BILL NELSON – POWERTRON (2016/2024) (Dreamsville/ Burning Shed)

So prolific is Bill Nelson that “Powertron” has had to wait 8 years for release, but listening to it I have no idea why it has taken this long. ‘Fascinating Noise’ is the opener and reveals Nelson in fine form on an album of “left-field rock songs” with “loud and edgy guitars” and “languishing narratives”, The riff-driven powerhouse guitar starts the album off in a walk on the rock wild side, polished off with some synth. Believe it or not ‘Dreams and Smoke (Flow with the River)’ brought the soulful side of THE FLOWER KINGS to mind, in both the vocals and guitar, with another cute synth ending. I dug the lyrics on ‘The Moon Came in My Window’ (and “blew the blues away”). Train analogies abound of course and there are some zesty instrumentals as well, including the concluding track ‘Drive Shaft’.