I know next to nothing about Bill Nelson's solo ouevre, whether pre- or post-Be Bop Deluxe, the band he formed in 1972. In fact, I know even less about Be Bop Deluxe.
For all that, Bill's music has been slowing creeping into my collection, such as the appearance of Everyone's Hero, a track from his 1971 debut album (and re-released today), on Mojo magazine's 2022 compilation Heavy Nuggets Vol. 6.
I also seem to have acquired the 1986 mini-album Living For The Spangled Moment along the way. But the sum total still amounts to fewer than 20 songs and a smidge over an hour's worth of music.
Trying to delve deeper is a daunting prospect: Discogs lists 130 albums; Wikipedia's discography is a dizzingly long list; Bandcamp has 30 releases on sale, many of them albums at £10.00 a pop.
So, I've selected nine songs from the latter, starting off with a few from my own collection, the rest a random trawl through time, washing up on the shores of Bill's current album, Studio Cadet, a collection of lost songs from 2015, released in December 2024.
I like some more than others and I'm not sure I've found the key to tracing my way through Bill's musical history. But it's a start.
1) Everyone's Hero (Northern Dream) (1971)
2) Atom Man Loves Radium Girl (Do You Dream In Colour? EP) (1980)
3) He And Sleep Were Brothers (Eros Arriving EP) (1982)
4) Another Kiss For Your Slender Neck (Pavilions Of The Heart And Soul) (1985)
5) Broken (Heartbreakland) (1990)
6) The Orson Welles Memorial Sleighride (Wah-Wah Galaxy) (2004)
7) Another Slice Of Wonder Cake (Modern Moods For Mighty Atoms) (2010)
8) Cassidy's Electric Campfire Song (The Last Of The Neon Cynics) (2012)
9) Dance Of The Anti-Gravity Enthusiasts (Studio Cadet) (2015)
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