Blazing Apostles...can I help you?

One day, back in 1976...

...I was in a record shop and on the counter was a display box with newly-arrived copies of "Hot Valves" - a seven-inch EP (remember those?) by British band Be Bop Deluxe. 

Valves..."tubes" in the US

On a whim, I bought it, took it home, played it and became an instant fan. Sure, I'd heard of the band, but never actually heard them, and had always thought from photos I'd seen that they just weren't "my sort of band". 

SUITS??? WTF???

How totally wrong I was...

This four song EP was essentially a sampler, as well as a promo release for their new album, "Modern Music" and had a track from it, along with one from each of their previous three releases.  

The band would only last a couple of years longer, with one more studio album, which would see leader Bill Nelson starting to leave guitar rock behind and embrace the emerging "new wave" music. Had I known about Be Bop Deluxe sooner, I'd have loved to have seen them in person, as live recordings suggest that they were pretty "hot" on stage.

Be Bop Deluxe was essentially Bill Nelson's band - he handled lead vocals, guitar and wrote all the material - although the other members of the classic line up were certainly no slouches.

Nelson started off in the late 1960s, and early recordings reveal him displaying predictable influences for a rock hopeful of the time - some British type blues, a dash of psychedelia and the usual aspiring singer-songwriter's attempts to find a "voice". A solo album, "Northern Dream", attracted the attention of none other than John Peel, and the newly-formed Be Bop Deluxe recorded a session for Peel's radio show. This in turn led to a record deal with Harvest and the release of the first BBD album, "Axe Victim" in 1974. 

"Axe Victim" didn't exactly set the world on fire and Nelson broke up the band. A brief period with a line up using members of the fracturing Cockney Rebel ensued, but this was short-lived. Eventually, Nelson settled on a trio of himself, Charlie Tumahai on bass and Andrew Clark on drums. BBD's second album, "Futurama", followed and keyboard player Simon Fox was recruited for the tour promoting it, shortly afterwards becoming a permanent member. With the aforementioned classic line up finally established, the lush, multi-layered and driving sound that typified peak BBD came to fruition and they went on to make the "Sunburst Finish" and "Modern Music" albums, which most people agree represent their finest work, along with "Futurama".

Bringing prog levels of sophistication to the dense arrangements and production, and precise but exciting playing to songs that were, in the main, melodic pop, they built up a loyal fan base. What's more, they actually scored hits with singles and the albums, and toured extensively in Europe and the States.

 

 OGWT 1975 and 76

However, the music world was changing, and having somehow managed to bypass punk, the lure of  "new wave" music saw the band switch to a style that was more angular and far less guitar based. A final album, "Drastic Plastic" was toured, but the band then split up - never to play together again.

Really, as I suggested earlier above, the story of Be Bop Deluxe is largely the story of Bill Nelson. He was, and still is, a guitarist of rare talent, with a highly developed sense of melody which results in a style that owes little to the blues, and largely avoids rock cliches. With a lovely "fat" tone (admired by Sex Pistol Steve Jones) and a technique that I still find dazzling, he nevertheless always plays for the song. Not that he can't stretch out when he wants to - as live performances of  audience favourites "Shine" and "Blazing Apostles" show. He's certainly in my personal top ten greatest guitarists list. 

Young Bill
 

Above all, BBD's music is widescreen stuff - yes, it's often excessive but it has grandeur rather than pomp and there's clever use of dynamics to ensure that your ears don't get overwhelmed. There's a hell of a lot going on, so there's plenty of mileage in visiting the same track several times and tracking the many guitar and keyboard parts. There's stereo panning, backwards guitar, and all manner of other studio trickery to make listening an immersive experience.   

Nelson's BBD compositions relied heavily on science fiction imagery and, it has to be said, tended towards having pretentious titles, although the lyrics themselves often bear scrutiny... 

"And all the creatures born of ink and rage and lies
Crawled off my pen and ran across the page to die."

and

"I'm sitting in a cafe in Paradise. 

Naked as a razor - I'm as loaded as a dice."

Nelson went on to form "Bill Nelson's Red Noise". As with the final BBD album "Drastic Plastic", guitar solos took a back seat - so far back that they were in the boot (the trunk for people in the US). Synths were prominent, and Nelson's voice took on a strange and mannered quality. Subject wise, the songs seemed to move between expressions of paranoia caused by the modern world and the conflation of sex and electricity...I think. It was a good album, but it didn't grab me like the earlier BBD albums had. It sold in reasonable numbers and the band toured it, but they broke up soon after a second album was finished and then duly rejected by Harvest.

Old Bill with his large organ

Nelson then went solo. So far, he's released over 120 (not a typo) solo albums since 1981, as well as many collaborative efforts, so he hasn't been idle. He seems to have covered everything from ambient electronica to guitar instrumentals in that time and there are real gems to be found amongst the mass of music that he's made available. Occasionally, you hear a track that sounds like BBD, but so far there hasn't been an out and out attempt to release an album of them, although he came pretty close in 2016 with "New Northern Dream" - a title which brings things neatly full circle.

Fortunately, for their fans, a band that only released six albums (five studio and one live) has been well-served by a recent reissue campaign. All of them have been augmented by an interesting and illuminating array of remasters, remixes, bonus tracks, live tracks and demos - all presented in eminently fetishable box sets. 

 

  It seemed like a good idea at the time...

Favourite BBD album? Tricky, but "Sunburst Finish" just about edges it for me. It was Nelson's first production job (John Leckie co-produced) and it seems to capture his new found freedom and also the enthusiasm of the "new" quartet let loose to make its first album together. Listen to it as a pop album - only one song tops 5 minutes - but be prepared for surprises. It's also - just by a hair - their most over the top album production-wise. 

Hell, if you're going to go mad in the studio...

...GO MAD!!!