''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 France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in the summer of 1977. Nelson recorded the album in because he was inspired by the relation of the place with artist who influenced him in the 1960s.

Composition

The sound of ''Drastic Plastic'' is different from the previous albums, showing changes in the musical direction of the band. This sound has been classified as

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 ...

and new wave. The song is a song dedicated to Nelson's father, Walter, who died in 1976.

Release

''Drastic Plastic'' was released in February 1978 by record label

Harvest Harvesting is the process of collecting plants, animals, or fish (as well as fungi) as food, especially the process of gathering mature crops, and "the harvest" also refers to the collected crops. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulses fo ...

. It was re-released in early 1990 with three bonus tracks while an expanded version appeared in 2021. The band split up shortly after releasing the album. By the time of the disbanding, Nelson was writing material intended to be part of the repertoire, but instead played by his next band, , formed alongside keyboardist and Nelson's brother

Ian Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, which is derived from the Hebrew given name ( Yohanan, ') and corresponds to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. This name is a po ...

. released an album with more electronic-based music than in 1979. That band and album were considered as Shortly afterwards, Nelson decided to continue his career as soloist, releasing more synthpop albums. Nelson only maintained for his After Be-Bop Deluxe split, bassist played with other bands in Britain seven more years, returning to his native in 1985, where he joined reggae band

Herbs Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnish (food), garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typi ...

, continuing his career until his death in 1995. worked with formed and joined After , contributed to selected tracks on 1980 album and the first two albums by

Critical reception

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'' wrote that "'New Precision' and 'Islands of the Dead' are among the most aimless Nelson has ever penned, but 'Surreal Estate' and 'Japan' rank among his best". '' Q'' described the album as a "respectable swansong".

Track listing

All songs written by

Bill Nelson Clarence William Nelson II (born September 29, 1942) is an American politician, attorney, and former astronaut who served from 2001 to 2019 as a United States Senate, United States senator from Florida and from 2021 to 2025 as the Administrator ...

. #"Electrical Language" – 4:50 #"New Precision" – 4:30 #"New Mysteries" – 4:44 #"Surreal Estate" – 5:00 #"Love in Flames" – 4:09 #"Panic in the World" – 5:04 #"Dangerous Stranger" – 3:05 #"Superenigmatix (Lethal Appliances for the Home with Everything)" – 2:10 #"Visions of Endless Hopes" – 2:23 #"Possession" – 2:34 #"Islands of the Dead" – 3:45 The U.S. release (SW-11750) dropped "Visions of Endless Hopes" and inserted "Japan" – 2:34

CD reissue bonus tracks

#"Blimps" – 2:46 #"Lovers Are Mortal" – 4:54 #"Lights" – 2:43

Personnel

–

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

, acoustic and 12-string guitars,

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

guitar synthesizer A guitar synthesizer is any one of a number of musical systems that allow a guitarist to access synthesizer capabilities. Overview Today's guitar synths are direct descendants of 1970s devices from manufacturers (often in partnership) such as ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

Andy Clark Andy Clark, (born 1957) is a British philosopher who is Professor of Cognitive Philosophy at the University of Sussex. Prior to this, he was a professor of philosophy and Chair in Logic and Metaphysics at the University of Edinburgh in Scotla ...

– keyboards and

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 *

Charlie Tumahai Charles Turu Tumahai (14 January 1949 – 21 December 1995) was a New Zealand singer, bass player and songwriter who was a member of several noted rock groups in New Zealand, Australia and the UK. He is best known internationally as the bass ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

Simon Fox Simon Andrew David Fox (12 July 1949 – 12 September 2024) was an English rock drummer, who played in different rock bands during the 1970s and the 1980s, most notably the progressive rock group Be-Bop Deluxe. His earliest band was Hackensa ...

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

, loops

References

External links

Be Bop Deluxe DiscographyMySpace: Be Bop Deluxe ('78)
MySpace site dedicated to the ''Drastic Plastic'' era {{Authority control 1978 albums Albums produced by John Leckie Harvest Records albums Albums with cover art by Hipgnosis Be-Bop Deluxe albums New wave albums by English artists