Customer Reviews

Whistling While the World Turns

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Well, here it is after all the waiting, and, well, more waiting. Still, for all those who have followed Bill over the years, this is somewhat normal. A bit like waiting for a bus, you wait ages for one, then six come along at once! Only, this one has made it alone, a taster of the six to follow. Whistling While the World Turns is the latest offering from Bill Nelson, a sort of Best of and the Rest of Noise Candy. This time released not as a retrospective, but a tasty morsel to whet the appetite. Because it is a 'companion' album and is drawn from six other bodies of work, it can be considered to be somewhat of a hybrid. Not the kind which withers and dies though! This hybrid has a strong individual character running through it. The songs specially written for Whistling hold the selection from Noise Candy together like cyanoacrylate. It is an album which stands alone also, demanding merit in its own right.

Manipulating the Phonograph: What's it all about? Well, as the first track tells us Bill has been busily Manipulating the Phonograph for our delectation. This first track is reminiscent of the tracks to be found on Iconography, only with a more mellow, less raw feel. What does strike you straight away is the excellent quality of the recording and production - time well spent, both at home and at Fairview, I'd say! The voice samples are a theme throughout the album and give the listener a idea of what is to come for the rest of the songs. " This is a journey into sound...All aboard...in complete contrast, a pop song and a pop singer"

Dreamland Avenue: This is the first piece on the album, which has vocals by Bill. Once again, the sci-fi sounds and samples are used to great effect, along with a backbeat, which would sit nicely on Atom Shop. The vocals are the half talk, half chant kind which are also to be found on Atom Shop and After the Satellite Sings. In fact what Bill has done here, with the album as a whole, is not only give the initiated a flavour of Noise Candy, but also introduced new listeners to his back catalogue. You are guided through the avant-garde overdubs of various catchy riffs by Bill's revealing lyric. It took me three or four listenings to really appreciate this track, but it was worth persevering.

Unforgetting: Back to an all instrumental piece here. Bill's haunting and unique keyboard skills are displayed over a slow, atmospheric backdrop. This one takes me back to his very first instrumental effort Sounding the Ritual Echo, only more sophisticated and, less 'Hissy'. - Haunting...

The Boy Who Learned Everything: Well, what can I say about this one, another revealing lyric by Bill as he delights us with images of fifties Americana voice overs, on a backdrop of Atom Shop style guitaring and percussion. Vocals and voice samples work extremely well together in this, upbeat, rhythmic piece. This is in contrast with the bluesy style lyric. "Somebody stole my dreams away","Sometimes I feel like the boy who learned everything...only to be stricken with amnesia."

Space Ranch: Back to instrumentals again, and an altogether slower pace for this track. Once again, superb guitar work, over a backdrop of Cicadas and other night sounds. This piece takes me back, way back to the Drastic Plastic album and the exquisite Visions of Endless Hopes. The end section sees, the voice overs become more frequent and the pace increase slightly, oh so slightly. Magic.

Big Yellow Moon: It took me no time at all to love this piece, it follows beautifully on from Space Ranch, and has the type of hook in it which you can't get out of your head. Once again Bill's lyric steals the day, which is very hard to do on this piece because the music is so beautiful. The guitar work, once again, is faultless, lots of different styles in there. I'm sure he uses a mandolin somewhere as well. - Love it!

Sleepy Snakes: This piece opens up to an almost 'waltzy' rhythm, with 'bluesy' guitar floating over it. Like so many of Bill's instrumental pieces it is all too short, you want it to last longer, much longer. Just as you begin to appreciate the wonderful rhythm, and haunting instrumentation, it fades out...What a tease!

Roses Haloes, Crowns of Thorns: R&B backbeat, catchy hook, and half talk/ half sing voice over by Bill. Once again this lyric reveals lots about inner Bill. Romantic (and sexual) dreams of Rodeo Bill, interspersed with religious overtones. Atom Shop springs to mind again listening to this track.. Once again, lots of space age effects, but placed more in the background this time. Cool.

Parklands Drive: Another moody piano piece. Superbly atmospheric, starting with a slow beat and gradually being overtaken by a more upbeat snare drum and cymbal rhythm, which gradually fades as the piece approaches the end...or does it, it comes back for round two as the music springs back to life again for an excellent encore. The beat fades for a second time, leaving you thoroughly satisfied. Wonderful little track.

All this and a Girl Like You: Where does he get these voice samples from? Clever lyric once again (revealing), swinging rhythm, and intelligently chosen voice samples come together to form a charming vocal piece. Towards the end the beat changes and the voice samples take over, almost Mexican, trumpet riff comes to life in the background. He does seem to like that Tex Mex dream.

