IED0DXM@OAC.UCLA.EDU (01/13/90)
To: Love-Hounds
From: Andrew Marvick (IED)
Subject: Apologies: this is a non-KT posting (!)--BILL NELSON update
Here is an important bit of news for anyone interested in Bill
Nelson: He has just released a completely new four-CD box set called
_Demonstrations_of_Affection_. The box contains _Nudity_, _Details_,
_Chimes_and_Rings_ and _Heartbreakland_. And get this: all four are
_vocal_ albums.
In the brief liner notes Nelson explains that the four collections
of tracks (the box contains no fewer than 68 new, full-fledged songs in
total--plus a t-shirt) were all recorded in 1989, in direct reaction
to an unexpected emotional crisis (unspecified, but judging from the
lyrics, obviously a stormy romance, probably abortive). Each
song is complete and by no means slight, even though none of
them took longer than _two_hours_ to make--from initial conception to
final mix. Despite this, all are highly polished, and sound like very
full productions--Nelson's Echo Observatory Studio (at his home) has
clearly progressed lightyears since the days of _Sounding_the_Ritual_
_Echo_ and _Das_Kabinett_. In fact, this new collection is a stunning
general proof that the days of the old-fashioned, tinny-sounding four-track
demo are gone. As for the songs--the quality is amazingly high, even by
Bill Nelson standards. (Not to be confused with Kate Bush standards, of
course: in comparison, even Nelson's very best work--which in IED's opinion
is _Getting_the_Holy_Ghost_Across_/_Living_For_the_Spangled_Moment_--
would score very low indeed. But that should go without saying...)
IED _strongly_ recommends this four-CD set to anyone who likes
Nelson's vocal music, either early or late or both; or to enthusiasts of
Japan, David Sylvian, late-period YMO, Ultravox, Ippu-Do, Cabaret V., late
Roxy Music, Brian Eno, Thin White Duke/_Low_-period Bowie, Bauhaus, Laurie
Anderson, David Byrne, Art of Noise, Riuichi Sakamoto, Mick Karn, etc.
One warning: if anyone who reads this decides to check out Bill
Nelson's work, he/she should be careful to distinguish between
the vocal-music catalogue and the instrumental albums. Most (by
no means all) of Nelson's instrumental music is more or less ambient,
i.e. without assertive rhythm tracks. (The most notable exceptions
to this are the two instrumental CDs which Nelson put out under
the name Orchestra Arcana: _Iconography_ and _Optimism_, which
are very similar in character to Eno/Byrne's _My_Life_in_the_Bush_of_
_Ghosts_, though Nelson's own exquisite aesthetic sensibility is
always apparent.) The other non-vocal CDs (nearly all of Nelson's work
is now out domestically on Enigma CDs) are: _La_Belle_et_la_Bete_;
_Das_Kabinett_; _Sounding_the_Ritual_Echo_; _Chamber_of_Dreams_;
_A_Catalogue_of_Obsessions_; _Pavilions_of_the_Heart_and_Soul_; a two-
track CD-single of UK TV-show music put out under the name/title _Scala_;
_The_Summer_of_God's_Piano_; _Map_of_Dreams_; and _Chance_Encounters_
_in_the_Garden_of_Light_ (a 2-CD set). All of Nelson's vocal albums from
after he disbanded Be-bop Deluxe are now available _except_ for the two best
ones (_Getting_the_Holy_Ghost_Across_ and its pendant album _Living_for_
_the_Spangled_Moment_). The others include: _Bill_Nelson's_Red_Noise_
(a one-off band experiment); _Quit_Dreaming_and_Get_on_the_Beam_; _The_
_Love_that_Whirls_ (highly recommended--warning: two tracks from both the
original UK _Quit_Dreaming_ CD and the UK _Love_that_Whirls_ are missing
from the US editions of these two, but in exchange two formerly unknown
tracks have been _added_ to the US versions); _Chimera_ (a mini-album);
_Savage_Gestures_for_Charm's_Sake_ (also a mini-album--Note: these two
mini-albums, both of which IED recommends strongly, should be
bought in their UK import version, not the US--the UK version
combines both on one CD, while the US versions are separate, and are
thus a worse value); and now the new boxed set, _Demonstrations_of_
_Affection_.
Finally, there are two additional double-CD Bill Nelson
collections: a large selection of non-LP cuts, re-mixes and
home demos called _The_Two-Fold_Aspect_of_Everything_; and
a quite recent UK-only compilation set (one CD all-vocal, the
other all-instrumental) called _Duplex_; as well as a new
US-only CD of still more rare and uncollected tracks, called
_The_Strangest_Things_Sampler_. And there is also an Enigma CD
called _Simplex_, which IED assumes is an altered, abridged version
of _Duplex_, though he has not found a copy so he can't say for sure.
OK, that's enough of that for now. IED promises his next posting
will mark a return to the proper subject of this group: Kate Bush.
Sorry for this aberrational digression.
-- Andrew Marvick