The production is over the top with all those overdubs. But it works! Check out the glorious army of guitars on "Between Two Worlds"
A nice pic of Bill I just found on the net taken by famous photographer Michael Putland from Sept. 24, 1975. Somewhere on tour in America? Edit - he's wearing an "Old Grey Whistle Test" badge on his sweater so maybe he's backstage during one of BBD's appearances there.
Oops, sorry, I thought we had moved on to Futurama, wasn't paying attention to who posted the Futurama review you just mentioned (which got me jumpstarted on mine), I assumed it was the OP.
I wish I could remember who turned me on to BBD, but I guess it was around the time Futurama was released. I think it was probably Randy, the other guitarist in my college rock band that first played the album for me, and I recall hearing "Sister Seagull" on the radio. We heard Queen's "Sheer Heart Attack" around then, too, and I remember our spirited discussions over whether Brian May or Bill Nelson was the superior guitarist. I think I picked May at that time, but I loved them both. I'd say Futurama is my favorite BBD album (Sunburst Finish being a close second) for many of the same reasons that Slipkid mentioned: it's just chock full of delicious, throat-grabbing guitars. Our band went on to play "Music in Dreamland". Badly, I'm sure.
And wonderfully evocative lyrics: And violins still scream from every room You've ever passed your presence through
this is still my favorite solo album...all instrumental and getting increasingly difficult to find Practically Wired or How I Became Guitar Boy
I love this one, too. I had never paid much attention to Bill's solo albums, but a friend gave me a copy of "Practically Wired" and it became the soundtrack of my summer that year. It still summons up the feeling of driving at high speed down the freeway in my car with the windows open on the way to the beach with the album cranked up loud. Ahhh... makes me want to do that right now!
Cherry Red recently reissued that cd. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Practically...=1438387745&sr=8-1&keywords=bill+nelson+wired My, we ARE jumping around aren't we? On to solo Bill?
This song totally sold me on Bill's writing, as a big Cocteau fan. It's a great sonic impression of Cocteau's style. I came to this and all the other Be Bop Deluxe material after the seeing them live opening for Blue Oyster Cult.They were having issues with the sound and so they just did a lot of jamming. When BOC came on the sound magically cleared right up. I left after two songs.I bought everything I could find by BBD in the next week. Sister Seagull from the Live album was another that was burned into my DNA by excessive play. I have nothing but respect and admiration for Bill Nelson and the effort he puts into serving the Muse. Not everything he does is to my taste, but that's as it should be. He's a great role model for any musician or artist!
No it's not. That's the exact same page I ordered my copy from in May of 2012, and it's a real cd sho nuff.
Here is the original single mix of Between The Worlds that was recalled after one day of release. Quite different than the LP version DJ LX posted above.
Cherry Red re-released that version in 2012, but the Amazon page clearly shows the AutoRip logo, strange. I guess get it however you can...it's a wonderful album!
I thought that meant "buy the cd and get a free download <autorip>". Oh well, it's a great cd alright - thanks for reminding me, I need to dig it out and play it. Hey, isn't this a Be Bop Deluxe thread?
I will have to spin Futurama in the morning to get reacquainted with the album before posting my thoughts. Vinyl for this one.
Sorry I'm talking about Futurama here! Bill does a little guitar trick on Swan Song that he does elsewhere as well and I always think 'Bill' when I hear it even though it's probably reasonably common among other guitarists. For me he does it best though. Here's two examples - the guitar's 'response' just after 'while the company' at 1:08, the second just after the 'bridge' at 4:32 where it reintroduces the verse. He plays a note on (say) the top E or B string and matches the tone by bending the string up on the string below (G or B respectively) to 'double-track' the note and then lets the bent string slightly. It's incredibly powerful, and with that guitar sound on Swan Song especially works very effectively. Possibly with distortion harmonics are boosting the note and fleshing it out. Oh that guitar sound on that song especially.... Blows my mind.
Hello folks, Yinyl diehard, rest assured that I'm not a terrorist, & no hijacking of "your" thread was intended...In fact, I was giving it CPR & hoping to keep it going, as a "bump" generally means that interest is waning. I didn't mean to upset you or "your" thread, & I'll take my leave ! Slipkid, now that's what I call a super post !!!! I wish I knew how to do what you did ! Great stuff ! Rufus McDufus, you're correct in your interpretation of the bending of one guitar-string to sound in unison with another when played at the same time. I'd say that this neat-little-trick goes back a l o n g time, as even the majestic Django Reinhardt was doing this guitar-trick on his acoustic along side Steffan Grapelli in the 1930's, well before WW II. You have good ears, & no doubt play fine guitar ! (I'll give you a tip & let you know that a lot of Bills guitar work revolves around the same "Type 4" block fingering for both his Major & minor pentatonic scale types, it's just the chord that moves from Major or minor below it to make it sound bluesy or happy). Check out Django if you're not familiar with him, he generally blows "everybody" away....( Even today's "best"). Farewell, Gregster