raw fish), washed down with Japanese beer. Chet then drove us to the guitar factory. The Terada factory makes guitars for Gretsch, (which is how I came by my invitation), but they also build guitars for D'Angelico, D'Aquisto and several other companies. They seem to specialise in building archtop style guitars. It began as a family business in 1915 when the company made violins and it is still a family run business today. The tour of the factory that we were given was fascinating. I'd expected something very high-tech and modern but was surprised to find a series of quite modest, semi-dilapidated buildings that looked as if they were at least 50 years old. Each building dealt with different stages of a guitar's construction, from stacked piles of raw wood to beautifully finished, shiny instruments. The craftsmen building them are mostly young guys, all with university degrees in guitar-making. Everyone who works there is a guitar player too and they take a tremendous pride in the high quality instruments that they create. I was impressed by the obsessive attention to detail and obvious care that went into each guitar. I also was introduced to Mr.Terada who runs the factory. Terada-San was very gracious and told me a little of the company's history. He also let me in on some new work the factory is planning to undertake but that's to be kept under my hat. Unfortunately, I didn't take any still photo's of the work being done there but I did manage to shoot some camcorder footage which I hope to incorporate into a little documentary video about my Japanese trip which, all being well, I'll screen at this year's Nelsonica Convention. After the factory visit, Mr. Chet Nakagawa became our tour guide and generously took us to see the impressive Nagoya Castle which looked like something from the animated film, 'Spirited Away.' He kindly took a photo of Emi and I standing in front of the castle, (which I've attached to this diary entry). Afterwards, he drove us back to Nagoya station for our two hour trip back to Tokyo on the bullet train. We invited him to look us up if he should visit England in the future. We'd be very happy to put him up and show him the beauty of Yorkshire's moors and coastline. A very nice, warm man. Another guitar related event on our busy schedule was my interview and photo session for 'Player Magazine.' As mentioned in an earlier diary entry, I wasn't expecting anything more than a brief interview and therefore hadn't prepared clothes for a photo' session but, as the magazine said they wanted to create a six-page feature about me and my guitar collection, it seemed churlish to complain. The photo session and interview was held in a professional photographic studio in Tokyo. No-one complained when I kept my dark glasses on, so I was reasonably happy. Actually, from what I've seen of the polaroid roughs, taken as the shoot was being set up, the end results shouldn't be too bad at all. But I genuinely do dislike being photographed these days. I much prefer being behind the camera, rather than in front of it. Another enjoyable part of our trip was the evening when we had dinner with my good friend Nick James and his wife Yoko. Nick has, astonishingly, been living in Tokyo for 17 years now. He originally hails from Selby in Yorkshire, which is where we first met. He was a young guy trying to get into the music industry at that time, his main interest being in studio engineering. But Nick is also a fine musician who plays keyboards and, in recent years, some guitar too. He owns a beautiful Martin acoustic which I envy. Nick and I have worked together in the past, most notably on my old Cocteau Records single 'Life In Your Hands'. Nick engineered that and played piano on it too.These days he's in demand in Tokyo as a producer and composer as well as an engineer and has created musical scores for films and tv there. His wife Yoko is a talented singer and they have a very comprehensive home studio set-up that makes my own equipment seem quite minimal and humble. When Nick and Yoko were married, back in the early 1990's, I was proud to be asked to act as Nick's best man. They married in England at Brayton Church on the edge of Selby. My after dinner speech was pathetic, I developed food poisoning at the after-reception party and ended up in a bit of a state, but it was still a memorable day and the only time I've ever worn the traditional full tie and tails regalia. I seem to recall that I looked rather smart, quite the gentleman toff in fact. Anyway, on this latest visit to Japan, Nick and Yoko took us to a little Italian restaurant where it was good to enjoy a meal without requiring the public display of my rudimentary chopstick technique. (Actually, Japanese people always seem to compliment me on my use of chopsticks so maybe I'm not quite as clumsy as I think I am. Either that or they're just being typically polite.) Of course, I once lived in Tokyo for almost 12 months so it was a matter of 'chopsticks or starve.' Well...I soon got the hang of it. Another evening was taken up by a re-union party of Emi's old workmates. When I first went to live with Emi in Tokyo, she was in charge of Kenneth Turner's flower shop. Kenneth Turner is a renowned English Floral Designer who is highly respected in Japan. The flower company that Emi used to work for, (Floral Vision), was chosen by Kenneth Turner to manage the Japanese branch of his business and Emi was chosen to run his shop for him. I was always impressed by Emi's efficiency and professionalism when I dropped into the Kenneth Turner shop, close to Tokyo Tower. Her staff showed an obvious respect to her and Kenneth himself thought highly of her. Her floral designs were regularly featured in interior design magazines in Japan and I'm pleased that she's kept a number of these magazines for her archives. But it's been several years since the company staff have been together in one place, many of them moving off to start their own flower businesses or going into teaching. On this latest trip though, a special party was arranged to honour Emi's visit to Tokyo and I found myself the only westerner amongst eleven Japanese girls and two Japanese males. There was much warm humour and, (unsurprisingly), lots of good food and drink. Once again, I found myself disadvantaged by my lack of conversational Japanese but everyone was extremely good to me and it proved to be less of an ordeal than I'd expected. What I love about these situations is that Emi is able to converse naturally in her native tongue. She seems quite different from her U.K. persona, when she has to carefully consider how to translate her thoughts into English. Even though she's made great progress since coming here to live with me as my wife, she still feels that she lacks confidence in speaking English and is often hesitant or uneasy about the matter. We understand each other in ways that only two people who love each other can so the technical side of any language problem is not such a big deal for us. But in Japan, Emi's steady, considered speech changes to rapid fire, energetic conversation, filled with laughter and sparks. I get a real pleasure from seeing her freed from the constraints of the English language. On another occasion, we had lunch with a different set of Emi's friends, one of whom, Gan-chan, turned out to be a collector of vintage Japanese toys. When I spoke to him about my fascination with an early 1950's Japanese cartoon character called 'Atom' (or, as he is sometimes known, 'Astroboy') he immediately left the table, hopped on his pushbike and cycled off in the direction of his home. Ten minutes later, he returned with two gifts for me from his private collection. One was a vintage plastic figure of the Astroboy/Atom character, the other was a now ten-year-old reproduction of an almost two-foot high statuette of the same character. I couldn't believe he was giving me these things as they're quite rare and therefore, I presume, quite valuable. I'm very pleased to have them on display here in my home. I'll try to take a photograph of the big one for the diary pages soon. There's still more to tell but it will have to wait until the next diary entry. Once again, exhaustion is taking its toll and I'm losing concentration. The heat here today hasn't helped much either, nor the running around getting Emi's car repaired, serviced and M.O.T.'d. My car's turn tomorrow. So...later. ***** The Photographs attached to this diary entry are:- 1. Buddha Head at a Kamakura Temple. 2. Bill and Emi at Nagoya Castle. 3. A Kamakura Temple Carp. Top of page Friday 7th July 2006 -- 7:00 pm THE TOKYO CAPER: PART FOUR. One of the duties/perils inherent in any trip to Japan is the buying of gifts to bring back for family and friends. This time, because of the crowded nature of our schedule, there was only a little time available for shopping, 'though I managed to grab some extra time whilst Emi dealt with other matters. I put in a lot of walking...hard work, due to the humidity. Nevertheless I managed to grab quite a few things to take home as gifts. The problem with Tokyo is that the city is virtually one giant department store and there's so much on offer. Seeking out things that are suitable for a wide range of friends, not 'over the top' expensive things but sensible ones, practical for packing into suitcases is not an easy task. It's all about context. The shops in Tokyo are so beautifully designed, carefully lit and laid out that even the most mundane goods take on the glamour of jewels.Things that, in the U.K, you would normally pass by thinking them frivolous or slight, become super-stylish objects of desire. The background music in these shops is equally evocative and sleek. No Brit-pop lads with lagers, monkey legs and '70's guitar re-treads here, just spare, minimal, ambient backdrops. Clear notes hanging in the air like chimes from heaven, subtle beat manipulations, all discreet, knowing, swish, elegant, elite. The carefully sculpted sounds add to the sense of exquisiteness in the stores. In some ways, it's style taken to extremes, artificial, phoney, far too obviously studied and mannered. But it does the trick. Some of the things we bought, when we got them home, looked far less impressive in the cynical light of a Yorkshire living room. Of course, there are less sophisticated shopping areas. There are back streets around Harajuku that cater to a very young generation of Tokyo shoppers. Here the music is a Japanese interpretation of rap or reggae. Sometimes hilarious in its misappropriation of those particular genres. The street fashion is often a meaningless mix of styles, no coherence, no awareness of the negative effect that certain combinations of clothes have on the wearer's body. There's one very odd, (though tackily interesting), trend that I noticed. I saw several girls dressed in what I can only describe as 'Kate Greenaway' chic... ('though it's far from 'chic' in reality). These girls look like something from a vintage English nursery rhyme, 'Little Bo Peep' perhaps, all layered lace, bibs and pinafores and mop hats tied under the chin with pink ribbons. When encountering them in the street, it is as if the cast of an English pantomime has left the theatre in full costume. In some ways, it's quite perverse. There's a knowing hint of fetishism in the eyes of the wearers. It's like an inverse 'Goth' look. For all its super-tweeness, there's something dark and sinister about it. But 10 out of 10 for bravery. Japan is full of these surprises and contradictions. For someone such as myself, a person with an interest in trash culture, fine art and the blurred boundary in between, walking down the street for an hour or two can cause one to re-think the world. Whilst we were in Japan, I deliberately severed all connection with the western hemisphere. (Apart from a couple of 'phone calls to my mother.) At the same time, I was wondering what would await me on my return. I knew that there was a long list of projects requiring my attention. These days, being a cottage industry type of chap, music is only one of my pre-occupations. As regular readers of this diary know, my work doesn't stop there. I personally oversee every aspect of what I create. It's very hard work and often deeply frustrating, but its the path I've chosen so I shouldn't complain too loudly. Not so much a control freak but more of a 'vision freak.' I suppose, ultimately, I'm the only person who knows what my work is about. I spend a lot of time trying to explain it to others in the hope of some fortunate connection or other. I DID try not to worry about the project list in the U.K. But my thoughts strayed across the oceans to England and the next few months busy schedule. (And beyond.) I've commented on it before, but it is often quite a struggle. Earning a living from my music, and earning the right to make more albums, is a precarious thing. My age, my personal musical preferences, my refusal to deal with the industry on its own terms, all these things, well...they often work against me. Still, I continue to try it on. To bang my head against that old brick wall. Maybe it's a habit. Eventually, we had to pack and prepare to leave Japan. It was hard, particularly for Emi, to say goodbye to her mother and brothers, but, if truth were told, we were not sorry to leave Tokyo itself. Yorkshire and it's beautiful moors and coastline beckoned us and promised us a spiritual sense of space denied to us in our temporary hole in Shibuya. Quality of life, I guess. At least Emi and I are able to recognise the difference and appreciate our luck at being able to access those places and spaces within our Yorkshire habitat. Beyond price, really. The journey back was longer than the outward one. I drowned myself in alcohol again. After a seemingly endless flight we arrived in Holland. The hours that we then spent at Amsterdam's Schipol airport were hyper-boring. We holed up in a cafe called 'Sandwich Island.' It was dreadful. The staff were hopeless, got conversion rates wrong, short changed us, served up poor food. Then, as we sat at a table finishing our meal, two rats ran across the cafe's floor and between our legs. And all this in a shiny, chrome, steel and glass airport that prides itself on its modernity. We were not impressed. Eventually, Emi and I boarded our transfer flight to England and soon found ourselves flying over the coastline of Yorkshire, just above Spurn Point on the Humber estuary. Spurn Point is one of those special places for me. A place I've visited since childhood. It's magical and romantic, sand dunes, sea grass, shells, wild birds and an old lighthouse. It reminds me of my father and three or four romantic relationships from my haphazard past. To see it from the air, particularly after two weeks in Tokyo, was a wonderful 'welcome home' treat. I watched the Humber estuary twist and flow into the river proper, saw the city of Hull and the elegant Humber bridge pass by below me, and then, in what seemed like a few scant minutes, the pilot announced our descent into Leeds-Bradford airport. There is only one place in the world I'm reluctant to leave when I fly abroad, and that is the South Coast of France. Villefranche-Sur-Mer and it's environs is the only place where I would be happy to stay, to settle, if, by some miracle, I could afford a home there. Anywhere else on this planet, no matter how interesting or entertaining, I can generally leave behind without a single tear. But, the Cote D' Azur aside, Yorkshire claims something of my soul and I have no qualms in surrendering to its charms. Our neighbour Steve was waiting for us at the airport. A good and true friend. We were both pleased to see him. I was by now, of course, inebriated in a haphazardly loquacious fashion. Part articulate, part incoherent. Babbling like an idiot but pleased to be home. Steve put up with this obviously over-tired tirade and drove us quickly and safely home. A stack of bills awaited us and a house that smelled damp and un-lived in. Our neighbours, Jim and Claire, had kindly watered the plants for us and kept their eye on things. Suitcases were opened, clothes assigned to the washing machine and gifts checked for breakages. In a very short space of time, it felt as if we'd only been away for a day or two. then the jet-lag. Several nights of sudden awakening, bedside lamps being switched on and reading glasses donned. Now it feels as if all this happened months ago. A vague memory, a dream. But, that's life. Now... the usual stresses have returned. I'm inundated with emails. There's a 'to do' list that freaks me out every time I think about it. I've been to visit my brother's grave in Wakefield cemetery, laid fresh flowers. Oh, dear...how I miss him, want to see him, hug him. I dreamt about him again. (Last night was the third or fourth time since he passed away.) I visited my mother last weekend but not yet found time to see Elliot, ('though we met in the street just over a week ago). Elle is due to visit from London soon so maybe then. I have gifts from Japan for them both. I managed to get both Emi's car and mine through the M.O.T., (though not without expense). I've photographed almost my entire guitar collection for Player magazine, (with the generous help of Jon Wallinger and Paul Gilby). A three day job in total. Had dinner out at a brand new restaurant in town, (with Paul), 'though it was a restaurant that was suffering from teething problems. (Wrong food arrived, etc, etc.) Spoke with Dean Campbell about the next stage of my signature guitar and am looking forward to seeing what may turn out to be the final design soon. Dean called me 'Gretsch boy.' (He'd read my diary.) Well, maybe I'm just a guitar-whore and he's jealous...;-) All I can say is that it's a good job it's guitars and not women, otherwise I'd really be in trouble! Today I posted a CDR of photos of my guitar collection and home studio to Player magazine in Tokyo, arranged emails of a couple of extra photos for their forthcoming feature on my work, (including a Martin Bostock portrait). I also spoke to Opium Arts about the go-ahead on my deal to licence my 'Getting The Holy Ghost Across' album for re-issue later in the year. (First official release of the album on CD.) Various details discussed regarding distribution, review copies, release dates, etc. I now need to speak with my graphic art buddy Dave Graham about various things, including a new design for the 'Holy Ghost' album's re-packaging. Spoke with my good friend John Spence about mixing the Be Bop live tracks for the EMI RECORDS box set...studio time pencilled in for next week. Will I remember what I wanted to do with this material? It seems unlikely...I listened to it months ago and made mental notes. All lost in fog now. (I also need to talk to John about booking some time at Fairview to remaster 'Holy Ghost,' and SOON too as I need finished copies of the album to put to the media for review by the start of September.) Today I took delivery of a lovely little Greco L-10P archtop jazz guitar that I bought in Tokyo. (Can't wait to use this on something. In fact, more than anything right now, I'd like to start work on a new album but...there's no time available. And I have such a lovely list of titles to inspire me at the moment.) I also need to do more preparatory work for this year's Nelsonica convention, make a start on the 'Ghosts Etched On Glass' film, attempt the 'Romance Of Sustain volume 2' album, work on the 'Arcadian Salon' convention album, create some drawings for the convention, and several more things that I either can't recall or am recklessly trying to avoid. 'Neptune's Galaxy' is due for official release soon too...maybe next week although no-one should attempt to order it until the official announcement is posted on the site. The Dreamsville/Sound-On-Sound store can't deal with pre-orders due to the nature of the computer system used but, once the album is in stock, there will be no problems and people can order at will. It's a superbly apt album for this time of year and will compliment a relaxing day in the garden or by the sea. It also has the power to transform a cold autumn-winter night into something more balmy and paradisiacal. Despite the work pressures, I've managed to write a few diary entries, answer several emails, (but still more to deal with), looked through some household bills, (but not paid any yet), made another couple of trips to the supermarket for domestic supplies and am duty bound to help Emiko with a freelance flower job tomorrow. There is, as diary readers may have noticed, nothing 'nine-to-five' about my life. Only one week returned from Japan and I'm even more exhausted than before I went there. It's a kind of endurance test. Why do I do it? Because I have no choice. The luxury of leisurely contemplation is denied me. It's simply all action, compulsion. Nervous energy, empty mind. Orgasmic Zen. Now I will open the case of my little Greco guitar and play some blues in the heat of my tiny recording room. Summer hums in the dark outside my window. ***** The photographs attached to this diary entry are:- 1. Tokyo train. 2. Shibuya Scene. 3. Bill Nelson Signature Model Campbell Transitone guitar prototype. Top of page Tuesday 11th July 2006 -- 9:00 pm Tokyo has now faded into the mist of memory and I've picked up my workload with a vengeance. It's been almost non-stop since returning home. It seems as if something new appears on the horizon every day. The latest development concerns a deal with Sony Records to license my 1980's 'Getting The Holy Ghost Across' album from them. The terms of the deal, which will allow me to re-issue the album on my own Sonoluxe label, have finally been agreed. When the album surfaces it will be the very first time that it will have been officially available on cd. I'm looking at late October as a possible release date. Of course, I have to pay Sony a cash advance and a percentage of the album's sales as part of the deal, (ironic, as it's my own damn music and it's normally the artist who gets an advance), but those are the terms Sony have laid out. I must comply if I'm to be allowed to re-issue it. (And even then, it's for a limited time only.) Sony do not seem to have any interest in releasing it themselves though. I also have to pay the costs of transferring the original tapes to the digital domain from the analogue masters.Then I will re-master the tracks at Fairview and create, (with the assistance of my pal David Graham), a brand new visual package for the album. I also need to write some new sleeve notes, setting the album in its historical context. Then, once all that is done, the album and its artwork can be manufactured. Putting all this together isn't cheap, in fact the whole process is much more expensive than usual. If I rely on website sales alone, I may well lose money on it. The amount of albums I sell via the site is so small that, if my usual album sales figures were applied to 'Getting The Holy Ghost Across', it simply wouldn't be worth doing. The production/licensing costs add too much to the equation. However, if I can sell some copies of the album, through a distributer, to record shops, I may be in with a chance. (Or at least, hopefully, break even.) The album really needs to come to the attention of those people who are unaware of my Dreamsville site or who may be newcomers to my music. So...the distribution route is being looked into at the moment, as is the possibility of getting review copies to various magazines. It's all a bit of a financial gamble. Let's hope that the regular fan requests for this album to be re-issued are followed up by firm orders. One of the problems of being an independent artist is that it is impossible not to have to deal with these things. Music is the starting point but the process doesn't stop there. There are so many other things to consider and to work on. It's extremely time consuming and often frustrating. But perhaps that's the price of artistic freedom. I've also been debating the title of the re-issue. It's original title in the U.K. was 'Getting The Holy Ghost Across' but this was changed for the U.S.A. release. The package design was changed too. CBS Records, (since bought out by Sony), who originally released the album, were concerned that several right-wing Christian fundamentalist-owned record stores in the U.S. wouldn't stock the album due to it's 'controversial' title and mystical-alchemic-occult art work. It seemed that there was a paranoia about anything that might smack of 'magick'. So, in America, the album was re-titled: 'On A Blue Wing' and an entirely different package was designed, one that could not possibly cause any offence to anyone. (Except the artist, of course. I was not particularly pleased about it at the time.) But with the re-issue, I really want to re-think the packaging, bring it up to date. I intend to reproduce both the U.K. and U.S. front cover art on the inside of the jewel box insert, just for the sake of the album's history, but I do want to try and create something to set the re-issue apart from the original. The 'Holy Ghost' title is quite restricting in some ways... 