Quiet Planet: Excellent guitar riff opens this charming vocal piece and is present throughout. Once again, Bill half talks, half sings, his wonderfully clever and revealing lyric. This piece, to me, seems to sit with his Blue Moons and Laughing Guitars work, only it comes across a lot more developed as if he's more at peace with himself than he was then.

Whistling While the World Turns: The title track of the 'collection'. Catchy guitar work, and once again superbly chosen voice samples. "The waking have one common world." "Remember smart guy, there's something bigger, something smarter than you."

Fortune Favours the Fall Guy: "Well, I'll be dog-gonned, look who's here!" This track has a great introduction to some great lyrics. The voice samples fit wonderfully with Bill's singing. A quirky little Keyboard piece keeps appearing, as does some typically Bill guitar work. "If it ain't my old friend Cactus Joe".

Ghosts of Invisible Things: This piece, once again opens with a voice sample. This time the voice is, not American, not Western, but 'spooky'. "These are the ghosts of invisible things". Low piano notes are used to emphasise the darker nature of this piece, and keyboards, which would not be out of place on Das Kabinet and La Belle et la Bete, hold the piece together. Once again, it ends too soon for me. This was a characteristic of the Das Kabinett era, as the music was written for particular scenes and had to be cut to suit. Give me more.

Sunny Bungalows: Sunny Bungalows opens with a great guitar rhythm, and then Bill SINGS, yes actually SINGS. This is very, Rooms With Brittle Views, Touch and Glow etc. This is an immediate hit with me, if only because it's great to hear his voice in full flow again. The Future, American Dream, the past, all rolled into one.

Older Joe: Is this Older Joe, or Older Bill? Fast quirky rhythm, with a slow piano beat and keyboard descant, is mixed with a funny little voice over. About half way through the beat picks up, then fades to leave the voice over and trumpet (possibly flugelhorn) to take us into the keyboard fadeout, which stretches out for a prolonged period to wind you down along with the music! Great.

Autumn Stars: Just as night follows day, there has to be a final track, this is it. Autumn Stars, seems to explore the idea of mortality. Everything ends. Bill used to fear ageing and in particular death. Has he finally come to terms with his mortality?

Whistling While the World Turns, has served two purposes for me. It has made me want to listen to his entire collection again, and it has also made me long for the release of Noise Candy. The more I listen to this album, the more I love it. What more can I say!

Like a fine Claret Nelson improves with age. Each one of the 17 tracks on this CD is a gem. Highlights, and there are many, include 'Dreamland Avenue', 'Unforgetting', 'All This & a Girl Like you', 'Sunny Bungalows and the awesome 'Ghosts Of Invisible Things'. Not only that, you get Nelsons take on country, the beautiful 'Big Yellow Moon'. Once you have reached the final track you will have no choice to listen to this collection again! This is as good as it gets.

Bill Nelson never ceases to amaze me--here is a man who has had a 30 year-plus recording career, making a name for himself with Be-Bop Deluxe and Red Noise; became a very reluctant "guitar hero" as well as one of the founding fathers of electronic music in the process, and is as prolific as an artist can be, but with one major exception: never once becoming predictable or repetitious--you always hear something new and exciting with every Bill Nelson album! This is quite amazing when you consider the grand-scale of Nelson's recorded output over the years, which in itself is staggering, using the "do it yourself" ethic of recording strictly out of his home studio; something that would make any other artist envious.

There is not one bad track on this whole CD; the best ones are "Big Yellow Moon", "Sunny Bungalows", "Fortune Favours The Fall Guy", and my personal favorite, "Ghosts Of Invisible Things". It took a little while for this album to finally surface, but it was well worth the wait and now has me eagerly anticipating the "Noise Candy" CD box set! For any Bill Nelson afficianado or even someone who is new to his work, this CD is a must-have; buy it, listen to it over and over and you'll fall in love with it like I did!

How do you follow up the extensive review posted by Alan Myers?

Well, you don't. He covered it all. And then some!

Suffice it to say this is a mere taste of the delights that await in the six-CD opus, "Noise Candy".

And "Whistling While The World Turns" is in no way just culling the best from that collection. It barely scrapes the icing on the rich textures that make up the box set.

So if you're somewhat nervous about shelling out over $100.00US for the big, big box that is "Noise Candy", check out this introduction.

You'll be writing that cheque in no time...