Bill Nelson - Atom Shop
Available through the Bill Nelson Record Store
Click here for more info about this album.
Bill Nelson News Timeline for 1998
New Releases for 1998:
Be Bop Deluxe - The Very
Best of Be Bop Deluxe (US only)
Be Bop Deluxe -
Tramcar To Tomorrow (BBC sessions)
Bill Nelson - Weird
Critters (single disc reissue)
Be Bop Deluxe - Futurama, Modern Music, Drastic Plastic (reissued for about 6 months
during the year)
HoneyTone Cody - Pink and
Clean EP (producer, band features Bill's son Elliot on guitar, daughter Elle on
vocals)
Bill Nelson - Atom Shop
(new album)
Bill Nelson - What Now What
Next? (double CD compendium + 6 new tracks)
Sometimes God Smiles
(DGM label sampler)
Multiplex: Our Secret Studios
(double CD tribute).
Live gigs for 1998:
Sundaze Festival, August 2
Festival of Drifting, September 25
and October 2
Internet appearances for 1998:
Live Internet Chat on Talk City's web site, November 8
January 10, 1998
Rumours have been flying about Bill leaving the UK label Resurgence and going to Robert
Fripp's Discipline Global Mobile label
(DGM). According to Rob Ayling at Resurgence this has been confirmed as true.
Also during January, Chuck Bird proposes that a tribute album ought to be produced by fans.
February 22, 1998:
According to Elephant Talk,
an email digest concerning issues related to Robert Fripp included this post: "During
the question and answer session of his recent Milwaukee show, Mr. Fripp said that Bill
Nelson has signed with DGM. The label will also be re-releasing much of Mr. Nelson's
old material."
February 28, 1998:
There is an article in April,
1998 issue of Guitar Player on Bill and his approach to "Maid in
Heaven".
March 9, 1998:
The Bill Nelson Updates, later retitled Electrical Language, is a free
emailzine started by website author Mark Rushton. The email is way to keep fans
aware of upcoming live shows and new releases. The first test issue goes out to a
group of 3 people. By the end of the year there's over 900 subscribers.
March 24, 1998:
Collectables Records issues the Very Best Of Be Bop Deluxe in
the United States only on March 24, 1998. Available through the Bill Nelson Record Store.
19 tracks:
April 20, 1998:
Elle and Elliott Nelson have their own band, called Honeytone Cody. They are currently
competing in the semi-finals of the Fibbers
Battle Of The Bands, and will appear on the stage on Wednesday April 29th.
Sunburst Deluxe, the Be Bop Deluxe cover/tribute band is finally tracked down by Malc who starts a web page on the band. Gigs this year include playing at Fibbers in York on February 19, March 19; June 11, and December 10; New Roscoe in Leeds on April 16, July 2, and November 12; and The Boardwalk in Sheffield on August 29.
April 24, 1998:
Bill did an interview last week with Radio Leeds.
May 31, 1998:
DJ Cut-N-Paste featuring Casey B has recorded a cover of Bill's "Flaming
Desire" for possible release in the future.
June 18, 1998:
Hux Records in England is putting out previously unreleased BBC Radio One John Peel
sessions that Be Bop Deluxe recorded from 1974-1978, called Tramcar To Tomorrow.
The liner notes and track selection will be done by Bill Nelson. Tracks include:
Recorded May 9, 1974: Third Floor Heaven, Adventures In A Yorkshire Landscape,
Mill Street Junction, 15th of July (Invisibles)
Recorded March 11, 1975: Maid In Heaven, Stage Whispers, Sister Seagull
Recorded February 10, 1976: Blazing Apostles, Crying To The Sky, Peace Of Mine
Recorded January 30, 1978: Panic In The World, Love In Flames
July 14, 1998:
Resurgence (UK) is putting out Weird Critters as
a single disc today. It originally was part of 1997's two-disc, limited-edition
boxed set, Confessions
Of A Hyperdreamer.
June 29, 1998:
Although I haven't heard anything personally from DGM yet about any upcoming releases, it
is becoming well-known among Nelsonians that Bill's new album, the one he originally
wanted Mitchell Froom to produce, may be released sometime between August and October of
1998. No title yet. No track listing has been sent out. Treat this as
speculation until something concrete happens.
Now I've come to find out that there may be a second Bill Nelson album release around the same time. It may be a compilation album, although of what I have no idea.
July 6, 1998:
Billboard ran a feature
on Discipline Global Mobile and Robert Fripp. They report Bill's new album is
called Atom Shop and is
slated for release in September (through Rykodisc in the USA). They also report a
forthcoming double CD retrospective set called What Now, What Next. No track
listing yet, but we'll have that soon.
July 11, 1998:
Opium Arts Ltd indicates that Bill Nelson is going to make a rare live performance at the
Sundaze Festival on August 2nd at Rushton Hall near
Kettering, Northamptonshire. This is a small charity event and the ticket price is 7
Pounds. The festival runs from 10:30am to 11:00pm.
July 30, 1998:
New bio on Bill Nelson at the
DGM web site.
Also info on the following albums:
Bill Nelson - Atom Shop
Available through the Bill
Nelson Record Store
Click here for more info
about this album.
Bill Nelson - What's Now, What's Next
Available through the Bill
Nelson Record Store
Click here for more info
about this album.
August 2, 1998:
Reports are starting to come in
from England regarding Bill's appearance and performance at the Sundaze Festival.
We've learned that Honeytone Cody (a band featuring Bill's daughter Elle on vocals
and son Elliot on guitar) has a 4-track independently-released EP called Pink &
Clean, produced by Bill. Info on this release is in the Session Discography.
