(2021) Be Bop Deluxe - Drastic Plastic [Deluxe Edition]


Review:
…newly re-mastered from the original master tapes and features previously unreleased out-takes from the album sessions, a BBC Radio John Peel Show session from January 1978, along with a CD of Bill Nelson’s previously unreleased demos for the album, “A Feeling of Playing”. Bill Nelson knew February 1978’s Drastic Plastic was the last Be-Bop Deluxe album. In his essay for the book coming with the new “deluxe expanded” box-set reissue, he writes “that, as far as I was concerned, was that, the final Be-Bop Deluxe studio album, an era ended and a new one was about to begin. As the songs developed, I felt that the album might provide a kind of bridge to what might happen further along the road. It was definitely a half-way house between Be-Bop Deluxe and Red Noise.” Be-Bop Deluxe split in August 1978 and Nelson’s new band Red Noise first played live on 2 February 1979. This box set shows his old outfit’s final album to have been transitional. For Bill Nelson, that is. Not for the other members. Drastic Plastic was different to previous Be-Bop Deluxe albums. In general, it wasn’t far from the form of British art rock encompassing the Eno of December 1977’s Before and After Science – even though Be-Bop Deluxe had completed recording their album by then. Pell-mell album track “Love in Flames” edged towards the sound of XTC, who issued their first single in October 1977. This was a chicken and egg thing: the early XTC always had a degree of Be-Bop Deluxe in them. Over four decades on from its release, Drastic Plastic feels of a piece with where music was going when it was issued in February 1978. Sure, there are touches of prog in the sometimes widdly keyboards but this was a progressive album. Early intimations of this come from the revealing demos collected on Disc Four. “Love in Flames” isn’t what it became on Drastic Plastic but is already new wave-ish and oddly like Devo. “Electrical Language” is already a form of synth-pop. Those familiar with the original album should head to these demos first. At this early stage, Nelson knew what Drastic Plastic would be. Nonetheless, despite the Bowie and Eno parallels and being new wave aware, hit singles were not forthcoming. Following the 26 May release of album track “Electrical Language” as a single, Be-Bop Deluxe became history three months later. Obviously, this is the last word on Drastic Plastic. And as it became their final album, it’s also the last word on Be-Bop Deluxe. Nelson writes “the band could have continued of course, perhaps eventually becoming more loved for its past than its future. I didn’t care for that. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my career recreating history. My desire to move things along, back then, might have been seen as commercial suicide by some.” Fans will want this edition of Drastic Plastic as it says new things about the Be-Bop Deluxe of 1977 and 1978. More importantly, it goes further by recontextualising the familiar.





Tracklist:
01 - Electrical Language  (2021 Remaster)
02 - New Precision  (2021 Remaster)
03 - New Mysteries  (2021 Remaster)
04 - Surreal Estate  (2021 Remaster)
05 - Love in Flames  (2021 Remaster)
06 - Panic in the World  (2021 Remaster)
07 - Dangerous Stranger  (2021 Remaster)
08 - Superenigmatix (Lethal Appliances for the Home with Everything)  (2021 Remaster)
09 - Visions of Endless Hopes  (2021 Remaster)
10 - Possession  (2021 Remaster)
11 - Islands of the Dead  (2021 Remaster)
12 - Japan  (2021 Remaster)
13 - Futurist Manifesto  (2021 Remaster)
14 - Panic in the World  (Single Edit, 2021 Remaster)
15 - Blue As a Jewel  (2021 Remaster)
16 - Electrical Language  (Single Version, 2021 Remaster)
17 - Love in Flames  (Single Version, 2021 Remaster)
18 - Face in the Rain
19 - Islands of the Dead  (Take Four, 2021 Remaster)
20 - The Saxophonist  (Juan Les Pins Version, 2021 Remaster)
21 - Autosexual  (2021 Remaster)
22 - Lovers Are Mortal  (2021 Remaster)
23 - Blimps  (2021 Remaster)
24 - Speed of the Wind  (2021 Remaster)
25 - Quest of Harvest for the Stars  (2021 Remaster)
26 - New Precision  (BBC Radio 1 Sight and Sound in Concert)
27 - Superenigmatix  (BBC Radio 1 Sight and Sound in Concert)
28 - Possession  (BBC Radio 1 Sight and Sound in Concert)
29 - Dangerous Stranger  (BBC Radio 1 Sight and Sound in Concert)
30 - Islands of the Dead  (BBC Radio 1 Sight and Sound in Concert)
31 - Panic in the World  (BBC Radio 1 Sight and Sound in Concert)
32 - Lovers Are Mortal  (BBC Radio 1 Sight and Sound in Concert)
33 - Love in Flames  (BBC Radio 1 Sight and Sound in Concert)
34 - Blazing Apostles  (BBC Radio 1 Sight and Sound in Concert)
35 - Superenigmatix  (BBC Radio 1 John Peel Session)
36 - Possession  (BBC Radio 1 John Peel Session)
37 - Panic in the World  (BBC Radio 1 John Peel Session)
38 - Love in Flames  (BBC Radio 1 John Peel Session)
39 - Electrical Language  (2021 Stereo Mix)
40 - New Precision  (2021 Stereo Mix)
41 - New Mysteries  (2021 Stereo Mix)
42 - Surreal Estate  (2021 Stereo Mix)
43 - Love in Flames  (2021 Stereo Mix)
44 - Panic in the World  (2021 Stereo Mix)
45 - Dangerous Stranger  (2021 Stereo Mix)
46 - Superenigmatix (Lethal Appliances for the Home with Everything)  (2021 Stereo Mix)
47 - Visions of Endless Hope  (2021 Stereo Mix)
48 - Possession  (2021 Stereo Mix)
49 - Islands of the Dead  (2021 Stereo Mix)
50 - Japan  (2021 Stereo Mix)
51 - Futurist Manifesto  (2021 Stereo Mix)
52 - Blue As a Jewel  (2021 Stereo Mix)
53 - Autosexual  (2021 Stereo Mix)
54 - Face in the Rain  (2021 Stereo Mix)
55 - Lovers Are Mortal  (2021 Stereo Mix)
56 - Speed of the Wind  (2021 Stereo Mix)
57 - Quest for the Harvest of the Stars  (2021 Stereo Mix)
58 - Speed of the Wind  (Bill Nelson Demo, 1977)
59 - Surreal Estate  (Bill Nelson Demo, 1977)
60 - The Saxophonist  (Bill Nelson Demo, 1977)
61 - Electrical Language  (Bill Nelson Demo, 1977)
62 - Visions of Endless Hopes  (Bill Nelson Demo, 1977)
63 - Possession  (Bill Nelson Demo, 1977)
64 - Islands of the Dead  (Bill Nelson Demo, 1977)
65 - New Mysteries  (Bill Nelson Demo, 1977)
66 - Japan  (Bill Nelson Demo, 1977)
67 - Dangerous Stranger  (Bill Nelson Demo, 1977)
68 - Blue As a Jewel  (Bill Nelson Demo, 1977)
69 - Autosexual  (Bill Nelson Demo, 1977)
70 - Quest for the Harvest of the Stars  (Bill Nelson Demo, 1977)
71 - New Precision  (Bill Nelson Demo, 1977)
72 - Love in Flames  (Bill Nelson Demo, 1977)


Media Report:
Genre: rock
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits