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Bill Nelson - Getting The Holy Ghost Across (1986)

Biography & Review compiled from Buy It at Lowest Price on Amazon

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Bill Nelson is both an enigma and a highly public person whose motivations sometimes seem shrouded in complex mysteries, yet whose sometimes prodigious output amounts to public development of song ideas and musical experiments. He has been both a guitar hero and the background figure in any number of art installations, exhibitions and theatrical presentations. While difficult for record company executives to grasp and often obscure to the general public, Nelson has nonetheless built up a strong and loyal fan base around the world.

Nelson's career began in earnest with the recording and release of a solo album, Northern Dream, which was financed by the owner of the Record Bar, a local Wakefield record store. The initial pressing was limited to 250 copies (it has since been reissued several times, much to Nelson's frustration; he has never received royalties from the record), one of which found its way to BBC disc jockey John Peel, whose late-night Radio One shows were a constant influence on British rock music. Peel took an immediate liking to the record, playing cuts from it on a regular basis, with the result that executives from EMI's Harvest label contacted Nelson with the intention of having him record for the label, possibly with a remake of Northern Dream.

Nelson had different ideas by this point, however, and had assembled the first version of Be Bop Deluxe, featuring fellow Gentle Revolution member Richard Brown (keyboards), Ian Parkin (guitar), Rob Bryan (bass) and Nicholas Chatterton-Dew (drums). Brown left before the band went into the studio. A single, "Teenage Archangel"/"Jets at Dawn," was recorded and sold at concerts just before the EMI deal was finalized. Nelson broke the band up after the recording of 1974's Axe Victim, after EMI expressed dissatisfaction with the abilities of the other members. Nelson briefly worked with Paul Jeffreys and Milton Reame-James, formerly of Cockney Rebel, and bringing drummer Simon Fox into the band. Bassist Charles Tumahai was the next addition, with the trio going on to record Futurama. Keyboardist Andy Clark was the final addition to the band, which remained together until the recording of Drastic Plastic in 1978, by which time the mantle of guitar hero was beginning to weight heavy on Nelson, who was intent on expanding his horizons. The band had quickly developed a reputation for quirky songs and musical pyrotechnics, facets demonstrated both in the studio and in a live context -- Live! In the Air Age remains a brilliant document of a great live band. During this period Nelson divorced his first wife, Shirley, and married his second, Jan, for whom he wrote a great deal of music; he also used her as a model for much of his art.

Red Noise was the next phase of Nelson's plan for life, originally intended to begin with Drastic Plastic -- never the same thing twice, in either musicians or styles. Sound on Sound was a fluid, expert document that demonstrated Nelson's ability to experiment, though at the cost of jarring both the audience and the record company -- EMI, looking for moneymakers and easy understanding, dropped Nelson. A second Red Noise album had been finished, but was never released in its original form.

Abandoning the Red Noise experiment, Nelson reworked the album and released Quit Dreaming and Get On the Beam via Mercury Records. In its original format, the album came with a bonus disc -- a full-length album of ambient sketches recorded in his home studio, released as Sounding the Ritual Echo (the album has subsequently been issued by itself). Quit Dreaming and Get On the Beam went into the Top Ten in the U.K. This was repeated with The Love That Whirls (Diary of a Thinking Heart), which also included a bonus album (this time La Belle Et La Bete, a theatre soundtrack recording) and the single "Flaming Desire." This period proved to be the commercial peak of Nelson's career, unfortunately -- Chimera, an EP, failed to generate much interest (it was released with additional cuts in the U.S., under the title of Vistamix) and a subsequent deal with CBS/Epic led only to strained relations and a confused release; the U.K. Getting the Holy Ghost Across was altered, resequenced and released in the U.S. as On a Blue Wing. For Nelson, the main advantage of the deal was that he was able to completely rebuild his home studio, providing him with the facility to experiment more and more, resulting in the release of the first Orchestra Arcana album, which combined synthesized soundscapes with sound bites and tape loops. The name originated as a result of a clause in Nelson's CBS contract that forbade him to release his experimental material under his own name.

