In October of 1976 Be Bop Deluxe released Modern Music, their second album of the year. Bill Nelson, described by Trouser Press as "the most dignified rock star alive with the most original lead guitar to he heard in years", leads his band through another set which includes an Abbey Road like Side 2 medley of songs apparently related to the American tour where they opened for Slade, Golden Earring, Johnny Winter and Patti Smith.
What many of us didn't know is more than 30 years later, Nelson had yet to receive a royalty payment from EMI. In 2011, he updated fans on www.billnelson.com :
I'm sure I explained how things resolved some years ago but, to recap, EMI eventually offered to account to me for any future royalties, provided I didn't pursue things further. It was proving very expensive to do that anyway, (lawyers fees being what they are,) so I let it go. Better things to do with my time. Since then I have received some royalties and accounting although they're quite modest sums as, obviously, the days of decent sales of the Be Bop recordings are long gone. These days it's a trickle, if that. Of course, EMI has suffered since then due to the demise of the major record companies and internet piracy...and there's no-one working for the company now who was there during the Be Bop years. However, I am helping to assemble the forthcoming Be Bop Deluxe retrospective and have been given the go-ahead to add a fifth cd to the set so that I can select some unreleased material for fans to hear. Basically, there will be a disc exclusively containing previously unheard recordings.
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