The discography of Bill Nelson, excluding records with Be-Bop Deluxe, Red Noise, Channel Light Vessel, and other collaborations, consists of 120 studio albums; this also includes albums within larger album sets that have seen standalone releases at later dates. Nelson has operated under various major and independent records labels such as Mercury, Portrait, Virgin, and personal labels Cocteau and Sonoluxe.
In addition to an extensive solo discography, Nelson has produced and contributed recordings for several artists such as Gary Numan, David Sylvian, Yellow Magic Orchestra, and the Skids.
Studio albums 1970s Title Release details Northern Dream Released: 1971 Label: Smile
1980s Title Year Release details Peak chart positions Notes UK Quit Dreaming and Get on the Beam 1981 Released: May 1981 Label: Mercury 7 Sounding the Ritual Echo (Atmospheres for Dreaming) — Rereleased 17 May 1985 The Love That Whirls (Diary of a Thinking Heart) 1982 Released: June 1982 Label: Mercury 28 Chimera (mini album) 1983 Released: May 1983 Label: Mercury 30 Savage Gestures for Charms Sake (mini album) Released: December 1983 Label: Cocteau — Trial by Intimacy (The Book of Splendours) (album set) The Summer of God's Piano 1985 Released: 25 January 1985 Label: Cocteau — Rereleased October 1986 Chamber of Dreams (Music from the Invisibility Exhibition) — Rereleased June 1986 Pavilions of the Heart and Soul — Each rereleased August 1989 A Catalogue of Obsessions — Getting the Holy Ghost Across 1986 Released: 7 April 1986 Label: Portrait 91 Chameleon Released: November 1986 Label: Themes International Music — Iconography (Orchestra Arcana) Released: December 1986 Label: Cocteau — Map of Dreams 1987 Released: January 1987 Label: Cocteau — Chance Encounters in the Garden of Lights (album set) Released: November 1987 Label: Cocteau —Chance Encounters... (1987) is a studio album set which additionally included Ecclesia Gnostica (Music for the Interior Church) EP exclusive to its release. Optimism (Orchestra Arcana) 1988 Released: September 1988 Label: Cocteau — Demonstrations of Affection (album set) Chimes and Rings 1989 Released: December 1989 Label: Cocteau — Each rereleased September 1990 Nudity — Heartbreakland — Details —
1990s Title Year Release details Notes Simplex 1990 Released: September 1990 Label: Cocteau Altar Pieces Released: July 1990 Label: The Orpheus Organisation Crimsworth (Flowers, Stones, Fountains and Flames) 1995 Released: February 1995 Label: Resurgence Practically Wired (or How I Became Guitar Boy) Released: March 1995 Label: All Saints My Secret Studio, Vol. 1 (Music from the Great Magnetic Back of Beyond) (album set) Buddha Head Released: December 1995 Label: Resurgence Rereleased April 1997 Electricity Made Us Angels Rereleased April 1997 Deep Dream Decoder Rereleased June 1997 Juke Box for Jet Boy After the Satellite Sings 1996 Released: 30 April 1996 Labels: Gyroscope, Resurgence Confessions of a Hyperdreamer: My Secret Studio, Vol. 2 (album set) Weird Critters 1997 Released: February 1997 Label: Populuxe Rereleased June 1998 Magnificent Dream People Atom Shop 1998 Released: September 1998 Label: Discipline Global Mobile
2000s Title Year Release details Notes Whistling While the World Turns 2000 Released: June 2000 Label: Lenin Imports Caliban and the Chrome Harmonium 2001 Released: August 2001 Label: Almost Opaque Astral Motel 2002 Released: September 2002 Label: Almost Opaque Noise Candy (A Creamy Centre in Every Bite!) (album set) Released: November 2002 Label: Toneswoon Whimsy (album set) 2003 Released: July 2003 Label: Fabled Quixote Luxury Lodge Released: August 2003 Label: Almost OpaqueSimultaneously released The Romance of Sustain – Volume One: Painting with Guitars Released: August 