Bill Nelson CHANCE ENCOUNTERS IN THE GARDEN OF LIGHTS vs David Sylvian GONE TO EARTH

[spotprog]

Not a competition but a comparison. Much love is given to both of these artists in this forum, and for good reason But taken in context with one another, the similarity between this 1987 Bill Nelson double CD of sublime instrumentals and the instrumental portion of Sylvian's Gone To Earth which appeared a year earlier is striking. Yes, Bill Nelson was involved in the David Sylvian sessions. I cannot help but wonder if he was inspired by those in crafting his "Lights" album. Either way, fans of Gone To Earth could be in for a treat if they search out a copy of the Bill Nelson work.

[taliesin]

I believe "Chance Encounters" is scheduled to be re-released by Esoteric as part of their Bill Nelson deal - not sure if there's a release date for it yet though.

[Progtopia]

Either way, fans of Gone To Earth could be in for a treat if they search out a copy of the Bill Nelson work.

I may just have to do that, then. Sylvian's a definite fave of mine.

[Dave (in MA)]

Yikes.

[Progtopia]

Well, then...maybe I'll wait for the reissue!

[Echoes]

David Sylvian is a musician who takes the work of other musicians, interjects it into his own and builds upon it. Certainly the case with Bill Nelson who was recording these guitar atmospherics going back at least to Sounding The Ritual Echo (Atmospheres for Dreaming) (1981).

[Dave (in MA)]

I haven't listened to either in a while, but my recollection is that the Sylvian material is more well-developed than the Nelson album.

[BobM]

How does Bill Nelson's solo album compare against the Be Bop Deluxe stuff? Similar, meaning an extension of the band (and which album of thiers) or different (any how)?

[RobT]

I haven't listened to either in a while, but my recollection is that the Sylvian material is more well-developed than the Nelson album.

Taliesin is correct, Bill started doing more ambeint kinds of music with Sounding Out the Ritual Echo, long before Sylvian headed in that direction. The purpose of most of it back then and certainly in the case of Garden of Lights, was to make music for himself to meditate by. He was a practicing Rosicrucian for some time which actually got him in trouble in the U.S. for Getting the Holy Ghost Across which had a nummber of White Magice Symbols adorning the border of it.

At any rate, none of this early ambient material contained any guitar whatsoever. All keyboards. In terms of it not being as well developed, he also went through a fairly lengthy stage of creating "instant music" - trying to keep the time between conception and recording as brief as possible. I may be wrong, but I think Gardens came out during that era. Personally, apart from their ambeint nature, I don't really find much similarity although I love them both. I listen to both quite often.

[spotprog]

I haven't listened to either in a while, but my recollection is that the Sylvian material is more well-developed than the Nelson album.

At any rate, none of this early ambient material contained any guitar whatsoever. All keyboards. In terms of it not being as well developed, he also went through a fairly lengthy stage of creating "instant music" - trying to keep the time between conception and recording as brief as possible. I may be wrong, but I think Gardens came out during that era. Personally, apart from their ambeint nature, I don't really find much similarity although I love them both. I listen to both quite often.

The instrumental pieces on Gone To Earth are for the most part more developed. But I guess my point in bringing this up is that when listening to Gardens of Light, there are some sonic similarities to GTE that I hadn't detected before. The last piece on disc one, Piano Angelica, recalls GTE's Upon This Earth. There are others which evoke a similar mood as well. But at the same time, although both works are build upon an instrumental framework, I don't think ambient describes either. Atmospheric though, most definitely.

[arturs]

How does Bill Nelson's solo album compare against the Be Bop Deluxe stuff? Similar, meaning an extension of the band (and which album of thiers) or different (any how)?

Totally different. Many solo albums are ambient/spoken word/found sounds/collage kinds of things. Others are new wave synth pop. Really good new wave synth pop by the way but it is what it is.

[RobT]

How does Bill Nelson's solo album compare against the Be Bop Deluxe stuff? Similar, meaning an extension of the band (and which album of thiers) or different (any how)?

Bill is incredibly prolific. I just counted how many discs I have of his and came to 100 which includes a number of multiple disc sets, but leaves out the compilations and the Be-Bop material. It is very diverse as well. Much of it is what Bill has termed ambient himself, but others are, according to him, what Be-Bop would be doing now if they were still around (Fancy Planets, I think is an example of that). There is also the stuff that is in-between (the Orchestra Arcana era) that for lack of a better discription I would call "ambeint with a beat." He is an amazing musician and it has been interesting to watch him continue to develop as the years go by.

[timehat]

I'd personally be more interested in something that sounded like the songs on Gone to Earth vs the instrumentals... or maybe something like Chimera which is the only Bill Nelson I'm familiar with and which I like about half of quite a bit.