Very good songs from Bill's "Magnetic Sketchbook"
02/20/1999
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Bill Nelson has released something like 12 albums of home demos, "magnetic sketches", over the past decade. This album, released in 1995 but recorded between 1988 and 1992, was part of a 4CD boxed set but now available as a single disc, is a strong set of rockin' pop songs. "My Philosophy" kicks off the album with blazing guitar tune full of fire and fury and a bit of an ironic lyric "Here comes my philosophy/Leave it, let it be" which Bill rips into another solo. Other standouts include "Buddha Head", a great lost synthpop song. "Big River" another sweeping epic. Probably the best of the bunch is "Lotus In The Stream", with the beautiful ebow & guitar solo in the middle.Missed the days of Be Bop Deluxe? OK, there's no "Yorkshire Landscape" here, but this is still pretty good stuff coming out of the man's analog 16-track studio."