Bill Nelson News - 1999

January 4, 1999:

According to EMI UK:
"The Be Bop Deluxe re-issues (Drastic Plastic, Modern Music, and Futurama) were part of a very limited UK sales campaign by EMI Catalogue consisting of 100 titles and were manufactured to dealer order and were a "one go only" ordering arrangement!   Dealers placed orders by mid-April 1997 and the exact number were pressed and delivered to the appropriate dealers mid-May 1997.   No stocks were held at Leamington - exact numbers made to order.  The campaign ran along the lines of "last time to get this century"....so the earliest possible re-re-issues in the UK would be from January 1, 2000."

Also on January 4, 1999:
Richard Chadwick has confirmed for a second time that the Japanese edition of Bill's album Atom Shop does not contain any extra tracks.  The reason I asked Mr. Chadwick to confirm for a second time (the first was on September 11, 1998), was that several companies, including some big name online retailers, smaller Japanese import companies, and online consortiums had all been indicating the existence of "Atom Shop + bonus tracks".  The price of the CD is in the $30-$50 range.  I know there are a growing number of collectors out there who want to own everything of Bill's, but "Atom Shop + bonus tracks" does not exist.

January 15, 1999:
A 5+ page Bill Nelson interview, entitled "Atom Age: Bill Nelson at 50", written by Paul Tingen, complete with new pictures of Bill's home studio, will appear in the February 1999 edition of Sound On Sound magazine, on sale January 22 in the UK.

Bill was interviewed last week by Robert Pally for a Swiss newspaper, Bieler Tagblatt.  The interview will be published in German.

The album by Man Jumping, entitled "Jump Cut", which was released on Bill's label in the early 1980's, will soon be re-released onto compact disc for the first time ever.

Feburary 3, 1999:
Bill appears on a compilation CD which accompanies the February 1999 issue of Total Guitar magazine (volume 53).  It's published in the UK by:  Future Publishing Ltd., 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, BA1 2BW

It contains 4 full album tracks, plus loads of tutorial stuff covering covering Hardware Reviews, Features, and Technique.

These are the album tracks:

Track 1. Spineshank - Where We Fall
Track 2. Napalm Death - Devouring Depraved
Track 3. Chris Whitley - Scrapyard Lullaby
Track 4. Bill Nelson - Pointing At The Moon

March 30, 1999:
From excellent sources I've heard:
Noise Candy could very well turn out to be a 6 CD boxed set (3 double pack CDs) featuring nearly 100 songs and 3 hours of music from the Atom Shop sessions.

May 11, 1999:

Bill Nelson's first solo album from 1971, Northern Dream, is re-released on CD again on the Resurgence label in the UK.  It was originally released on CD in 1995.  Click here to buy from the Bill Nelson Record Store.

June 10, 1999:

According to a German EMI site, Red Noise's "Sound On Sound" and Be Bop Deluxe's "Modern Music" CDs are expected to be re-released on July 2nd.  Other reports from the UK indicate a release date of June 25th for Sound On Sound and July 2nd for Modern Music.  Still awaiting confirmation on these dates.

July 23, 1999:

Sound On Sound, by Bill Nelson's Red Noise, is finally re-released in the UK after being out of print for nearly 10 years.  EMI has chosen to omit the live tracks that were included in the late 1980's CD re-release.

Modern Music, by Be Bop Deluxe, was also re-released in the UK after being unavailable for a little less than a year.  EMI has chosen to omit three tracks included in the 1990 and 1997 CD re-releases.

To order either or both, go to the Bill Nelson Record Store.

August 7, 1999:
  
Atom Shop is opening!  Official Bill Nelson Merchandise is now available thanks to a joint effort between this web site, CafePress.com, and Bill's management.  The first design available is the Atom Shop t-shirt, mug, and mousepad

September 13, 1999:

Bill Nelson will be contributing a "diary" to the DGM site much like the way that Robert Fripp does once the DGM site undergoes a redesign.

Fripp's diary on September 3rd said the following:

"One of its new features comes from an initial idea by Dan yesterday: to invite other DGM artists to contribute their diaries. I telephoned several - Bill Nelson, Jacob Herringman, Mr. McFall & Matt Seattle - and all of them agreed. The aim is to engage the listening community in the process of music-making at an earlier stage than performance. Hopefully, this will extend DGM's dialogue / n-logue with our audience. Bill Nelson faxed his handwritten diary through today - Bill doesn't have a computer yet - and Hugh will begin to collate these new contributions for when the site is reborn."

September 22, 1999:
Bill Nelson's diary is now online at the DGM site

October 6, 1999:
From various postings in Bill Nelson's diary

In addition to the Noise Candy boxed set of 6 CDs, there will be a "satellite" album called Whistling While the World Turns.

Bill is looking into the possibility of releasing some official 'bootleg' line recordings of Be-Bop Deluxe, Red Noise and some early eighties solo concerts. These would be available via DGM's proposed Live Music Internet facility.

Bill recently did a collaberation with Fila Brazillia (A trip-hop, ambient/techno, electronica band from Hull who have put out the albums: Mess, Maim That Tune, Black Market Gardening, Old Codes New Chaos, Luck Be A Weirdo Tonight, and Power Clown) and Harold Budd.

Possibility of a 3rd Channel Light Vessel album.  Bill has been talking with Roger Eno.  Kate St. John is currently pregnant.

Bill has accepted two invitations to give a lecture. One at Bretton Hall College Centre for Popular Music Studies, (part of the University of Leeds) in November.  The other at Salford University in early 2000.  None of these are open to the public and please do not call to inquire.

November 18, 1999:
From various postings in Bill Nelson's diary:

"Harold Budd is working on a 'chamber symphony' for which he needs a musical ensemble to perform the piece for a recording next year. The recording is to be made in a studio fifty miles north of Los Angeles. Although things are in embryonic form at the moment he would like the group to include myself, Jah Wobble and Jon Gibson, (from Phillip Glass' ensemble) amongst others still to be decided."

Bill received a call from John Leckie:
"It seems that a satellite television company is planning a documentary programme about his career as a record producer and he would like me to take part as we both started producing records as a team, back in the 1970's. I have some old home movie footage, (pre video cam days), which I shot when Be-Bop were recording their final album, 'Drastic Plastic', in the south of France. Plans are afoot to use some of this material within the documentary. First though, I have to find it. It's somewhere in my sprawling, uncatalogued personal archives but exactly where I'm not quite sure."

Bill is looking into a proposal from DGM to make a monthly video, complete with new music, to be made available as an internet download.

December 6, 1999:
Bill Nelson is auctioning off his recording equipment at the Lenin Imports web site.  This has been confirmed with Bill's management.  The auction features a 32 channel AHB systems eight mixing desk, a Fostex B16 sixteen track analogue multi-track tape machine and a Revox B77 stereo mastering recorder with vari-speed. Ninety percent of all the albums Bill Nelson has released since 1984 have been recorded on this equipment.  Auction continues until December 18th (Bill's 51st birthday).

<Later on, after the auction didn't net any bidders, a group of fans banded together to purchase the equipment.  Click here for the story.>

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