Acquitted by Mirrors, Issue 2 (1982) |
At the time of writing I'm recovering from a vile stomach bug that has effectively wiped out a week's work on various projects. The worst was lying in bed feeling pathetic whilst the English Summer, complete with cuckoo and thunderstorm, frolicked unashamed, and in fierce good health throughout the endless lawns of Nelson Acres. Nevertheless, as my temperature reached new highs and my spirits new lows, the heat and fever conspire to produce this sun, sea and sex issue of your favourite magazine. Judging from the letters we've received, it seems that you approve of our efforts so far with A.B.M. and as I mentioned in issue one's editorial, we intend to advance the format a little with each successive issue.
The real sadness is that these vulgar, gross and prematurely middle-aged radio 'personalities' have the position and power to dictate the general publics listening taste for them (Anyone listening to my Radio One Roundtable appearance of a few weeks ago will know what I mean..) Of course the real solution is for us to take things into your own hands. As we've said before, letters to the BBC complaining that they aren't representing your true tastes are bound to make some impression even though changes in policy are often only very subtle. Let's face it any move away from the spurious, infantile buffoonery that passes as entertainment down at Broadcasting House has got to be worthwhile. Negativity aside, I think that you will find the new album, despite all the traumas of securing it's release, is well worth the wait. Don't forget that there will be a limited edition double pack containing both "The Love that Whirls" and "Beauty and the Beast" After they are sold out the package will revert to a single album of 'The Love that Whirls' For me, these two albums distill the essence of my musical thoughts in the period spanning most of 1981 and the earlier months of 1982. As always there are more works in the pipeline, but I think you will find "The love that whirls" and "Beauty and the Beast" a most satisfying musical meal, a feast to excite even the most jaded appetites.......(even if I do say so myself!) Stay young and keep in touch... Holidays in the Sun. Number One. Villefranche-Sur-Mer
His first visit to Villefranche was during the spring of 1925 when he went to stay at the Hotel Welcome, soon to become the centre of literary and artistic activity. Cocteau adored everything about this little Mediterranean town: the life of sailors and fishermen, the tourists and the natives, and above all the company of his fellow artists. Stravinsky was living not far away. Isadora Duncan, who had a dance school in Nice, was often seen with the Villefranche crowd. George Auric, who was later to compose music for some of Cocteau's films kept a room at the Welcome. Picasso would visit and also Christian Bernard, the famous theatre and costume designer who worked closely with Cocteau on several projects. Inevitably, the smell of opium became a constant and tangible presence in the corridors of the hotel. It was also here that Cocteau would write 'Orphee' and later in the 1950's, decorate the tiny chapel of St Pierre which he dedicated to the fishermen of the town. The hotel Welcome still stands today, virtually unchanged since the nineteen twenties. Neither luxurious nor sophisticated, it exudes an air of pleasant and graceful decay. The spirit of an era when creativity and celebration of life were held in the utmost esteem by some of the most important and influential artists of the twentieth century. I spent two weeks at the Welcome whilst on holiday last year. Behind the reception desk is a large framed original Cocteau drawing, inscribed and dedicated to the hotel. The restaurant menus are also printed with Cocteau drawings. All the rooms have wrought iron railed balconies overlooking the towns harbour, the hotel being situated right on the quayside. Across the harbour there are uninterrupted views of the peninsula of Saint-Jean Cap Ferrat where Cocteau lived for some time at the villa Santo Sospir. (The villa was later to feature in his final film, "The Testament of Orphee" Everyday without fail, after paying the four francs necessary to gain admittance, I would gaze in wonder at the remarkable paintings that adorn both walls and ceilings of Chapel Saint-Pierre. American tourists would hastily and noisily troop in and out, oblivious to the simple beauty of their surroundings. The aging fisherman who took money at the door expressed a half-suprised amusement at my daily pilgrimage. Needless to say, I was totally enraptured and always managed to discover some new detail hidden away in the mellow twilight of the chapel interior. Next door to Chapel Saint-Pierre stands a small art gallery known simply as La Palette. Here it is possible to purchase authorised limited edition reproductions of Cocteau's work, some of them signed by the man himself. The gallery also has a number of originals for sale that I long to own but cannot sensibly afford...but one day!! It is from La Palette that I have obtained many books on Cocteau for my private collection along with lithographs and two sets of Cocteau designed cufflinks. Of course the glorious weather on this part of the coast is an extra delight. One of my most vivid Villefranche memories is of walking in the early morning to an intense and brilliant sunlight which after bouncing off the harbour waters, would blaze up through the wooden shutters of my bedroom, eager to splash the walls with bars of shimmering gold. Throwing open the shutters would bring an abrupt but pleasant confrontation with the day's heat. A heat in its infancy at that time in the morning, but a heat well equipped to bring a healthy glow to the still drowsy nakedness of rain-reared English flesh. Below the fishermen, unloading their first catch, would laugh and joke with the restaurateurs who congregate on the quayside to buy langoustine fresh from the sea. There are few places in the world that I can eel at home in, other than home itself, but Villefranche-sur-Mer is such a place.... a little bit of heaven here on earth. Recommended Reading From time to time within the pages of this magazine I'll include a list of books which I have found interesting, entertaining or inspiring in the hope that you might want to seek some of them out for your own enjoyment (presuming that you have not already read them) Here is my current selection: -Diary of a Crap Artist by Phillip K. Dick
-The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail by Michael Baignet, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln.
