William Nelson (born 18 December 1948)
is an English singer, guitarist, songwriter, producer, painter, video artist, writer and
experimental music
Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...
ian. He rose to prominence as the chief songwriter, vocalist and guitarist of the rock group
Be-Bop Deluxe, which he formed in 1972. Nelson has been described as "one of the most underrated guitarists of the seventies
art rock
Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an ar ...
movement". In 2015, he was recognised with the Visionary award at the
Progressive Music Awards.
Personal life
Nelson was born in
Wakefield
Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...
in the
West Riding of Yorkshire
The West Riding of Yorkshire was one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the riding was an administrative county named County of York, West Riding. The Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, lieu ...
, to Jean and Walter Nelson. His father was an
alto saxophone
The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgians, Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭ ( ...
player, and his mother a dancer.
[ Nelson's younger brother, Ian (1956–2006), collaborated on the Be-Bop Deluxe song "Ships in the Night" and formed the band ]Fiat Lux
"Let there be light" is an English translation of the biblical Hebrew , Hebrew (''yehi 'or'') found in Genesis 1:3 of the Torah, the first part of the Hebrew Bible. In Old Testament translations of the phrase, translations include the Greek l ...
; he also played on the 1979 Red Noise album '' Sound-on-Sound'' and with the 2004 touring band Bill Nelson and the Lost Satellites.
Nelson has three children, Julia (born 1970 with Bill’s first wife, Shirley) and Elle (born 1978) and Elliot (born 1981), both born with Bill’s second wife, Jan. Elle and Elliot played in their own band, Honeytone Cody, between the late 1990s and 2014. Some time around April 1995 Nelson married Emiko, who was previously married to Yellow Magic Orchestra
Yellow Magic Orchestra (abbreviated to YMO) was a Japanese electronic music band formed in Tokyo in 1978 by Haruomi Hosono (bass, keyboards, vocals), Yukihiro Takahashi (drums, lead vocals, occasional keyboards) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (keyboards, ...
drummer Yukihiro Takahashi.
Career
1970s
Nelson was educated at the Wakefield College of Art, where he developed an interest in the work of poet and filmmaker Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( , ; ; 5 July 1889 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th-c ...
. At this time he was also developing as a musician, drawing upon Duane Eddy as a primary guitar influence.
His first record was a brief contribution on the album ''A-Austr: Musics from Holyground'', with Brian Calvert, Chris Coombs, Ted Hepworth, Mike Levon and Brian Wilson. Levon recorded and produced the album which appeared on Levon's own Holyground Records label in 1970. After that, Nelson appeared in a much more substantial role with Lightyears Away on ''Astral Navigations'' released in 1971. On one track, "Yesterday", written by Coombs, Levon recorded Nelson's lead guitars in an acid rock
Acid rock is a loosely defined type of rock music that evolved out of the mid-1960s garage rock, garage punk movement and helped launch the psychedelia, psychedelic subculture. While the term has sometimes been used interchangeably with "psyc ...
style, supporting Coombs' stylophone riff. This track also gave Nelson his first airplay by John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...
on his national BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...
programme in the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. Nelson's Holyground recordings were released in February 2001 as ''Electrotype''.
In 1973, Nelson's debut solo album
An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century ...
''Northern Dream'', released on his own independent Smile label, drew further attention from Peel which eventually led to Nelson's band Be-Bop Deluxe signing to EMI's Harvest Records
Harvest Records is a British-American record label belonging to Capitol Music Group, originally created by EMI in 1969.
History
Harvest Records was created by EMI in 1969 to market progressive rock music, and to compete with Philips' Vertigo ...
subsidiary and releasing '' Axe Victim'' in 1974. Nelson replaced the original band members for ''Futurama'' in 1975. The lineup of Bill Nelson (guitar), Andrew Clark (keyboards), Charlie Tumahai (bass) and Simon Fox (drums) recorded '' Sunburst Finish'' and ''Modern Music'' in 1976, the live album ''Live! In The Air Age'' in 1977 and their final studio album ''Drastic Plastic
''Drastic Plastic'' is the fifth and final album by English rock band released in February 1978.
Recording and content
''Drastic Plastic'' was recorded in in the south of France in the summer of 1977. Nelson recorded the album in because h ...
'' in 1978.
Nelson found the structure of a permanent band constricting. An instrumental
An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...
on ''Drastic Plastic'' performed by Nelson (acoustic guitar) and Clark (keyboards) anticipated Nelson's later solo ambient work. Other tracks on that album required Fox record drum parts for use as repeating loop backing tracks in the studio. (Performing these songs live on the subsequent tour, Fox would physically play these repeating patterns on drums). This sowed the seeds for later experimentation by Nelson. 1983's ''Invisibility Exhibition'' tour would see Bill Nelson (guitar) and Ian Nelson (sax) improvise to the former's self-produced backing audio (and video) tracks (later released as the ''Chamber of Dreams'' album), an approach Nelson would repeat for many solo live performances throughout his career. Playing the guitar over pre-recorded backing tracks would bear further fruit in later studio recordings, notably the ''Painting With Guitars'' series (2003, 2015) and ''And We Fell into A Dream'' (2007).
In autumn 1978, Nelson halted the Be-Bop Deluxe project, removed Tumahai and Fox from his immediate working band and replaced the name with the moniker Red Noise (releasing the '' Sound-on-Sound'' album in February 1979). Harvest, who had insisted on naming it "Bill Nelson's Red Noise", refused to release the second Red Noise album '' Quit Dreaming and Get on the Beam'' which was largely recorded by Nelson with contributions on sax from his brother Ian rather than the more-obviously marketable five-piece band Harvest's execs had understandably expected. The record remained unreleased in record company limbo.
Meanwhile, with his producer from Harvest John Leckie, Nelson did some production (and, in Nelson's case, sessions keyboards) work for the band Skids, whose guitarist Stuart Adamson was an admirer of Nelson's musicianship.[Nelson, Bill ''diary of a hyperdreamer'' (2004) p. 563 Bill Nelson's collected diaries from between 1999 and 2003, previously published on his official website Pomona ] Fruitful friendships followed. Vocalist Richard Jobson would appear as a support act reading poetry on the ''Invisibility Exhibition'' tour. After Adamson's death in 2001, Nelson composed a piece in memory of his departed friend, called simply "For Stuart", which appeared on 2003's ''The Romance of Sustain Volume One: Painting With Guitars'' and (in a live version) on 2011's ''live at Metropolis Studios'' DVD.
1980s
Nelson's manager Mark Rye negotiated with Harvest to buy back some of the unreleased songs for Nelson to release under his own name on his own label, Cocteau Records, which Nelson and Rye had set up. Consequently, in July 1980, Nelson was able to release the single "Do You Dream in Colour?", which after airplay on BBC Radio 1 reached No. 52 in the UK Singles Chart. This debut release on the label persuaded Phonogram to acquire the remaining tracks for Cocteau in order to release ''Quit Dreaming And Get on the Beam'' as a Bill Nelson album on their subsidiary label Mercury Records
Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released ...
in 1981. The release contained bonus disc ''Sounding The Ritual Echo (Atmospheres for Dreaming)'' featuring experimental, ambient instrumentals which Nelson had recorded privately at his home.
Subsequent Mercury releases included '' The Love That Whirls'', which included a bonus disc of Nelson's soundtrack for The Yorkshire Actors' stage production of Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( , ; ; 5 July 1889 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th-c ...
's 1946 film ''La Belle et la Bête''/ ''Beauty and the Beast''. Nelson had already contributed music (and released it under the title ''Das Kabinet'' on Cocteau) to the same company's similar adaptation of Robert Wiene
Robert Wiene (; 27 April 1873 – 17 July 1938) was a German film director, screenwriter and Film producer, producer, active during the Silent film, silent era. He is widely-known for directing the landmark 1920 film ''The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari ...
's 1920 silent film classic '' The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari''. It was followed by the six-track mini album '' Chimera'' in 1983, including collaborations with Yellow Magic Orchestra
Yellow Magic Orchestra (abbreviated to YMO) was a Japanese electronic music band formed in Tokyo in 1978 by Haruomi Hosono (bass, keyboards, vocals), Yukihiro Takahashi (drums, lead vocals, occasional keyboards) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (keyboards, ...
