Thomas Dolby

Thanks for that Tam.
I'm a fan of mr Dolby, & think the flat earth lp is great. Its one of my "test lp's",especially for all the little details such as the spoken parts in the background of screen kiss & white city tracks.
Aliens ate my buick is another great lp, quite groovy for a white guy!
matt

I think all his records are great (though the Flat Earth is a real favourite - I think it is one of those albums where all the tracks, with the possible exception of hyperactive, all just belong together - indeed, the A side, is one of my favourite album sides ever).



However, for sheer out and out zaniness, the Aliens ate my Buick cover takes some beating:



regards, Tam

p.s. before I go any further, I suppose I should declare an interest, in that my opinion of Thomas is not entirely unbiased (since he is my uncle).

Ahh Thomas Dolby. Forgotten how much I liked him. Must dig Flat Earth out.

Cheers

I'll throw a vote in for



Pretty damn good. I guess he was just slightly to "odd" for the mainstream, although I seem to remember some wacky scientist type video for She Blinded Me With Science. In honour of this thread I shall put The Golden Age of Wireless on now and put a post elsewhere as well to get the Dolby-count up!

Steve

But why, oh why, does the CD issue of The Golden Age of Wireless have She Blinded me with Science, which was NOT on the original LP and NOT the Wreck of the Fairchild which was - actually, that I do miss as a result of not having vinyl in my system.

regards, Tam

I guess for commercial reasons. Stick at least one thing the punters know on the CD and they might buy it. Quite why it was not on as a "bonus" I am not sure. But if it sells more CD's it must be better for royalties!

Steve

I can see that as a reason for including it as a bonus (and I'm sure it is the logic), but there would surely have been space left on the disc.

Ah well.

regards, Tam

Tam, I think it is worse than you know. Didn't the vinyl also have a different mix of "Radio Silence" (a rockier longer version than the synth one on the CD)and the US version had two other tracks "Urges" and "Leipzig" that replaced "The Wreck of the Fairchild".

It would appear that in both countires those three tracks were dropped to add She Blinded Me With Science and One of Our Submarines (?).

As far as "She Blinded Me With Science" I think that was originally on a remix EP??

Here is a nerdish timeline of the events:

May-10 : The Golden Age of Wireless released, vinyl and cassette. The UK version has The Wreck of the Fairchild whereas the USA version has Leipzig and Urges. Airwaves differs in length, and the USA Radio Silence is different performance that never makes it to CD.

August : Odyssey - One of our Submarines and She Blinded Me With Science recorded and mixed

October-15 : She Blinded Me With Science released

Nov-6 : She Blinded Me With Science enters the UK charts, for 4 weeks, reaching number 49

1983

Acquires his Fairlight, the third in the UK (Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush got #1 and #2). It cost around $140,000 and could play eight notes with a sampling time of nearly two seconds each.

Feb : One Of Our Submarines

March-11 1983 : The Golden Age of Wireless is revised and now available on CD. The Wreck., Leipzig and Urges are dropped in favour of She Blinded Me With Science and One of Our Submarines.

June : She Blinded Me with Science reissued

June : The Flat Earth album is recorded by Dan Lacksman in Brussels, Belgium.

July-16 : She Blinded Me With Science re-issued, enters the UK charts, for 4 weeks, reaching number 56

Oh I also discovered this!
Jan-20 : Def Leppard's 'Pyromania' album. In the credits, 'Booker T. Boffin' is "keyboard-specialist Thomas Dolby. He did some keyboard parts on Pyromania, but due to contractual obligations, his real name couldn't be printed on Pyromania."

Anyone who is really interested in TD might wish to go to http://www.geocities.com/televisioncity/lot/8142/music/tmdrline.html which is where I found the timeline. (Well what else are Saturday's for? )

One thing is certain - time for re-issues with the right stuff on the right album plus bonus tracks.

Steve

Thanks for that Steve - I had quite forgotten about Urges and Leipzig.

I think I have a 45 containing those two.

Actually, I shall be seeing Tom next weekend, so I'll ask him what is going on with all this (and whether there is any chance of a complete release.

regards, Tam

Just bought a mint US version of "The Golden Age of Wireless" on LP to replace my well worn one. Yes Thomas was way ahead of his time, his sound and production values are still unmatched I think in many ways.

