From: awrc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Al Crawford)
Newsgroups: rec.music.misc
Subject: Review: Bill Nelson - Blue Moons And Laughing Guitars
Date: 18 Aug 92 14:35:44 GMT
Reply-To: awrc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Al Crawford)
Organization: The University Of Edinburgh - Department Of Computer Science

Bill Nelson      Blue Moons And Laughing Guitars      Virgin CDVE 912 [UK]

	Total Running Time: 56 min 51 sec

	1.	Ancient Guitars					2:04
	2.	Girl From Another Planet			2:29
	3.	Spinnin' Around					4:12
	4.	Shaker						2:35
	5.	God Man Slain					4:07
	6.	The Dead We Wake With Upstairs Drums		3:22
	7.	New Moon Rising					4:01
	8.	The Glory Days					3:57
	9.	Wishes						2:22
	10.	Angel In My System				4:28
	11.	Wings And Everything				4:09
	12.	Boat To Forever					3:29
	13.	The Invisible Man And The Unforgettable		3:45
		Girl
	14.	So It Goes					3:50
	15.	Fires In The Sky				4:04
	16.	Dream Ships Set Sail				3:47

All tracks written, engineered, produced and performed by Bill Nelson.


Mere weeks after an interview in which he appeared to have quite serious
financial problems, here's a new album from Bill Nelson. Presumably the
legal wrangles mentioned in the interview have been sorted out, allowing
him to take up his new contract with Virgin.

On first seeing the album, my spirits were raised by its appearance. It's
well packaged, with nice cover art, a decent booklet and the look of a
"real" album about it. It's even got Bill himself on the cover for the
first time in *ages*, looking remarkably well preserved - the guy must
either have a picture in the attic or some hair dye in the bathroom
cabinet.

However, on reading the booklet the dreaded occult incantation "each song,
from the first conception to finished mix, took no more than a couple of
hours to create" looms into view on the third page. Yep, it's another album
of demos. Bill's now put out more albums of demos than proper albums of
finished material. _Blue Moons And Laughing Guitars_ is, in fact, his sixth
album in a row of demo material. He's now even dignified them with a name
now, the 'Magnetic Notebook' series.

It has to be said that the main complaint with Bill's continual stream of
demo material isn't that it's *bad*, it's that having heard the demos you
know that if he'd only put together the finished article they'd have been
absolutely wonderful. Imagining these tracks in the setting that Bill
originally envisaged for them (a new Be-Bop Deluxe lineup with two drummers
and four guitars) is enough to make you weep because they'll never be heard
that way. So while _Blue Moons And Laughing Guitars_ is an excellent album,
if all the songs on it had been fully developed as Bill originally intended
it'd have been the sort of album you'd sell elderly relatives to the glue
factory to get hold of.

One thing that has to be taken into account when dealing with Bill's demo
quality material is that his demos are better than many artist's finished,
polished work. Bill's an experienced producer and this shows in the sound
quality and mix here which in no way indicates that the album was, in fact,
recorded in his attic (Bill's home studio Rose-Croix shares his attic with
his sacrificial altar and occult book collection).

_Blue Moons And Laughing Guitars_ is easily the best of the `Magnetic
Notebook' series. If I was the head of Imaginary records, who released his
last album _Luminous_, I'd be somewhat peeved at the material he put on
that album whilst holding back the material that appears here. The primary
difference between this and the earlier albums in the series is in the
amount of guitar work. While the first four (the _Demonstrations Of
Affection_ boxed set) contained a little guitar work, and _Luminous_ rather
more, both were primarily synth based efforts. _Blue Moons And Laughing
Guitars_ is very much a guitar album, containing more guitar work (or at
least more *noticeable* guitar work) than anything he's done since the days
of Be Bop Deluxe.

The underlying feel of the work is similar to that of _Demos Of Affection_
and _Luminous_ - fairly gentle pop-rock with laid-back vocals. However, the
guitars weave their way through everything, giving the album more of a
solid backbone and less of a sparse, unfinished feel. In fact, the albums
main strength is also its principal fault. The guitars are *everywhere*,
including places they'd have been best left out. It's almost as though Bill
has felt compelled to put guitars on every track, whether the track suited
it or not.

Bill hasn't forgotten where he's been for the past ten years though. The
synths are still present, although mainly providing a framework upon which
to nail the guitar pyrotechnics. He's also brought in spoken tape material
of the sort that characterised his Orchestra Arcana releases. The
combination of all these works well. None of the tracks here are less than
interesting, and some, as I've already said, are so good that it's a crying
shame they've never appeared in the way they were supposed to. Nelson's
songwriting and musical sensibilities seem to have been improving
continually throughout the 80s, and it must be incredibly frustrating for
him that he can no longer present them as he'd like to. "The Dead We Wake
With Upstairs Drums" is the rockiest thing Bill has done since the 70s, and
if this had been given the full band treatment it would have been...even
more stunning.

With the exception of that track, it's difficult to really pick out
anything for particular mention. They're all good, most very. One or two do
feature some annoying percussion - "Wings And Everything" is spoilt
somewhat by what sounds like a berserk cinema projector running in the
background whilst "Dream Ships Set Sail" sounds like there's a time bomb
ticking away in the background. A shame, since most of the drums and
percussion here are quite imaginative and original.

So, in summary, this is probably Bill's best album since 1986's _Getting
The Holy Ghost Across_ and, despite it's demo nature, it even gives that a
run for its money. The guitars are a bit overdone in places, and the songs
do have a certain sameness about them (a general BN problem, not one that's
specific to this album) but other than that this is an excellent album. Add
1 to the Erland rating if you like his other material, add 2 if you are
particularly into his guitar work.

Erland Rating: +2
Crawford Rating: Blue/Grape/Marine Iguana

--
			Al Crawford - awrc@dcs.ed.ac.uk
	  Department Of Computer Science, The University of Edinburgh
   Rm 1410, JCMB, Kings Buildings, Mayfield Rd, EDINBURGH, EH9 3JZ, Scotland
	     Tel: +44 (0) 31 650 5165  Fax: +44 (0) 31 667 7209
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