Old haunts is a masterpiece ... from first listen the whole album resonated with me ... the style the production the superb musicianship ... not one to compare but l hear hints of “golden melodies of tomorrow“ and “simplex” in the mix ... the songs have a complexity and simplicity to them ... it does demand an attentive listener and isn’t one to cherry pick... its ridiculous that one man can continue to create such beautiful music after all that has already gone before .... long live Bill Nelson ♥️
top of page
bottom of page
First impressions ... 1/ “Gentle Spirits Prevail” - sweetly swinging on the cymbals, dragonfly wings percussions, ghost choir grooves like Disneyland ghosts ... “Wizard of Oz” trees ... 2/“Once Upon A River” - irresistible sing-along melody that evokes early-mid century films, evokes hiking along tracks near river ... singing in the rain ... 3/“Rain Town” - Gliding across splattering puddles and choppy skies. The meeting of extraterrestrials and humans through the medium of foggy rain and shadows. Dancing guitar across funky swaying geometry .... 4/“Antique Interiors” - a similar mood to “Perfect Monsters” ... a free feeling of soothing psychedelic ascension within a room, amidst light and shadow. 5/“In A Haunted Arcade” - Chords of sherbet, silken angels ... ancient Hawaii ... summer palaces on slopes ... the terraces traced over by a laser beam made of ebow-assisted guitar solo. 6/“There Are Ghosts Here” - Beams of grace through the solar system also rock out to modern existential yearnings of the ghosts within that sail dreams above the night sea. 7/“Bells Sing Sweet Across The Meadow” - A time to pause in the beauty of it all. Tears as memories as tears as memories. 8/ “The Phantom Palace of the Prince of Dreams” - The guitars sing of a cool place with its mysterious passages, glistening and glowing. 9/“As The Stars Begin To Glow” - The funky angel of twilight illuminates memories, velvets, silver swinging. 10/“Lost In The Cosmos Again” - On horseback the Cosmic Cowboy declares bliss felt while strumming through the endless blue. 11/“My New Erotic Guest” - Funky fun-house mirrors, glitter, hallucinogenic aeroplanes, masks, love-ghosts, shooting stars and hidden treasure. 12/“To Imagine Is Hard” - Waltzing through innocence and wisdom, melancholic beauty, strength and optimism in the dim and rainy realm. 13/“This Gilded Age” - Teenage fun cinematically looped and cascaded ... Locarno ... magic bus to Eastmoor .... Carnaby Street ... gold and dangers 14/“When Art Schools Shaped Tomorrow” - Stretching possibilities ... Doppler .... melancholic optimism ... Hermes ... 15/“The Darkness Will Remain” - a kindred spirit converses ... funky psychedelic darkness ... for those who yearn for BBD, please check in with those vocal harmonies !! 16/“Soft Light” - it flickers ... diamonds on water ... geometric the sculpture ... soft light sparkling blues ...
Can't wait to hear the next album. I am also loving Old Haunts, music has always been the soundtrack to my life and the album really sums things up for me right now. The shadows are there but always hope and light.
When other artists at this point in their careers are busy on greatest hits tours with no new material as such, to release an album of this standard, I feel some of Bill's best work, is amazing.
The lyrics, the guitar playing and the ambient sounds all fit perfectly.
So glad to have found Bill, if somewhat late and be in for the journey.
Thanks very much for those comments, chums! 🙂 I'm extremely flattered. The album isn't a 'flippant' or casual piece of work, though it does contain some lighter, less intense moments. It's an album for now and (I suspect,) the age I, and some other fans, have arrived at.
It's reflective, pensive, a little melancholy perhaps, but, hopefully, filled with optimism and a contemplative surrender to inevitability but, not without a sense of beauty. I guess it has a 'spiritual' dimension, a hint of 'the other' about it...
Whatever, it works very well within its remit.
But, there's so much more to come, not only from the long list of unreleased albums waiting to see the light of day, but also my ongoing recording discipline which involves another new album currently being created with use of my relatively recent acquisition of a Cubase software recording system.
This newest album contains a steep learning curve for me. It's not finished yet, my any means, but progressing slowly as time allows, (keeping in mind the six hours that I'm taking out of every day to visit my mother in hospital.) It will be interesting to see how it turns out...
Absolutely - really loving this album. Abundance of texture, depth, atmosphere, mystery ... and lush melodies. Plus sublime guitar of course!