''Futurama'' is the second album by the band released in 1975 and generally classified musically as a

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

album.

Background and recording

After the line-up of changed, the band recorded the album with founder member and (drums). The album was recorded at in Wales and produced by , who also produced

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

Release

''Futurama'' was released in July 1975 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 ...

. Subsequently, in October 1976, reached number 36 in the UK singles charts as the lead track on the The American market was harder to break for British acts during the 1970s due to the hangover from the 1960s and problems with availability of records in the US for breaking acts such as , whose first album was only available as an import. The album was re-released in early 1991 with three bonus tracks.

Reception

Although critics were not always open to the mix of styles, and Nelson's music received a fairly warm welcome from the music critic of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. started his article with a fairly scathing dismissal of English musical acts:

"Every month or is it week? seems to bring a new rock band from Britain, eager to catch a few leftover crumbs from the Anglophilia of the 1960s. Most fail completely; others latch onto an FM cult success; a very few, unpredictably, make it big..."

Although his opening seems to dismiss British music as hanging on to fame gained during the 1960s, Rockwell goes on to say:

"Be-Bop Deluxe is redeemed by the brilliance of he band'splaying, and particularly Nelson's guitar playing. His records put Nelson right up there with the other great masters of the electric guitar."

In described the album as:

"Top-heavy with massed guitars and melodic ideas pursued on a whim and just as quickly abandoned, it nevertheless contained two of the most perfect pop singles never to make the charts – and

'' Q'' described the album as ' an accomplished melding of pomp, prog and pop'.

Track listing

Personnel

;Be-Bop Deluxe *

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 ...

– guitar, lead and backing vocals, keyboards * Charlie Tumahai – Fender bass, backing vocals * Simon Fox – drums, percussion with: *Andy Evans – bass on "Jean Cocteau" * The Grimethorpe Colliery Band – brass band on "Music in Dreamland"; conducted by John Berryman; arranged by Sir Peter Oxendale ;Technical *Gary Lyons, Pat Moran – engineer *George Hardie – cover art, design

References

{{Authority control Be-Bop Deluxe albums 1975 albums Albums produced by Roy Thomas Baker Harvest Records albums Progressive rock albums by English artists Albums recorded at Rockfield Studios