BeBop Deluxe

AuldReekie

First came across Be Bop Deluxe on John Peel Show c1973 and in an instance, I had found "my" band and "my" guitar hero. Bought "Axe Victim" when it came out a few months later and it became my favourite album; Futurama came out May 1975, a more mature album with a higher level of musicianship than Axe Victim and more varied influences. That summer, I spent working at the oil industry in Invergordon to save up for university that I was beginning that October.  It was there I met the Ents Convenor for Glasgow University and I pestered him to book Be Bop Deluxe (a mere £225!) which he eventually did and I finally saw them there in November 1975.  Glasgow Uni sold out for the first time in years as "Maid in Heaven" had become a hit at the Students Union discos.  The set was practically all of "Axe Victim" ( minus "Darkness") and all of "Futurama" (minus "Jean Cocteau") and in addition a new track "Fair Exchange" from the forthcoming "Sunburst Finish".  They even got a second encore and with no new material left, Bill played "Scotland the Brave" which pretty well guaranteed him hero status to a slightly inebriated  I was Be bop Deluxe several times after that but nothing could compare to that first gig.  I was mesmerised by Bill Nelsons guitar work.
I have been fortunate enough to have met Bill quite a few times, including immediately at the end of that initial gig where I was too starstruck to do more than ask for the bands autographs on the ticket stub (which I still have) and also at the "Nelsonica" Convention in 2010 where he autographed my Eggle Berlin Pro.  That is one of my favourite guitars, but I have hardly played it since he signed it  — its as though it has been touched by guitar royalty! He is a very intelligent, aware and articulate man who seems to be driven to create.
Apart from a spell in the 1990s when I lost touch with his output, I have followed him since 1973 and have around 60 off his albums. His solo work is impossible to categorise as it crosses so many genres and whilst I find something to like in all off these, I cannot pretend to say that I like all that he does, but the best off his work hits me in a way that no other guitarist does.  If I had to choose a particular style, it would be his approach to melody, something about his choices and tone just do it for me.  Here is an example of this  
Fact is, over 43 years after first hearing Be Bop Deluxe, Bill Nelson is still my guitar hero, a musical god!

equalsql

Gets me everytime..

midlifecrisis

i saw him in the 80s at Heaven charing x rd where he performed a midnight gig playing mostly red noise album and quit dreaming album, best gig ive seen,  supported by unknown band then, flock of seagulls.

AuldReekie

midlifecrisis said:

i saw him in the 80s at Heaven charing x rd where he performed a midnight gig playing mostly red noise album and quit dreaming album, best gig ive seen,  supported by unknown band then, flock of seagulls.

That would have been "Bill Nelson and the Practical Dreamers", tour to promote "Quit Dreaming".  The FoS supported them on that tour.  Saw tour at Edinburghs "Nite Club"; one of my abiding memories is of Big John Duncan of "The Exploited" and 'Goodbye Mr Mackenzie" fame, busy snapping photos of the gig.  He's a big fan of Bill Nelson

Three-ColourSunburst

Anyone ever watch the YouTube video (now sadly deleted) by some guy called moose where he ran through how to play the solo from 'Adventures in a Yorkshire landscape'? Great stuff and it really opened my eyes up to what a fine guitarist Nelson was back then.

HarrySeven

Bit late to the party here, but yup, BN/BBD and BNRN are long-time faves.

I was aware of them fairly early on, but they really gelled with me (strangely enough) at the height of the whole Punk thing - particularly when Bill started working with the Skids (aspects of Drastic Plastic and Days in Europa - not *that* dissimilar really?)

Re. BBD - looking back at the trajectory through their career and forward into Bill Nelson's Red Noise and beyond - as @AlexC says - they never seemed to find a particular niche/audience. Nevertheless (for me), the dots I joined up between Be Bop Deluxe, Bowie, Foxx-era Ultravox, Japan, Kraftwerk, Tubeway Army/Numan, Magazine, Neu, Krautrock, Human League, DoM, OMD, TG, CV, Psychedelic Furs, and the rest of the whole Punk/New Wave/Post-Punk thing have stayed with me to this day.

Skipped

The original band caused quite a stir when they suddenly started appearing in pubs in Leeds in the early 70's.
The guys must have been mortified when they were sacked after making the first album.

But what happened next is very strange.....
http://dangerousminds.net/comments/bill_nelson_record_label_ripped_off

midlifecrisis

disgraceful record company behaviour but common at that time

boogieman

I was at college in Ripon in the 70s and was on the social committee. We'd get bands in to play every so often and got offered BBD for £40. None of us had heard of them but they looked a decent band, so we took a punt and booked them. In the interim they broke through and appeared on TOTP but amazingly they still honoured the gig. They turned up, played a couple of songs, then the bass player keeled over and couldn't continue  (he looked off his tits before they went onstage). Bill Nelson gave us the gig fee back but I'd still rather have seen them play a whole set. I think the original bassist got the boot after the first album. 