For the uninitiated, GTHGA originally appeared in several guises; Firstly there was the 10 track UK vinyl release and a cassette version that had an additional 7 tracks. These extra tracks were then issued on vinyl as the Living For The Spangled Moment EP. However, for censorship reasons the U.S. vinyl version was renamed On A Blue Wing and given different artwork - apparently some Christian fundamentalist groups objected to the album's title and the esoteric symbolism and occult, masonic scripts on the cover. To confuse the issue further the U.S. album also had a slightly different set of tracks to the UK version!

Artistically it's ambitious and dignified with multiple overdubs incorporating keyboards, violin, marimba, saxophone, percussion, bass and guitars. It's densely textured, yet often quite light and airy, with the various layers of detail given space to breathe. It also sounds resolutely of it's time, with that glamorous spangled production sheen so prevalent in the eighties, that and the judicious use of that eighties staple the fretless bass. The digital re-mastering has not stripped the album of any of that nuance and glistening epidermis. It reminds me simultaneously of albums by David Sylvian, Scritti Politi, Propaganda, Peter Gabriel, and Brian Eno and by proxy David Bowie.

This is Bill Nelson at his 80's best. A beautiful, unique and evocative blend of styles and influences. Weaving percussion, sweeping string synths, delicately reverberating acoustic guitar, but above all the swoop and swirl of the e-bow guitar make this album Bill's best by a country mile. The esoteric visuals merge with pastoralism and romanticism, touching XTCs more experimental phases, looping in some Foxxian electro-psychedalia and typical mid-80s hints at the orient. Influences from his work with Yellow Magic Orchestra impregnate the sinewy sounds as it did on his album "Chimera" where the rhythm track was supplied by YMO's own Yukihiro Takahashi. Using his trademark E-bow guitar, marimbas and synths Bill flavours each track with eastern flourishes to create a sophisticated musical palette. Though Bill himself questions the 80's production values on this record, the sound is gorgeous and there is a rare emotionality present which were absent in the majority of the clinical, glossy produced records of the day. Part of that emotionality stems from the personal upheavals Bill was going through during the recording of the album. The results are some of Bill's most sumptuous songs he had written up to that point. Songs like the single "Wildest Dreams" is thoroughly heartfelt. "Rise Like A Fountain" is simply ecstatic. Obviously this was a very productive period as the sessions threw up so much material which are presented here, just about filling up the 80 minutes of CD time. Of course Bill has always been highly prolific, but with this album he was definitely at a peak of compositional flare.

I can guarantee that this will be unlike anything else in your collection - a forgotten landmark piece of musicianship and songwriting.

Tracklisting:

1. Suvasini (1:44)

2. Contemplation (8:53)

3. Theology (4:36)

4. Wildest Dreams (4:40)

5. Lost in Your Mystery (4:44)

6. Rise Like a Fountain (5:02)

7. Age of Reason (4:01)

8. Living for the Spangled Moment (4:57)

9. Hidden Flame (4:26)

10. Word for Word (5:08)

11. Illusions of You (3:28)

12. Heart and Soul (4:50)

13. Finks and Stooges of the Spirit (4:18)

14. Because of You (7:22)

15. Pansophia (0:56)

16. Wildest Dreams (Wild Mix) (4:29)

Total Time: 73:42

Line-Up:

- Ian Nelson / Saxophone

- Steve Nye / Engineer

- Iain Denby / Bass

- Peter Geeves / Violin

- Dick Morrisey / Saxophone

- Sheila Rock / Photography

- Leon Phillips / Engineer

- William Gregory / Sax (Soprano)

- John Leckie / Engineer

- Bill Nelson / Guitar (Acoustic), Bass, Instrumentation, Digital Remastering, Cover Design, Liner Notes, Main Performer, Engineer, Vocals, Guitar (Electric), Marimba, Keyboards, Drums, Guitar, Percussion

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