'On A Blue Wing' is much more flexible in terms of visual interpretation. On the other hand, the 'Holy Ghost' title was my original title for the project, back in the '80's. However, I am no longer involved with the various occult orders that I belonged to back then and, whilst my personal experiences within them were appropriate for my development at the time, that particular path has, in recent years, become overgrown with weeds and I feel less comfortable signposting it for others. But one can't re-write one's own history. (Unless one happens to be a mega pop star with an appetite for fame and fortune outweighing one's integrity. And there are plenty of those around without me adding to the myths.) But it's up in the air at the moment. My starting point is the original title and I'll only revert to the secondary title if the first one doesn't inspire a suitable visual style. I've already searched through my old alchemical books for something that might work, but in a 'lower key' than the original art. I want it to be somewhat more subdued and enigmatic. It's needed quickly though, if the deadline for press/media copies is to be met. The songs on the album are less 'occult' than they might seem, once the listener has the key to their true inspiration. They are, in the main, about my first romantic encounter with Emiko, long before I was in a position to marry her. We had an intense but brief relationship the year before I started work on the album. Because the situation wasn't yet right for us to stay together, there was a lot of tears and heartache. The music reflects that, particularly the song, 'Because Of You.' In many ways, it's a typical '80's album in style, all post-modernist funk, some tracks veering towards a hard, jazzy blues. The late Dick Morrisey plays sax on the album, as does my much missed brother Ian. Some great bass playing from Ian Denby too. But it is, for me, perhaps the one album of mine that declares the era of its creation. It is unmistakably a product of those Linn Drum driven '80's. Studio time at Fairview has, (yesterday), been confirmed for next week, but in connection with an entirely different re-issue project. This is to mix the unreleased live concert Be Bop Deluxe tracks for the forthcoming EMI Records Be Bop Deluxe complete recordings box set. I start work on this project on Monday. I can't say it's something I'm particularly excited about, (regular diary readers will know how, er, 'amoral' I am about dealing with old material beyond a certain point,) but...better that I personally mix it, rather than a complete stranger to the band's history. Nevertheless, I'm very much looking forward to spending a few days with my friend John Spence who will be working with me on the mixes. John transforms even the dullest task into a pleasure. His engineering skills are second to none so I'm certain that the tracks will sound fabulous when the two of us are done with them. Enough of all this 're-issue' stuff...it makes me feel so pathetically old. But...There's NEW music afoot! Much more satisfying... I heard, an hour or so ago, that stocks of 'Neptune's Galaxy' have finally arrived at the Dreamsville Department Store and are available for ordering with immediate dispatch. I've limited this one to 500 copies. If the demand is there, I may press up more, but 'Sailor Bill' has still not yet sold out so I'm being cautious. I'm glad that 'Neptune's Galaxy' has become available before the summer expires though...it's a perfect complement to an afternoon on the beach, or a picnic on the clifftops. Or even a barbecue by the garden pond. In winter, a bath with aromatherapy oils whilst listening will provide the listener with an equally blissful experience. Is this a soft hard-sell? Maybe I should've been a salesman...(But maybe not.) As I've mentioned before, the album is a companion piece to 'The Alchemical Adventures Of Sailor Bill' but it sails on a purely instrumental, drifting, ambient tide. It's a mellow, relaxed seascape of an album and sits comfortably alongside my 'Dreamland To Starboard' and 'Crimsworth' projects with a hint of 'Rosewood' thrown in. Another recently completed album, 'Return To Jazz Of Lights' is waiting in the wings for it's own debut...but NOT until autumn. This is a vocal-based album and quite different to 'Neptune's Galaxy'...Its release is definitely being held back for a few months, 'though it's champing at the bit. I now really feel the urge to start something new, as noted in a previous diary entry, but there are several other projects clamouring for my attention. I have no idea why there is so much music in the air and why my internal antennae seems so eager to beam it down. I seem to exist in a permanent monsoon of sound. It's always stormy weather, but of the most beautiful, ravishing kind. The view from my window is of lightning dancing over hills and valleys, illuminating tiny details normally invisible to the naked eye. Lovely. I received confirmation today, via email, that the CDR containing photographs of my musical instrument collection and my studio arrived safely at the headquarters of 'Player Magazine' in Tokyo. The magazine also confirmed that my photo's were of good enough quality to be used in the article they are planning for an autumn issue. The magazine's visual standards are high so it's a relief to know that everything has worked out o.k. I couldn't have faced another attempt at photographing everything again, it took me so long to do it the first time. It hasn't all been work though. On Sunday, Emi and I drove out to Nunnington Hall, a National Trust property with 15th century rooms. It isn't too far from Helmsley, north of York. The weather was good too. Our visit wasn't purely to see the lovely old house but to also take in the exhibition of photographs of Bob Dylan that were on display in the house's upper rooms. It was a very good exhibition. I would have dearly loved to purchase a print for myself but they were too expensive for me, averaging about 900 pounds but the more expensive ones nearer three thousand pounds. I still adore Bob Dylan. First found his music when I was at art school in the '60's. He's a hero of mine. I did spend a small amount of money though, (seven pounds), on a book in the shop in Nunnington Hall. It was a book about Christies' pop memorabilia auctions with photos of various items that have passed through the Christies' auction rooms over the years. The real reason I bought it was that it contained a picture of the first guitar I ever played, (not the ACTUAL guitar but an identical one). This was a plastic, toy instrument, made by a company called 'Selco' and had an Elvis Presley theme. It was originally bought, in the late '50's as a Christmas present for my brother Ian but he was a bit too young for it at the time and, fatefully, it ended up in my hands. It was made from brown and cream plastic and had a picture of Elvis Presley on the headstock. I figured out how to play the 'Third Man' theme on this guitar, then my dad taught me three or four banjo chords on it. And that was how I began a life-long love affair with the guitar. I would dearly love to get my hands on one of those old Selco Elvis Presley toy guitars again. One really should be in my collection. It's where it all started for me and even seeing the photograph of it in the Christies' book flooded me with a deeply emotional nostalgia. Perhaps I should ask the Dreamsville site's citizens to keep an eye out for an example. There may be one out there somewhere, just waiting for me to claim it. Driving back from Nunnington Hall, Emi and I stopped off at a hotel in Hovingham for a drink before heading home. All in all, it was another of those really nice days that we try to spend together at weekends. Emi is not just my wife, but my best friend and I treasure the times we share travelling around our beloved North Yorkshire. She's the perfect companion for me. Last night provided us with another social occasion. Jane, a good friend of ours, celebrated her 50th birthday. She, her husband Mark, Emi and I, were all invited to the home of our mutual friends, Steve and Julia. Julia had prepared a really excellent dinner for us all. As usual, I ended up merrily mellow. A 'phone call this evening to Dave regarding artwork. Some emails sent to various people, (including Dean Campbell regarding the actual written signature to go onto my signature guitar), but more still to write...and more work to deal with tomorrow. Tired now though...maybe enough for today? ***** The images attached to this diary entry are:- 1: A 'Neptune's Galaxy' advert. 2: A 1950's Selco Elvis Presley toy guitar, exactly the same as Bill's first ever guitar. 3: Bill's studio in an untidy, busy moment. Top of page Friday 14th July 2006 -- 7:00 pm Tomorrow is the 15th of July. Approximately 33 years ago, events transpired that gave birth to the song '15th Of July, (Invisibles)'. This song was part of Be Bop Deluxe's live performances at the time, but the song was not included in the recording sessions that produced the band's first album 'Axe Victim.' The only evidence that the song ever actually existed, (apart from fading memory), is provided by Be Bop Deluxe's very first BBC radio one session on the late and much missed John Peel show. I don't think the band had even consolidated its deal with EMI Records at that time. Thankfully, the BBC kept a recording of the show in its archives and the track was eventually immortalised on cd when it appeared, a few years ago now, on an album called 'Tramcar To Tomorrow', which focused on those long ago John Peel sessions. Some fans may already know about that particular song's origins, how it sprang from a relationship that I had with a certain girl, a girl who inspired the song 'Teenage Archangel,' (Be Bop Deluxe's first, independently made single,) and who also inspired 'Love Is Swift Arrows,' amongst several other, later titles. Be Bop Deluxe had a regular monthly gig at 'The Duke Of Cumberland' pub in North Ferriby, near Hull in the early 1970's. The band were young and naive and we met girls, as young bands do. I was married to my first wife, (Shirley), at the time and shouldn't really have been looking for romance... but I was. It hadn't turned out to be the ideal marriage, either for me or for Shirley. Not Shirley's fault at all really, just me and my usual saying 'yes' when I really meant 'no.' I'd plunged into it far too young and hardly knew what I was doing, 'though as a result, I have a wonderful, intelligent daughter that I couldn't live without. (Julia Tuesday Nelson.) It was, as the old cliche has it, 'just one of those things.' Nevertheless it has become a vital part of my history and an important, formative, invaluable experience. In those days, I had a day job working for the West Riding County Council's 'Supplies Department,' a miserable enough job that offered no real future, other than a daily shuffling of papers from one desk tray to another until old age and retirement when I could look forward to a mantlepiece clock and a briefcase full of good wishes. I tolerated it as cheerfully as I could, along with the well meaning but relatively unambitious people I worked with. No, let me be honest here, I hated the damn job, grateful as I was to have enough income to maintain my two-up, two-down, industrial-age terrace house, nestled just outside Wakefield's high security prison in an area known as Plumpton. (In fact, just across the road from the one-time site of Mariott's Buildings, my grandmother's house, where I was born.) I felt like a man from Mars in that rank and file environment...and people treated me as if I WAS someone from another world. I was greeted with a mixture of suspicion, derision and thinly disguised prejudice. My liberal, non-conformist attitudes were seen as threatening by some of my fellow workers. I was an enigma or a curiosity to them. My enthusiasm for art and music was simply their confirmation that I was weird, oddball, maybe even slightly crazy. I did my best to live with it, believing, somewhere inside, that my instincts were right and that it was they who were odd, mutant, deviant almost, and that I had a much more healthy, broad and open attitude towards life. My life and its daily grind were in some ways responsible for my dreams of an idealistic, romantic, creative lifestyle. Anything to escape. Under all the paper-filing, telephone-answering mundanity lurked the ecstatic, melancholy, heart of a poet. Let's not be coy here, that is what I was and what I still am. (And always have been since the day I was born, despite my occassional protests and faux-modest denials.) I still believe that everyone is a poet, given the right situation, environment, opportunity to express themselves, or whatever. (And poetry, as I've said so often before, is not a 'form' but a quality.) But...blah, blah, blah...easy to say or think this back then in my youth, with no evidence of very much at all. No visible track record, very few marks in the sand. Not like now. Song after song after song, still yearning, searching, harvesting every last straw for the thatched roof of my own private cottage museum. The proof, for what it's worth, is there. 