Be Bop Deluxe



Be-Bop Deluxe was founded in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England, by Bill Nelson in 1972. They never played bebop music, but instead came out of the blues-based British rock scene of the late 1960s. At first they were compared to the more successful David Bowie, but Nelson never tried to copy Bowie, and appears to have disliked comparisons or being pigeon-holed. This artistic restlessness eventually led him to disband Be-Bop Deluxe altogether and pursue less commercial paths of expression.

Influences upon the band's music included David Bowie, Roxy Music, King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Van der Graaf Generator and Frank Zappa. The band's sound emerged as a mixture of glam rock, prog rock and straightforward rock and roll. Science fiction imagery (e.g. robots) was common in Nelson's lyrics, along with the more traditional themes of love and the human condition (albeit often hidden beneath Nelson's quirky lyrical and musical metaphors).

Nelson was acclaimed as one of the finest guitarists in British rock at the time, and the music showed that, with his distinctive tones adorning most tracks. Stylistically, the songs took elements from progressive rock, glam rock (the band had flirted with make-up in the early days) and hard guitar rock. Ships in the Night was their most successful single in the UK and USA.

Drastic Plastic, recorded under the influence of punk, new wave and David Bowie's 'Berlin' albums was a substantial stylistic change from the progressive / guitar rock of the early Be-Bop Deluxe. Eager to embrace the changing musical landscape, Nelson dissolved Be-Bop Deluxe and immediately formed a new band, Bill Nelson's Red Noise, retaining Andy Clark on keyboards, and adding Nelson's brother Ian, who had previously contributed to Be-Bop Deluxe albums, on saxophone.

The only album to emerge from this lineup, Sound on Sound (1979) can be seen as the last Be-Bop Deluxe album, as it amplified and extended the trends on 'Drastic Plastic', and was the last rock band album Bill Nelson made before moving into the introspective solo projects that were to dominate his subsequent career.