-Earthly Powers by Anthony Burgess
-Erik Satie a biography by James Harding
Those of you who wish to order the singles that Phonogram have released so far, the numbers are: Banal-12" Will 12 Youth of Nation-Double single Will 22 Living in my Limousine-12" Will 312 Eros Arriving-Double Single Will 44 None of these are deleted, tell your shop the number and label EMI appears to have deleted nearly all the BeBop Deluxe albums. What a bunch of fools some record companies are. The only two that are available are: Singles As Bs (SSM 2034)9.72 and 'Sunburst Finish' which has been re-issued on their Fame label FA 3004) both these albums are mid-price. The other albums are available as imports from America on their mid-price label. Otherwise try the second-hand shops. In the Autumn we are going to re-issue the Red Noise album, Ritual Echo and Beauty and the Beast on Cocteau. Haunting in my Head 1. I was watching someone from a window you were still undressing in the hall someone threw my shadow on the staircase these days nothing worries me at all chorus- I must pay attention to the haunting in my heat this is not the time for self control I still hear the echoes of the words I never said this is not the time for self control 2. You were holding on to your position I was holding on to your surprise lucky that we wore protective clothing could this be a blessing in disguise.. repeat chorus 3. I was moving through your hair with kisses you were breathing air into my spine someone flew a jet plane past my window judge this moment by a trial of time Every night I dream of new disasters women walking naked through my head is this one more symptom of my passion strange how passion fills an empty bed.... I must pay attention to my head...........
Flesh Parked on the edge of another cool moment listening to the different frequencies shift...shift... I place my head in your hands as an act of atonement for the things I did to your perfect posture........... Flesh Body of a boy, mind of a monster A thing of beauty is a joy for ever, Flesh The will to resist her has turned to water Rivers of lust are her systems of torture.
He and sleep were brothers He and sleep were brothers in a tomb of my design, clinging to each other through each moment of their crime, young boys, would-be-angels hanging naked from the sky, time delays reaction, captured falling, do or die.............. In the realms of flesh and bone beyond the spiral city. people dance on broken glass to rhythms of self-pity, time reveals as shape on film each act of heroism death defies the camera eye and steals the gift of vision, He and sleep were brothers in a tomb of their invention driving cars that shift no gears across the maps of heaven, colours cut and clash and flare and come into collision certain forms of fear provide this cure for hypnotism.......... All lyrics reprinted by permission of Nelsongs Ltd No unauthorised reproduction
The Burning Question Painting and picture sculpture and ritual blood from a stone a signal from heaven it's never enough it's always give and take give me a clue Answer the burning question I count the cost I pay the price you play the fool I play the Christ sound and the fury women in ecstasy passion as fashion cash for insanity faster than beauty the magnet of destiny fatal attraction Always the burning question
White Sound Don't tell me what I already know I'm listening to a different kind of radio step forward, break with the past clear the air for a new broadcast..White Sound Hi-fashion for the final hour it's blowing fuses in the halls of power make a date with tomorrow today girls dance when young boys play white sound Enhancing your dancing pleasure whatever you're listening to it's pointless resisting white sound this is the new noise for you queer fish in a bowl of glass perfect circles to the point of collapse check your mirror, read the signs remodel, move with the times, white sound life's a drama 'cos the whole world acts in weird movies with pretty strange soundtracks low tension, something to fear fools cry but the heroes hear white sound
Be my Dynamo Sending signals I wonder what they say.... too much power receiving no communiqué.... radio silence difficult to penetrate so pitch to voltage......... maybe we can oscillate Be my dynamo.............. Feel like dancing I feel like something anyway let's go crazy perfectly insane............ you know you make me nervous this I can accommodate but when it comes to service only I can operate Be my Dynamo................