33 years worth of proof or more if needed. 58 this coming December actually, all taken into account. Undeniable then...A life devoted to it, whatever IT is. But...yes, I was right, THAT is what I am, for better or for worse. Poet, artist, imagineer...How wonderful, how privileged, how highly UNLIKELY! Regardless of good, bad or indifferent. I can't judge what it's worth and ultimately don't care. (Or do I?) But there's something there...an integrity of sorts. Maybe nothing more. Around 33 years ago, on the 15th of July, Be Bop Deluxe's gig at 'The Duke Of Cumberland' was cancelled due to summer thunderstorms that caused an electricity cut in the North Ferriby area. The band had made friends with various locals since first playing there. Instead of jumping in our van and heading back to Wakefield, we were persuaded to spend the rest of the day with various locals. We were adored by our regular audience at the Duke and there was no shortage of offers to go and relax with them. I'd fallen head over heels in love with a beautiful, intelligent, dark haired, half-jewish girl called Lisa. We'd met at one of the earliest of 'Duke' gigs. She was stunning and I was smitten. It was as if I'd been granted a miracle. I couldn't believe my luck. Why was she interested in me? An unhappy, married man from a working class background with nothing but a pocketful of dreams. Her family was wealthy, sophisticated, everything that I wasn't. On that 15th of July, Lisa invited me to go with her in her car to her parent's house in Kirkella, an upper class village not far from North Ferriby. I worried about the fact that they did not know that I was married, 'though Lisa was aware of this from the start of our relationship and accepted it. She said not to worry and off we went to her home. The house was called 'West Acre' and was, by my standards at the time, almost a palace. Her parents were gracious and her home was large and luxurious. I recall it vividly, it made such an impression on me. Lisa cooked me lunch, Steak and chips, if I remember correctly. Her father proudly showed me his hi-fi system, built into an expensive antique cabinet and Lisa showed me her bedroom. She kept a photo of me pinned to a set of drawers next to her bed. The house was filled with expensive furniture and objects d'arte. Maybe I wouldn't be so impressed now, but then...I was stunned. It was raining, though warm. Some of Lisa's friends called around to see her and we all sat in a lounge in the front of the house. I could see the lane, outside the front garden's perimeter, with its line of green trees and an old fashioned lampost a few yards or so away. It reminded me of an illustration in an old children's book from my childhood, sort of '30's or '40's upper class, 'proper' English society. I'd grown up on a council house estate and this was magic to me. I felt out of place, 'though I was desperately glad to be sitting next to Lisa, who I adored. One of Lisa's friends commented on how bad the weather was, with the rain and everything. Lisa just smiled, squeezed my hand and said, "It couldn't be better..." And that was the exact moment that the song, '15th Of July, (Invisibles)' sprang into being. Perhaps it was the painfullness of our situation that was 'invisible.' Only she and I knew that I was married, her friends and parents being unaware of it at the time. The song's lyrics start like this: 'It rained all day across the world, and turned the dark trees deeper green...' It goes on to portray the house, Lisa's friends and quotes her comment...and plainly states my yearning for her. For all its innocence and naivety, it's one of the purest, most heartfelt love songs I've ever written. And it's 33 years old tomorrow. I received CDR masters of the 'Holy Ghost' and 'Spangled Moment' recordings from Sony today. When I played them back, I was shocked. I haven't listened to these recordings for many years, (apart from the song 'Contemplation' which I had to reference for the band tour of 2004). My first impression was that I'd dearly love to get my hands on the original 24 track tapes and completely remix them, get rid of that terribly dated 1980's crashing reverb snare drum sound. Too much reverb overall in fact...and not enough bass. It all sounds very brittle and insubstantial. William's Study (Diary Of A Hyperdreamer) July 2006 Jan Apr May Jun Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2013 Ironic that the majority of it was recorded on what was then considered to be state-of-the-art early digital equipment. My current home studio mixes are infinitely superior. But it would be too expensive and time consuming to remix the album, so I will have to content myself with simply re-mastering it. Try to add some weight to the overall sound. Good songs, on the whole though. Better than I'd remembered. If only I could remix them to bring out the vocals more.The vocals are really quite good, 'though at the time I tended towards the opposite opinion, making them subsidiary to the instrumental mix. More fool me. If I could do it all again, (mix the tracks that is), I'd make the entire thing much dryer, more focussed, more vocal centred...and feature the bass guitar of Ian Denby more, AND my late brother's saxophone and clarinet too. One thing I CAN do, and WILL do, is re-think the track listing, especially as I am now able to integrate the 8 song, 'Living For The Spangled Moment' mini-album into the project. The running order would definitely benefit from the years of experience granted to me since the original album's release. I need to bring the entire project into the 21st Century, at least in its presentation. Next week I'm in Fairview, mixing the EMI Be Bop Box Set live tapes, so I'll have to put Holy Ghost on ice for a short while. But it needs to be worked on very soon if I'm to keep things on schedule. So busy. Work on my Campbell signature model guitar goes on apace. I got photo's of the naked, carved mahogany body last night. I also emailed Dean Campbell regarding some cosmetic details and gave him a title for the red paint colour that will be used. I've called it 'Rocketship Red.' There will be 'atom' style fret position markers at the 12th fret too. The model will be known as a 'Nelsonic Transitone.' Looking forward to seeing the final version. I need to approve it before production starts. 'Neptune's Galaxy' finally going out the door of the Dreamsville Department Store. People already posting their response to the album on the website forum. I think that the music is low-key but beautiful. Gentle tides and drifting clouds. Perfect for a summer afternoon. Perfect for dreaming. Now it's the weekend. But no rest...I need to think about the revised 'Holy Ghost' running order. AND new artwork. The weather is so nice outside my window. ***** The images accompanying this diary entry are:- 1. An early photo' of Bill Nelson and Be Bop Deluxe taken around the same time that they first played at 'The Duke Of Cumberland' pub. 2. Bill Nelson in the '80's around the time of the 'Getting The Holy Ghost Across' album. 3. Dutch and Justin, luthiers at Campbell American Guitars with the mahogany body of Bill Nelson's 'Nelsonic Transitone' guitar. A work in progress. Top of page Monday 17th July 2006 -- 10:00 pm Today was the first day of work at Fairview Studios, mixing the previously unreleased Be Bop Deluxe live recordings. John Spence and I managed to get one track completed and in the can. ('Swansong,' originally a track from the 'Futurama' album but, for the first time ever, now presented in its live performance state.) It feels a little strange, working on these 1970's live recordings after such a long time. The mixing process dictates that the individual components of the recording are listened to in great detail, each instrument or voice isolated from the others whilst sound is adjusted and a proper relationship between the parts established. Listening to Simon Fox's drums without the rest of the instruments took me back to those days in Abbey Road Studios, or to Villa St. George in Juan Les Pins, near Antibes, in the South Of France, when John Leckie and myself would spend hours trying to get the drum sound together, microphones moved from one position to another on each drum, equalisation tweaked until a 'good' drum sound was arrived at. Thud, whack, bang! Listening to the drum parts on 'Swansong' today reminded me how complex some of our arrangements were. The songs were much more puzzle-like than I would accept today. My current songwriting is leaner, more focussed, less inclined to show-off. But I was young back then and had the hapless energy and naivety that youth inevitably entails. I'm not favouring one approach over another here, just noting that sensibilities shift with age and experience, for everyone. We have little choice in the matter, (unless we are complete fakes). There was a problem with the recording of the first opening verse of 'Swansong.' Microphone / monitor feedback ruined almost every line of that particular verse...it screeched, squealed and howled in a very unpleasant way, right through it, burying the vocals, and there was nothing that John nor I could do to get rid of it. The more we listened to it, the more unpleasant and ugly it became. In the end, we decided to copy the final verse of the song and paste it in place of the first one. This may be seen as technical trickery by some purists, but it is infinitely preferable to listening to several bars of high pitched microphonic feedback at a level that would induce migraine in most listeners. Maybe on the first two plays, it might be accepted as part of the scenario...but it would soon have everyone's teeth on edge and their hand reaching for the skip button on their CD player. So...with a little digital sleight-of-hand, the offensive verse has been banished and a more palatable one substituted. A particular treat for me was being able to listen to Charlie Tumahai's voice in isolation. He was a very good vocalist and had been the lead singer in bands previous to Be Bop Deluxe, (and in bands afterwards, I think). Charlie sadly passed away several years ago which is why there will never be a re-formed Be Bop Deluxe. Even if Simon, Andy and myself unexpectedly felt the urge to get together again, it simply wouldn't be the same without the happy fountain that was Mr.Tumahai. And that 'if' is a fairly big one, for I can't imagine that Andy would be in the least interested in such a thing. As for me, well...I was fortunate enough to get my retro-band fix in 2004 with the Be Bop and Beyond tour. I'd love to assemble a band again but it would have to be one that could play a lot of new material created specifically for it. Even if it did dip into my song-writing treasure chest for some 'vintage' material here and there. But, as my friends all know, despite my somewhat, sometimes, nostalgic tendencies, when it comes to music, I just love the smell of fresh paint. Anyway...back to Fairview tomorrow to continue working on the live track mixes. 