BE Bop

Things had changed for Be Bop Deluxe by the time of the group's fourth album. The band that turned up in glam rock regalia on its 1974 debut, Axe Victim, was in suit and tie on the cover of Modern Music in 1976. Inside, the band's transformation into a sophisticated pop group seemed complete. Arrangements were still ornate, but the songs were dominated by their highly imagistic lyrics, and as often as not, Nelson was borrowing ideas from the Beatles. It didn't quite work, despite pleasant numbers such as "Orphans of Babylon" and "Kiss of Light," perhaps because a true pop sensibility requires a gift for simplicity that Nelson has never exhibited. The album charted high in England and made the Top 100 in the U.S., but it was Be Bop's peak, not its breakthrough.

Be Bop Deluxe - Futurist Manifesto: The Harvest Years 1974 - 1978 (2011) {5CD Set Harvest 5099964630823}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 2.07 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 783 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 22 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1974-78, 2011 Harvest / EMI Records | 5099964630823
Rock / Art Rock / Pop

This release includes all five of Be Bop Deluxe's studio albums, with additional bonus tracks, plus an additional disc of previously unreleased home demos, rough studio mixes and live recordings. The recordings have all been freshly remastered and the project over-seen by Bill Nelson. All bonus tracks added to the 1990 CD releases have been remastered and added to this release too, except for the bonus live tracks on the 'Axe Victim' release. This remaster is an improvement upon the 1990 releases, and has thankfully avoided being 'brick-walled'. I would suggest this is the last word on digital 16-bit releases of these studio albums.

Be Bop Deluxe - Axe Victim (1974) {2008 Harvest Japan Mini LP TOCP-70358}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 387 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 144 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 119 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1974, 2008 Harvest / EMI Music Japan / Toshiba | TOCP-70358 | Mini LP
Rock / Art Rock / Contemporary Pop

When Be Bop Deluxe's first album was released during the glam rock wave in 1974 and the band (then comprised of Bill Nelson and Ian Parkin on guitars, Robert Bryan on bass, and Nicholas Chatterton-Dew on drums) turned up on the back of the record cover in heavy makeup, it was viewed as being in the David Bowie mold, which certainly took in Nelson's thin but confident tenor vocals and the uptempo rock approach, and even ballads like "Adventures in a Yorkshire Landscape" that sounded a lot like Bowie's "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide."

Be Bop Deluxe - Modern Music (1976) {2008 Harvest Japan Mini LP TOCP-70361}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 370 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 135 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 26 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1976, 2008 Harvest / EMI Music Japan / Toshiba | TOCP-70361 | Mini LP
Rock / Art Rock / Contemporary Pop / Prog Rock / Glam Rock

Things had changed for Be Bop Deluxe by the time of the group's fourth album. The band that turned up in glam rock regalia on its 1974 debut, Axe Victim, was in suit and tie on the cover of Modern Music in 1976. Inside, the band's transformation into a sophisticated pop group seemed complete. Arrangements were still ornate, but the songs were dominated by their highly imagistic lyrics, and as often as not, Nelson was borrowing ideas from the Beatles. It didn't quite work, despite pleasant numbers such as "Orphans of Babylon" and "Kiss of Light," perhaps because a true pop sensibility requires a gift for simplicity that Nelson has never exhibited. The album charted high in England and made the Top 100 in the U.S., but it was Be Bop's peak, not its breakthrough.