's Yukihiro Takahashi and Mick Karn
Andonis Michaelides (Greek: Αντώνης Μιχαηλίδης; 24 July 1958 – 4 January 2011), better known as Mick Karn, was a British musician who rose to fame as the bassist for the art rock/ new wave band Japan. His distinctive fretles ...
, and featuring prominent use of synthesizer
A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...
s, sequencers and E-bow
The EBow is an electronic device used for playing string instruments, most often the electric guitar. It was invented by the American guitarist Greg Heet in 1969 and introduced in 1976. The EBow uses a pickup and a magnetic feedback circuit to ...
guitar. A single from the album, "Accelaration", subsequently reached no.78 on the UK singles chart during a three week chart run.
Nelson released considerable quantities of singles and LPs on Cocteau throughout the decade, much of it by himself but also a number of singles by other artists, notably Last Man in Europe, A Flock of Seagulls, The Revox Cadets, Richard Jobson, Q (16), Fiat Lux
"Let there be light" is an English translation of the biblical Hebrew , Hebrew (''yehi 'or'') found in Genesis 1:3 of the Torah, the first part of the Hebrew Bible. In Old Testament translations of the phrase, translations include the Greek l ...
, Man Jumping and Yukihiro Takahashi. The more ambitious Cocteau releases by Nelson himself included the four-LP box set
A boxed set or (its US name) box set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box, hence 'boxed', and offered for sale as a single unit.
Music
Artists ...
of experimental electronic music ''Trial by Intimacy (The Book of Splendours)'' and the later ambient two-LP collection ''Chance Encounters in the Garden of Lights'', which contained music informed by Nelson's Gnostic
Gnosticism (from Ancient Greek: , romanized: ''gnōstikós'', Koine Greek: �nostiˈkos 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems that coalesced in the late 1st century AD among early Christian sects. These diverse g ...
beliefs. In 1989, he released the 4-CD box set
A boxed set or (its US name) box set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box, hence 'boxed', and offered for sale as a single unit.
Music
Artists ...
''Demonstrations of Affection''.
He was hired by English new wave artist Gary Numan
Gary Anthony James Webb (born 8 March 1958), known professionally as Gary Numan, is an English singer, songwriter and musician. He entered the music industry as frontman of the New wave music, new wave band Tubeway Army. After releasing two st ...
to produce his 1983 album ''Warriors
A warrior is a guardian specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracy, class, or caste.
History
Warriors seem to have been p ...
'', with Numan saying that Bill Nelson was his "favourite guitar player, bar none." However, the two musicians failed to maintain a working relationship, and ultimately Nelson chose not to be credited for his production role on the album. Nelson also contributed towards several tracks on David Sylvian
David Sylvian (born David Alan Batt; 23 February 1958) is an English musician, singer and songwriter who came to prominence in the late 1970s as frontman and principal songwriter of the band Japan (band), Japan. During his time in Japan, Sylvia ...
's '' Gone to Earth'' (1986). Nelson was commissioned by Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
to write music for the 1987 television drama series '' Brond''.
In the 1980s a deal with CBS Records' Portrait
A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better r ...
imprint failed, leaving the one album '' Getting the Holy Ghost Across'' (US title: ''On a Blue Wing'') with further tracks from that album's sessions issued on the UK mini-LP ''Living for the Spangled Moment''. In the late 1980s, Nelson signed to Enigma Records
Enigma Records (also known as Enigma Entertainment Corporation) was a popular rock and alternative American record label in the 1980s.
History
Enigma Records launched as a division of Greenworld Distribution, an independent music importer/d ...
, which went out of business shortly after re-releasing his entire Cocteau catalogue.
As the decade ended, Nelson suffered a series of personal setbacks, including a divorce, tax problems and an acrimonious dispute with his manager over his back catalogue rights. In the case of one album, the unreleased ''Simplex'', Nelson discovered his manager had been selling copies via mail order
Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as:
* Sending an order form in the mail
* Placing an order by telephone call
...
without Nelson's authorisation or knowledge; Nelson claimed he never received any royalties
A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset or ...
from these sales.
