Bill Nelson - What Now, What Next?

Bill Nelson - What Now, What Next?
Bill Nelson - What Now, What Next?

available at the Bill Nelson Record Store
Released on Discipline Global Mobile (UK) on September 29, 1998
US release date is November 3, 1998 on Discipline, distributed by Rykodisc
Composed, performed, recorded and produced by Bill Nelson at home in Yorkshire between 1980 and 1990.
'Do You Dream In Colour?' was co-produced by Bill Nelson and John Leckie using The Rolling Stones mobile on location in West Haddlesey.
Alto Saxophone on 'Do You Dream In Colour?' by Ian Nelson.
All songs published by Nelsongs/Complete Music Ltd.
Mastered by David Singleton
Art direction by Bill Nelson. Photograph of Bill Nelson by Anderson and Low.
Sleeve art produced by Mixed Images Ltd.
Inner sleeve insert photographs and drawings by Bill Nelson.
Sleeve notes by Kevin Cann.

'What Now, What Next' for just the UK

Just 'What Now, What Next' for the rest of the world

 Both 'Atom Shop' and 'What Now, What Next' for the UK

Both 'Atom Shop' and 'What Now, What Next' for the rest of the World

Compact Disc #1 is enhanced and contains the DGM catalog.
Case is a 4-level glossy foldout, includes separate 24-page booklet


Track Listing:

Disc One:

  1. The Strangest Things, The Strangest Times - (The Strangest Things)
  2. Do You Dream In Colour - (single and first Cocteau Records release)
  3. Radiant Spires - (The Angel At The Western Window disc of Chance Encounters In The Garden of Lights)
  4. Lady, You're A Strange Girl - (Chimes and Rings)
  5. Exactly The Way You Want It - (Optimism)
  6. Playing Jesus To Her Judas - (Chimes and Rings)
  7. Over Ocean - (The Summer of God's Piano)
  8. Devil In Me - (Nudity)
  9. Several Famous Orchestras - (Sex, Psyche, Etc)
  10. Working Man - (Chimes and Rings)
  11. First Boy On The Moon - (Noise Candy)
  12. Let It All Pass You By - (Details)
  13. The Profaned Sanctuary of The Human Heart - (Simplex)
  14. Sell My Soul - (Chimes and Rings)
  15. The Garden - (La Belle et La Bete)
  16. Edge of The World - (Noise Candy)
Disc Two:
  1. Heartbreak Thru' The Telephone - (Heartbreakland)
  2. Fellini's Picnic - (Map of Dreams)
  3. The World Wakes Up - (Noise Candy)
  4. Skies Are Not Cloudy - (Bungalow Funland)
  5. Love's Immortal Shining Angel - (Heartbreakland)
  6. A Promise of Perfume - (Catalogue of Obsessions)
  7. Bronze - (Simplex)
  8. Bride of The Atom - (Bungalow Funland)
  9. News From Nowhere - (Iconography)
  10. Les Amoureux - (Pavillions of the Heart and Soul)
  11. Kiss It Off - (Nudity)
  12. Astroluxe - (Console)
  13. Opium - (Sounding The Ritual Echo)
  14. Windmills In A World Without Wind - (Catalogue of Obsessions)
  15. Um, Ah, Good Evening - (The Strangest Things)

Reviews:
Have you seen a review of this album?  If so, please send it to webmaster@billnelson.com
 
Q Magazine (probably the December 98 issue)
By Dave Henderson

2CD retrospective covering the Yorkshireman's prolific '80s output on his own Cocteau label. Perhaps saddened by Be Bop Deluxe's lack of crossover success at the turn of punk, Bill Nelson opted out of late-'70s rock notoriety and set up his own independent label, Cocteau. There he was free to develop his guitar virtuosity, dabble in early sampling, toy with primal electronica and service his status as renaissance man with a suitably eclectic soundtrack to his paintings, collages and writing. Nelson's output grew through a flood of limited edition albums, his cult status assured and commission work (he even did the music for Channel 4's Right To Reply) kept his diary crammed. He did foist A Flock Of Seagulls on the world (he discovered them and produced their early stuff) but his back pages, as ruffled here on this extensive collection culled from over 20 albums, pre-empted trip hop, hard-nosed electronics and much of the moodier muzak we hear today. What Now, What Next? is consistently entertaining but, in retrospect, the technology he used was in its infancy and some of the songs here suffer for that. 

3 stars out of 5
(3 stars in Q means "Good. Not for everyone, but fine within its field")
Mojo magazine (UK music magazine)
By David Sheppard. 

A veritable glut of Nelsonia released to coincide with the cerebral Yorkshireman's live re-emergence at London's
Southbank Centre. 

After his success with Be-Bop Deluxe and Red Noise, Nelson's profile dipped in the '80s to the extent that six albums'
worth of subsequent solo material went unreleased. This 31 track double CD retrospective of his own Cocteau label
material proves that his gifts for skewed melodic rock and burbling cut 'n ' paste arrangements weren't dimmed by
anonymity. 

From the T. Rex-in-space hit Do You Dream In Colour? to the delicate ambience of Opium, everything here is
executed with purposeful precision. Of the "lost" albums, Bungalow Funland and Noise Candy are the most
represented - both full of typically Nelsonian guile and eclecticism. 

Atom Shop partly returns Nelson to the angular, surrealistic pop of his early '80s incarnation while reprising the
junglist-with-a-PhD soundcrafting of 1996's After The Satellite Sings. Matching wonderfully executed guitar stylings
with lyrics set in a fantastic '50s sci-fi timewarp(Rocket Ship, Train With Fins, etc.), this is a curiously seamless blend
of sibliant drum 'n' bass (Pointing At The Moon) and twisted powerpop (Popsicle Head Trip). A welcome return. 


back to the Start page