Very sorry to hear this news. RIP Simon.

Glad you've managed to catch David playing live. He doesn't play much these days but it's usually an event when he does. I've seen him a number of times over the years (only once with The Clean) and they've always been memorable gigs. As for Hamish... well you've heard the sad news... I've never really investigated his solo material, although I know I ought to. I think he was in New York most of the time after I moved to New Zealand, so only caught him once with The Clean, until he moved back to NZ a few years ago. He popped up in Dunedin a few times and I attach a couple of images (he's playing with my friend Darren from The Verlaines in the bad photo). I saw him a couple of times I think - he was trying to organise 'happenings' but it was all a bit erratic and random, and things didn't seem to take off. I only spoke to him once but he was convinced he knew me. He seems to have been a gentle soul who experienced some health issues towards the end of his life, and chose to leave on his own terms. He is, of course, very fondly remembered around these parts. I'll go to Martin's funeral on Friday - it's been 'upgraded' to part of the Town Hall complex, because of the expected numbers in attendance. Some local luminaries will be paying tribute. I'm sure it will be a fitting farewell, and I'm sure a few more tears will be shed. Listening to The Chills again tonight, and marvelling at Martin's creativity. He knew no songwriting boundaries, yet still managed to craft perfect pop songs.

Thanks Alec... and neat that there is someone else on this forum who is acquainted with the Dunedin Sound! David Kilgour is indeed another great talent from this modest-sized city. He's pretty low profile these days but well worth encountering 'live' if one gets the opportunity - for his fine songsmithery of course, and his incendiary but tasteful guitar playing. Cheers!

Thank you for acknowledging Martin's passing, Alec, and for sharing the link to Pink Frost - one of the greatest recordings to ever be committed to 7" vinyl. I live in Dunedin, Martin's home town, and loved his music dearly. I met and chatted with him a couple of times - he was a really nice person. Desperately sad that he should leave us so suddenly, and so (relatively) young, but his music will live on forever. RIP Martin.

It's a cracking recording, and I remember hearing it on the John Peel show at the time. Peel's typically droll introduction to that track was something like "Another track from Bill Nelson in session now - this is a version of one of his, er, 'hits'..." Interesting that you think it has the TLTW vibe. I guess it's edging in that direction, but I tend to think of it as 'classic' Practical Dreamers sound. If my memory serves me well, this would have been recorded at the time of the PD's 1981 tour, and is therefore a perfect sample of what the band sounded like 'live' (or close to). Such an interesting phase of Bill's career this. He was going really left-field pop with tracks like RWBV. Commercial suicide, in a sense, after Be Bop Deluxe, but I love the fact that he took this anti-career move.

Time Tracking is a little cracker. Bill chose not to include it on the ABM EP which included the other 3 tracks, but fortunately it saw the light when a recent(ish) boxed set came out. From that quartet of tracks, the original version of Contemplation is the definitive version in my view - but it's all personal taste of course.

Would it possibly be appropriate to bracket Indiscretion, Dancing on a Knife's Edge, Contemplation, and Time Tracking apart, because they were recorded at the same time for a Kid Jensen session on BBC Radio 1? I think they were post Love That Whirls and pre Chimera (and what a brilliant session that was - those recordings still sound as fresh as when they were first broadcast). PS Great work TKK!

Slightly tenuous connection to this thread, but may be of interest to some. A couple of pictures below of Bill with Frank Chickens - Billy Bragg that is! 😊 These photos are from a post this week on Billy's Facebook page - detailing his reunion with Frank Chickens (plus Hank Wangford) at this year's Glastonbury Festival - 40 years after they toured the UK together. The black and white photo features both Frank Chickens - Kazuko Hohki and Kazumi Taguchi. Kazuko only is in the colour photo. Back to the Practical Dreamers tour 1981 - the 14 year old me travelled a fair distance in the hope of persuading my brother to take me to the Retford Porterhouse but he wouldn't take me because it was a nightclub and I wouldn't get in. Hence I never got to see Bill promoting Quit Dreaming. I also wouldn't (of course) have got into the Heaven gig. It would have been quite a coup for my first gig to have been Bill plus the fab Josef K...

I love it too. Have only ever heard a 'best of' selection that my brother sent me many years ago, and I have always regretted not snapping it up.

Saw Tackhead and Mark Stewart & The Maffia several times in the late 80s - an incredible sensory experience. Malcolm X was the first sampling record that I can remember being aware of, and it's a track that has stayed with me - it opened my eyes and ears, musically and politically. RIP Keith, sonic and rhythmic pioneer. Thanks for the beats xx

Thanks for sharing - Jamming was gone by the time I was buying the music press regularly, but I remember it as a good publication. I look forward to reading this article.

Happy Birthday from that other hemisphere, Bill. Thank you for all the years of enjoyment and inspiration. All the best from NZ. Edx

Thornes Park sounds right actually, maybe someone from 'Wakey' can confirm. I just looked it up on the 'net and the accompanying photos of Clarence Park looked familiar. I took some very average photos of the gig (still have them somewhere). Sadly, when Bill was chatting with fans after his set (and selling Household Gods t-shirts - tres chic!), the photo that was taken of me with Bill came out weird and distorted, I never used that camera again. Still, a great day, and obviously a thrill to see Bill playing 'live' for the first time. As I recall, he hadn't played much over the previous few years, so I took the first chance I had to see him. There were a couple of other local gigs over the next couple of years which I managed to get up to as well, including a couple of fun shows guesting with Ian's band 'Bolt from the Blue', I think. Happy memories.

