BILL NELSON

New Wave rock classic Sound on Sound starts full throttle and doesn't let up until your aural senses have been pummeled into submission. This is literate and urgent late seventies guitar based new wave jam rock that is too idiosyncratic to be mainstream, too intelligent to be accepted by massive outsiders. Bill apparently thought Red Noise was a musical dead end but this is a beauty that should satisfy many occasions when blistering rock music is called for. One listen to the opener Don't Touch Me (I'm Electric) and you'll know what I mean. 4.5 stars and the arrival of Nelson as a mature artist.

I really want to be a fan of Bill Nelson, to hoist him up with the best of the best. Unfortunately I haven't yet listened to an album that has really knocked my socks off. While a handful have been really good, there's another handful that have been so self indulgent it's a turnoff for me. Some of his later eighties fare have proven this way for me, and Pavilions of the Heart and Soul is a prime example. The music is great - I love instrumental pop/rock that rewards close listening or performs well as background music. This release, as well as the other three that were released in the 4 album set Trial By Intimacy (The Book of Splendours), work well in both areas but when taken as a whole (package, song names, album names and covers etc) they seem like silly sappy attempts to convey spiritual and sexual awakening. Nelson's work is full of angst, which I find works well for him in his contemporary pursuits, but don't suit my listening and aesthetic tastes on works like this. The short instrumental pieces are interesting, and I'm glad I own it, but this isn't about to trip anyone's trigger.

This album in the voluminous discography of Bill Nelson is the one he's praised above all others. "I think from a technical and spiritual standpoint Neptune's Galaxy stands with the most satisfying I've done" Nelson has been quoted saying.

Essentially a blissed out new age Popul Vuh kind of album, the number of sonic layers Nelson bestows upon the listener is tremendous. This album is the second in a two disc ancient British Marine inspired works, along with the album the Alchemical Adventures of Sailor Bill.

Bill Nelson is a guitar and studio master, as I've gathered from fractionally listening to his incredibly deep discography. This album is a highlight for me but for more prog and new wave enthusiasts I'd check out Nelson's earlier works.

Good background, meditation, spiritual type music. Background music in my collection. "She Signals From Across the Bay" is a highlight

— First review of this album —

I'm trying to tackle the Bill Nelson catalogue and so far (four months or so) I've gotten familiar with maybe near half of his solo records. It's an enormous undertaking as I think I have over fifty of his solo works and counting. Anyway, Astral Motel is Bill's soundtrack for the first Nelsonica gathering that became an annual event. It's typical Bill, lots of modern machines with programmed voices and almost dubstep like accompaniment sometimes. Still, he seems particularly inspired here and this ranks among my top Bill Nelson releases so far, I like the title track a lot, and this is short and succinct unlike many of his records. I decided to make it my first review of his albums because I think this is where I'd steer the uninitiated if they asked me to recommend an album that reflects his entire body of work and is accessible.

I like all Bill Nelson so far, his eighties new wave thinking romantic rocker period is creative and his guitarcentric albums are creative and interesting also. Bill really is an intriguing figure in the rock guitar world

Issued in the midst of Bill Nelson's early 1980s creative boom, the Love That Whirls presents thinking man's New Romantic. It's synthpop, yes, but synthpop with substantially more complexity than what a lot of the competition were offering at the time, and coupled with a knack for wry lyrics. In its extended instrumental passages (indeed, some tracks are entirely instrumental) Nelson takes off from a musical landscape which might have had some familiarity to pop listeners of 1982 and ends up in territory which feels alien and unique to him. Diary of a Thinking Heart? Well, it's much better than the Owner of a Lonely Heart...

This is the only album Bill Nelson released under the band name Red Noise, and based on his success here, it would have been interesting indeed to have seen this band idea play out for a few more albums. Having disbanded Be Bop Deluxe (a band I admittedly don't know much about), his work on this album is high-energy, guitar-based New Wave rock of a very high caliber. The closest comparison that comes to mind is the first two XTC albums, but Nelson's take on herky-jerky new wave is decidedly heavier and more rooted in classic rock idioms.

It begins with "Don't Touch Me (I'm Electric)", the musical equivalent of bouncing around in a pinball machine, with hyper-excited vocals by Nelson and dissonant chords colliding with the stomping rhythms. "For Young Moderns" brings in a Cars/Roxy Music vibe, with smooth synthesizers and a moderate rocking tempo. "Stop/Go/Stop" returns to the first song's caffeinated paranoia, and "Furniture Music" is mid-tempo again. The latter song has one of the more memorable melodies on the album, and was a suitable choice for a single release. I think he may have been poking a bit of fun at Brian Eno on this one, but who knows, maybe they were friends for all I know.