'Forbidden Lovers' and 'Terminal Street' up next. Not the best time of year to be stuck in a windowless studio all day though. It's been blisteringly hot out in the sunshine today. More heatwave to come too, apparently. Yesterday, (Sunday), I decided to make the most of the weather before confining myself to the studio control room for the rest of the week. I bundled Emi into the car and we set off for the East Coast of Yorkshire, driving to Bridlington and then up the coast to Sewerby, then to Flamborough Head, then Filey, Scarborough, then past Robin Hood's Bay and on to Whitby where we had dinner at our usual favourite seaside restaurant, 'The White Horse And Griffin.' Unfortunately, the food wasn't quite up to the restaurant's usual standard, nor the service, I thought. Maybe this was because of the summer seasonal rush, or new staff? I really have no real idea. Still, it wasn't terrible either, so I'll give them another chance, next time we visit. I DID have a positive moment though, when I found a copy of the third part of John Betjeman's biography, written by Bevis Hillier. I'm a fan of the late Sir John B. and of Bevis Hillier's writing too. In fact, my son Elliot's full name is Elliot Walter Bevis Nelson. Walter after my father, Bevis after Bevis Hillier. Visiting Flamborough Head was a treat. Incredibly, I haven't been there since the mid 1960's. I fondly remember reclining on the cliff's edge with my then girlfriend, Lynne Holiday, listening to my little red and white plastic transistor radio...It was playing the latest songs of the day, "When you go to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair..." ('San Francisco' by Scott McKenzie.) There was also a Frank Sinatra hit...either 'Send In The Clowns' or 'Strangers In The Night.' Plus some other half-straight, half-psychedelic pop from various artists trying to catch the wave that was beginning to break on these shores...the kind of music that turns up on those 'remember the 'sixties' compilation CDs these days. (Every supermarket has them.) It seems that my generation has, in recent years, become a prime target for that style of marketing. But what excuse do I have? Damn it...I'm mixing material more than twenty-five years old! Give me strength! But on that warm summer day back in...1966 was it? (Yes, give or take a year.) Well, all seemed wonderful with the world. We youngsters had found our voice, our cause, our raison d'etre. An all-inclusive, arms-held-wide, big welcoming peaceful hug for everyone, regardless of age or background. We'd swallowed that SanFrancisco, West-Coast, peace and love ideology lock stock, barrel and flowers. We looked the part, we walked the part and talked it, ten to the dozen. And the amazing thing is, we actually felt it. We thought we could bring it about, turn the world around, ring the changes. And in a positive, non-violent fashion, everyone included. So, where did all that hope and love vanish to? Look at the world outside our window now..see the horrific hatreds that poison our planet. Even on a basic, local level, its hard not to be aware of several generations of cynical, negative, heartless chancers, grasping, filching, fiddling while Rome burns. What have we lost? What have they missed? Still, despite all that: Yesterday afternoon, a clear blue, BLUE sky stretching down to a blue, BLUE sea. A pure white lighthouse gleaming against all heaven. A skylark singing fit to bust somewhere so high in the blue beyond that I couldn't even see it, but, oh! How I could hear it! White-capped waves lapping far below the yellow-white chalk cliffs, coarse grasses swaying in the sea breeze...Man, it just doesn't get much better or more blissful. I was gone, sent, away with the birds. I WAS that skylark, that little winged insect with bright red wings flitting from wild flower to wild flower. I was every one of those cricket-like bugs rubbing their legs together in some summer-fuelled mating song. I was so HERE and THERE and EVERYWHERE, so deeply in tune with it all you wouldn't believe. I had a ball simply looking and feeling. Wow! And I remembered Lynne and our youth and those times and that music and I was grateful to be alive and to have lived through those times. And AMEN to that then and AMEN to this now. Despite the terrors we endure, despite all that. Ain't life grand when you're in the mood for it to be so? ***** The images attached to this diary are:- 1. Bill Nelson at Flamborough Head, July 16, 2006. 2. Flamborough Head Lighthouse, July 16, 2006. 3. Flamborough Cliffs. July 16, 2006. Top of page Saturday 29th July 2006 -- 8:20 pm The heat goes on, externally, internally and weather-wise. Just returned home from an evening out with Emiko. A meal at Ceasar's restaurant, the best value for money Italian in town. Nothing too fussy, just down to earth cooking and warm, friendly staff who always recognise us and treat us well. I generally try to put a little time aside for Emi at the weekends. She patiently puts up with me working long hours in my studio during the week, so, as much as possible, I give my my weekends over to her. I think I'll drive her out to Castle Howard tomorrow afternoon. It's not far from here and a late lunch at the Castle Howard cafe, followed by a gentle stroll around those magnificently landscaped grounds will be a nice treat for both of us. Especially under these big blue summer skies we're being blessed with right now. But, my, oh my, it has been so HOT! The summer has baked our day to day lives without mercy these last few weeks...a heatwave that now seems to have stretched on forever. Nights have been sticky and interrupted by bouts of insomnia and perversely lusty dreams. Apparently these are a result of the sun shining on the pineal gland on the top of one's head. It's maybe why mediterranean men and women are so erotically charged. Well...I don't know about that but something's up in the land of nod. My studio room has felt like a sauna lately. Or an oven set to 'roast.' Impossible to work during the day, at least from 12 noon until early evening. The sun beams down through my skylight window and fries everything to a crisp, me, the guitars, the mixing desk, my imagination and anything else that I need to make music. I can't open any windows for fear of annoying the neighbours. Haven't got air-conditioning so I either have to work stark naked or abandon recording completely until things cool down a little during the evening. The latter, these middle-aged days, is generally preferable I'm sorry to say! I HAVE managed to finish mixing the Be Bop Deluxe live tracks for the forthcoming EMI RECORDS box set. These mixes were made at Fairview Studios, not far from the river Humber, rather than at the Abbey Road studios of the band's heyday, but the results are equal to anything from the past, if not better. My good friend and long-time recording engineer John Spence has helped me to bring about what I think will be universally accepted as an absolutely classic set of Be Bop performances, none of which have been previously available to the public. There's no doubt that fans of the band will be extremely excited when they hear these live recordings. The memories that came flooding back to me were poignant. Despite my reservations about this old material, there's nothing for me to be ashamed of. And what a band..! Listening to the individual parts in isolation brought home just how distinctive and sympathetic my three fellow musician's were. 'Swansong,' Forbidden Lovers', 'Terminal Street' and 'The Modern Music Suite' have all been mixed to bring out their naked beauty. They sound wonderful, even though the technical aspects of the performances are raw and bleeding. But I'm so glad that they've been preserved for posterity. It's been incredibly moving for me to work on these rare recordings after all these years. Part of me was smiling, part of me was lamenting, but all of me was proud. It was also lovely to hear John Spence say that he was thrilled to become part of Be Bop Deluxe's legacy too. Our collaboration, (and John's experience and technical expertise,) has served the band's history well. Since completing the Be Bop live mixes, John and I have been working on the remastering of the 'Getting The Holy Ghost Across' album, also at Fairview. I've added the 'Living For The Spangled Moment' mini-album to the disc too, (AND an obscure track called 'The Yo-Yo-Dyne'). Dave Graham and myself are still working on the repackaging of this album and have now found a suitable starting point to build the design around. Dave's close understanding of my visual style will, once again, contribute towards a highly appropriate layout. It will look quite beautiful when it is completed. I decided to stick to original track-listings and running orders, partly because my currently hyper-busy schedule hasn't allowed me time to experiment with the hoped-for re-shuffle, but partly because a large number of fans have expressed their preference for the songs to be kept in their original sequence. So...new cover art, new improved mastering, extra tracks, but same running order. In between bouts of heat exhaustion and indoor nudity, I've managed to make a start on the tracks which are to be included on this year's limited edition Nelsonica convention album, 'Arcadian Salon.' It now seems likely that there will be 10 or 11 pieces on the album, if I can stay on top of things during the next few heatwave-cursed days. There will be a couple of brand new numbers, all being well, plus some pieces that didn't make it to 'Return To Jazz Of Lights' because of time limitations. And two or three instrumentals, including 'Sound-On-Sound,' (the instrumental that I composed and recorded to celebrate Sound-On-Sound magazine's anniversary last year). It's shaping up to be an eclectic mix of music, as is usual with the convention recordings...another collector's piece and all the more controversial because of it. I've been having a very nice, surprising guitar week (or two) lately. I won't go into details for fear of embarrassing a couple of 'super-fans' who have been incredibly helpful in helping me to acquire a new instrument or two but...well...A childhood dream of a flamingo pink Fender Stratocaster, (via a Rickenbacker 12-string), has come true, as has a 'full-circle' situation regarding a toy Elvis Presley guitar that once, long, long ago, was responsible for capturing my pre-teen imagination and putting my feet on the path to a lifelong career in music. I don't think I'm permitted to name names here but the people involved will know that it is they of whom I speak. All I can say is that I'm blown away, deeply grateful, totally amazed and sincerely moved by their generosity. I'm blessed with some tremendously loyal and kind fans.They sometimes take on the role of theatrical 'angels' or art patrons. Their involvement often goes beyond basic 'fandom' and enters the realms (and ideals), of a long-ago Golden Age when aesthetically refined connoisseurs once helped artists to bring their work before a wider world. Or is that just me being romantic again? Nevertheless, these instances prove that that spirit of patronage and support is not dead, and that it IS possible to produce a music that does not need to bow down to the rigid limitations of the mainstream music industry. I'm eternally grateful that there are several special people, (some are fans, some are friends, some are business people), who help to create an atmosphere of freedom and creativity around me within which I'm able to achieve my life's work. Without their support and generosity, I'm lost. Different subject:- I noticed, in the latest issue of Mojo Magazine, reference to two new albums (by other artists), themed around sea-going concepts. One is called 'Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs and Chanteys' (odd spelling of the latter word?) This album is apparently co-produced by Johnny Depp, the well known Keith Richards impressionist. The album actually features my Channel Light Vessel dreamboat Kate St. John, as well as the somewhat less erotically charged Bryan Ferry. It also features Sting, Nick Cave, Jarvis Cocker, Rufus Wainwright and various other pop-tastic media stars, the most interesting and worthy of which are David Thomas of Pere Ubu, Van Dyke Parks and Mary Margaret O'Hara. The Mojo reviewer says that the album will "shiver your timbers in the most rewarding of ways..." The other album is: 'Ocean: Songs For The Night Sea Journey' by Jennifer Cutting's Ocean Orchestra. The review says it employs synths and samples alongside accordions, pipes and strings. Well, well...looks like I've been rolling along on the crest of a wave but, of course, my 'Lighthouse Signal Mechanism Orchestra' came into that particular harbour almost a year ago now. Perhaps my ship is equipped with a more finely attuned compass. Oh, well... But what a pity that 'The Alchemical Adventures Of Sailor Bill' didn't receive the media attention that the above two albums seem to be currently enjoying. I may be ahead of the wave but I'm under the radar, or so it seems. Went to see my friend John Foxx last week...he was playing at 'Fibbers' in York. Haven't had chance to meet with him since we both took part in Harold Budd's 'farewell' concert at the Brighton Dome last year, 'though we've exchanged several emails since. John braved the heat of summer (and of Fibbers), to give a vibrant, almost 'electro-punk' show which delighted his audience. He got a great reception, not least from my neighbour and good friend Steve who has been a big fan of John's since the early Ultravox days. And I gained brownie points from introducing Steve to John after the show... It was really good to see John enjoying himself and celebrating an energetic, 'roots' approach to performance. He and I still plan to get together, both with Harold and with each other.The only thing slowing us down is lack of time. One of these days though... This coming week, I must seriously try to overcome the heat (and my exhaustion), and finish recording the 'Arcadian Salon' album.Then I must decide upon a track running order and master the album as soon as possible as there is no time available for me in Fairview Studio from the middle of August on. This thing HAS to be ready for the convention in early October. It's rushing up like a runaway express train, as usual. More than ever, I'm way behind schedule. Haven't begun to make any inroads at all into the autobiographical film 'Ghosts Etched On Glass,' (an excerpt from