“You came to watch the band/to see us play our parts/We
hoped you’d lend an ear/You hope we dress like tarts.” The opening lines of the
title-track gives us an insight of the introduction of Bill Nelson’s lyrical structurers
on having the girls screaming their hearts out with their make-up and
performing the hell out of either at the Lyceum or at Newcastle City Hall to a
grand slam. That and this incredible 3-CD/1-DVD box set done by the good people
at Esoteric Recordings of Be-Bop Deluxe’s Axe Victim which was reissued last
year, showcases that it’s time to give the band the proper recognition it
deserves.
Championed by Julian Cope in his August 2004 album of the
month from his Head Heritage website as he describes it as a “conundrum at the
time, and still today mystifies almost everyone. Here was a guitar hero guy from
up north on his first LP presumptuous/naïve enough to be quoting Cocteau in
untranslated French.” Originally released on the Harvest label which was home
to Pink Floyd, The Greatest Show on Earth, Third Ear Band, and Deep Purple, Be-Bop Deluxe were sort of the odd-ball that belonged
to the label.
You have these lyrical textures delving not just into the
Bowie-sque vibes, but more of a crossover between Ray Davies and Paul Jones’
Crucifix in a Horseshoe-era. And with an amazing stereo and 5.1 mix done by
Stephen W. Tayler who had done the remixes for the previous Be-Bop albums
including Futurama, Drastic Plastic, Modern Music, and one of my favorites, Sunburst
Finish. Axe Victim as I’ve mentioned earlier, is the recognition it is time
to bow down over.
With the crossover vibes between Grand Funk Railroad and
Boston’s Tom Schulz on the heavy riffs that Nelson does on Third Floor Heaven, he
describes the story of a shy person falling in love a middle-age woman on the
third floor of Heaven’s hotel, who doesn’t take shit from anybody and will
stand up to this person who had been pushed around and bullied.
Jet Silver and the Dolls of Venus is Bill’s answer to the
fantasy take of Mott the Hoople’s All the Young Dudes, but taking an intensive
midsection approach with some heavy acoustic guitars, backing vocals with a
Beatle-sque vibe, soaring arrangements, and walking bass touches followed by a
virtuosic guitar finale that ends in feedback. When you listen to Rocket
Cathedrals which sounds amazing in Tayler’s remix, you can almost imagine Bill’s
nod to Delia Derbyshire for a couple of seconds.
But then it’s a ‘50s adventure into the unknown of space and
time with some proto-punk vibes as Robert Bryan takes centerstage on the sixth
track. He just takes it up a notch as Bill gives him a chance to take the
limelight on here. Between Bill and Ian Parkin, it’s a duel between the two
guitarists as they make it to the finish line as the reminiscing of childhood in
post-world war II baby boom of a mournful yet touching sweetness to look back
with love and passion for the Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape and leaving
very early morning for the acoustic singer-songwriter composition for the Jets
at Dawn.
No Trains to Heaven become this big giant party for Be-Bop
Deluxe to have a big celebration in the afterlife with some heavy guitar lines
and a fast-driven sequence that would make you pop the champagnes and knowing
that the pain and suffering they went through down below, is free from all of
the badness that’s going on of the planet Earth.
Now onto the second and third discs. The second disc is
Tayler’s new stereo mixes of the debut album which I really got a kick out of.
Taken from the original multi-track tapes, Stephen takes a whole new approach
to make sure that Be-Bop’s debut is giving the full shaft of light brought to
the surface with some incredible instruments that come into the forefront where
he brings up parts of the vocals and instruments to make sure they come in at
the right moment.
But there is a moment where you hear a spoken word version
of the song Night Creatures. Listening to this mellowing Floyd-like spacey
approach, Bill is speaking through the minds of Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac.
The third and final disc are two performances that the band did for the late
great John Peel who was a champion of the band and an audition recording for
the Decca label in the winter of 1973. Two from recordings include a New York
Dolls-like rocker Bluesy Ruby and the throbbing Halloween touch of Dracula’s
neck for blood on I’ll Be Your Vampire
The super deluxe edition contains a 68-page booklet with
liner notes by Bill Nelson about the making of the debut album, unseen
photographs, postcards, and a Record Store poster. This was quite the trip to
revisit the album again I haven’t heard in a long, long time. So it’s time to
put on your platform boots and play your guitar to be a part of Be-Bop Deluxe’s
Axe Victim.
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