For twelve high-energy tracks (no ballads here), Nelson and company fill their songs with urgency, guitar/synth hooks galore, and occasionally the kind of guitar heroics that make Nelson famous in Be Bop Deluxe (e.g. "A Better Home in the Phantom Zone" has some excellent guitar runs). In a few years, Nelson would turn towards more ambient art rock and instrumental soundscape music, but this album marks an interesting period in his career when he was looking for new ways to rock out. With a tight band behind him and a bunch of scorching hot rock tunes, this album remains exciting today.

— First review of this album —

It can't be easy to anthologize 40 years of any artist's work. Imagine then, the difficulty of summarizing the career of an artist whose work is canvased across more than eighty studio albums which span various genres, styles and approaches.

Such is the task of The Practice Of Everyday Life, a fabulously packaged 8-disc box (including 64-page booklet) that chronicles the work of Bill Nelson. Starting with the hippie rock of his indie solo LP, this set traverses through his commercial zenith with art-rockers Be Bop Deluxe, the electro-punk energy of Red Noise, lo-fi ambient contemplations, various fusions of pop and dance/techno beats and finally brings us up to date with Nelson's recent amalgam of styles that might be best described as an aural Disneyland.

This is a fascinating overview of a diverse body of work that is largely currently out of print- a problem that Esoteric Recordings plans to help rectify with a reissue campaign underway since 2011. The label promises the reissue of 21 titles (including six multi-disc sets).

Oddly, the Be Bop Deluxe material here, which takes up most of the first two discs, appears to have been remastered twice in 2011: Abbey Road's Peter Mew remastered the entire Be Bop catalog for the 'Futurist Manifesto' box. The remastering for The Practice Of Everyday Life is credited to Ben Wiseman of Audio Archiving Company (London). While I find no fault with the Peter Mew remasters, the Be Bop Deluxe tracks on TPOEL seem to have a touch more clarity and crispness. In fact, all the tracks on TPOEL sound better than previous issues AND sound great together in the context of this compilation. A rare feat.

It's a minor criticism, but with only 35 minutes of BBC rarities on Disc 8, it seems a lost opportunity to include another 40 minutes of Nelson's more recent recordings.

Fans of Be Bop Deluxe who have been detached from Nelson's work would be well served by investigating some of those recent releases (only available through www.billnelson.com). For anyone interested in an overview that encompasses of the scope of Nelson's considerable output, look no further.

Bill Nelson remains the artist that could, should and would. Founder of art rock band Be Bop Deluxe in the 70s, he was responsible for stretching the boundaries of conventional rock music by introducing a new style of guitar playing (he has a unique tone and timber that defies description or imitation) that should have placed him high up on the podium with the usual guitar suspects (the 3 Hs, Latimer, Gilmour, Fripp and co) but for an incredible artistic obstinacy that is truly noteworthy. This is one artist who has NEVER caved into the audience demands and corporate obligations, forging his own path and damn the critics. Bill Nelson is prog's ultimate rebel but has survived nearly 40 years of continuous releases that all have been stamped with one massive seal of originality. Experimental, audacious, post-punk, electronic and daring. This second solo album was perhaps his first success, garnering attention in new wave circles with a plethora of scintillating little snippets of utterly danceable genius, foreshadowing and influencing artists such as U2, David Bowie, Gary Numan, Ultravox, Images in Vogue, Japan, Depeche Mode etc... He has played sitting next to the legendary Robert Fripp on a David Sylvian album, as well as a massive slew of session work. His catalogue is gigantic, not far from Tangerine Dream, Oldfield, Hawkwind and Wakeman numbers. He is still going strong today, far from the spotlight.

Highlights are plentiful such as the extraordinary "Empire of the Senses" with its robotic propulsion, absolute incredible vocalizing (the man can sing too), the genius xylophone amid the swirling synths and the wistful atmospherics. This segues rather smartly with "Hope for the Heartbeat", a hypnosis-inducing electronic paragon of sound and texture that would make Kraftwerk blush with envy! Highly original, a whirling dervish of a tune that again defies proper description. "A Private View" remains one of my fave songs of that era, a punky, Magazine ?like rhythm that reaches soaring heights, both musically and vocally, a seed that would be reaped by many new wave artists after him. Yet, the synths are not just sequence-oriented rhythmic columns, as the Middle Eastern tortuous main melody would simply confirm. "Eros Arriving" has a distinct Chinese-tinge, wrapped in an electronic blanket of propulsive sound, a clean drum computer leading the way, slashed by some distinctive guitar swaths, rubbery bass and more of his oddly jaded vocal styling. Fun, fun, fun! "Flesh" is complex, rollicking , almost punkish , served up with a weird tortured sound and rather nasty lyrics , possibly providing Billy Idol with the idea behind "Flesh for Fantasy", guitar rasps and synths going haywire in the meantime. Fascinating! "He and Sleep Were Brothers" continues on the ingenious path, a concrete jungle of firm beats amid uncivilized synthesizer twirls, sizzling guitar mists and shadowy vocals. The result is captivating, totally unformulaic and experimental. The mellifluous "When Your Dream of Perfect Beauty Comes True" (did I mention his skill at creating apt titles for his albums and songs?) is an extension of his resourceful songwriting style, polyrhythmic web of synthesized sound , sequenced and seasoned to perfection, an instrumental classic. "Flaming Desire" is the hit single (joking!) that shows off absurd pop sensibilities by taking the arrangement to the most uncommercial heights (as per the disjointed synth solo) , showcasing tortured solos and lofty vocals both adorned with a sense of insanity that is most beguiling. "The Crystal Escalator in the Palace of God" is celestial experimental music, again constructed on a spellbinding beat with flowery synth passages that evoke upward travel, world-weary vocals and a sense of sonic infinity. The details are abundant and thrilling.