which I'm supposed to present at Nelsonica 06 as a 'work in progress'). In fact, the list of jobs I have to tackle for the convention is becoming an increasingly scary and, maybe even impossible, task. How on earth can I get all this stuff together in the scant time remaining to me before the convention date? Yes, o.k...I ALWAYS panic but, it seems that each year I take on more and more work, projects that, despite all good intentions, are increasingly difficult to complete without tremendous effort and sacrifice. I guess the recent tasks I've had to undertake regarding re-issues and associated items have thrown the proverbial spanner into the works. I have to admit that my trip to Japan robbed me of two weeks working time also. But there's nothing left for me but to plough on, to do the best I can under the circumstances. No point in working myself up into a paranoid, desperate panic about it all. After all, I love it don't I? And it usually works out o.k...Doesn't it? Well...too hot right now, even though it's late evening. Can't sit here typing. I'll continue this in a day or two when I'm less exhausted and there's more progress to report. And less sweat dripping onto my computer keyboard. POST SCRIPT: SUNDAY 30th JULY 2006 -- 9 PM. Went to Castle Howard with Emi as planned. Lunch was good, sitting in the grounds of the house, watching white fluffy clouds drift by in a high blue heaven. Apparently, Jools Holland and his pals played at Castle Howard on Friday, (I think), a big outdoor bash or something grand. Emi and I are thinking of attending the annual classical 'Proms' concert at Castle Howard, in August. It's a picnic hamper / champers type of affair. Maybe even grander than Jools' big do. We could dress up in our summer finery, get completely, joyously blathered, then slip away into the woods to frighten the peacocks. Pan chasing his favourite nymph through a sylvan glade, and that sort of thing. Libido a-go-go. Let's hope the weather holds up. Last ever 'Top Of The Pops' on tv tonight. Caught the back end of the final show, (when I switched on the television during dinner). Tonight's special, farewell programme seemed to have been full of clips from across the ages. Don't know whether they showed anything from the time when pop music actually resembled pop ART, when it genuinely had something to say for itself. (Jimi Hendrix, Syd-era Floyd, etc, etc.) Whatever, the last five minutes of the programme illustrated perfectly why it has finally been axed by the BBC. Pop music has become irrelevant, hollow and dull and is, to all intents and purposes, dead. I met Jimmy Saville once. (Be Bop Deluxe were on Top Of The Pops at the time, drooling over Pan's People backstage.) I also saw Jimmy standing at a bus stop across the road from the Music Ground guitar shop in Leeds, maybe only a year ago at most. Perhaps I was the only person in the street who noticed. He was nice enough to us when we were on Top Of The Pops. He may even have played our records on his radio shows. Sooner or later though, we all come to resemble decrepit old age pensioners. No pop star remains unscathed. And thank goodness for that. Insufferable narcissists, the lot of 'em. ***** The images attached to this diary entry are:- 1. The fields near the Humber Bridge, Swanland Hill view, July 2006. 2. North Ferriby Foreshore, July 2006 3. An ad for 'Neptune's Galaxy.' Top of page

All That I Remember More Listening Notes Go to Album Listening Notes to accompany the album All That I Remember by Bill Nelson As 'All That I Remember' is such a personal, autobiographical album, I've assembled this track by track guide to the stories behind each piece of music. I hope that these notes will add an extra dimension to the album and enrich the listeners appreciation of it. 1: ‘All That I Remember.’ This piece serves as a kind of 'overture' to the album. It sets a mood of gentle melancholy with solo guitar and brief orchestral interludes. It has a light, jazzy feel with the guitars working in (sometimes unusual,) harmony, suggesting Les Paul and other jazz guitarists who made an impact on my young life. Les Paul 2: ‘The View From Lantern Hill.’ Lantern Hill is situated in the coastal town of Ilfracombe in Devon where, in the 1950s, my parents, my brother Ian and myself spent a memorable holiday. It was quite a long drive to get there from Yorkshire. We stayed in a rented upstairs flat right on the harbour where on one side of the living room there were windows looking out onto the harbour itself, and on the other side were windows looking out to sea. My father had a Bolex wind-up cine camera and I can vividly remember him filming a large sailing boat tossing about on the waves from the ocean side window. Ilfracombe is also where the photograph on the cover of my 'Diary Of A Hyperdreamer Volume One' book was taken, (with Ian and myself and a steamship in the background.) Lantern Hill itself is surmounted by St Nicholas' Chapel, (built in the 1300's,) which doubles as a small and quaint lighthouse, hence the name 'Lantern Hill.' I have an old photograph of my brother Ian standing with Lantern Hill in the background which evokes sweet memories coupled with a degree of melancholy. This piece of music is a richly textured orchestral piece, a sort of tone poem, which conjures up that holiday. The track features moments of happy, skipping lightness and other moments where the swell of the sea rises dramatically as the old steamship sails proudly from the harbour trailing clouds of smoke from its funnels. Ian Nelson with Lantern Hill in the background. 1950s. 3: ‘Memory Time No 1: A Wakefield Adventure.’ This is the first of four 'Memory Time' pieces spread throughout the album. This one references my birthplace of Wakefield, where I also grew up. It was a rather different place back then, in some ways more pleasant if rather less modern that today's city. The piece combines electric guitar and orchestra, moving through a panorama of changing moods, each portraying aspects of the city, the Cathedral, the old 1950s bus station with its clock tower where members of 'The Teenagers', (a band I was in,) would meet to be picked up by the band's van to travel to that evening's gig. The grand Unity Hall is also evoked. (I remember seeing my father play there in his band when I was a very young boy.) Also Thornes Park is referenced where, in my infancy, my parents took me to hear brass bands perform. Later, in 1968, I staged Wakefield's first ever free rock concert with my band 'Global Village' on the park's bandstand. My four years at Wakefield Art School, in the earlier part of the 1960s, was a time of adventure and discovery. I created an avant-garde score for a college production of Ibsen's 'Peer Gynt,' using a 'prepared' guitar technique rather like John Cage's prepared piano, threading nails and washers and pieces of glass through the strings and striking them with mallets then recording this to a domestic tape machine and reversing the direction of the tape across the playback head. It was a magic time. A view of Wakefield Bus Station in the 1950s. 4: ‘The Wonderful Wurlitzer Of Blackpool Tower.’ Blackpool is a working-class holiday resort on the west coast of England, famous for its Tower and Pleasure Beach. My parents and I would holiday there quite often in the 1950s and into the early '60s. In fact, I went to Blackpool with my parents when I was only a few months old. The Tower contains a magnificent, gilded ballroom, built in 1894 and re-designed by the famous architect Frank Matcham in 1899. The ballroom has a wonderful Wurlitzer organ which is still in use today. In the 1950s it was played by Reginald Dixon who became a household name through his rendition of 'I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside,' a tune which became synonymous with the town itself. As a child, I would be carried between my two parents as they danced around the ballroom to the sound of the Wurlitzer, coloured lights playing around the waltzing couples on the dancefloor. The Tower also has a permanent indoor circus arena, again designed by Frank Matcham, where I went as a child. The circus, in those days, had lions and tigers and elephants as part of its presentation as well as acrobats and clowns. The circus ring features, (and still does, I believe,) a spectacular climax to each evening's entertainment when it fills up with water and fountains erupt from out of the blue as a water ballet takes place. Blackpool was also well known for its 1930s streamlined art-deco 'balloon' trams and seafront Illuminations, the latter which still exist though the former have sadly been replaced with less visually stylish modern versions. My music on this piece attempts to recreate the Tower Wurlitzer organ sound, quoting from 'I Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside' as the orchestra sets up a bright fanfare to match the gilded ballroom's magnificence. A section also hints at the Tower Circus and its various feats of derring-do and clownish mayhem. Blackpool Tower Ballroom. Blackpool Tower Circus water finale, 1950s. Reginald Dixon at The Tower Ballroom Wurlitzer Organ. 1950s. 5: ‘Spacefleet: (The Golden Days Of Dan Dare.)’ The stylistic mood shifts as retro-electronics usher in this track which evokes the science-fiction hero 'Dan Dare, Pilot Of The Future' from the 1950s weekly children's comic, 'The Eagle.' Dan was written and drawn by the artist Frank Hampson who is widely considered to be a genius in the field of comic-book illustration. I was an avid reader of 'The Eagle' and followed Dan's adventures every week with great enthusiasm. 'Spacefleet' was the name given to the organisation which represented Earth in space and Dan was a Colonel in it, piloting wonderfully retro looking rocketships around the solar system. His Spacefleet uniform looked more like that of a World War 2 Spitfire pilot than the super high-tech outfits of current sci-fi movies, and his mannerisms were equally rooted in British 'stiff-upper lip-ism' and old-school jovial banter. Dan's arch enemy was the Mekon, a little green alien with a huge brain who floated around on a kind of sky-scooter. The drawings that Frank Hampson made to depict the alien worlds was imaginative and filled with small details. As a young boy I would pour over these details, noting every technological invention with amazement. The stories were of epic proportion, lasting several weeks before concluding and their ingenuity, twists and turns were worthy of any modern sci-fi movie. The synths that open this track are a kitsch evocation of the mysteries of space before the piece opens out into a widescreen orchestral panorama with electric guitars, suggesting the heroics of Dan and his pals amongst the planets. Dan Dare 'pop-up' book from the 1950s. 6: ‘Memory Time No 2: The Rock n’ Roll Years.’ I shouldn’t underestimate the impact that rock n' roll music had on my early life. It, along with earlier swing band music, laid the foundations for the music I make today. This piece is a poem in sound to those late '50s and early '60s records, tunes that fired me up and made me want to play the guitar. In this piece you will hear lots of different references to that golden age of rock n' roll... The track opens with a nod to Duane Eddy, (my first ever guitar hero,) with a quote from his '40 Miles Of Bad Road.' It then shifts gear into a rhythm guitar that contains echoes of both Buddy Holly and Eddie Cochran. The lead guitar sound enters and brings in hints of Duane Eddy and Hank Marvin but also some of the slightly more 'outré' guitar instrumentals of the day such as those by 'The Fireballs', 'Peter Jay And The Jaywalkers', 'The String Alongs', 'The Spotnicks' and many others. The Farfisa organ sound brings to mind 'Johnny And The Hurricanes' and 'The Tornadoes', (whose hit 'Telstar' is briefly quoted at the end of the track, along with a line from Duane Eddy's 'Because They're Young' which was the first single I ever owned.) It's a fun track! In the UK in the '50s and early '60s, electric guitars came mostly from Europe or England. American guitars were thin on the ground due to import restrictions. My first electric guitar was an Antoria, made in Japan, which my father bought me for Christmas. I was thrilled to get it, (even though I dreamt of owning a red Fender Stratocaster like Hank Marvin's.) Later on he bought me my iconic Gibson 345, a big step up from the Antoria and a very expensive purchase for him. From a humble schoolboy band, through various local pub and club bands, to psychedelia, blues and rock, and on to Be Bop Deluxe and way beyond...it's been an amazing trip. Duane Eddy. The Tornadoes. The Spotnicks. 7: ‘Christmastide.’ A drum roll and swelling strings usher in this seasonal orchestral piece which recreates some of the gentle magic of childhood Christmases and those long-ago, snow blessed days that seemed to be commonplace back in the 1950s. Christmas Day mornings were always filled with the miracle of the living room floor being filled with glittering gifts. My brother Ian and I would be in a state of great excitement as we knelt in our dressing gowns to discover what Father Christmas had left us: Train sets, Dinky Toys, Meccano outfits, Model kits, Ray Guns, Board Games, Toy Soldiers, Forts and Adventure Annuals. (The swash-buckling heroes of some of those annuals are referenced in the more epic sections of this track,) but also Christmas Carols and the sound of tinkling baubles under shining lights hanging on the Christmas Tree. All this, along with the colourful paper trimmings and balloons that festooned the house, bring back the warm wonder and sweet innocence of childhood. 8: ‘Strolling With My Father.’ My Dad was much older than my Mum and I wish I hadn't lost him when I was relatively young. (He passed away in 1977.) I'm now, (arguably,) more mature and would have liked to ask him about his life and deeper thoughts, had he still been here to chat with. But youth takes things and people for granted, only to regret it later when they are gone and it's sadly become too late... As a boy, I enjoyed a relationship with my father that was a happy one, despite his occasional bouts of bad temper. My childhood years are full of pleasant memories of times when he and I would bond in different situations, walking or helping him to fix the family car. He was a musician, a saxophonist, and his love of big-band swing brought music into my life. He also had enough faith in me as an amateur guitarist to buy me my Gibson 345 guitar when I was still only in my teens, a very expensive purchase. That guitar has become well known to fans of my music over the years. My parents bought a holiday chalet at Withernsea in the early 1960s where we would spend most weekends during the summer months. Dad and I would go off to nearby Hull and explore the second-hand junk shops in search of old radio parts which Dad needed for his electronics hobby. (His home workshop was akin to a mad scientist's laboratory.) We would usually, on these jaunts to Hull, call in at a well-stocked model shop where he would buy me a model aeroplane issued by the Revell or Monogram company, or an American custom car or hot rod kit issued by AMT, which I would patiently assemble back at the chalet in Withernsea. Dad and I would also get up quite early and go beachcombing, looking for unusual shells and bits of driftwood. It's these times, whether walking in search of electronic gizmos in dusty junk shops, or breathing the clear, fresh air of a stroll on the beach, that I've tried to capture in this piece. It has a light, jaunty, jazzy feel, with electric guitar being the dominant component, a slightly cheeky, buoyant mood which contains something of the curiosity and humour my father possessed. Dad and I in Bridlington, 1950s Dad playing his Grafton Acrylic Alto Sax 9: ‘Scale Model. (Assembly Required.)' As mentioned in the previous note, building model kits was a great passion of mine as a boy. My first model kit was a speedboat, bought from British Home Stores in Wakefield for me by my mother. I got glue all over it, in all the wrong places, but it was a start. I soon progressed to model aircraft, World War 2 planes such as Spitfires and Lancaster bombers, and a strange vertical take-off airliner called a Fairey Rotodyne. Also American planes such as B52's and Superfortresses. Later, I became passionately interested in the American custom car and hot-rod scene and built many kits produced by the AMT, Revell and Monogram companies who offered models of these exotic cars. My bedroom became filled with these completed kits, aeroplanes hanging from the ceiling on fishing wire, model cars filling every horizontal space and shelf. There was a rather expensive model kit I dreamt of building...an American hot-rod Model-T Ford in a very large scale, produced by the American Monogram company. It came in a beautiful red colour with cream bucket seats and heavily chromed engine parts. One Christmas, I was thrilled to be given it as a special gift from my parents and couldn't wait to assemble it. It took quite a while to build the kit up from its component parts, but it looked great when completed and I proudly gave it pride of place in my collection. The music on this track reflects something of the logical process of assembling each part of a model kit, bit by bit. It also touches on the sound of that era's guitars and pop music structures. An upbeat piece filled with the joys of assembling a scale model. A 1960s Monogram 'Big-T' hot rod kit fully assembled. A rare Airfix model kit of a Fairey Rotodyne vertical take-off aeroplane. 10: ‘Reighton Sands.’ When I was quite young, (before I had long trousers,) my parents took holidays at Reighton Gap on the East Coast of Yorkshire, at an old wooden bungalow owned by good friends of theirs, Herman and Ada Ackroyd. The bungalow was a wooden clad affair with a sun lounge at the front. It had a wonderful 'between the wars' feel about it and had probably existed since the 1920s. It was situated on the cliff top, above a steep ravine which led down to the sea and the clean, wide beach that lay at the bottom. We spent many a happy hour or two on that beach, building sandcastles and paddling in the more shallow waves. The beach had a few old concrete blockhouses at that time, military gun posts from World War 2 that had long since been abandoned. Covered with seaweed and barnacles, they provided exciting adventures for a young boy's imaginary game play with his his toy boats. At the bungalow, the only entertainment on an evening was a game of dominoes, noughts and crosses or solitaire. I don't recall the place having electricity, only gas light. Nevertheless, it seemed an idyllic location with fresh air in abundance and the beautiful sound of the waves as you drifted off to sleep at bedtime. In more recent years I've re-visited Reighton Gap. The Ackroyd's bungalow is sadly long gone, as are the Ackroyd's themselves, but the area is really not all that much different, in essence, from what it was, in the '50s, (though it's filled with static caravans now.) The old ravine still cuts its way through the cliff down to the sea, and the beach is as wide and beautiful as ever. The music of this piece tries to evoke those long-ago times on Reighton Beach when my family and I would be temporarily freed from the worries and concerns of our home life. It does this through the drifting echoes of guitars and seagull's cries, the sounds that lulled me to sleep back then. Me and little Ian at the bungalow at Reighton Gap, 1950s. Me sitting outside the bungalow at Reighton Gap, 1950s. Mum, Nan, Aunty Sal and myself outside the bungalow at Reighton Gap. 11: ‘Memory Time No 3: Eagle, Beezer, Topper, Beano.’ In the '50s and '60s, my father worked as manager of a shop in Hunslet, Leeds, called R. Broughton And Son. It was situated in Waterloo Road. Dad was the shop's manager. At that time, Mr. Broughton junior, whose first name was Harry, had taken over the business from his father. Harry enjoyed going 'out and about' to visit customers, installing their radios and televisions. As a result, Harry Broughton entrusted the day to day management of the shop to my father, Walter Nelson and Dad would travel from Wakefield each day to manage the shop in Hunslet. On Saturdays, my mother and I would get the bus from Wakefield to Leeds and have lunch in the basement canteen of Lewis's department store on The Headrow. After shopping we would then catch a tram to Hunslet and Waterloo Road to meet my father when he finished work at Broughton's. Alongside radios and televisions, Broughtons also sold Dinky Toys, Hornby Trains, Meccano and Tri-Ang toys. I was always allowed to choose a Dinky Toy to take home with me. In fact, Dad would usually bring me one home every week, even when Mum and I hadn't been to Leeds on some Saturdays. Of course, at Christmas, I was treated to various toys from Broughton's, including Hornby train sets and Meccano sets. My first two-wheeler bike came from there too. But my father, every Friday night, would bring me a selection of weekly comics, Dandy, Beano, Beezer, Topper, Eagle, Radio Fun, Lion, Wizard, Hotspur, etc, which he bought from a little Hunslet newsagent's shop, located at the Swan Junction end of Waterloo Road. Getting these comics was a great gift for me because Dad didn't buy just one or two comics but a huge pile of them. I can remember the smell of the paper they were printed on, the smell of the ink and the anticipation I had when opening them to read their contents. Some contained adventure stories, focused mainly on words with the occasional illustration, stories about World War 2 heroes with titles like 'I Flew With Braddock.' Others had more of a strip cartoon approach with funny tales of oddball characters in silly situations. And some, like 'The Eagle', had amazing cutaway drawings of ships and aircraft showing their inner structures and workings. And, of course, 'The Eagle' carried those epic stories of Dan Dare and his chums. There was also a great space-themed weekly comic called 'Rocket' which carried nothing but sci-fi and fantasy stories. Edited by WW2 flying ace Douglas Bader, it didn't stay in publication for very long and copies are incredibly hard to find today, but I loved this one just as much as my Eagle comics. To be honest, I loved them all. Comic annuals were also a feature of my boyhood. All the major weekly comics published a special annual at Christmas time, the perfect gift for many children in the 1950s. The Eagle annuals were a special treat as they contained a Dan Dare story which was quite different from the ones in the weekly comic. The Beano annual carried fantasy stories of 'Jimmy And His Magic Patch' (a boy who had a cloth patch sewed on his short trousers that could magically whisk him back in time,) and 'Jack Flash, The Flying Boy From Mercury' who had small ankle wings and could zoom around the sky helping his Earth schoolboy chums catch crooks and rescue people from all kinds of perils. (I had a particular affinity with Jack Flash as I had dreamt of being able to fly since first hearing about Peter Pan.) Then there was General Jumbo, a boy who had an entire army of toy soldiers which could be controlled from a radio unit attached to his wrist. And the 'Tin Fish' was a strip about a boy who had a mechanical swordfish in which he could ride beneath and above the waves. So, this piece is a paean to those weekly British comics with their epic, heroic adventures, tales of wonder and imagination, their funny characters and situations. It features an orchestra and electric guitars, the latter with a variety of textures. The No1 issue of 'Rocket' comic. 'Jack Flash' from an old Beano annual of the '50s. 12: ‘When Boys Dream Of Guitars.’ It's pretty clear to me now, that, somehow I was destined, (or doomed,) to fall in love with the electric guitar. This came about by a strange process of fate. My younger brother Ian had been given a cheap toy guitar for Christmas, which he was probably too young to fully appreciate at the time. I managed to pick out the 'Third Man Theme' on it, and my father's ears pricked up. He had unsuccessfully tried to teach me to play the saxophone when I was just eight years old, but it hadn't taken and he'd given up on the idea of me becoming a musician. But he realised there was something going on with me with that little toy guitar. So, he bought me a slightly bigger toy guitar, an 'Elvis Presley' Selcol guitar, made of plastic with a picture of Elvis on the headstock. He taught me three or four ukulele chords on this toy guitar, (which only had four strings,) and saw the beginnings of a chance for me to become a musician like himself. Later, he bought me my first proper guitar, an acoustic archtop 'Zenith' model by Ivor Mairantz, which, to this day, I wish I still had. I'd heard Duane Eddy's 'Because They're Young' single and the small flame of guitar became a fierce blast. I progressed from the Zenith acoustic to an 'Antoria' solid body guitar and from there to my beloved Gibson 345, all of which were gifts from my father. Dad could be extremely critical of my musical abilities but, my mother tells me that, in private, he was very proud of me and didn't want me to get a 'big head' from too much praise. She also says that Dad thought I had an affinity with jazz from early on. Well, this track pulls together various facets of my guitar playing from that time and this...and, if nothing else, is a reasonable excuse to set the strings in motion! Clean and overdriven tones abound, wilder approaches, and more melodic ones too. Building to a nice climax and a reflective coda. A Selcol 'Elvis Presley' toy guitar, exactly the same as the one I had. This is exactly the same model of Antoria guitar I had, with the one difference in that mine sported 3 pickups instead of two. In all other respects it is identical. A 'Zenith' archtop acoustic guitar (like my own first 'proper' guitar.) It carried a certificate inside which was signed by Ivor Mairantz, a well know guitarist in the 1940s and '50s, who endorsed the instrument. 