Be Bop Deluxe

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Be Bop Deluxe
Origin England
Genre(s) Progressive rock
Glam rock
Protopunk
New Wave
Years active 1972–1978
Label(s) Harvest
Former members
Bill Nelson
Robert Bryan
Simon Fox
Ian Parkin
Charlie Tumahai
Andrew Clark
Nicholas Chatterton-Dew

Be Bop Deluxe were an English progressive rock band who achieved critical acclaim and moderate commercial success during the mid to late 1970s.

Contents

[edit] Style

Be Bop Deluxe was founded by Bill Nelson in 1972. They never played bebop music, but instead came out of the blues-based British rock scene of the late 1960s. At first they were compared to the more successful David Bowie, but Nelson never tried to copy Bowie, and appears to have disliked comparisons or being pigeon-holed. This artistic restlessness eventually led him to disband Be Bop Deluxe altogether and pursue less commercial paths of expression.

Influences on the band's music included David Bowie, King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Van Der Graaf Generator and Frank Zappa. The band's sound emerged as a mixture of glam rock, prog rock and straightforward rock and roll. Science fiction imagery (e.g. robots) was common in Nelson's lyrics, along with the more traditional themes of love and the human condition (albeit often hidden beneath Nelson's quirky lyrical and musical metaphors).

Nelson was acclaimed as one of the finest guitarists in British rock at the time, and the music showed that, with his distinctive tones adorning most tracks. Stylistically, the songs took elements from progressive rock, glam rock (the band had flirted with make-up in the early days) and hard guitar rock. Sunburst Finish contained the band's only UK hit album, Ships in the Night was their most successful single in the UK and USA.

Drastic Plastic, recorded under the influence of punk, new wave and David Bowie's 'Berlin' albums was a substantial stylistic change from the progressive / guitar rock of the early Be-Bop Deluxe. Eager to embrace the changing musical landscape, Nelson dissolved Be Bop Deluxe and immediately formed a new band, 'Bill Nelson's Red Noise', retaining Andy Clark on keyboards, and adding Nelson's brother Ian, who had previously contributed to Be Bop Deluxe albums, on saxophone.

The only album to emerge from this lineup, Sound on Sound (1979) can be seen as the last Be Bop Deluxe album, as it amplified and extended the trends on 'Drastic Plastic', and was the last rock band album Bill Nelson made before moving into the introspective solo projects that were to dominate his subsequent career.

[edit] Personnel and History

Bill Nelson was always the principal songwriter for the band. He also played lead guitar and sang lead vocals on all but one song. The original Be Bop Deluxe line-up was as follows:

That lineup only lasted for one album, Axe Victim (1974), and a short tour. Nelson disbanded the group and tried various musicians, finally settling on:

The album Futurama was recorded with Nelson, Fox and Tumahai; Clark was added for the tour. This is the lineup that recorded Sunburst Finish (February 1976), Modern Music (Late 1976) and Drastic Plastic (February 1978).

[edit] Discography

[edit] Studio albums

discs were made on their own "label" and sold at gigs in pubs in 1972/73 including at least one single and an album

[edit] Axe Victim (1974)

  1. Axe Victim
  2. Love Is Swift Arrows
  3. Jet Silver and the Dolls of Venus
  4. Third Floor Heaven
  5. Night Creatures
  6. Rocket Cathedrals (written and sung by Robert Bryan)
  7. Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape
  8. Jets at Dawn
  9. No Trains to Heaven
  10. Darkness (L'Immoraliste)

CD Bonus Tracks:

  1. Piece of Mine (live)
  2. Mill Street Junction (live)
  3. Adventures In a Yorkshire Landscape (live)

[edit] Futurama (1975)

  1. Stage Whispers
  2. Love With the Madman
  3. Maid in Heaven
  4. Sister Seagull
  5. Sound Track
  6. Music in Dreamland
  7. Jean Cocteau
  8. Between the Worlds
  9. Swan Song

CD Bonus Tracks:

  1. Between the Worlds (single version)
  2. Maid in Heaven (live)
  3. Speed Of the Wind

[edit] Sunburst Finish (1976)