The "epic" track is the finale "The October Man"featuring the real drums of Bogdan Wiczling (Adam & the Ants, Lene Lovich, Fingerprintz) and a massive exclamation point on the proceedings, a 6 minute 42 second whopper of a track that shows off his snake-like lead playing, aided and abetted by some colossal rhythm guitar riffs that plaster the arrangement with huge sound and dimension. This is no wimpy stuff!

Nelson is also into magical moods and diverse textures (many of his albums from this period were airy instrumental music of the highest order), as eloquently shown on the ambient "Waiting for Voices", the experimental "The Bride of Christ in Autumn", the elegantly dissonant and piano-led "Portrait of Jan with Flowers" and the mystical "Echo in her Eyes". Mind music of the times, simple, effective and mesmerizing!

My copy has 3 bonus tracks, a sexy remix of "Hope for the Heartbeat " as well as the punkier and fretless bass fueled "Haunting in My Head" and the sizzling guitar workout "The Passion" with its cowboy aroma, as if from a spaghetti western, with a punkish attitude.

An immense talent, a wizard and a true star.

4.5 Dancing Shivas

I will admit that Bill Nelson's solo work is definitely an acquired taste. His quantity over quality often creates problems for me and I consider myself to be a true fan (followed his work since "Futurama"). That being said, this is a very good and consistent album that represents what he was doing during this period of time. It is one of my favorites and I've jotted a few notes down regarding each of the songs. Please excuse the format, I typically write in a more conventional form.

Sun At Six Windows- nice piano piece Bird Ornaments- "an invisible chicken in every pot" and "Emily had all her canaries in different cages" sound bites and snippets with some bluesy bits mixed in, lots of E-bow combination of styles and a stolen melody My Favorite Atom- repeated treated spoken phrase used as rhythm, developed with alternating quiet piano and orchestration The Girl I Never Forgot- another short piano piece Circle the World In a Paper Canoe- similar to Bird Ornaments but with a purposely mangled tape sound introduced into the electronic rhythm, lots of signature guitar work Queer Weather- another piano piece (primarily) with effects and treated guitar mixed low into the background Astro Coaster- repeated spoken title, piano, synths, and guitar over an electronic percussion Brutal Tinkerbell- repeated spoken word bits with piano for the first 2 minutes, then drums signal a melody change with a synth taking the lead The Waltz At the End of the World- mostly keyboard dominated waltz, almost carousel styled- close your eyes and you can see the midway and the arcade Secret Agent at Science Park- typical electronic percussion with very nice guitar work, one of the highlights of the recording (IMHO), very nicely done The Twentieth Century- more sound bites of spoken words with percussion and guitar soloing, very nice atmosphere to this piece Aura Hole- begins as a quiet piano piece and electronic percussion begins at about a minute and a half that picks up the pace, piano continues Radiant Nature Knows Not the Worker's Sorrow- another quiet piano piece Essoldo Stripshow- the sound bites of spoken word continue with some tasty guitar and piano over a backdrop of synths. Favorites for me are "Secret Agent...", "Bird Ornaments", "Circle the World...", "Brutal Tinkerbell", but all are good representation of Bill getting it right.

One of his most consistent and a 4 star effort in my opinion.

I first came across Bill Nelson about the time "Futurama" was released. I heard it being played as I perused the LPs, looking for something new and good. I liked what I heard, bought it, and have never looked back. I can't say I have all of his recordings, but I do have most. Of his solo releases, this is an excellent choice to start with. "Practically Wired..." is a wonderful trip. Two of my three sons have at least some admiration for Bill and all of them know exactly where the random text "The man in dark glasses has disappeared with his suitcase" is from. Any of you that have listened to Bill know that he releases a LOT of music. I am a huge fan, but even so- I don't love all of it. This is easily one of the best. There are bits of electronica, spoken words, piano interludes, changes in musical direction, and always Bill's tasteful guitar work. Some might want to say this isn't progressive, but I would disagree. Just listen to "Royal Ghosts", it certainly isn't Genesis, King Crimson, or Pink Floyd- but damn it's good. Love it every time I listen to it! 4 stars from the low pressure kid, maybe eventually a 5.