New Wave Classic
Marshall Boswell | Memphis, TN USA | 11/27/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Bill Nelson, the guitar wizard who led the brilliant Be Bop Deluxe from glam rock to new wave in the Seventies, entered the 80s with this extraordinary debut solo album produced by legendary British producer John Leckie (XTC, Simple Minds, Lucy Show). After Nelson broke up Be Bop Deluxe in 1978, following their extraordinary techno swan song "Drastic Plastic" LP, he formed Red Noise, a New Wave five-piece that produced one album, "Sound on Sound," which would eventually function as the template for the first two or three XTC albums. "Quit Dreaming," which began life as the second Red Noise album, eventually transformed into Nelson's first full-blown post Be Bop Deluxe solo album, producing a couple of UK hit singles ("Banal," "Do You Dream In Colour?") and climbing to number 7 on the British charts. In its new remastered form, with a clutch of crucial bonus tracks, the record sounds as current as it did 25 years ago. "Living in my Limousine" predates Flock of Seagulls (whom Nelson would later produce), "A Kind of Loving" taps into early 80s ska, "Youth of Nation on Fire" and "Life Runs out Like Sand" boast an exotic Asian air, and ""Banal" has the marks of a classic piece of postmodern new wave. Buy it now, before it disappears from the market."
Signs of things to come
Lovblad | Geneva, Switzerland | 06/22/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"The sound has aged a bit and again there are some better versions of the songs aroun d on some singles from the 80's: the 12" version of living in my limousine for example. This album is less good overall than the Red Noise one. This is strange since it has better songs but the production is less good. Also his masterpiece the Love that swirls was to come after this one."
