Be bop deluxe - a prog rock band to me

I am surprised, upon first looking at this most excellent site yesterday, that BE BOP DELUXE seem to be omitted.

Being a teenager and engineering apprentice in the early seventies, I was an obsessive YES fan but my tastes also ran to Focus,  Pink Floyd , Led Zep, Tangerine Dream and Genesis. Also, Greenslade featured quite highly with, Camel and Barclay James Harvest and not least, Steve Hillage, later Asia, Rush ELP and Marillion however,  I was also taken aback by the excellence of one Bill Nelson and his superbly creative band, Be Bop deluxe.

They (BE BOP DELUXE) have a good back catalogue of at least half a dozen most excellent records that readily fall into the prog rock genre, in my humble opinion.

Clever lyrics, visible technical excellence in writing and production (and especially Bills TRULY WONDERFUL GUITAR LICKS) and such wonders as the moderm music suite and sunburst finish in its entirety, readily walk them into the category in my view 

I for one, will always strongly argue for Be Bops inclusion and would, as a new member, be most eager to argue the point and be interested to know why they are so far - apparently omitted.

 

unless I missed them in my search ?

best regards to you all  - here goes

 

I have only heard, complete, one their albums; Modern Music.  I think the song Modern Music is very prog but quite honestly I don't remember much else about that CD.  I think they were quite good and i am going to have to look into their catalog a little deeper.

 

 

Everyone: if you look at the sub-genre definitions on the site, under the ART ROCK category, examples are "Roxy Music & Be Bop Deluxe". I agree...let's add them under the ART ROCK genre!

Peter wrote: I'm not overly familiar with their work, but I believe that I mentioned them as candidates for inclusion about a year ago. Why? I recall that they were always referred to as a prog rock band in the music mags I read back in the 70s. I would like to hear them now....

 

I have a tiny advantage here, having stage managed one of their early shows when I was a post graduate student. Actually Pete, they were not always referred to as a prog rock band in the beginning, rather they started out as a glam rock band, some what modelled on Bowie's  Ziggy Stardust - glittery stage costumes, make-up etc. More musical skilled than Sweet, less pop chart oriented than T Rex, at least as eclectic as Roxy Music, and likely to give David Bowie a run for his money. Their first album Axe Victim, wasn't greeted  as a prog album, again the glam rock thing  because of stage image and the tunes not quite being structured like other prog tunes of the period, plus the  tendency to be relatively short. But the album was certainly greeted with great enthuiasm, especially Bill Nelson's songs and guitarwork. BBD have recently reformed for a one-offs series of concerts.

I'm an Axe Victim

Wow what a wonderful response - so prompt to

I would add - 'life in the air age - its grim enough to make a robot cry' with the fritz lang video backdrops dark self intro spective lyrics and swirling guitar work - they definitely are prog and live they were simply wonderful !

If you havent properly checked them out, I would reccomend in particular 'Futurama' or 'sunburst finish', although 'moderm music' has the definitive prog rock suite of the same name timelessly imprinted on it.

I remember them doing a jam of the track 'shine' which just went on and on with beautiful improvisation at the manchester apollo (probably 1977) my copy of 'live in the air age' has it on a vinyl Ep attached - the cover art work is truly prog and Bill through his burgeoning back catalogue of material is still a genius to this day.

if theyve re-formed I simply must see them - I really must, any info would be greatly appreciated

 

cheers fellow music lovers of quality !

Be-bop delux are very famos band in my country which is greenland.They are from canada no? I saw them play Qaanaaq (you know it as thule) last septembre. They good but i think they play some country music and some famos tunes from 1950 like elvis presly and buddy holy.Not expect to se them on a place such as this.They were very old-the keyboard man was about 60 or 70 i think. Good that some diffrent sort of music come on this forum.

I think Oracle is taking the Michael.Bill Nelson of BBD is from Yorkshire.

wow

'even more than international'

Bills words not mine, yep BE Bop Deluxe hail from yorkshire, Bill himself from wakefield, hes'got his own website and appreciation societies, periodicaly I recieve emails from the nelsonian navigator about what he's up to and his personal diary.

You can get all their stuff readily on CD, all I can do is heartily reccomend to anybody anywhere in the world (even greenland bless you ) that you catch some of this material and draw your own conclusions - if you like clever music with intricate vocals and powerful 'big guitar licks with a battery of effects'

Be bops for you - if you want to hear real guitar and I mean REAL guitar so powerful it makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up - try 'crying to the sky' off sunburst finish

as powerful and  as completely compelling a series of complete guitar solos as I have ever heard - repeat EVER heard

simply wonderful and a real treat to hear form time to time

and Ive heard a lot

enjoy !!! - [email protected]