SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: BE-BOP DELUXE – SUNBURST FINISH (VINYL REISSUE)

Be-Bop Deluxe
Sunburst Finish (Vinyl Reissue)
Cherry Red Records

Going retrospect and missing the point can be quite harmful for an artist, but getting it right, picking a right artist and/or album to feature, can shed a new light not only on the artist but possibly on a complete genre too.

In the case of the most recent (vinyl) remaster/reissue of Be-Bop Deluxe’s Sunburst Finish album from 1975, that light is not only shed on one of that band’s best albums, but also on the state of prog (or then called progressive) rock in its then mature state.

Bill Nelson and his crew focus here on how present a set of relatively complex compositions in a more melodic, pop format with no soloing excesses, while still presenting more complex structures and excellent musicianship, particularly Nelson’s guitar playing. Still, that did not prevent prog to temporarily fall in the shadows of the punk onslaught that was already coming.

Yet, this excellent remaster/reissue shows that, in retrospect, Be-Bop Deluxe created one of the better albums of the original prog rock era.

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