Circus Time - Playing the Bills: Part 4

That only leaves the Nelson Bill still to play. I've been playing the Nelson bills for many years & still there are many more to play. 

 

This one was created specifically for Nelsonica 2010, loosely themed around the Psychotronic Circus. Nelsonica is the annual fan convention held in Yorkshire, England, dedicated to musician, singer, & guitarist Bill Nelson. First organized in 2001, the events historically featured exclusive live performances, special guest appearances, & limited-edition CD releases created specifically for attendees.

Every year to coincide with Nelsonica, Bill records & releases a 'special' studio album, that is presented to all the convention attendees, as part of the overall package. These albums can be a collection of 'leftover' tracks, that didn't make the final cut for the various studio albums recorded throughout the year, a kind of compilation album, representative of that years work, or, as in this case, an album specifically composed & recorded for Nelsonica.

As I sez, this one was loosely themed around the Psychotronic Circus mood, Psychotronic being an amalgam of the words psychedelic, psychologic, & electronic.

Bill Nelson sez:
       "A Psychotronic Circus could be a multi-coloured tent in which Alfred Hitchcock, dressed as a ringmaster, cracks his whip at a bunch of clowns stylishly cloned to look like actor Anthony Perkins in the role of a hallucinogenic lotus eater, who has given up his job as a motel owner to instead become a tv-repairman. A tv-repairman who, for some obscure reason, likes to visit the houses of peroxide blondes to re-wire their consoles whilst their husbands are away on business trips. This scenario, of course, is entirely fictional and in no way related to an incident where I just may have happened to re-align a certain lady's antennae after she waved at me from her bedroom window. In a sheer, powder blue Parisian negligee. With a bottle of champagne in one hand. And two glasses in the other. But, as you all know...I'm not that sort of person...I'm a serious, high-minded guitar player.”

Note: Nelson is long-time fan of Neil Young & the song "Neil Young" came about while he was playing his Gretsch White Falcon in his studio, messing around with sounds on his Line 6 Pod processor. The guitar sound he arrived at reminded him very much of Neil Young. He recorded the basic backing track using that sound before writing any lyrics. The phrase "everything sounds like Neil Young" popped into his head & kick-started the lyric writing process...the words are meant to imply some sort of linear meaning but in actual fact are just disconnected phrases that suggest a surreal scenario where "even my car sounds like Neil Young". The whole song is simply a kind of enigmatic tribute to Neil. 

 

Bill Nelson - Captain Future’s Psychotronic Circus, Discs of Ancient Odeon DOAOCD006, 2010.
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Captain Future's Psychotronic Circus (Plastic mix)    
Sex & Drums & Saxophones    
Blue Sky Seeks Red Guitar    
Howlin' Wolf in Me    
Dance of the Mullard Valvemen    
The Aerostatic Balloonist    
The Indelicate Levitation of Katie's Skirts    
Full Colour Fontana    
The Man who was Tomorrow    
Sun Kings Suffer (As Time Goes By)    
The Mount Fuji Ice-Cream Factory    
Illuminated Sky with Pale Blue Lightning
Neil Young    
Like a Woman Levitating    
Captain Future's Psychotronic Circus (Crystal mix)

 

 

 

Enjoy,
NØ