August 5, 1998:
Bill will be doing a radio interview on GLR (Greater London Radio)on Friday, August 7th at
4:30pm London time.
It was also announced today that Be Bop Deluxe's BBC John Peel Sessions, entitled Tramcar To Tomorrow, will be released on Monday, August 31st on Hux Records, distributed in the UK by Pinnacle. US and other worldwide fans should note that this album will be available as a UK import, so the cost may be slightly higher.
HoneyTone Cody, a band featuring two of Bill's children - son Elliot and daughter Elle, now have a web page. Go to http://members.xoom.com/htc/
August 7, 1998:
Bill appeared on Greater London Radio (GLR) today at 4:30pm London time. It's about
a 13 minute program, the interview by Gideon Coe lasts about 7 minutes and is sandwiched
inbetween Tramcar To Tomorrow versions of Maid In Heaven and Sister Seagull. Bill
talked about the early days - about how fresh the BBD sessions sounded when he went back
to sort them out for the re-release, and about how, at the time, he was in awe of
legendary disk jockey John Peel. He hints at the story behind "15th of July",
which was done for the one BBC session, and never done again. Bill also talks about how he
never planned to be a musician, but how kids nowadays plan out their music careers, and
this inevitably leads to a plug for HoneyTone Cody,
a band featuring daughter Elle on vocals and son Elliot on guitar. Bill also
mentions that he'll be playing as part of the Drifting Festival on
London's South Bank at the end of September. Also
playing at the festival will be Durutti Column.
August 26, 1998:
Bill will be appearing at Labradford's Festival
of Drifting, which is being held at London's South
Bank Centre from 24 September to 3 October.
Bill's appearances will be on 25 September and 2 October. Both dates will be at the Queen Elizabeth Hall at 7pm and the billing is as follows:
25 September - Durutti Column/Bill
Nelson with Kate St John/Ludovico Einaudi/Labradford/Pan Sonic with Bruce Gilbert.
2 October - John Martyn/Bill
Nelson/Turn On/Labradford
<read a review of this concert>
Tickets are £12.50
August 31, 1998:
You can order the HoneyTone Cody EP-CD, Pink and Clean, send £5.50
to Honeytone Cody, 5 Fern Court, Riccall, York, YO19 6RS, United Kingdom for a copy of the
4 track CD. Make cheques payable to Elle Nelson.
September 1, 1998:
Deep Dream Decoder is being released as a single CD in the US. Release date is
slated for September 29th as well. Pre-order from the Bill
Nelson Record Store.
September 7, 1998:
Drop 5 is a various artists compilation from the Italian label Materiali Sonori which was released on May 5, 1998.
Bill is on this album, although only apparantly as a guitar sample in an Audio Active
featuring Laraaji track. Also on the album were Brian Eno, David Torn, Richard
Barbieri, Steve Jansen, Hector Zazou, and others. To order this album, either go to
the Record Store.
September 11, 1998:
US release of Atom Shop
& What Now, What Next
has been moved back to October 13th. Both releases in the US will be on Discipline.
UK release date is still September 29th.
Per Richard Chadwick (Bill's manager), both Japanese editions of the above albums will not be featuring an extra track, despite what you may read otherwise on the Internet.
September 12, 1998:
Discipline is currently distributing Atom Shop & What Now, What Next to fans
who have ordered directly from the label.
These albums will be released through conventional distributors and retailers in the UK on September 29 and in the US on October 13. Both albums are enhanced and feature information on the DGM catalog.
The What's Next part of the Bill's new double-CD What's Now, What's Next appears to have a couple tracks from forthcoming Bill Nelson albums. The albums will be called Noise Candy (featuring "Bungalow Funland" and "Skies Are Not Cloudy") and Console (featuring "Astroluxe").
September 23, 1998:
Bill is to be interviewed on the Peter Curren show on GLR radio (Greater London Radio) on
Friday 25 September around 4.30pm London time.
November 7, 1998:
The Bill Nelson
Live Internet Chat which will be Sunday, November 8th at 2000 GMT (8pm London UK, 3pm
Eastern US, 2pm Central US, 12 noon Pacific US). Go to the Artist-Shop web site at http://www.artist-shop.com/irc for more
information. Thanks to Gary Davis at the Artist-Shop for putting this
together. Let's have a big turnout for Bill on the net! For those wanting to
configure their own chat client, Artist Shop IRC Chats take place at the Talk City IRC
server chat.talkcity.com on channel @MusicArena. Or you can just join
the chat through your web browser at http://www.talkcity.com/atmusic/arena/
Griffin Music, which distributed the Radioland CD by Be Bop Deluxe is going to be
distributing Tramcar To Tomorrow in the US as well. Release date is November 24th.
November 28, 1998:
Just found out about the Discipline CD sampler (very inexpensive - $5.97 list price in the
US) featuring 30 tracks from the label, including 4 previously-released tracks by Bill
Nelson, Wild & Dizzy; The Profaned Sanctuary of the Human Heart; The Strangst
Things, The Strangest Times; Spinning Dizzy On The Dial - this was released on
November 17th. To purchase a copy, go to the Bill Nelson Record Store.
Also during November, the Nelsonian Navigator fan club is declared dead. A copy of Red Noise's "Sound On Sound" CD sells for $118.50 on Ebay. Not to be outdone, another copy sells privately in December for over $180. In early 1999 another copy sells for $255.
December 11, 1998:
Bill is presented the
double-CD fan tribute, Multiplex: Our Secret Studios, in York by Stewart
Gray. This 26 track work was coordinated and directed by Chuck Bird along with all
the musicians who participated. For more information on Multiplex, go
here.
December 18, 1998:
Happy 50th Birthday, Bill.
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