1990s
In 1992, Nelson released ''Blue Moons and Laughing Guitars'' on Virgin
Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...
, which consisted of demos for a proposed band including four guitarists and two drummers which never materialised. "This is what I do behind locked doors," he wrote on the sleeve, prefiguring much of his later, home recorded work including ''My Secret Studio'' (4-CD + 2-CD) and ''Noise Candy'' (6-CD). In the same year, Nelson worked with Roger Eno
Roger Paul Eugene Eno (born 29 April 1959) is an English ambient music composer. He is the younger brother of Brian Eno.
Early life and education
Roger Paul Eugene Eno began euphonium lessons when he was 12 years old, and entered Colchester In ...
and Kate St John as producer (with Roger Eno) on the duo's album ''The Familiar'', on which Nelson also played guitar and other instruments. This experience fortuitously not only sowed the seeds of Eno's, Nelson's and St.John's participation in the 'ambient supergroup' Channel Light Vessel, which also featured Laraaji
Laraaji (born Edward Larry Gordon, 3 May 1943) is an American multi-instrumentalist specializing in piano, zither and mbira. His albums include the 1980 release ''Day of Radiance, Ambient 3: Day of Radiance'', produced by Brian Eno as part of h ...
and Mayumi Tachibana, but also introduced Nelson to Voiceprint Records, whose subsidiary labels included All Saints and Resurgence, both of which would release a number of CLV and Nelson recordings over the next few years.
In 1995, Nelson released two very different albums. ''Crimsworth (Flowers, Stones, Fountains And Flames)'' was an ambient piece which had provided the soundscape to an art installation. ''Practically Wired, or How I Became... Guitarboy!'' was a return to guitar-based instrumental music, something Nelson had barely touched for the previous decade and a half.
In 1996, Nelson augmented his sound with drum and bass for ''After The Satellite Sings'', credited as a major influence on David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...
's '' Earthling'' album by Bowie's then guitarist Reeves Gabrels
Reeves Gabrels (born June 4, 1956) is an American guitarist, songwriter and producer. A member of The Cure since 2012, Gabrels is also known for his work with David Bowie and Tin Machine from 1988 to 1999. He also fronts the band Reeves Gabrels ...
.
By 1996, Nelson's troubles with his former manager were resolved in a lawsuit which enabled Nelson to recover much of his back catalogue. The fully authorised ''Simplex'' was subsequently released in 2001 by Lenin Imports and reissued in 2012 by Esoteric.
In the late 1990s, Nelson created the Populuxe label, with a distribution arrangement via Robert Fripp
Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946) is an English musician, composer, record producer, and author, best known as the guitarist, founder and longest-lasting member of the progressive rock band King Crimson. He has worked extensively as a session mu ...
's Discipline Global Mobile, but his relationship with them stagnated and Nelson's last release on that label was ''Atom Shop'' in 1998. Subsequent releases have been on other imprints such as Toneswoon as well as direct mail order (and later internet order) releases.
2000s
2002 saw the release of EP ''Three White Roses & A Budd'' (with Fila Brazillia and Harold Budd
Harold Montgomory Budd (May 24, 1936December 8, 2020) was an American music composer and poet. Born in Los Angeles and raised in the Mojave Desert, he became a respected composer in the minimal music and avant-garde scene of Southern California ...
) on Twentythree Records,.
In 2001, Nelson attended a first Nelsonica convention, set up in West Yorkshire by fans in his honour, taking with him drawings to sell to any interested parties. It proved such a good experience that he resolved to contribute live music performances, dedicated CDs of new material, and anything else that seemed appropriate, to any such future events. Nelsonica became an annual fixture in his calendar for the next decade or so. Attendees at 2002's Nelsonica 02 received a copy of ''Astral Motel'', the first convention CD release. Honeytone Cody played one set, Nelson and his brother Ian played a second, while Nelson's newly assembled seven piece band The Lost Satellites, which also included Ian, played a third. It was a resounding success and an annual institution was born.