  1. Fair Exchange
  2. Heavenly Homes
  3. Ships in the Night
  4. Crying to the Sky
  5. Sleep that Burns
  6. Beauty Secrets
  7. Life in the Air Age
  8. Like an Old Blues
  9. Crystal Gazing
  10. Blazing Apostles

CD Bonus Tracks:

  1. Shine
  2. Speed of the Wind
  3. Blue As a Jewel

[edit] Modern Music (1976)

  1. Orphans of Babylon
  2. Twilight Capers
  3. Kiss of Light
  4. The Bird Charmer's Destiny
  5. The Gold at the End of My Rainbow
  6. Bring Back the Spark
  7. Modern Music
  8. Dancing in the Moonlight (All Alone)
  9. Honeymoon on Mars
  10. Lost in the Neon World
  11. Dance of the Uncle Sam Humanoids
  12. Modern Music (reprise)
  13. Forbidden Lovers
  14. Down on Terminal Street
  15. Make the Music Magic

CD Bonus Tracks:

  1. Futurist Manifesto
  2. Quest For the Harvest Of the Stars
  3. Autosexual

[edit] Drastic Plastic (1978)

  1. Electrical Language
  2. New Precision
  3. New Mysteries
  4. Surreal Estate
  5. Love in Flames
  6. Panic in the World
  7. Dangerous Stranger
  8. Superenigmatix (lethal appliances for the home with everything)
  9. Visions of Endless Hopes
  10. Possession
  11. Islands of the Dead

CD Bonus Tracks:

  1. Blimps
  2. Lovers Are Mortal
  3. Lights

[edit] Live in Concert

[edit] Live in the Air Age (1977)

  1. Life In the Air Age
  2. Ships In the Night
  3. Piece of Mine
  4. Fair Exchange
  5. Mill Street Junction
  6. Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape
  7. Blazing Apostles
  8. Shine
  9. Sister Seagull
  10. Maid in Heaven

[edit] Radioland - BBC Radio One Live In Concert (1994)

All tracks recorded for BBC Radio 1 In Concert; 1-4 at Paris Theatre 15 January 1976; 5-10 at Hammersmith Odeon 20 October 1976; 11-16 at Golders Green 19 January 1978.

  1. Life in the Air Age
  2. Sister Seagull
  3. Third Floor Heaven
  4. Blazing Apostles
  5. Maid in Heaven
  6. Kiss of Light
  7. Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape
  8. Fair Exchange
  9. Ships in the Night
  10. Modern Music/Dancing in the Moonlight/Honeymoon on Mars/Lost in the Neon World/Modern Music (reprise)
  11. New Precision
  12. Superenigmatix
  13. Possession
  14. Dangerous Stranger
  15. Islands of the Dead
  16. Panic in the World

[edit] Tramcar to Tomorrow (1998)

All tracks recorded for BBC Radio 1 John Peel sessions; 1-4 recorded 9 May 1974; 5-7 recorded 11 March 1975; 8-10 recorded 10 February 1976; 11-12 recorded 30 January 1978.

  1. Third Floor Heaven
  2. Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape
  3. Mill Street Junction
  4. 15th of July (Invisibles)
  5. Maid in Heaven
  6. Stage Whispers
  7. Sister Seagull
  8. Blazing Apostles
  9. Crying to the Sky
  10. Piece of Mine
  11. Panic in the World
  12. Love In Flames

[edit] Tremulous Antenna (2002)

This is a remastered version of Radioland from the original tapes. Track listing is the same.

[edit] Collections and Retrospectives

(The following were released after the group was disbanded)

  • The Best Of and the Rest Of (1978)
  • Singles A's & B's (1981)
  • Bop To the Red Noise (1986) (mixture of BBD and Red Noise material)
  • Raiding the Divine Archive (1987)
  • Air Age Anthology (1997) (double CD)
  • Very Best Of (1998)
  • Postcards From the Future (2002)

[edit] Related Solo Material

  • Bill Nelson, Northern Dream (1971). Bill Nelson released this solo album prior to Be Bop Deluxe.
  • Bill Nelson, Luminous (1991). Includes material originally written by Nelson for a possible Be Bop Deluxe reunion.


[edit] External links