Monday's Long Song

 

Today's song leads us back into the mid seventies and to a band that got critical acclaim but less success. I featured them once before and will do it once again whilst I listened to their live album from 1977 during last weekend. The band was formed in 1972 and was inspired by glam-rock and early David Bowie. After their first album Nelson replaced the whole band with new musicians who, in his opinion, could interpret his songs better. He expanded his sounds with elements of art rock, prog rock and to the end with new wave. Nothing is better to dive into their music as the live version of Shine. A pumping bass over a funky rhythm is the perfect ground for Nelson's guitar excursions. 

Be Bop Deluxe - Shine

Monday's Long Song

 

One of the reason why punk could start in the late 70's was that most of the music was boring, often heard and nothing new was released. But it is also often overlooked that there were actually bands that had their own fascinating sound. Bill Nelson's Be-Bop Deluxe were one of these bands. While they were initially categorized as just another epigones of glam rock, they had so much more to offer. Incorporating progressive rock, folk and massive guitars, they were light years away from the mainstream. Towards the end of their existence, they even tried to integrate elements of new wave into their sound. I recently listened to their live album Live! In The Air Age and was thrilled. They still sound fresh and fascinating. In this context, I remember how many words of praise Tom Verlaine has rightly received and how few Be-Bop Deluxe have, even though their sound is so similar.

Be-Bop Deluxe - Shine

Who Remembers Bill Nelson?

It was back in the mid 70's of the last century when rock music got boring. Torn between mainstream rock and the verve of pub rock a band appeared on the scene that was different to all. Be-Bop Deluxe made the difference these days. They was categorized as art-rock but they were more. Their guitarist Bill Nelson, one of the most underrated guitar players in these days, created a sound that was totally different to all other bands. It is somewhere between art rock, guitar slinging added with the best of improvisation we all knew from bands of the krautrock era. It was never a music for everyone but I enjoyed listening to Nelson and his guitar during the last decades (and as I read John Peel played him often in his shows). He recorded almost 100 records during the last years and I lost him somewhere during the last years and found back to him when he released his latest record The Awakening Of Dr Dream an album full of instrumentals showing his abilities of playing guitar.

May I Present You Some Progressive Rock ?

A few days ago a song of Be-Bop Deluxe was played on my phone by a random and I was surprised how good and fresh it sounds after nearly 40 years. This is what Wikipedia tells us about them:

Be-Bop Deluxe were an English progressive rock band who achieved critical acclaim but less commercial success during the late 1970s.  The band

Be-Bop Deluxe were an English progressive rock band who achieved critical acclaim and moderate commercial success during the mid to late 1970s. The band's sound emerged as a mixture of glam rock, prog rock  and straightforward rock and roll. Science Fiction imagery was common in Bill 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).

Be Bop Deluxe were an undervalued wrongly rock band of the 70s, which was never granted to the deserved success. Head of the band was the creative Bill Nelson, who composed most of the material of the band and also was an exceptionally virtuoso guitarist. "Live! In The Airage" was the penultimate album by the band that this was recorded on the 1977 spring tour of the UK and the well was still as now an excellent live album when it first appeared in 1977 and is (the vinyl LP was settled at the time an EP, on which the last three tracks on the CD were included).

Originally, the band had recorded a few gigs to it to bring out only one or two songs on the next studio album. However, since the concerts were so good, the band decided to release a live album. And in fact, this is a CD that has no length, all the tracks are great and after approx. 53 minutes running time, one wishes that the band had released even the rest of the concerts. I got this live recording in the late 1970s and was fascinated by this guitar and keyboard sound often accented with polyphonic singing.

Be-Bop Deluxe - Live In The Air Age

Be-Bop Deluxe - Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape