Bill Nelson News Timeline - 1995
Early 1995:
Crimsworth (Flowers, Stones, Fountains and Flames), a soundtrack to an installation by artist Rob Ward, is released on the UK label Resurgence. It's two long (30+ minutes) tracks full of long chords, water drips, and eerie sounds that are quite compelling. The album is released with little promotion due to it's relatively limited audience and is, for a while, difficult to obtain in the US.
Available through the Bill Nelson Record Store
Early 1995:
The UK label All Saints releases a low-priced compilation called Future Perfect which features two solo Bill Nelson tracks, "Big Noise In Twangtown" and "Her Prescence In Flowers" as well as two Channel Light Vessel compositions, "Testify" (featuring Bill on lead vocals), and the non-LP instrumental "Faint Aroma of Snow".
Available through the Bill Nelson Record Store
February, 1995:
I (Mark Rushton) have been on the Internet a few months and can find very little about one of my favorite musicians, British guitarist, singer and composer Bill Nelson. With the help of others, I start a web page devoted to Bill's music on my service provider at-the-time, Primenet. The initial discography is full of holes. Information is scarce. I had absolutely no idea what Bill had been doing between 1988 and 1994, save for his session appearances on a Harold Budd solo album and Rain Tree Crow's (Japan) reunion album, a (then) difficult-to-find solo album of demos called "Blue Moons and Laughing Guitars", and as a member of the so-called "new age supergroup" Channel Light Vessel and the resulting album, "Automatic". Whew! Was I in for a surprise!
March/April, 1995:
Bill's management points me in the direction of a new fan-club magazine, the Nelsonian Navigator, and it's author, Richard Cahill. Also during this time I find out that the US label, Gyroscope, a division of Caroline, is going to release a new album, Practically Wired (or How I Became Guitarboy), in May. Bill may come to the US for promotion.
April, 1995:
Bill marries Emiko Takahashi.
May, 1995:
Practically Wired is released in the US and UK. It's Bill's first proper solo album done in a professional studio outside his home since 1986's Getting The Holy Ghost Across (UK)/On A Blue Wing (US). It's also an instrumental, mostly-guitar album with nods to his childhood heroes Duane Eddy, Hank Marvin, Jimi Hendrix, and others. Recorded in two weeks from initial musings to completed album, the album doesn't chart anywhere but longtime fans rediscover Bill Nelson again.
One track, "Her Prescence In Flowers", an acoustic-guitar instrumental with haunting keyboards, is played by many "new age" and "space music" radio shows
There was a rumor that this album was released in Japan with a couple of vocal tracks, but that's never been proven. Fans in Japan get the same tracks as the US, UK, and the rest of the world.
Available through the Bill Nelson Record Store
May 23-24, 1995:
Bill invades the US again! To promote his new album, Practically Wired, he performs live guitar over pre-recording backing tracks at the HMV store in New York City.
The next day Bill goes to WFMU at East Orange, NJ, to conduct a lengthy interview with Chris Beyer. Bill plays several instrumental tracks live in the studio with tapes including a beautiful untitled ebow piece, an early Moon Rocket Highway, Signum Natura, and others from Altar Pieces. Oddly enough, no tracks from his new album are performed.
May, 1995:
First issue of the Nelsonian Navigator comes out in England.
Summer, 1995:
Bill spends the summer putting together My Secert Studio, an initially-thought-to-be 8-CD boxed set that is pared down to a reasonably priced 4 CD set by Christmas.
July-August, 1995:
Ian Parkin, the rhythm guitarist in the first lineup of Be Bop Deluxe, died in July, 1995 at the age of 45. He left a wife and two children. Bill wrote this in August 1995:
"It was with great sadness that I learnt of the death of Ian Parkin in July. Those of you who are familiar with the Be Bop Deluxe album Axe Victim will know that Ian was a rhythm guitarist in the original lineup of the band. Although I had not been in touch with Ian for close to twenty years, since the split of the first lineup, I was deeply shocked to hear of his death.
"He and I were good friends during the time at Ings Road secondary Modern School in Wakefield. We were both beginners in the realm of guitars and we used to spend our evenings together, either at my parents house or his, figuring out how to play tunes by The Shadows and the Ventures. We used to visit the Mecca Ballroom together to try and meet girls but usually ended up sat as close to the dance hall speakers, as close as possible, to groove along to the music.
"Both Ian and I made our first public appearance together as a guitar-duo at a school Christmas concert....we were both petrified!!! Eventually, we became The Cosmonauts (after bring briefly called The Strangers) and with the addition of a dummer, who was also a school friend, we played various youth clubs and occasionally at the A.B.C. Cinema, Wakefield, at the Saturday morning A.B.C. minor shows.
"Thinking back on this now brings great sadness to my heart. Ian was 45 years old, two years younger than myself, when he died. He was still involved with music and leaves a wife and two children. His companionship during my teenage years and early twenties will always be fondly remembered."
Late autumn, 1995:
Word arrives that Bill is going to be completing his first vocal solo album done in a professional studio in over ten years. The title is "After the Satellite Sings", and is said to have a scorcher of a rocker called "Ordinary Idiots".
Once the solo album is done he'll do a second Channel Light Vessel album with Roger Eno, Kate St. John, and Laraaji.
December, 1995:
An extremely busy month. First, the Culturemix album Bill worked on in 1993 ("Geography", a Japan-only release) is repackaged as Culturemix with Bill Nelson and issued on the UK label Resurgence. Bill sings on one track, "Luna Park", and does session work on other instrumental tracks. It's an interesting blend of styles, almost a jazzy feel of melodic instrumentals with world-beat influences.
Culturemix is available through the Bill Nelson Record Store
My Secret Studio (Vol. 1), Music from the Great Magnetic Back of Beyond, a four CD box set, containing: Buddha Head, Electricity Made Us Angels, Deep Dream Decoder, and Juke Box for Jet Boy is released in England on Resurgence and in the United States on Gyroscope. Only 2000 boxed sets are available. Fans snap up copies quickly as online record stores really mature over the year. The songs are quick "sketches" and demos recorded between 1988 and 1992 in Bill's home studios and are on the order of the recordings from 1992's "Blue Moons and Laughing Guitars". Four albums are a lot to handle, but Bill offers up some instant classics, proving that he can make better music in a few hours than some artists can in a few months.
December 21, 1995:
Charlie Tumahai, the bassist and backup singer in Be Bop Deluxe in the mid to late 1970's collapsed and died suddendly in Auckland, New Zealand on December 21, 1995. He died at Auckland District Court where he was the member of a volunteer organization to help members of the Ngati Whatua tribe. He had also been lead singer and songwriter for popular local band, Herbs, since his move back to from England in 1985. His death from a heart attack came as a shock to family and friends because he had been in good health and practiced yoga. He is survived by his wife, Susan, and two children.
The web site learned of Charlie's death only two days later thanks to a fan in New Zealand who relayed the bad news.
In England, Bill heard a rumour that Charlie Tumahai had died in early
December and mentions in the second issue of the Nelsonian Navigator that he hopes this
isn't true. Strangely enough, the publication of the issue with Bill's comments on the
rumours coincides with the web site's announcement of Charlie's actual death. Q Magazine, a UK publication, confirms
Charlie's death in an issue a couple months later.
go to 1996
back to the main news page