According to Stewart Gray's interview with Bill Nelson in early December 1998 - click here for Real Audio of the interview - Bill said the boxed set would be:
At the time the CD boxed set was only going to be 4 CDs. Back in December 1998 the main names of the CDs would be:
Here is Chuck Bird's recollection of a conversation he had with Bill Nelson at the HoneyTone Cody concert at the Rock Garden in London in March 1999:
Noise Candy was ORIGINALLY to be comprised of strictly the "leftover songs" from Atom Shop. Bill said that after he sent the tapes to DGM for album creation he started listening to the other songs. By the time the album was released Bill felt that he had submitted the wrong songs. He then started to group the songs into four distinct albums: Rock Candy, Ice Candy, etc. But as he listened to THAT final product he found holes in the groupings. So he took some old songs (Bungalow Funland is an unreleased master tape from the Cocteau era), and wrote some new songs. This four disc set soon expanded to a six disc set. Bill also said that some of the new songs he wrote were, and this is a direct quote, "Some of the best songs i've ever recorded".
As of late July 1999, Noise Candy is expected to be a 6 CD boxed set (3 double pack CDs) featuring nearly 100 songs and 3 hours of music recorded at Atom Shop Record-o-mat, Bill's home studio, for what eventually became the Atom Shop album.
September 5, 1999: Bill Nelson's Diary at the DGM web site:
"...the 'Noise Candy' box-set is finally taking shape. I've settled on the running order for the first two albums in the package, which I've promised myself I won't change.
My original plan was to 'theme' each of the six albums by grouping the music into stylistic categories. After making up audio-cassettes along these lines and playing them in my car, I changed my mind and went for a more 'mixed-bag' approach. Have now reverted back to my original idea but with a different choice of material and I think it works. 'First thought, Best thought', as Kerouac said.
Album number one is titled 'Old Man Future Blows The Blues' and seems to have a vague jazzy-bluesy feeling although it doesn't follow the usual maps in this regard. Album number two is called 'Stargazing With Ranger Bill' and is a kind of mutant Country and Western collection (with the emphasis on 'mutant'). It gave me the opportunity to deploy my spectacularly cheesy pedal-steel guitar playing plus some National Tri-Cone bottleneck. Some songs, however, stray dangerously close to the 'is-he-kidding?' category, which is fine by me. The truth is, I am kidding, but then again, I'm not.
Am now about to assemble the more rock/metal/pop oriented album which will be called 'King Frankenstein' which is much nearer the ugly truth than its earlier title of 'Planet Of Guitars'.
September 27, 1999: Bill Nelson's Diary at the DGM web site:
Despite being convinced that I had settled on the correct running order for the 'OLD MAN FUTURE BLOWS THE BLUES' album, a further listen in my car this weekend has sent me back to the drawing board. Right songs, wrong order. How long does this go on?
October 1, 1999: Bill Nelson's Diary at the DGM web site:
I think I have solved the running order problem on the 'Old Man Future Blows the Blues' album. A re-shuffle plus the addition of a short, closing instrumental seems to have done the trick. All that remains to do now is find a title for album number six in the set. Favourite at the moment is 'Meanwhile, Back On Earth', but that may yet change.
Tried to contact Paul Page who is going to manufacture the box-set and it's satellite, 'Whistling While the World Turns'. I sent him some images to scan for the artwork but I've not seen any layouts yet. I hoped that 'Whistling' would be out around now and the 'NOISE CANDY' set in the new year. We need to get our skates on.
October 18, 1999: Bill Nelson's Diary at the DGM web site:
The ongoing 'NOISE CANDY' saga has taken a fresh turn:- Two new pieces of music arrived 'out-of-the-blue' whilst doodling in my recording room. Somehow, they seemed to be perfect for the box-set so now I have to try and squeeze them in somewhere. I can see another week of running order re-shuffling ahead.
Spoke to Paul Page, finally. He has some of the artwork laid out for the 'Whistling While the World Turns' album and will send me something to look at this coming week. With luck it may be available in time for Xmas.
April 3, 2000: Bill Nelson's Diary at the DGM web site:
I have a new running order for the ‘Console’ album which I think is much improved on the previous. Am now re-thinking the ‘Playtime’ album sequencing for the umpteenth time. All the other albums in the box-set are complete, they just need to be mastered. Soon.
May, 2000:
Bill completed mastering of all 121 tracks for Noise Candy this month at Fairview Studios in Hull, England. Album artwork will commence shortly. An autumn 2000 release is planned.
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