Three further albums followed in 2003: ''The Romance of Sustain Volume One: Painting With Guitars'', ''Plaything'', and a second Nelsonica CD ''Luxury Lodge'',. Since then, Nelson has released an average of four albums a year, often in small runs which soon go out of print. He has accomplished this using his own series of branded record labels: Almost Opaque then Discs of Ancient Odeon for the Nelsonica releases; Universal Twang then Sonoluxe for the others. (Nelson's Sonic Masonic imprint lasted for only one release, 2004's ''Satellite Songs'')
Nelson's in-house releasing was made possible by the financial backing of ''Sound on Sound
''Sound on Sound'' is a monthly music technology magazine. The magazine includes product tests of electronic musical performance and recording devices, and interviews with industry professionals. Due to its technical focus, it is predominantly ...
'' magazine, whose website hosts his online shop and is named after Red Noise's ''Sound-on-Sound'' album. In 2004, the magazine also put up the money for Nelson to take his band Bill Nelson and the Lost Satellites on tour around the UK as The Be-Bop Deluxe And Beyond Tour.
Nelson pursued different artistic directions. Two ''Rosewood'' releases contained acoustic guitar pieces "submitted to electronic and digital processing." The highly personal ''The Alchemical Adventures of Sailor Bill,'' was a concept album about the English coastline, ships and the sea, while its more ambient, instrumental companion piece ''Neptune's Galaxy'' comprised five long form instrumental compositions exploring the same subject. Of the former, Nelson wrote, "this set of songs comes (closer) to being personally fulfilling as almost any other album of mine." Most of the decade's remaining albums were lead electric guitar-oriented and non-vocal. Improvisation against pre-recorded backing tracks played a major role in ''And We Fell into A Dream'' while the very different ''Theatre of Falling Leaves'' eschewed lead guitar in favour of keyboards. The decade closed with more voice-based material as Nelson crooned through ''Golden Melodies of Tomorrow'', delivered more familiar rock and ballad vocals on ''Fancy Planets'' and delved into romantic songwriting in ''The Dream Transmission Pavilion''.
In the first half of the decade, Nelson published his collected online diaries from 1999–2003 under the title ''diary of a hyperdreamer''. A second volume covering entries from 2005–2006 would appear in 2015. The last ten years of this diary remain on his official website to this day. He also gave extensive interviews to biographer Paul Sutton Reeves for a book, the publication of which was put on hold for around two years when publisher Sean Body died. ''Music in Dreamland Bill Nelson & Be-Bop Deluxe,'' finally materialised in 2008.
In the second half of the decade, Nelson's live performances (mostly at the Nelsonica events) broadened out from solo work to encompass two other bands. One was the improvisational, three-piece Orchestra Futura consisting of Nelson, Dave Sturt (bass) and Theo Travis (assorted woodwind, brass). (The duo of Sturt and Travis already played together as Cipher.) The other was the more conventional rock oriented, seven-piece Bill Nelson and the Gentlemen Rocketeers (again including Sturt and Travis) which played songs with vocals from the extensive Nelson/Be-Bop Deluxe back catalogue.
By 2006, Universal Music (UK) had re-issued three Mercury albums: ''Quit Dreaming and Get on the Beam'', ''The Love that Whirls'' and ''Chimera'' had all been remastered and released with bonus tracks. Sonoluxe had reissued the CBS album ''Getting the Holy Ghost Across / On a Blue Wing'' with all the original tracks including those from ''Living for the Spangled Moment''.
2010s
In 2010, Nelson published the first part of an autobiography.
In March 2011, motivated by a desire to capture the flavour of recent gigs on film for posterity via DVD release, Bill Nelson and the Gentlemen Rocketeers played a concert of songs spanning Nelson's career before a live audience in front of in-house cameras at Metropolis Studios, London. Dissatisfied with the resultant sound mix, Nelson remixed it himself at his own expense. Using Nelson's remix, ITV Studios Home Entertainment released a DVD of the event. This initial release quickly sold out. A promised television broadcast of the recording only materialised in a few selected territories, excluding the UK. The video and audio recording has subsequently been reissued on other formats including CD and LP. However, having signed away his rights to these recordings, Nelson has made no money on these releases.
