One imagines when a group has "Deluxe" in their name, there's an expectation to live up to for any deluxe edition they should release. Just as Be Bop Deluxe's prior deluxe edition releases did, Modern Music meets and exceeds all expectations you ever dream of. Featuring a fresh sounding remaster, a new stereo mix of the album, 2 live discs, and, for those of you with a copy of the physical release, a phenomenally mixed surround sound disc (possibly their best surround sound mix yet!), the 1976 BPI-certified Silver album is refreshed without losing any of the nostalgic charm the album aimed to compile in it's then-modernity. First, the original album. Side 1 of Modern Music runs the gamut of mid-late 70s musical pastiches, with it's AOR-styled Orphans of Babylon and Bring Back The Spark, sweet sounding pop tunes Kiss of Light and ballad The Gold At The End Of My Rainbow, rock standout Twilight Capers, interluded by the theatrical The Bird Charmers Destiny. The album then flips over onto a celebration of where the modern music of the time seemingly all began, a mini pop-opera much in the vein of the first ever released ten years prior, The Who's 1966 mini-opera A Quick One, While He's Away, themed around radio much as The Who's 1967 follow-up The Who Sell Out was, complete with radio chatter opening and closing the collection. Modern Music's mini-opera centers through metaphor around an unnamed narrator inspired by radio to enter the music business, only to have to deal with the feeling of alienation along the way. This was inspired by Be Bop frontman Bill Nelson's experience during the band's first time touring America, unimpressed with the differences the real-life US and it's record executives had to offer compared with the way it's represented in pop culture. The "Modern Music Suite," as it were, moves unstopping from one song to the next, as the narrator seems to miss his connection with a secondary character, possibly his homeland, while he dances lost in the moonlight of the neon world, fights "Uncle Sam Humanoids" (featuring an impression by drummer Simon Fox of one of the groups real life American A&R representatives, buried in the backdrop), and returns to reprise the side 2 opener in as radio-friendly of a tune Be Bop Deluxe possibly has ever recorded. The album then moves into the retro-styled Forbidden Lovers, followed by the pop epic Down On Terminal Street, which would later become 15 minute concert staple of the group on the Modern Music tour. Finally, the album closes with Make The Music Magic, an acoustic semi-psychedelic tune guaranteed to pop up in your head at least a little bit once you've heard it. The Deluxe Edition includes a Be Bop B-side, an all-time jazz fusion instrumental titled Shine, originally credited to "Funky Phaser And His Unearthly Merchandise," a one-off name for the group minus bassist Charlie Tumahai, as well as early versions of the tracks Forbidden Lovers and The Bird Charmers Destiny. Those the latter two of these tracks don't offer much on their own, but they're refreshing as glimpses into the barebones of a Be Bop Deluxe track; The Bird Charmers Destiny especially for featuring Nelson's solo vocal and closing laugh at his own falsetto. On the next disc is a BBC Radio recording of Be Bop Deluxe in concert at the Hammersmith Odeon. Similar to other live recordings of the group, it's very technically well performed, and the London polite society applause audible on the FM transmission serves well to the atmosphere, turning a track like Adventures In A Yorkshire Landscape into a true-to-life Bennie And The Jets, but it seems to serve as something to warm you up for the earth-shattering disc which follows it; Be Bop Deluxe: Live in Chicago, recorded 7 months prior. While the Chicago show may not feature any Modern Music tracks, it very well may be one of the most electrifying live performances I've ever heard by any four-piece band, fidelity be damned. And that's no short list! The simple stereo mix, and each member's performance, seamlessly drags you into feeling as though you, listener, are standing there in the Riviera Theatre. As a matter of fact, the admittedly lower quality of the recording gives an ever-so-slight amount of distortion to keyboardist Andy Clark's organ, only serving to add to the rock edge of the performance. No man on stage steps on another's toes, and all seem to seamlessly fill in any spaces they could possibly round out the sound. In no way could I ever overstate how on fire this performance is. I have listened to this show 20 times in its entirety so far. I have listened to Blazing Apostles from it at least 40. It is so good it is almost overwhelming. They build you up and tear you down over and over, with an audibly cool confidence throughout. They must have known how good this show was while it was happening, because not only does Charlie Tumahai serve as hypeman to Bill Nelson repeatedly during the concert, but after 7 ripping numbers the band strikes while the iron is hot and launches into the impromptu Bill's Blues in the city arguably most famous for the genre. Step aside, Bloo Blooz; 5 years has served to only heighten Nelson's ability to perform in the style tenfold. And just when you think it couldn't possibly get any better, this performance of Blazing Apostles is perhaps the greatest rock recording of the 1970s. Even the tape dropouts add excitement. The half-time refrain in the song is one I deeply lament not being featured on performances of it afterwards. At one point, Charlie Tumahai triumphantly proclaims "The town of Chicago knows how to rock and roll!", and the musical events which unfold out of that statement I can only describe as emotionally akin to the feeling of slamming on the gas pedal after 10 hours in traffic. From this moment there is still 11 more minutes of the song to unfold, each as satisfying as the last, capped off by what sounds like Tumahai smashing his bass on the stage, in a whirlwind of percussive and atmospheric feedback. So, you may ask, what was the purpose of this writing exercise? I bought a new keyboard and wanted to break it in. And where else could I have even put this?

Does anyone know whether the end of Blazing Apostles was ever meant to be a locked groove closing the record? Having only ever heard it digitally I had assumed that was the case, but now having a vinyl copy of Sunburst Finish I see that it isn't, not on any pressing as far as I could search for. Or perhaps I'm just useless at Google-Fu?