57Deluxe

Bloody loved them from 74 to 76.... saw them at Guildford Civic Hall and have the programme still... will photo it up. Was note perfect performance.

Maid in Heaven is still my top D-I-Discs track and even more so cos at the time I had a new Yamaha RD200 electric start and the sound of it turning over on that was the exact same sound as in the song where it goes - "She's a Maid in Heaven" wocka wocka wocka wock....! Every morning when I heard that as I started off, those fantastic riffs filled my head as I ripped it up the road trailing two white plumes...

AuldReekie

57Deluxe said:

Bloody loved them from 74 to 76.... saw them at Guildford Civic Hall and have the programme still... will photo it up. Was note perfect performance.

Maid in Heaven is still my top D-I-Discs track and even more so cos at the time I had a new Yamaha RD200 electric start and the sound of it turning over on that was the exact same sound as in the song where it goes - "She's a Maid in Heaven" wocka wocka wocka wock....! Every morning when I heard that as I started off, those fantastic riffs filled my head as I ripped it up the road trailing two white plumes...

Still think "Maid in Heaven" is the best 2min 30 second single ever

Skipped

I am sure I have mentioned this before, but never mind.....

When I saw the original band at the Staging Post in Leeds, (I think it was there), Bill walked onto the stage holding an early sixties white Sg Custom. (Could not see if "Les Paul" was on the headstock).

Now that got my full attention.

At the end of the first number.....he looked down at the guitar, and started speaking to the crowd packed into the gig. From memory, he said:
I got this today........drove all the way to Derby and back.......this was my dream guitar.......(big sigh, long pause).......I wonder if I can take it back??

And with that, he put the guitar down and did the rest of the gig with the Es-345.
I never saw him with the Sg again.


Funnily enough........an Original 3 Pickup white Sg Custom was also my dream guitar.
Until I actually played one.....

Funkfingers

Skipped said:

an Original 3 Pickup white Sg Custom was also my dream guitar.
Until I actually played one.....

The remedy for that is to disconnect the middle humbucker from its leaf on the selector switch.

Nitefly

I was in a 3-piece covers band in Blackpool in about 1977 / 78, and we did what we thought were acceptable versions of "Maid in Heaven" and "Ships in the Night" - both brilliant songs.

Couldn't do it these days, people demand note-perfect covers, but back then it was not the done thing - you went for your own version.  That meant no sax solo on "Ships", I just played something similar on guitar.  However I did try to get most of the fills right on "Maid in Heaven", since they were so much part of the song.

Happy days!

axisus

One of my fave ever melodic solos is the one for 'Bring back the spark'. lovely stuff!

sm55onl

Auld Reekie, Thanks for the 'Beyond these clouds' video....that was sublime guitar playin' from Mr Nelson.

A D'Angelico semi-acoustic and an e-bow there in the midst ?

AuldReekie

sm55onl said:

Auld Reekie, Thanks for the 'Beyond these clouds' video....that was sublime guitar playin' from Mr Nelson.

A D'Angelico semi-acoustic and an e-bow there in the midst ?

You are welcome; the slightly inebriated guy with the grey guitar t shirt who gives Bill a bear hug about 6 seconds into the video is me! There was a free champagne bar for about 2 hours before hand..............if you cannot lip read, I’m telling he is a “F*cking God”.  Drunk or not, I stand by that assessment of Sir Bill

sm55onl

^ Lolza !!...if ye cannae dae that tae yer guitar hero then to whom can you dae it ?

i met one my guitar heroes - Michael Schenker - a few years back before a gig (Cat House, Glasgow ??). He was signing and selling CDs before the gig so i stood in the queue and when it came to my turn for signing i shook his hand and he gave out a right old yelp !! He just laughed and faked injury regards my over-zealousness in the handshake Dept. ;-))

By the way, where was the Bill Nelson gig - am assuming Edinburgh, due to your moniker ?

AuldReekie

sm55onl said:

By the way, where was the Bill Nelson gig - am assuming Edinburgh, due to your moniker ?

Gig was at the Metropolis Studios in West London, the recording of the 'Bill Nelson and the Gentlemen Rocketeers' DVD in April 2011.  Ticket was the most expensive I have ever paid, but it was also the best £175 I have ever spent! 
Here's another gem from that night  

sm55onl

^ Wow !...what a riff.
Having had only a vague acknowledgement of Bill Nelson and Bebop Deluxe before reading this thread tonight, it looks like i have some serious digging that has to be carried out on the record buying front.

Suggestions welcome.....(noting as well the previous replies, above, in the thread)