In 2011, Cherry Red Records
Cherry Red Records is a British independent record label founded in Malvern, Worcestershire by Iain McNay in 1978. The label has released recordings by Dead Kennedys, Everything but the Girl, The Monochrome Set, and Felt, among others, as w ...
' subsidiary Esoteric Recordings commenced a roll-out re-release of Nelson's back catalogue for many of his releases between 1981 and 2002 with the 8-CD compilation ''The Practice of Everyday Life'' which covered 40 years of recordings. Other notable reissues have included the 4-CD ''The Book of Splendours'' and the 6-CD ''Noise Candy''. The Esoteric deal did not involve a rights buyout, so Nelson is properly compensated for these reissues.
In 2013, Nelson finally began releasing his out of print CD back catalogue from 2002 onwards as digital downloads via Bandcamp
Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...
. On this platform he subsequently released the three volume compilation ''The Dreamer's Companion'' in 2014 and brand new albums commencing with ''Special Metal'' from 2016 onwards.
In addition to his numerous solo releases of recent years, Nelson has also made both film soundtracks and a number of collaborative recordings with other artists. In 2010, he released the soundtrack to the US TV documentary ''American Stamps'' as ''Picture Post'' while in 2014, he released the soundtrack to UK director Daisy Asquith's paean to cycling '' Velorama'' (a tie in with the 2014 Tour de France cycle race which went through Yorkshire) as ''Pedalscope''. In 2012, Nelson finally completed ''The Last of the Neon Cynics'', a long standing project with comic artist Matt Howarth: the latter supplied a comic (a PDF file) while the former provided a soundtrack to it. In 2014, he collaborated with fellow guitarist Reeves Gabrels
Reeves Gabrels (born June 4, 1956) is an American guitarist, songwriter and producer. A member of The Cure since 2012, Gabrels is also known for his work with David Bowie and Tin Machine from 1988 to 1999. He also fronts the band Reeves Gabrels ...
(who has also worked with David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...
and The Cure
The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Crawley in 1976 by Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith (vocals, guitar) and Lol Tolhurst (drums). The band's current line-up comprises Smith, Perry Bamonte (guitar and keyboards), Reev ...
) on ''Fantastic Guitars''.
In 2014, Nelson suffered a complete hearing loss in his right ear. This put a stop to any plans for playing live (and by extension Nelsonica events built around live performance) for the foreseeable future. Yet he continued to record and release music despite this disability. The first album to be affected was ''Quiet Bells''. According to Nelson's sleeve notes, "to slowly adjust to this problem, I decided to make an album that features mainly guitar, a gentle collection of instrumentals in a neo-minimalist, ambient style."
In 2014, Nelson was honoured by Wakefield Council with a Hollywood-style star on the city’s walk of fame. He also designed an extremely limited edition 'Astroluxe Custom Ltd' guitar for the Eastwood company.
In 2016, 46 years after recording his debut album, Nelson released a sequel entitled ''New Northern Dream''.
Discography
Albums and singles in Bill Nelson's solo discography that have charted in any territory are listed below.
Selected solo discography
* '' Quit Dreaming and Get on the Beam'' (1981)
* '' The Love That Whirls (Diary of a Thinking Heart)'' (1982)
* '' Chimera'' (1983, mini-album)
* '' Getting the Holy Ghost Across'' (1986, released in the US as ''On a Blue Wing'')
* ''Stand By: Light Coming'' (2019)
* ''Old Haunts'' (2019)
* ''The Jewel'' (2020)
* ''New Vibrato Wonderland'' (2020)
* ''Transcorder: The Acquitted by Mirrors Recordings'' (2020, compilation)
* ''My Private Cosmos'' (2021)
* ''Electra (In Search of the Golden Sound)'' (2022)
* ''All the Fun of the Fair'' (2023)
* ''Powertron'' (2024)
Singles
* "Do You Dream in Colour?" (1980, from ''Quit Dreaming and Get on the Beam'')
* "Youth of Nation on Fire" (1981, from ''Quit Dreaming and Get on the Beam'')
* "Acceleration" (1984, from ''Chimera'')
With Be-Bop Deluxe
* '' Axe Victim'' (1974)
* ''Futurama
''Futurama'' is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company and later revived by Comedy Central, and then Hulu. The series follows Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1 ...
