Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Bill



One of the musical inspirations I have shared the best part of my life with, is Yorkshireman Bill Nelson.
During the seventies I was entertained by his band Be Bop Deluxe who where the soundtrack to many a winters night in my room with the girl of my dreams. Always the maverick, Bill disbanded Be Bop at the start of the Eighties as he did not want to play the record industry games of continually releasing the same sounding material. Instead he formed Red Noise who only made one album & who really annoyed me until I " Got it ".

When he delivered the follow up album to his record company they turned it down, so "Quit dreaming & get on the Beam " came out on Mercury. After more record company politics the maverick Nelson chose to turn his back on the music industry. Although these days exposure to his music is limited without the big budgets needed for advertising, you can if you want to, easily obtain all of his fifty plus albums. Yes that is right fifty plus ! These range from the guitar oriented Be Bop Deluxe to his more esoteric & usually more full filling offerings from his home studio in North Yorkshire.

I try to think of personal favourites & have listed a few things at the end of the piece that give a good example of his work. Through his website at dreamsville.com (see listing for Bills diary in my links)you can look at his work & buy his music, as well as read his highly personal diary. His creativity spans music, art and literature.

Bill inspired me to quit playing in bands & to start building my own studio, his approach is one of living within the musical moment. Committing to " tape " idea's quickly to preserve the original feel & inspiration of the piece. However there is no lack of quality & integrity in the music produced because of this.

Suggest listening to:

Be Bop Deluxe

Adventures in a Yorkshire landscape
Axe Victim
Maid in heaven
Fair exchange
Electrical language

Red Noise

Stay young
Out of touch
Art Empire Industry

Bill Nelson

Eros arriving
Private view
Acceleration
Contemplation
Rooms with brittle views
Another day another ray of hope
Wild blue cycle
Rosewood
Rolling Home (Yorkshire Raga No. 1)

1 comment:

Yorkshire Pudding said...

Jock used to talk about him years ago...
These days I don't seem to need much music in my life but Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape sounds enticing... I may just track it down this summer.