With over 150 albums to his credit and counting, Bill Nelson may be one of the most prolific artists to emerge from the rock scene of the 1970s. This sonic chameleon has repeatedly damned the commercial consequences to follow his unquenchable muse into a multitude of genres – from glam, art-rock, and prog to ambient soundscapes, the folk-tinged singer-songwriter mode, and a string of spellbinding instrumental discs that surpass the achievements of many of the better-known “guitar gods” who traditionally grace the critics’ top-ten lists.
Nelson’s notoriety and critical acclaim first sprang from his now seemingly brief time leading Be-Bop Deluxe. For four years beginning in 1974, Nelson and his bandmates crafted five remarkably fresh studio albums and one sensational live record – in styles that evolved from the aforementioned glam and progressive rock sensibilities of the early 1970s to the new wave and experimental leanings that would fully flower in his post-Be-Bop Deluxe work with his next project, the short-lived Red Noise, and his decades of solo work.
The compulsively creative Nelson was the band’s visionary – its sole songwriter, lead singer, sharp-dressed frontman, and a guitarist of astounding technique and taste – truly one of the best of a generation thick with innovative, soul-stirring six-stringers.
Thanks to Cherry Red Records, we can now enjoy the complete works of Be-Bop Deluxe in two remastered three-CD sets, each containing an illustrated 48-page booklet full of photos, trivia, and witticisms from Nelson himself. In late July, Cherry Red released Be-Bop Deluxe: The Albums 1974–1976, a set featuring Nelson and company’s first trio of studio albums on EMI Records: Axe Victim, Futurama, and Sunburst Finish.
If EMI had its druthers, Be-Bop Deluxe would never have existed. Nelson first came to the attention of the label when Britain’s leading taste-making DJ, John Peel, began repeatedly playing and raving about Nelson’s self-released solo album from 1971, Northern Dream. The label wanted to sign Nelson as a solo artist and have him re-record this album with studio musicians, rather than the newer tunes he was penning for his new band.
Nelson stood firm even after the label came to see several live shows, which still did not impress them enough to sign the band. In the liner notes, Nelson also expresses delight at being rejected by Decca Records, which notoriously passed on signing the Beatles. Nelson even passed on an invitation to join a “super group” being put together by Island Records, which would’ve had him in the company of Jimi Hendrix‘s drummer Mitch Mitchell, Free’s bassist/songwriter Andy Fraser, and singer Frankie Miller.
In June 1974, Be-Bop Deluxe unleashed their debut record, Axe Victim. The collection kicks off with the title track, a fervent blast of hard rock with glam lyrics: “We hope you’d lend an ear / You hoped we’d dress like tarts.” Right out of the box, the song is spattered with a heavy dose of Nelson’s fiery guitars, with fills between every lyric couplet, and a spiraling solo across the last two minutes of the tune. “Love Is Swift Arrows” is emblematic of many of Nelson’s more romantic tunes, anchored with a crystalline acoustic rhythm guitar, with much of the song submerged in heavy phasing a la the Small Faces‘ “Itchycoo Park”.
“Jet Silver and the Dolls of Venus” is another slice of the glam rock sensibility the group would soon move away from. Its intro phrase is very similar to that of the David Bowie/Mott the Hoople classic, “All the Young Dudes”. Once again, the last third of the tune is reserved for a melodic guitar solo. The nine-minute-long “Jets at Dawn” boasts more guitar solo finery – fluid and lyrical, with a super-rich tone, another example of Nelson’s method of marrying taste and subtlety with fire.
The album closer, “Darkness (L’Immoraliste),” is a fully orchestrated progressive opus inspired by the French poet, playwright, and filmmaker Jean Cocteau, after whom Nelson will name the record label for his more experimental, independent music of the 1980s and 1990s.
With the follow-up, Futurama, Nelson would replace the band from his debut, which EMI disliked, with two superb players who would be with him for the duration of Be-Bop Deluxe: drummer Simon Fox and bassist and harmony vocalist Charlie Tumahai (keyboardist Andrew Clarke would join on the next album). With Queen‘s producer Roy Thomas Baker at the helm, Nelson and company will wax some of their best-known tracks, including the single “Maid in Heaven” and “Sister Seagull”, both of which will be found in superior versions on their forthcoming live LP.
Another highlight here is “Music in Dreamland”, a heavy dose of art rock with a brass band interlude. Nelson’s inspiration, “Jean Cocteau”, is named-checked in a tune that is a genuine departure. This one is a dreamy ballad with a Brazilian jazz sound featuring vibes and a phased, reverbed acoustic guitar solo.