2003 Label: Universal Twang Plaything 2004 Released: January 2004 Label: Universal Twang Custom Deluxe Released: October 2004 Label: Universal TwangSimultaneously released Dreamland to Starboard Satellite Songs Released: October 2004 Label: Sonic Masonic Wah-Wah Galaxy Released: November 2004 Label: Almost Opaque Rosewood – Ornaments and Graces for Acoustic Guitar: Volume One 2005 Released: May 2005 Label: Sonoluxe Rosewood – Ornaments and Graces for Acoustic Guitar: Volume Two Released: July 2005 Label: Sonoluxe Orpheus in Ultraland Released: October 2005 Label: Discs of Ancient Odeon The Alchemical Adventures of Sailor Bill: a Coastal Song Suite Released: November 2005 Label: Sonoluxe Neptune's Galaxy 2006 Released: July 2006 Label: Sonoluxe Arcadian Salon Released: October 2006 Label: Discs of Ancient OdeonSimultaneously released Return to Jazz of Lights Released: October 2006 Label: Sonoluxe Gleaming Without Lights 2007 Released: April 2007 Label: Sonoluxe Secret Club for Members Only Released: October 2007 Label: Discs of Ancient Odeon Simultaneously released And We Fell into a Dream Released: October 2007 Label: Sonoluxe Silvertone Fountains 2008 Released: June 2008 Label: Sonoluxe Simultaneously released Illuminated at Dusk Mazda Kaleidoscope Released: September 2008 Label: Sonoluxe Clocks & Dials Released: November 2008 Label: Discs of Ancient Odeon Simultaneously released Golden Melodies of Tomorrow Released: November 2008 Label: Sonoluxe Fancy Planets 2009 Released: July 2009 Label: Sonoluxe Simultaneously released Here Comes Mr Mercury The Dream Transmission Pavilion Released: September 2009 Label: Discs of Ancient Odeon Simultaneously released Theatre of Falling Leaves Released: September 2009 Label: Sonoluxe Non-Stop Mystery Action Released: November 2009 Label: Sonoluxe
2010s Title Year Release details Peak chart positions Notes UK Indie SCOT Modern Moods For Mighty Atoms 2010 Released: September 2010 Label: Blue Shining Fountain — — Captain Future's Psychotronic Circus Released: November 2010 Label: Discs of Ancient Odeon — — Simultaneously released Fables and Dreamsongs (A Golden Book of Experimental Ballads) Released: November 2010 Label: Sonoluxe — — Fantasmatron 2011 Released: August 2011 Label: Sonoluxe — — Hip Pocket Jukebox (mini album) Released: October 2011 Label: none — — Simultaneously released Model Village Released: October 2011 Label: Sonoluxe — — Signals from Realms of Light — — Songs of the Blossom Tree Optimists 2012 Released: January 2012 Label: Sonoluxe — — The Last of the Neon Cynics Released: May 2012 Label: Sonoluxe — —The CD release of The Last of the Neon Cynics (2012) additionally contained a graphic novel by Matt Howarth. Joy Through Amplification: The Ultra-Fuzzy World of Priapus Stratocaster Released: July 2012 Label: Sonoluxe — — Return to Tomorrow (These Tapes Rewind: Volume One) Released: September 2012 Label: Discs of Ancient Odeon — — Simultaneously released The Palace of Strange Voltages Released: September 2012 Label: Sonoluxe — — The Dreamshire Chronicles Released: November 2012 Label: Sonoluxe — — Blip! 2013 Released: June 2013 Label: Sonoluxe — — Simultaneously released The Tremulous Doo-Wah Diddy (Blip! 2) — — Albion Dream Vortex Released: September 2013 Label: Sonoluxe — — The Sparkle Machine (Several Sustained Moments) Released: December 2013 Label: Sonoluxe — — Stereo Star Maps 2014 Released: November 2014 Label: Sonoluxe — — Shining Reflector Released: December 2014 Label: Sonoluxe — — Astroloops 2015 Released: January 2015 Label: Astrotone — —Astroloops (2015) was exclusively released with a purchase of an Astroluxe Cadet from Eastwood Guitars. Quiet Bells Released: March 2015 Label: Sonoluxe — — Swoons and Levitations (Musical