The Flat earth album is a gem aswell. All classics.

The Golden Age of Wireless was the first album that I connected with (I was into technology, a bit of a nerd I suppose but really into my sport- contradiction?). I remember buying it on tape to go in my Sony Walkman (the first one with orange headphones - sold my bmx to buy it) from Disc Jockey in Hastings. I bought two of some of TMDR's 12" releases for fear of wearing them out (some have never been played - no vinyl source for over 15 years now but I have plans....).

Just pulled out the tape as I remember that Lene Lovich did some vocals on Radio Silence (Lucky Number), as Tom played keyboards for her I think. The album and CD version however have/credit Akiko Yono with the vocals.

I too miss The Wreck of The Fairchild and the actual runing order of the album (the order is completely different on the cd reissue - I could only purchase it on import a few years back).

Tom was playing at the Scala a few weeks back and I could not go. The only artist that I want to see and have not (David Sylvian was realised a few years back after the huge dissappointment of his Oxford gig being cancelled in 1990(?)). Was also unable to make a lecture he was giving at Bournemouth Uni about the internet and music (5/6 years ago now). Maybe there is time....

Time for some original remastering (The Flat Earth would be hard to better though).

Give my regards to your uncle Tam (still picture him in the beige suit, small round glasses behind that Jupiter 8).


Neil

If I remember correctly he produced Prefab Sprout's "Steve McQueen" LP, which as I recall is a cracker. A little off track but a back handed compliment none the less.

Steve O,

Didn't realise that, I have that record and love it, isn't it funny how your music tastes can some times be interlinked with various artists.

If you listen to the synth sounds on "steve mcqueen", & also the way they are played, (try the track "bonny") they are very dolby-esque.
matt.

Well, I thought I would report back with one or two bits of news that may be of interest.

First up, Tom said the reason for track issues on The Golden Age of Wireless was rereleased following She Blinded Me With Science and One of Our Submarines (i.e. in the order of the CD) - when clearly vinyl's length wouldn't permit everything and when they came to do the CD, instead of taking advantage of the extra length they simply put that out again.

A DVD from his recent tour is in the works, it seems 7 or 8 gigs in the states were filmed and what is planed is something of a 'highlights' of various performances (i.e. there will not be a huge degree of continuity of dress between songs), however, they have yet to sit down and start sorting through all this.

It also seems that EMI (I think it is EMI anyway, or whomever was his record was in the 80s) is planning to put some of the videos from that era to which they hold the copyright, out on DVD as well.

He also appears to be working on a some new material - anything that gets done is likely to be more off his own bat than with a big label (and given the economics and royalty issues as he laid them out in comparison of what he gets for those records and his 40th birthday disc which was a private enterprise, I can see why).

Lastly, he seemed to have had a wonderful time at Scala and when I suggested he perhaps might like to do some more touring in the UK and further afield (perhaps here in Edinburgh), he seemed quite enthusiastic about it. Apparently the original plan was for no UK gigs but then the Wireless thing came up (which apparently, in terms of sound quality of their setup as much as timing - he was on during a certain football game, was not ideal in retrospect) seemed too good to pass up. Scala therefore was a get our kit setup in this country type affair but, as is so often the way, eclipsed the main thing by some margin, and I think he was quite surprised by how many enthusiastic fans there still were here - hence the possible prospects for more touring.

regards, Tam

Good news that he might be touring again. I hope he makes it up to Leicester/Nottingham area!
Steve

quote:

Originally posted by Tam:
But why, oh why, does the CD issue of The Golden Age of Wireless have She Blinded me with Science, which was NOT on the original LP and NOT the Wreck of the Fairchild which was - actually, that I do miss as a result of not having vinyl in my system.

regards, Tam

Great album!! Takes me back to my school days in the US... I heard this on a friend's Dual CS505, Yamaha amp, Boston Speaker system, it totally blew me away and I jumped on my bike and picked up a copy from Pitchfork records. I almost destroyed it from overplaying over the next few months and I still have it in the collection.

Funny, my copy had She Blinded Me with Science on it... (US purple Capitol label)

Yes Richard,

My copy also a US purple Capitol label also has "She Blinded Me with Science" on it. Fantastic album, so well produced, just sounds amazing on my system - just one of those albums with huge dynamic range.

Could teach a few people today on good production values.