Be-Bop Deluxe’s third record, Sunburst Finish, would be their most successful, with a cover of a naked woman brandishing a flaming guitar – a striking image which wouldn’t pass muster with today’s PC police. It features their highest-charting single (and Nelson’s least favorite song), “Ships in the Night”, and the concert favorite, “Life in the Air Age”.
Nelson is a true master of backward guitar soloing, a highlight of another modular song suite, “Sleep That Burns”. The true standout, the tune on which much of Nelson’s guitar hero legend rests, is “Crying to the Sky”. For this solo, Nelson turned his 100-watt amp up to 11 to perform two solos that soar, with his infinitely sustaining guitar constantly dancing with feedback in every phrase. It was his tribute to his guitar idol, Jimi Hendrix, an experience he compared to “riding a wild horse.”
Later this month, Cherry Red will release Be-Bop Deluxe: The Albums 1976-1978, a set featuring the two latter-day studio records, Modern Music and Drastic Plastic, as well as their 1977 live work, LIVE! In the Air Age. By the time of Modern Music, Nelson was beginning to feel disillusioned about the music business and the mantle of “guitar hero”. At this point, Nelson and the band had separated themselves from their touring brethren by donning slick Italian suits, as opposed to the dirty denim, spandex, and the ever-present lamécapes favored by progressive rockers like Yes‘ keyboard wizard, Rick Wakeman.
Per the liner notes, most of the album “was written in hotel rooms” while Nelson was “locked into the music industry’s album-tour-album routine”. As with “Sunburst Finish”, Nelson was co-producing with engineer John Leckie and turning out varied, first-rate works, and still more searing guitar in slightly smaller doses. “The Kiss of Light” is a pop tune with a Caribbean lilt, driven by marimba and featuring a two-guitar harmonized solo.
“The Bird Charmers Destiny” is a slow, dreamy piano ballad which climaxes with a massed, multitracked choir of Nelsons! “Modern Music” is a suite in two parts, which begins with a radio dial spinning, falling on strange shows, adverts, and some old Be-Bop Deluxe tunes before the song kicks off. “Dance of the Uncle Sam Humanoids” is a driving instrumental that showcases Nelson’s jazz fusion-worthy guitar chops. “The Gold at the End of the Rainbow” features a tasty backward guitar intro.
Initially released in 1977, LIVE! In the Air Age is an excellent summation of this band’s strengths – Nelson’s wonderfully varied songwriting, his peerless guitar soloing, and the brilliant accompaniment of Fox, Clarke, and Tumahai. The record features superior versions of classics like “Sister Seagull”, “Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape”, and the lengthy, funky instrumental, “Shine”.
With his stereo-wired Gibson 345 electric, Nelson conjures thick tones and fluid lines, frequently layering heavy doses of delay and spacious reverb. This three-CD box set features the original ten-song LP. For more, seek out the 2021 deluxe set, boasting over 13 hours and 131 songs of Be-Bop Deluxe in full flight.
1978’s Drastic Plastic was, as Nelson tells it, “the album that almost never was”. By this juncture, Nelson was “starting to feel trapped by the ‘guitar hero’ tag, and he agreed to make “one last album to please management”. Nelson’s taste was leading him in the direction of new wave and electronic music. Many of the record’s tunes were flavored with his just-purchased Mini-Moog and Hagstrom Patch 2000, an early synth guitar.
This new sensibility is evident in the opener, the industrial-sounding “Electrical Language”. The rhythm track was created by cutting up and looping a beat laid down by drummer Fox, which Nelson refined by feeding it through a distortion pedal. “Love in Flames” is a high-energy “thrash” track that foreshadows the sound of Nelson’s next band, Red Noise, complete with a retro Farfisa organ sound.
“Visions of Endless Hope” is an acoustic instrumental with an ambient sound that would become the trademark of his latter-day experimental work with Cocteau Records. The bonus track, “Futurist Manifesto”, is another experimental piece of spoken word, backward piano, and darting Moog melodies. It was made from scratch in the studio with random words taken from a discarded issue of Country Life Magazine.
From Be-Bop Deluxe and Red Noise, Nelson would go on to carve out one of the most fiercely independent and creatively prosperous careers in music. Today, even as he battles a variety of illnesses, including loss of hearing in one ear, he continues to create and release music that astounds, typically producing three to four full albums per year. He is still an incredibly creative and inspiring force, an unrepentant dreamer whose still-growing body of work can be enjoyed at Dreamsville, his official website.
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