Chimes and Rings - it's back! As a dig-it-all download! We all have our personal favourites, and this album is one of mine. 'Demonstrations' arrived when I was at a bit of a crossroads in my life and I instantly took it to my heart. Inevitably it's dark in places, being as it is an outpouring of Bill's feelings during a tough time for him, but there are many moments of lightness and fun. The rock rocks, and you can definitely play 'spot the riff' as Bill nods back to his guitar hero days (eg, Dangerous Lady), but it's also super funky, and some of my favourite tracks are ones with little or no guitar (eg, I Wait For You - which is as bright and breezy a demonstration of Bill's mastery of drum programming as you could wish to hear). It must have come out a few months before the first time I saw Bill play live (at an arts festival in Wakefield in 1990) because I took it up there with me in the hope of getting Bill to sign it. I went to Clarence Park early on that day, just to suss out the lie of the land, and Bill was there, about to set up. I grabbed the opportunity to speak to him, and got him to sign my Chimes and Rings cd - while I held his umbrella! Happy memories... Anyway, I've just picked out the cd to give it a spin (it still sounds great, obvs), and taken a look at Bill's signature, and I see that he signed it on this date - 9th June! Spooky! So if you've never heard Chimes and Rings, I heartily recommend it as a slice of Bill in perfect pop/rock mode.

This is great news. I've been hoping Bill would turn up here - he seemed such a good fit - especially after giving Fascist Groove Thang a good review in 1980-something! Thanks for sharing @Jon

Very sad news about Terry. As a teenager in the late 70s, the Specials made a big impact on me and my schoolmates, in terms of music, style, and even politics and attitude. Terry was a great front man - understated but quietly powerful - and seemingly a nice guy too. I see that Bill has written a nice tribute to him on his Facebook page. RIP Martin Duffy too - big fan of his work with Felt.

Very glad to hear that the Red Noise box set has charted. And so it should! Sound on Sound is a brilliant album, and the reissue package does justice to the source material - well done Esoteric. A particular highlight so far has been the Leicester live set (after listening to which I have to go and lie down for a while - it's tiring!). Oh how I'd love to have seen Red Noise live (I was too young) - but thrilling now to at least hear them in all their live glory, and see the OGWT footage, which at least allows one to imagine what the gigs would have been like. Fascinating to hear how 'finished' the home demos are - and Bill's solo DIY recording career direction of the past few decades can be seen as a near inevitability in hindsight, given his ability to create 'finished product' (albeit minus the hi-fi) as far back as the 1970s. I'm not sufficiently audiophile to make informed comment on the sound quality - although I feel like I'm hearing everything as clearly as I could hope to. Reverby vocals, newly audible bass guitar melodies, synth textures, percussion fizz, etc, etc. Hindsight is easy, but I think 'My Light' would have sat oddly within Sound on Sound - it almost seems to belong to an earlier - or later incarnation of Bill. Some artists feel a need to tinker with track listings on their reissues - not something I am a big fan of, and I'm certainly glad it hasn't happened here. If it ain't broke... Very happy to hear new, improved Ideal Homes, Instantly Yours, and Disposable. The first two tracks I felt were slightly, er, disposed of, on the b-side of Do You Dream in Colour? (although it made for a great EP, including Atom Man Loves Radium Girl). I've always felt they were 'album quality', and they sound fantastic in their newly mixed forms - as does Disposable. Packaging and extra content? A+ quality. Reissues can be tacky, instant revenue generators to scam the loyal fans, but a great amount of care and attention - and, dare I say it, love - has clearly gone into this box set. Again, kudos to Esoteric for that. This is such an important album for me. Lots of great music was happening in 1979, and although I was a bit too young to fully dig it all, including the Red Noise experience, I can see now what a formative period it was in terms of my musical taste. I'm so glad Red Noise has got the reissue it deserves.

Chimera is such a perfect album that almost any track from it could have been a single (I recall Tony Mitchell in Sounds chiding Mercury Records for not releasing one). But we all have our favourites, and for me the pinnacle is 'Another Day, Another Ray of Hope', an absolute classic. Always a great disappointment to me that UK audiences were never afforded the opportunity to see the Chimera/Vistamix songs played live. What a show that would have been.

Thank you for sharing the news of Roger's passing - I look forward to reading up on his career, and also seeing the MM photos when I pick up the boxed set (I'm reversing through Bill's Harvest catalogue - first SOS, next DP, etc).

Nice piece, although some might take issue with the assertion that "his [Bill's] career was stunted by the eruption of punk in the mid-1970s", and that "His excellence as a player counted for nothing once the gritty minimalism of the new wave bared its teeth." I would contend that Bill happily embraced some key elements of punk and new wave and, artistically at least, it did no harm to his career. Also, various respected musicians from the late 70s and early 80s have cited Bill as an example of someone who aspired to doing something beyond occupying 'axe hero' status, and hence was able to survive that era with his credibility very much intact.