John Peel Session [11th March 1975] (11th March 1975)

By 1975 the genre-shifting Bill Nelson and his band Be Bop Deluxe were still shaking off some of the glitter that bedazzled their 1974 glam rocker Axe Victim. And although their sophomore long-player Futurama marked the band’s foray into progressive rock, Nelson put just enough of his fret-board virtuosity on the back burner to open this amazing John Peel Session with a version of “Maid In Heaven” that would have had Marc Bolan swaying in his silver platform boots. The band managed to segue into the shape-shifting, prog-pop epic “Stage Whispers” while retaining their tone and style. Here you get a sense of the six-string skills that Nelson was holding back on the first song before the more dramatic and lyrical “Sister Seagull” softly explodes, paying homage to the King (Crimson, not Presley) with some impressive vocal harmonies that sound honed from long hours of practice and endless days of touring. They close out the session with a searing version of “Lights,” which served as a double B-side, first for “Between the Worlds” and then later for “Maid In Heaven.”