Be Bop Deluxe Delights...

Unless you were a dedicated groover in the mid-seventies, BBD could have passed you by. From ‘74 to ‘78 they released 5 studio albums, a brilliant live album and compilations. Four albums made the charts, but the first Axe Victim didn’t.
Initially they were part of glam rock’s more musical wing. Leader, Bill Nelson was and is a smoking guitarist, more lyrical than most. But it was the third Sunburst Finish which first charted and stands as their primo studio offering.
The live album was recorded during the Modern Music tour and shows a tight band with a unique sound. Nelson is in dramatic form, his peerless soloing on Adventures In A Yorkshire Landscape is a standout moment. It’s also enjoyably significant because it’s extended with an EP.
I bet you didn’t know that one-time bass player Paul Jeffery was killed in the Lockerbie terrorist incident in 1988. Not one of the famous rock roll deaths. Nelson tired of being a guitar hero and disbanded the group after the significant change of sounds on ‘78s Drastic Plastic. In truth they were too quirky to be as big as they deserved. However, they were top 30 material when they split up and enjoyed a hit single in Ships In The Night.
A famously bad tour of America sealed their fate after playing smart art-rock for Foghat boogie fans. They released a series of excellent singles and a great EP Hot Valves and that’s a great place to rediscover their great music.

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