Be Bop Deluxe - Futurama

Wow, my counter spun over 1000 hits, and they're mostly not mine! Thanks for reading, or I suppose by looking at the logs not cussing too much when you find out I didn't give you a copy of Neil Young's Decade for free. I kind of figure you can buy your own music. You're welcome to come over here and listen to it, but records are pretty cheap in the grand scheme of things, so buy your own.

Anyway, I have no idea where I got this. It's in a hard plastic sleeve like libraries used to use, but it's a British pressing, so I'm sure it's not from a library. It has a "3" sticker on it, so maybe I bought it for three bucks, or someone at some time did. Like I said, I don't remember buying this one. It's in nice shape, and plays wonderfully, which is nice because it gets pretty quiet in places. I don't remember ever hearing it at anyone's house when I was younger, but I do remember a guy that I knew that liked Crack the Sky and Be Bop Deluxe having Live! In the Air Age and playing that for me a few times. A couple of the songs from this album are on that one, so maybe that's why I bought this.

Bill Nelson is the guitar player and songwriter for Be Bop Deluxe, and I lean towards him being better at the guitar than most of his other duties as bandleader here. He's an okay singer and the lyrics are generally pretty good, especially because these guys could get labeled with the dreaded Progressive Rock label, which has never really been something that bothers me. Sure there's some beyond pretentious artists in that style, but no more so than the Punks who thought they were "taking back rock n roll," as if it needed to be taken back from anyone.

I generally like this album, and other than Jean Cocteau I enjoy it because the guitars are pretty frantic, and like on Stage Whispers, Bill's guitar does not lie. In fact, I kind of wish I had heard this back in 1975 when it came out, because I'd have fell for the this guitar does not lie, the great deception is not my achievement lines totally. I would have found that really deep, man. Because I was 13 and I really thought Rock 'N Roll was gonna change the world. The great thing is that Bill's guitar is busy not lying all over the place on this album, and he can really wail.

I think Maid in Heaven is probably my favorite song on the record, because there's lots of room for Bill to stretch out if he wants, or play a nice, fat riff if he wants. It's pretty short, too and that tends to hold my attention. The next song is Sister Seagull, which starts off like an old Black Sabbath song, with a nice big riff and lots of cool guitar playing throughout it. It's not quite as heavy as Sabbath, but it's fun.

Be Bop Deluxe is certainly at their best when Nelson is tearing things up, and he's not shy and he'll throw a couple hundred notes at you every time he gets a half a measure to squeeze them in to, but he's not overbearing. He's just really fast. He's got good taste, though. It's not like this sounds like a music lesson or anything. It's not much of a dance album either, but it's a nice way to kick off a cold afternoon of listening to records.