ALBUM NOTES:

The Dreamshire Chronicles is a double album mixing vocal and instrumental pieces, issued in a single print run of 1000 copies on the Sonoluxe label. The album was first announced on the Dreamsville forum in February 2012, and though it was completed inside two months, a busy schedule throughout the year meant that its release was held back in deference to other albums.

The Dreamshire Chronicles sold out in July 2021.


CURRENT AVAILABILITY:

Available for purchase as a digital download here in the Dreamsville Store.


IF YOU LIKED THIS ALBUM, YOU'LL PROBABLY ENJOY:
Blip!, Clocks & Dials, Captain Future's Psychotronic Circus, Fancy Planets, Joy Through Amplification,
Fantasmatron, Albion Dream Vortex, Fables and Dreamsongs, Palace of Strange Voltages


BILL'S THOUGHTS:

"It contains a wide variety of styles, all of which have proved popular with many fans these last ten or fifteen years...and every track sounds, I'd say, just like 'me'.

"As for 'rock' music, there are a couple of tracks on the 2 discs that are direct outakes from the Joy Through Amplification sessions, ("Luna on the Beach" being the most obvious of these). But there are also tracks that would have fitted perfectly on albums such as Clocks and Dials, Non-Stop Mystery Action, Fables and Dreamsongs, Captain Future's Psychotronic Circus, Fancy Planets and Fantasmatron, amongst others...The only way to describe it is for you to hear it. It's a cornucopia type of album, mixing styles and genres as if they were ingredients in a sonic cocktail. A track may start out in one mood but mutate through several others to end in a completely different place. It's music to listen to and follow as if you were reading an adventure story."
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"Dreamshire is richly blessed with golden and beautifully artificial orchestras. The whole kit n' imaginary caboodle! It also has warped blues guitars, sublime jazz guitars, ambient keyboards, broken beats, ethereal loops, haunted lyrics and oblique arrangements. It's not in the least 'experimental', as I know exactly what I'm doing with it...but it will challenge anyone who thinks a few synth bleeps equals adventure. This is adult music and not a throwback to '80s big-shoulder, analogue fashion, or '70s rock guitar macho chest-beating histrionics. It will confuse the bejesus out of anyone expecting the obvious pop 'avant-garde' signifiers. (At least, that's what I'm hoping for...)

"Speed of light, speed of sound, stand back, mind the blast! This will be a sublime listening experience for those whose lightbulb is switched on! It's neither experimental nor rock, it's kind of beyond those categories."
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"It's like a bunch of different coloured fireworks going off at once and I just enjoy the individual bangs and whooshes, then try to decipher patterns from it all later, when the smoke clears."
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"Dreamshire isn't meant to be an exterior location...it's an inner landscape, located in some mysterious backwater of the mind, surreal and illogical."
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"A thought struck me as I was listening through this album to prepare the listening notes: If there was to be such a thing as a Bill Nelson 'steampunk' album, The Dreamshire Chronicles might well qualify. There's something antiquated, rustic yet futuristic about this one, a kind of neo-Victorian rock n' roll, steam-powered guitar amps and Tesla-coil keyboards coupled with a symphony orchestra staffed by women in long leather dresses and tall hats. Patinated copper pipe flutes and oboes, drums fashioned from old stoves and railway engine boilers, guitars that resemble a cross between crystal sets and concert harps. Everything lit by candlelight."
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Bill's Listening Notes for the album: 'Dreamshire Chronicles' Listening Notes


FAN THOUGHTS:

BenTucker:

"May I recommend Bill's latest, The Dreamshire Chronicles, for your listening pleasure (assuming you don't already have it). If you could imagine what Be Bop Deluxe would sound like in the second decade of the 21st century, then this is it. Intoxicating melodies, amazing guitar...the works! And it's a double album. Basically unmissable!"

"Much that's instantly addictive, with rich melodic hooks & glorious guitar in abundance. All the songs seems like stand-outs to me."

"Spinning Pentagrams"...an incredible song - from a quite amazing 2 CDs of material...It's one of those albums that leaves you speechless. A very heady, potent and mysterious brew. References? For me, Fables and Dreamsongs type no-holds-barred psychedelic romantic adventurousness with alternate-universe dark Victorian JTA atmospheres...

Star rating? Completely off the scale, obviously. You really have to buy this one."


Prey:

"Dreamshire arrived today, and I'm pissed! How can one man be so talented?! I'm beginning to think I got short changed in life...
Amazing work Mr Nelson, I was left speechless."


Stumpybunker:

"This is such a superb work, one that is growing on me daily with each listen. It is amazing that Bill can excel himself with each release so repeatedly (not that I am surprised, or complaining!), to provide us all with such masterpieces. Long may this state of affairs continue! Many thanks Bill."


felixt1:

"You're getting there Bill, with a bit of practise...who knows?
Very much enjoying "Evening Star Electric Park". I love the piano on this also.
Seriously, some absolutely awesome guitar playing on this album."

"The Dreamshire Chronicles is one of those albums, like Fantasmatron before it - that gets better and better with each listen. Definitely an essential release.
Whilst there is always great new music to look forward to from Bill, I must admit I look forward to albums of this type (multi-layered, lush strings, mixture of vocal and instrumental, utilising an uninhibited sonic canvas) perhaps most of all..."


aquiresville:

"Smoke Drifts Silent in Autumn Air": "Be Bop Deluxe LIVES, Baby!
Bill, I absolutely love the singing style that you re-visit for this track, as well as the musical cues (the electric piano track-out notes, at the end of the song, perfect!) A lovely, lovingly sly-aside, wink-and-a-nod slice of music! Wonderful, Bill!"


BobK:

"Dreamshire Chronicles really is brilliant isn't it?...
For an album that is so stylistically diverse it really hangs together well. Just love the way the vocal tracks blend and compliment the instrumentals and vice versa. By the end of each CD it is almost like you have been through a rather wonderful journey.
So many highlights it feels a bit unfair to single out individual tracks, (could probably pick almost ANY of them and rave), but one track no-one has mentioned is "Henrietta Through the Looking Glass". Wow.
It is damn catchy and melodic throughout with plenty of twists and turns and quirky strangeness throughout.
For me this is up there with my all time fave BN albums. A list that does seem to be getting longer each year!"


swampboy:

"Bubbledreamer": "This is one of my favorite cuts from The Dreamshire Chronicles. As a matter of fact, you could make a stunning mini-album out of just the instrumentals from this set. The whole album sounds like it was recorded in The Palace of Strange Voltages."


Holer:

"It is jaw-droppingly good. The songs are just outstanding and it definitely plays like a soundtrack of sorts, conjuring and evoking."


Asinbasil:

"There is something very deep and profound about this album...Personally, I don't think this is Bill's most immediate album, but it is a highly intriguing and desirable one that will demand many listens from you. I also think that in the not too distant future, some of us will look upon this work as amongst Bill's very finest, maybe even his magnum opus? I love "Spooky Little Thing", but the song "More Than Glory, More Than Gold" is a song right up there with the finest love songs ever written. Thank you for this album Bill, it truly is a thing of beauty and one you should be justifiably proud of."