Recommended Records
Excuse the outdated recording techniques, forget the generation gap, turn up the volume and GROOVE' Going to a Go-Go - Smokey Robinson and the miracles Arnold Layne - Pink Floyd Hole in my Shoe - Traffic Shapes of Things - Yardbirds Midnight - The Shadows Waterloo Sunset - Kinks Strawberry Fields for Ever - Beatles The Last Time - The Rolling Stones No Regrets - Tom Rush When a Man loves a Woman - Percy Sledge Eight Miles High - The Byrds She Comes in Colours - Love God only Knows - The Beach Boys Love will tear us Apart - Joy Division Ceremony/ In a Lonely Place - New Order I want to see the Bright Lights - Richard & Linda Thompson Outdoor Miner - Wire O-Superman - Laurie Anderson Jo-Anne - Bo Diddley Reflections - The Supremes Red River Rock - Johnny and the Hurricanes Anywhere, anyway, anyhow - The Who Totem Pole - Peter Jay and the Jaywalkers I Heard it through the Grapevine - Marvin Gaye Runaway - Del Shannon Shoorah, Shoorah - Betty Wright The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Beauty and the BeastTwo pieces of Theatre, An article by Andy Winters.Directed by Andy Winters.For theatre to be effective today it must transcend both, the mundanity of the television that pours indiscriminately into our homes and even perhaps more important, the constant wealth of images and incidents that occupy our everyday lives. Theatre should be spectacle, an occasion to provoke the imagination. It is no accident that a Yorkshire Actors' audience are the same people who go to music events, where visuals, music and settings combine to create an experience. For us the written play has no use, instead we search for scenarios and stories that may provoke and disturb. 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari' a silent film made in Germany in 1919 exposes the darker side of our subconscious with its psychopathic intensity. 'Beauty and the Beast' is a more surreal example, again taken from a film, directed by Jean Cocteau in 1946, its strange beauty provides a haunting memory. Before collaborating with Bill, Yorkshire Actors had already completed one major production, a version of 'A Clockwork Orange' adapted from the novel and Stanley Kubrick's film. From the outset our aim has been to use as little set or props as possible concentrating on the acting and the integration of music, in this case recorded by Ada Wilson. The production toured small theatres, clubs, music venues and any shitty village hall that we could con into booking us, often provoking an extreme if not unfavourable reaction to our "ruthless display of viscous sadism and appalling suffering" To date the film has provided our most useful source, offering a multitude of visual possibilities. 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari' is a cinema classic, special because of its painted, expressionist sets which were distorted and angular. Although the original film was silent we incorporated dialogue, enabling scenes to be put into perspective and replacing the original captions. In our rehearsal studio ( a dilapidated room in a disused school building) we set about recreating with people , the atmosphere of fairgrounds, dark streets and characters, that would eventually bring the story to life. Often this would require mime, which none of us had done before. So exercises were devised to develop the necessary techniques; these were probably successful as a critic (who we must invest with good taste) said that it was the best mime he had ever seen. When half of our images were complete Bill arrived to take notes and timings; at this stage it was a shambles but the fairground was complete and looking good, which gave us the confidence and enthusiasm to continue. Two weeks later the play was complete, a total fusion of action and music, which enabled us successfully to cast our spell. Rehearsals for 'Beauty and the Beast' began a year after those for 'Caligari', In the intermediary period the play 'Cry Wolf' was toured with musical contributions from the Angelic Upstarts. 'Beauty and the Beast' has been the largest project to date, our one and only foray into public subsidy, required to keep a company of six actors. A major problem when we have had to recruit new people has been finding people with the right attitude and ability. Most actors seem to be full of self importance and committed to keeping the wreck of British Theatre afloat, an attitude which doesn't seem to have any bearing on what people our own age would want to see. The main problem was finding a girl with enough character to play Beauty in a way that made her believable and interesting. In the final event Jackie Wilson joined the company, not an actress but a singer with her own band 'The Entertainers', whose attitude was closer to our own than any actress we had interviewed. Now Yorkshire Actors are creating a new show based on one character, Chaplin's tramp. This will appear at the Edinburgh festival and then be toured. For further details and information, contact: Stark Directions Ltd 27 