Would a few of you be interested in this if I started it? If so I don't mind putting the energy behind it.
Nice to get on this at the ground floor. Looking forward to seeing how it goes and will try to contribute.
Because I want to see this thread to the end. I could be dead of old age by time we did Bill's catalog.
So first, from Wiki, a bit of Be Bop Deluxe history to set the stage. Be-Bop Deluxe was founded in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, by singer, guitarist and principal songwriter Bill Nelson in 1972. The founding lineup consisted of Nelson, guitarist Ian Parkin, bassist and vocalist Robert Bryan, drummer Nicholas Chatterton-Dew, and keyboardist Richard Brown (who left in December of that year). They started off playing the West Yorkshire pub scene, with one regular venue being the Staging Post in Whinmoor, Leeds. They never played bebop music, but instead came out of the blues-based British rock scene of the late 1960s. At first they were compared to the more successful David Bowie, but Nelson never tried to copy Bowie, and appears to have disliked comparisons or being pigeon-holed. This artistic restlessness eventually led him to disband Be-Bop Deluxe altogether and pursue less commercial paths of expression. After signing to EMI'S Harvest Records subsidiary, the initial lineup of the band only lasted for one album, 1974's Axe Victim, and a short tour. Shortly after this, Nelson dissolved the band and reformed the group with a new lineup, which comprised Nelson, bassist Paul Jeffreys, keyboardist Milton Reame-James - both formerly of Cockney Rebel - and drummer Simon Fox - the latter introduced by Reame-James to Nelson. However, Jeffreys and Reame-James soon departed the band, and New Zealand-born bassist-vocalist Charlie Tumahai (formerly of Australian bands Mississippi and Healing Force) joined in late 1974. This lineup recorded 1975's Futurama album (produced by Roy Thomas Baker, the then producer for Queen) and was then supplemented by keyboardist Andrew Clark for the subsequent tour, after which Clark joined the band. This final lineup remained constant until the band's dissolution in 1978. Jeffreys died in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. Nelson was acclaimed as one of the finest guitarists in British rock at the time, and the music confirmed that, with his distinctive tones adorning most tracks. Stylistically, the songs took elements from progressive rock, glam rock (the band had flirted with make-up in the early days) and hard guitar rock. Ships in the Night, taken from the band's third album Sunburst Finish, was their most successful single in both the UK and the US. The album was notably the first to be produced by EMI employee John Leckie, who had hitherto worked for the company as a recording engineer, in which capacity he had served on Axe Victim, which he also in effect produced. It was clearly a happy relationship: Leckie would go on to produce all the subsequent Be-Bop Deluxe and Bill Nelson's Red Noise albums for Harvest, including the proposed Red Noise album Quit Dreaming And Get On The Beam that Harvest refused to release. Nelson shared producing credits with Leckie from Drastic Plastic onward. The first three Be-Bop Deluxe albums are all, in one way or another, named after guitars. "Axe" is slang for a guitar, Futurama is a particular make of guitar while Sunburst Finish refers to a style of finishing for the instrument. The title track of the fourth album, Modern Music, was a ten-minute suite of songs inspired by the experience of the band's touring the US. This was followed by the live album, Live! In The Air Age, recorded on the subsequent UK tour promoting Modern Music although no songs from that studio album appeared on the live one apart from a tantalising snippet of the audience singing along to Down On Terminal Street. That recording - now featuring the song in its entireity - and a number of other live Modern Music tracks finally surfaced on 2011's 5-CD set Futurist Manifesto. 1978's Drastic Plastic, recorded at Juan-Les-Pins in the South of France [under the influence of punk, new wave and David Bowie's Berlin albums, was a substantial stylistic change from the progressive/guitar rock of the early Be-Bop Deluxe. Eager to embrace the changing musical landscape, Nelson dissolved Be-Bop Deluxe.
Axe Victim is the debut album of art rock band Be-Bop Deluxe, released in June 1974. It was recorded in AIR London, Audio International Studios and CBS Studios, all located in London, England. The material is different from later releases; it was released at the height of the glam rock era in Britain, with the band's music and image being influenced by the musical zeitgeist. Several songs, such as the title track "Axe Victim", demonstrated this glam influence, whilst others, for example, the future concert staple "Adventures In A Yorkshire Landscape", showed their progressive tendencies. At the time of its release, the band's glam image and music was being criticised as being too similar to that of David Bowie, a comparison that would ultimately lead to Be-Bop Deluxe's disbanding as band leader Bill Nelson strived to make more and more unconventional music. The song "Jets At Dawn", a re-recording of the earlier Smile Records version, holds the distinction of being the longest Be-Bop Deluxe album track, lasting 7:20. The only longer studio recordings are the Sunburst Finish-era B-side "Shine" (at 7:49) and the multi-track "Modern Music" suite. This incarnation of the band, featuring Bill Nelson on vocals and lead guitar, Ian Parkin on rhythm guitar, Robert Bryan on bass, and Nicholas Chatterton-Dew on drums, would only last for this album, before Nelson disbanded Be-Bop Deluxe following the "Axe Victim" tour and reformed it with several other musicians for the following year's "Futurama". Side 1 "Axe Victim" – 5:14 "Love is Swift Arrows" – 4:12 "Jet Silver and the Dolls of Venus" – 4:10 "Third Floor Heaven" – 2:27 "Night Creatures" – 3:34 Side 2 "Rocket Cathedrals" – 3:00 "Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape" – 3:23 "Jets at Dawn" – 7:19 "No Trains To Heaven" – 6:39 "Darkness (L'Immoraliste)" – 3:22 Okay, the first album by Be-Bop Deluxe. All comments welcome so we can discuss.
Before Axe Victim, a single was released on Smile Records. The A side was Teenage Archangel with the original Jets At Dawn on the B side (mentioned above). Smile Records was an early Indie label on which Bill Nelson's first solo LP Northern Dream was released in 1971.
Wish they had put this on the boxed set. granted they are on the Postcards anthology BUT I sold it when I heard the boxed set was coming out assuming it pile be on it. Oh well. Good thing I found d it used again.
The first album doesn't feel like the first album to me because the line up changed so much. It's almost like demos the band made before they properly started recording. It's a good album but lacks the ingenuity of the later ones. I know NI ex of this is true but I heard the first album after having purchased all the other albums.
Interesting article from a site called Julian Cope Presents Head Heritage about Axe Victim. https://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/albumofthemonth/be-bop-deluxe-axe-victim
The title track "Axe Victim" is great as is "Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape" although I prefer the live version on Live! In the Air Age. I just can't listen to the rest of the album so it rarely gets played. That title track is like an overture to Be-Bop Deluxe's career.