Magic from Fantasmo's Soundarium) Released: April 2015 Label: Sonoluxe — — The Years Released: June 2015 Label: Sonoluxe — — Plectrajet (Painting with Guitars Volume Two) Released: August 2015 Label: Sonoluxe — — Electric Atlas Released: November 2015 Label: Sonoluxe — — Loom (Astroloops Volume Two) Released: December 2015 Label: Astrotone — — Perfect Monsters 2016 Released: February 2016 Label: Sonoluxe — — Special Metal Released: April 2016 Label: Tremolo Boy — — All That I Remember Released: July 2016 Label: Sonoluxe — — New Northern Dream Released: October 2016 Label: Sonoluxe — — Six String Super Apparatus (Painting with Guitars Volume Three) Released: December 2016 Label: Tremolo Boy — — The Awakening of Dr Dream 2017 Released: March 2017 Label: Tremolo Boy — — Kid Flip & the Golden Spacemen Released: April 2017 Label: Tremolo Boy — — Luxury Wonder Moments Released: May 2017 Label: Sonoluxe — — Songs for Ghosts Released: October 2017 Label: Sonoluxe — — That Old Mysterioso 2018 Released: January 2018 Label: Sonoluxe — — The Unrealist Released: February 2018 Label: Tremolo Boy — — Drive This Comet Across the Sky Released: April 2018 Label: Tremolo Boy — — Dynamos and Tremolos Released: July 2018 Label: Sonoluxe — — Auditoria Released: December 2018 Label: Sonoluxe — — Stand By: Light Coming 2019 Released: August 2019 Label: Sonoluxe 26 86 The Last Lamplighter Released: August 2019 Label: Tremolo Boy — — Old Haunts Released: November 2019 Label: Sonoluxe 47 —
2020s Title Year Release details Peak chart positions UK Indie SCOT The Jewel 2020 Released: April 2020 Label: Sonoluxe 11 68 New Vibrato Wonderland Released: December 2020 Label: Sonoluxe 45 — Dazzlebox 2021 Released: April 2021 Label: Sonoluxe — — Mixed Up Kid Released: December 2021 Label: Sonoluxe — — My Private Cosmos Released: December 2021 Label: Sonoluxe 47 — Electra (In Search of the Golden Sound) 2022 Released: July 2022 Label: Sonoluxe 25 — Marvellous Realms 2023 Released: January 2023 Label: Sonoluxe — — Stupid/Serious Released: January 2023 Label: Sonoluxe — — All the Fun of the Fair Released: November 2023 Label: Sonoluxe 47 — Starlight Stories Released: December 2023 Label: Sonoluxe — — Powertron 2024 Released: 5 May 2024 Label: Sonoluxe 37 — Studio Cadet Released: 6 December 2024 Label: Sonoluxe — — Magical Thinking: Guitars of Tomorrow Volume One 2026 Released: 10 September 2026 Label: Sonoluxe colspan="2"
Extended plays Title Year Release details Sleepcycle 1982 Released: April 1982 Label: Cocteau King of the Cowboys Released: October 1982 Label: Cocteau Flaming Desire and Other Passions Released: December 1982 Label: PVC Dancing on a Knife's Edge 1983 Released: May 1983 Label: Cocteau The World and His Wife Released: November 1983 Label: Cocteau Hard Facts from the Fiction Department 1984 Released: May 1984 Label: Cocteau Giants of the Perpetual Wurlitzer Released: December 1984 Label: Cocteau The Cote D'Azur E.P. 1986 Released: October 1986 Label: Cocteau
Demo albums Title Release details Luminous Released: April 1991 Label: Imaginary Blue Moons & Laughing Guitars Released: August 1992 Label: Virgin
Soundtracks Title Release details Notes Das Kabinett (the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) Released: November 1981 Label: Cocteau La Belle et la Bête Released: June 1982 Label: Mercury Picture Post Released: April 2010 Label: SonoluxePicture Post is the soundtrack to the documentary American Stamps. Pedalscope Released: June 2014 Label: Sonoluxe
Live albums Title Release details Notes Recorded Live in Concert at Metropolis Studios, London Released: June 2012 Label: SalvoCredited as Bill Nelson and the Gentlemen Rocketeers. Tripping the Light Fantastic Released: September 2017 Label: Sonoluxe
Singles