When Be Bop Deluxe's first album was released during the glam-rock wave in 1974, and the band (then comprising Bill Nelson and Ian Parkin on guitars, Robert Bryan on bass, and Nicholas Chatterton-Dew on drums) turned up on the back of the record cover in heavy makeup, it was viewed as being in the David Bowie mold, which certainly took in Nelson's thin but confident tenor vocals and the uptempo rock approach, and even ballads like "Adventures In A Yorkshire Landscape" that sounded a lot like Bowie's "Rock 'N' Roll Suicide." But it was already obvious that Nelson was an unusually lyrical guitarslinger, and in fact the tunes often took a backseat to his sometimes jazzy, sometimes metallish excursions. He was, as he sang, "an axe victim," but at the same time, Be Bop Deluxe's musical identity was uncertain. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
I BOUGHT AXE VICTIM FOR THE COVER WHEN I FIRST SAW IT IN 1974..I HADN'T HEARD OF BE BOP DELUXE YET....I BECAME AN INSTANT FAN. GROWING UP IN A SMALL MOUNTAIN TOWN WHERE RADIO RECEPTION RANGED FROM TENUOUS TO TERRIBLE I OCCASSIONALLY GOT TO GO TO THE CITY......I ALWAYS WENT TO THE RECORD STORE TO SPEND WHATEVER I HAD SAVED. I "DISCOVERED" MANY GREAT BANDS BY BUYING THE COVER ART. AXE VICTIM IS STILL WELL-PRESERVED IN MY MUSIC LIBRARY.........................SPIKE