'' (1975)
* '' Sunburst Finish'' (1976)
* '' Modern Music'' (1976)
* ''Hot Valves'' (1976, EP)
* ''Live! in the Air Age'' (1977, live)
* ''Drastic Plastic
''Drastic Plastic'' is the fifth and final album by English rock band released in February 1978.
Recording and content
''Drastic Plastic'' was recorded in in the south of France in the summer of 1977. Nelson recorded the album in because h ...
'' (1978)
Singles
* "Teenage Archangel" / "Jets at Dawn" (1973)
* "Jet Silver and the Dolls of Venus" / "Third Floor Heaven" (1974)
* "Between the Worlds" / "Lights" (1975, withdrawn)
* "Maid in Heaven" / "Lights" (1975)
* "Ships in the Night" / "Crying to the Sky" (1976)
* "Kiss of Light" / "Shine" (1976)
* "Japan" / "Futurist Manifesto" (1977)
* "Panic in the World" / "Blue as a Jewel" (1978)
* "Electrical Language" / "Surreal Estate" (1978)
Bill Nelson's Red Noise
* '' Sound-on-Sound'' (1979)
Singles
* "Furniture Music" / "Wonder Toys That Last Forever", "Acquitted by Mirrors" (1979)
* "Revolt into Style" / "Out of Touch" (1979)
* "Revolt into Style" / "Stay Young", "Out of Touch" (1979)
With Channel Light Vessel
* ''Automatic'' (1994)
* ''Excellent Spirits'' (1996)
Collaborative albums
* ''Culturemix with Bill Nelson'' (1995, with Culturemix)
* ''Three White Roses & a Budd'' (2002, EP with Harold Budd
Harold Montgomory Budd (May 24, 1936December 8, 2020) was an American music composer and poet. Born in Los Angeles and raised in the Mojave Desert, he became a respected composer in the minimal music and avant-garde scene of Southern California ...
and Fila Brazillia)
* ''Fantastic Guitars'' (2014, with Reeves Gabrels
Reeves Gabrels (born June 4, 1956) is an American guitarist, songwriter and producer. A member of The Cure since 2012, Gabrels is also known for his work with David Bowie and Tin Machine from 1988 to 1999. He also fronts the band Reeves Gabrels ...
)
Bibliography
* Nelson, Bill ''diary of a hyperdreamer'' (2004) Bill Nelson's collected diaries from between 1999 and 2003, previously published on his official website Pomona
* Nelson, Bill ''Painted From Memory (Sketches for an Autobiography) Volume One: Evocation of a Radiant Childhood'' (2010) Autumn Ink Incorporated self-published
* Nelson, Bill ''diary of a hyperdreamer vol.2'' (2015) Bill Nelson's collected diaries from between 2005 and 2006, previously published on his official website Pomona
* Reeves, Paul Sutton ''Music in Dreamland Bill Nelson & Be-Bop Deluxe'' (2008) Helter Skelter publishing
References
External links
Official website
William's Study (Diary Of A Hyperdreamer): Nelson's online diary 2015-2005
* ttp://www.holyground.co.uk/electrotype/ Holyground Records website – details of Nelson's early work
Gilby, Ian 1984/1985 interview in Home Studio Recording magazine detailing Nelson's then leading edge of multi-track home recording technology
* for Cherry Red Records
Cherry Red Records is a British independent record label founded in Malvern, Worcestershire by Iain McNay in 1978. The label has released recordings by Dead Kennedys, Everything but the Girl, The Monochrome Set, and Felt, among others, as w ...
* for Cherry Red Records
Cherry Red Records is a British independent record label founded in Malvern, Worcestershire by Iain McNay in 1978. The label has released recordings by Dead Kennedys, Everything but the Girl, The Monochrome Set, and Felt, among others, as w ...
* – series of photographs and selection of music, shown at the launch party for ''New Northern Dream'' (1973)
"Bill Nelson: Every Day's an Adventure"
by Anil Prasad, at innerviews.org (2023)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Bill
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