13: ‘The Ilfracombe Steamer.’ As with the track 'Lantern Hill', this track is inspired from the holiday in Ilfracombe that my family enjoyed in the 1950s. It focusses specifically on the old steamboat that plied its way around the coast at that time. Sounds of the sea and seagulls, the rattle and throb of the engine's pistons and the grandeur of the sea. All wrapped up with orchestra and guitars, bringing a romantic vibe to play with French horns and strings. E-bow taking the lead in places, chiming guitars taking the tune out. Bill and Ian Nelson in Ilfracombe in the 1950s. 14: ‘Memory Time No 4: A Dansette Fantasy.’ A Dansette record player was the dream of most youngsters in the late 1950s, as it was of mine. When I got my own record player and the permission to play the records I wanted to hear in the privacy of my own bedroom, it was like a door opening into another world. This is a one of those tracks which attempts to evoke the guitar records of my past, (and future,) with various twists and turns. It has a quote from 'Tuxedo Junction' as a coda, a tune which has resonances, from Glenn Miller to Chet Atkins, for me. I had many of Chet Atkins' albums as a teenager, he was one of my favourite guitarists and his music crossed many boundaries, always beautifully and immaculately played. I can't begin to approach the technical excellence that Chet displayed in everything he recorded but the spirit of his playing definitely infected my own. Another early guitar hero of mine was Scotty Moore, who was Elvis Presley's original lead guitarist. He took Chet's fingerstyle technique and applied it to rock n' roll in stunning fashion. Chet Atkins 'Workshop' album. Scotty Moore. A Dansette record player. 15: ‘Heading For Home In A Hillman Minx.’ In the 1950s, my father bought a second-hand Hillman Mix saloon car in black, its number was MUM 333, (which would be a sought after private plate today.) It was only the second car our family had owned, the first being a pre-war Jowett. I was with Dad when he went to buy the Hillman from a second-hand car dealer near the Hunslet and Sturton area of Leeds. The dealer's location was in Pontefract Road and I can remember driving there in the Jowett and Dad doing a part-exchange for the Hillman. The Hillman seemed a very modern car compared to the 1936 Jowett, (the Hillman was actually an early 1950s model, '51 or possibly '53,) but the old Jowett had served us well, despite its age. I remember us trying to get to Whitby in it and it breaking down on the North Yorkshire Moors. A passing AA patrolman, riding the motorcycle and sidecar combinations that were standard AA fare in those days, stopped to assist us. Dad joined the AA there and then and we were soon on our way again. The Hillman often took us to Reighton Gap, to the bungalow owned by my parent's friends. I have a few photographs of the family posing by the car, taken at Reighton. Dad was very fond of that car and had fitted it with various accessories. The music I've written for this track suggests the proudness my father felt about the car as we trundled along the country roads from Reighton Gap back to our home in Wakefield after a holiday at the bungalow. It features a big orchestral arrangement with electric guitars and a brass band in full flow. A 1936 Jowett like the one owned by my family. My younger brother Ian and myself with the Hillman Minx at Reighton Gap. (1950s.) Dad poses proudly in the Hillman Minx at the rear of the Reighton Gap bungalow. (1950s.) 16: ‘As If It Were A Moment Ago.’ And so we come to the conclusion of the album with a sweet and lyrical guitar-based instrumental featuring a panoramic string orchestra. The memories of my past, as a boy within the bosom of my family, really do seem like only a moment ago and yet, this year, as I hit my 68th birthday, those days are truly at a distance. So, yes, this piece portrays something of a yearning for a gentler, more innocent time but also resigns itself to the fact that those days are now far behind me, only misty memories and faded photographs remain. There is much that has been left out of this album, my time at Art School, the games we played as children, Dad building our first tv set in the back garden outhouse, riding my first two-wheeler bike around Eastmoor Estate, boyhood crushes on slightly older girls, a whole raft of things to inspire further musical portraiture. I have, of course, used other autobiographical themes as the starting point for individual songs and instrumentals on several other albums, but they've mostly been scattered here and there, rather than making up a cohesive whole. The potential definitely exists for an 'All That I Remember Volume Two.' Perhaps, one day, I might locate all the various tracks that deal with my personal memories and gather them together in a compilation, adding in this album plus a 'All I Remember Volume 2' to make up an epic box set, a life captured in sound. Whether such a time-consuming task becomes possible remains to be seen. But for now, I hope you have enjoyed this little glimpse of my younger days, captured in music. Bill Nelson...July 2016. My Mother on Reighton Sands, 1950s. My schoolboy band, 'The Cosmonauts.' More Listening Notes Go to Album

Illuminated At Dusk Bill Nelson album - 16 June 2008 Albums Menu Future Past Purchase this download TRACKS: 01) Switch On The Sky, Light Up The Stars 02) The View From Mount Palomar 03) Dance Of The Luminous Dials 04) The Venetian Conjurer 05) A Spirit Map Of Montparnasse 06) Angels Obey Bells 07) No Memories Here To Make You Sad 08) Art Is My Aeroplane 09) Silver Sailboat On Samsara Sea 10) Springtime Comes A Dancing 11) The Vanilla Summer Of Mr. Whippy 12) Frankie Ukelele And The Fire In The Lake 13) Lakeside 14) The Eternal Fascinator 15) Thoughts Without Friction 16) Summer Over Soon 17) Little Kisses Wrapped In Chocolate 18) Illuminated At Dusk ALBUM NOTES: Illuminated at Dusk is an instrumental album issued on the Sonoluxe label in a single print run of 1000 copies. The album was recorded as the second part of a trilogy of complementary releases, the associated albums being Silvertone Fountains (issued concurrently with Illuminated at Dusk) and Mazda Kaleidoscope . Illuminated at Dusk is another album that was borne out of the Frankie Ukelele and the Fire in the Lake project commenced in mid-2007, with some of its content being then considered for Silvertone Fountains in December 2007 before finally ending up on Illuminated at Dusk with its track listing confirmed in February 2008. CURRENT AVAILABILITY: Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store . BILL'S THOUGHTS: "Illuminated embraces music which, (I personally felt), was a little less introspective, (on the whole). It's a bit more geared towards the rock guitar end of my spectrum...(or plectrum!). The arrangements are sometimes rather 'epic' sounding, larger and more 'up-front' than Silvertone, and there is more use of overdriven guitar sounds and percussion, though still with some odd twists and turns. "The music here might, at one time, have found itself on a Nelsonica Convention album but its purpose in the trilogy is to shift gears a little, to slip into more familiar waters before diving deep into Mazda' s strange lagoon. In a way, Illuminated provides a kind of respite from the introspection of the other albums [in the trilogy: Silvertone Fountains , Illuminated at Dusk , and Mazda Kaleidoscope ]. A more familiar ride for some, perhaps." _____ "These three albums are not about breaking new ground, but about cultivating previous territory in ever more subtle, sophisticated and elegant ways. Their purpose is to throw even more light on the concept, to refine the ideas, to offer detailed commentary and illumination. "With each of these albums, I've been concerned with a single, direct, arrow of beauty. That was my Sagittarian bow's aim. They were intended to be considered as a trilogy...and whilst each has its own subtle identity, they are deliberately linked, each following on from, and commenting on, the other..." FAN THOUGHTS: andygeorge: "I've been listening to Illuminated at Dusk most of this morning and have been amazed at how bloody good it is! This on only a couple of listens, which is unusual for me. I'm no musician, I don't know all the ins and outs of the recording process and the technical stuff that goes with it....but I know what I like and...THIS IS GOOD! "From the wonderfully intriguing titles, (love to know what inspired some of these Bill), the opening track "Switch on the Sky, Light up the Stars", which flows flawlessly for me thru to the quirky "Springtime Comes a Dancing" and ending with the Dreamy "Illuminated at Dusk"...bliss!" steve lyles: "I am not one for saying this is better than that one etc, usually because I truly love them all but I have been plugged in once again by the music on this particular cd. I have found myself having epiphany like all over body tingles. I am only on my fourth listen. In the car on the way to work this morning I was literally out of my mind most of the time totally absorbed in the musical landscape god knows who was driving. This is very personal music nothing tribal about it at all but thats exactly why I love it, it is something I can relate to completely." mvande2: "Illuminated At Dusk is preciously beautiful, possibly my favorite of all that you have done. Such instrumental guitar gems are the reason I seek out your recordings. They are especially intelligent and what you do best in my humble opinion." major snagg: "Oh how stupid I've been!...I've had the audacity to complain about Bill putting out too many instrumental CDs. So here I am (tail between my legs, as it were) saying my apologies...Sorry, Sorry, Sorry... I sent off for the above CD yesterday, actually received it today (is that a quick delivery or what!) it's BRILLIANT. I just can't believe that I wasn't going to bother with this CD. I'm not going to be that stupid again. This a Quality CD in every way, very tuneful, melodic, richly textured and of course a sparklingly clean production. How do you do this Bill? So many 'top' studios would give their eye-teeth to get such a sound. "I'm waiting with my credit card for the vocal CD. To hell with birthday presents, I want it now..." paul.smith: "I have to add to this thread because that trilogy of albums for me epitomises all that I love in Bill's instrumental albums - they possess endless depth and never present themselves as 'given' listens - there's very little that's 'finite' within them...beautiful endless abstracts that conjure up aural images that simply cannot be articulated in words...makes me wonder how I did without them before they were created..." thunk: "I have taken an early liking to "A Spirit Map of Montparnasse", probably due to its 'expanse', which like "Fever Dream of the Starlight Man" (a long one again), allows Bill to really experiment with a piece and take it into a different place..." Dar: "One instant giant, that jumps out and grabs me by the spine and squeezes me is "Silver Sailboat in Samsara Sea". It has the majestic, magnificent, deep and stirring qualities of the best and boldest Nelson masterpieces, and much of that is from the specific guitar tones, and much from the flavor of the notes themselves." andypeace: "Having listened to your music for 30 years now, you've taken me on a fascinating musical journey through all sorts of genres, you've never run with the pack, nor should you, and I've always admired you for that!...I'm listening to Illuminated at Dusk as I write this and on first listen its gorgeous, and it floats my boat...Keep producing works of sublime beauty like this and I for one will be more than happy...have a gold star sir." wonder toy: "Stunning!!! What an incredible album. Love all of it, but here are the tracks that standout for me: "The View From Mount Palomar", "No Memories Here to Make You Sad", "Springtime Comes A Dancing", "Frankie Ukelele and the Fire in the Lake", and "The Eternal Fascinator". I take that back... 'ALL' of these songs standout. This is monumental my friends. Get this record. You will not be disappointed on any level. "Thanks for raising the bar again, Bill." Albums Menu Future Past