We got notice of this one from commenter schwenko over the weekend. Cherry Red/Esoteric Recordings march through the New Wave era of Bill Nelson has moved forward with the next album, “Quite Dreaming And Get On The Beam” getting the ultrabox love come this November 29th. This follows on from the earlier “Red Noise: Sound On Sound” box [which I still haven’t gotten!] and in fact, Nelson intended this to be the second Red Noise album, though is was largely down to him with his brother Ian on saxes. Harvest obviously didn’t understand the new era unfolding, and chose to pass on the effort, which might have seen us as early as 1979.

Bill bought out the master recordings, and started his prodigious Cocteau Records label with the express purpose of releasing the music himself. In 1980, his “Do You Dream In Colour”single received BBC Radio 1 airplay and reached #53 in the chart; prompting Mercury Records to sign the obviously on the beam Nelson, enabling his Imperial Run at the label which hooked one and all who heard the material “pretty deeply, ‘ quoth the Monk; regarding the 20+ Bill Nelson CDs in his Record Cell].

Dialing down the energy levels from the frenzied peaks of the “Sound On Sound” album that preceded it in the marketplace, “Quite Dreaming + Get On The Beam” offered more relaxed tempos to explore an almost psychedelic take on New Wave full of loping beats with surprising callbacks to the glammy Be Bop Deluxe chug of the almost-hit “Banal.” So written when the label asked specifically for something more banal for airplay!

Now it’s being revisited in a four disc box From Esoteric Recordings with a remastered album, voluminous B-sides and radio sessions, and two more discs with Stephen W. Tayler’s new 2.0 and 5.1 mixes on CD and Blu-Ray. Here’s the rundown.

Bill Nelson: Quit Dreaming + Get On The Beam – UK – 3cCD + Blu-Ray [2024]

DISC 1: Original Album

1. Banal
2. Living in My Limousine
3. Vertical Games
4. Disposable
5. False Alarms
6. Decline and Fall
7. White Sound
8. Life Runs Out Like Sand
9. A Kind of Loving
10. Do You Dream in Colour
11. U.H.F.
12. Youth of Nation on Fire
13. Quit Dreaming and Get on the Beam

DISC 2: Singles + Radio Sessions 80-81

1. Ideal Homes (original single mix)
2. Instantly Yours (original single mix)
3. Atom Man Loves Radium Girl
4. Dada Guitare
5. Banal (extended mix)
6. Turn to Fiction
7. Hers is a Lush Situation
8. Mr. Magnetism Himself
9. Youth of Nation on Fire (extended mix)
10. Be My Dynamo
11. Rooms With Brittle Views
12. All My Wives Were Iron
13. Living in My Limousine (remix)
14. Birds of Tin
15. Love in the Abstract
16. Konny Buys a Kodak (radio session 1981)
17. After Life (radio session 1981)
18. Boom Year Ahead (radio session 1981)
19. Art of Vision (radio session 1981)
20. Rooms With Brittle Views (radio session 1981)
21. Stay Young (radio session 1981)
22. Sleep Cycle (radio session 1981)
23. Jazz (radio session 1981)

DISC 3: Quit Dreaming + Get On The Beam Sessions – new 2.0 Stephen W. Tayler Mixes

1. Banal
2. Living in My Limousine
3. Vertical Games
4. Disposable
5. False Alarms
6. Decline and Fall
7. White Sound
8. Life Runs Out Like Sand
9. A Kind of Loving
10. Do You Dream in Colour
11. U.H.F.
12. Youth of Nation on Fire
13. Quit Dreaming and Get on the Beam
14. The World and His Wife
15. Dancing Music

DISC 4: Quit Dreaming + Get On The Beam Sessions – new 5.1 Stephen W. Tayler Mixes • BLU-RAY

1. Banal
2. Living in My Limousine
3. Vertical Games
4. Disposable
5. False Alarms
6. Decline and Fall
7. White Sound
8. Life Runs Out Like Sand
9. A Kind of Loving Do You Dream in Colour
10. U.H.F.
11. Youth of Nation on Fire
12. Quit Dreaming and Get on the Beam
13. The World and His Wife
14. Dancing Music

Nelson heads have most of the material on discs one and two. The excellent B-sides have been well served by the various collections and reissued that any dyed-in-the-wool Nelson fan already has. What intrigues me are the “extended versions” listed on disc two. As I’ve owned the 12″ single of “Banal” I can vouch for the fact that it was the straight album track. And there was no 12″ of “Youth Of Nation On Fire” to contain an extended version. Just the 2×7″ in the Record Cell for that one. The brace of BBC sessions are also new to our ears [I think]. And the title “Boom Year Ahead” make me really want to hear it. Then the second half of the set are the Stephen W. Tayler 2.0 and high-res 5.1 remixes.

The box will be released on November 29th with pre-order at the Cherry Red website at £57.99/$76.88. As much as I enjoy the album and its B-sides I can’t quite muster the budget to spring for this one. Especially at a time when I am imagining cutting free most of the Bill Nelson collection to make some more room on my beleaguered racks. Bill Nelson is one of many artists I am considering thinning out to the crucial material, as I see it.

I’m still mulling over the Red Noise box as I prefer that material and depending on the contents, a “Love That Whirls” box could be a must-buy as it’s my absolute favorite Nelson album. But if this box is calling your name, then by all means, DJ hit that button!

-30-