Station Road, Ryhill, Nr. Wakefield West Yorkshire. More information about the kind of equipment Bill uses: Keyboards Mini-moog monophonic synthesiser A.R.P. Omni-polyphonic string synthesiser Casio V.L. Tone monophonic synthesiser CasiotOne MT 30 Polyphonic synthesiser Wurlitzer Electric Piano Amplifiers Burman 100 watt combo guitar amplifier Roland Jazz Chorus Amplifier Fender Champ Amplifier Vox Escort Amplifier In about two months we are going to release a box set of singles under the title: "The Beginners Guide to Bill Nelson" The set will contain A BeBop single Maid in Heaven/Electrical Language/ Panic in the World. A Red Noise single: Furniture Music/Revolt into Style. Three solo singles: Do you Dream in Colour? (COQ 1) Rooms with Brittle Views (TWI 013) and the newest single Flaming Desire/The Passion. The set will contain a short biog, badge and discography. All the singles will be sold separately. (This is more for your information than anything else.) *NEWS* NEWS* NEWS* NEWS* NEWS* NEWS* NEWS* NEWS*
'The Poison of Love' that David Claridge put in his Indian chart in Sounds, is a bit of a wind, up I'm afraid, as it does not exist. Bill is threatening to get his own back however by calling something by that name. Likewise I would like to point out that the Eros double single is not available as a 12" A small quantity were sent to clubs with just two tracks from the album on the other side. White label and white bag. No I don't have any, before you ask. To all our American and Canadian readers, you will be pleased to note that Cocteau Records are now being released in the USA by Jem Records. This should stop you having to pay silly import prices Starting with "The Love that Whirls" However I would like to appologise to you for the length of time the magazine packages are taking to arrive. All our prices are calculated on surface post as airmail would be incredibly expensive Any of you in bands who want to send tapes in, you are very welcome. Please note that it takes us a few weeks to listen to everything, so be patient. Please send them to the PO Box and if you want them back send an SAE With your first issue of Acquitted by Mirrors, you should have received The Magazine, your membership number, a badge, the first EP. Please quote your number on all correspondence and mail order. The second EP will be with issue 3. Those of you who missed the video of "Do you dream in colour" being shown on Riverside, should all write to Riverside and Whistle Test and ask them to show it again: BBC TV Wood Lane LONDON W12 We have now started work on a Video/film for tracks of the new album. If we get far enough, it will be made available for sale with 'Do you Dream in Colour' as well. As regards those of you who want to know if we have any old BeBop posters, magazines etc. I am afraid the answer is No. However if you want to send your name and address I will print it in the magazine for you. Bill will be going back into the Studio soon to record a mini album for Autumn release. Drums are by Yukihiro Takahashi and bass will be Mick Kahn if all goes to plan. Bill will be playing most other instruments but he is threatening to have a few surprise guests on it. The mini album will be on Phonogram and sell at a special low price Bill has been in the studio with Monsoon. Playing guitar on their next single as well as two tracks for their album. Recording was done at Rockfield. As well as Bill and Monsoon, the musicians included Chris Hughes and Dave Balfe from Teardrops.
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Hello
and welcome to issue two of 'Acquitted by Mirrors'.
By the time you read this the
"Love that Whirls" album should be available in your local record stores. The
cover artwork is now complete and a release date agreed with Phonogram in the UK (Jem in
America) 'Eros Arriving', despite all the record company delays and re-recordings (or
perhaps because of them) came up against the usual BBC Radio One Brick Wall: i.e. no
airplay. It seems that no matter how many compromises I make, my work is regarded as
somewhat extreme by certain DJs and producers.......How stupid!
Some years back, whilst
recording 'Drastic Plastic' with Be-Bop Deluxe at Juan-les-Pins in the south of France, I
discovered the little town of Villefranche-sur-Mer, just a few miles outside of Nice.
Those of you who are Jean Cocteau aficionados will know that this particular area was
dearly loved by Cocteau and his contemporaries.
This is a list of some
favourite singles. As I rarely buy singles these days, it's very much a trip down memory
lane; However I'm sure that you won't grudge an old man this small luxury in such austere
times, besides most of this stuff is so much stronger than the revivalist rubbish that the
record industry so desperately tries to sell us.
In mid-July Phonogram will
release a new single from Bill "Flaming Desire" c/w "The Passion"
(Will 5 ) There will also be a 12"with an extended version of Flaming Desire plus The
Passion plus "The Burning Question" (Probablly Will 512)