Thomas Dolby- the golden age of wireless: c/d?

I will also rate as a classic The Flat Earth, though I may be alone in my assessments there... The production -- veering dangerously close to overproduction -- on this record never fails to make the hairs on my neck stand up, and despite the damn near cheesy "jazziness" of some of the tracks, there's something really compelling about them. I still play out "I Scare Myself" (mixed with Metro Area's "Piña") pretty frequently... it's a lovely tune to close out a night.

Also search 'Live Wireless' concert video, 'Blinded By Science' 12" with 5 incredible extended mixes from 'Wireless'. Notable B-sides: 'Therapy/Growth', 'Jungle Line' (yes, Joni Mitchell cover). The 'Live Wireless' concert video is excellent.

I love 'Flat Earth' just as much as 'Wireless'.

The 'Gothic' soundtrack album had one very catchy novelty single, 'The Devil is an Englishman'.

Then came the relocation to Los Angeles. I'm still trying to forget 'Howard The Duck'. 'Aliens Ate My Buick' has some things that almost work. 'Astronauts and Heretics' is more of a live-band-in-the-studio approach, none of the production quirks that distinguished the first two records, some okay songs, last song features the guitar work of Jerry Garcia ok? Never heard the 'Mind's Eye' soundtrack.

Dolby's original 12" of 'Blinded Me With Science' had the live version of 'Jungle Line' (from the Live Wireless video) for the b-side, so I count it.

so when's your full length mix disc coming out then?

You want some good extras? Find Dolby's Cube. _May The Cube Be With You_ is on the more widely available 12 x 12, but it won't get you _Googolplexus or _Cube Creature Caviar_.

My favorite album appearance for his synths is Robyn Hitchcock's Black Snake Diamond Role.

Production-wise; some people like the albums he produced with those Prefab Sprout wankers -- i myself like what he did with Ofra Haza. It's a regular slice of ethnic pop (via Tel-Aviv), but it'll sure shock the hell outta the neighbors at four in the morning.

I didn't know what. Didn't he also play on Def Leppard's Pyromania?

Fave Dolby collaboration = Lene Lovich!

My friends saw ABC there a while ago as well.

What about that show he performed on his 40th birthday just a few years back (later released on cd)...

http://www.discogs.com/release/59731

the long versions are way, way better

LITTLE RICHARD - 'ROLL BACK THE ROCK' from the animated movie 'WE'RE BACK'. (Amblin) 1993
ROBIN WILLIAMS - 'BATTY RAP' from the movie 'FERNGULLY, THE LAST RAINFOREST'. (Fox) 1992
TIM CURRY - 'TOXIC LOVE' from the movie 'FERNGULLY, THE LAST RAINFOREST'. (Fox) 1992
EDDIE READER - 'WHAT YOU DO WITH WHAT YOU'VE GOT'. 1991
PREFAB SPROUT - 'JORDAN THE COMEBACK' (LP) 1990
OFRA HAZA - 'DESERT WIND' (LP-2 tracks) 1989
ABC TELEVISION FALL CAMPAIGN THEME - 'SOMETHING'S HAPPENING'. 1989-1990
PREFAB SPROUT - 'FROM LANGLEY PARK TO MEMPHIS' (LP) 1987
JONI MITCHELL - 'DOG EAT DOG'. (LP) 1986
PREFAB SPROUT - 'TWO WHEELS GOOD' (Steve McQueen in the U.K.) (LP) 1985
GEORGE CLINTON - 'SOME OF MY BEST JOKES ARE FRIENDS'. (LP) 1985
WHODINI - 'MAGIC'S WAND'. (EP) 1984

KEYBOARD PLAYER
ROGER WATERS - THE WALL. (LP)
Pink Floyd's "The Wall" live from the Berlin Wall 1990
BERLINDA CARLISLE - HEAVEN ON EARTH. (LP) 1987
STEVIE WONDER/HERBIE HANCOCK
Live GRAMMY AWARDS show in Los Angeles. 1985
DAVID BOWIE - LIVE AID
Live at Wembley Stadium. London. 1985
RYUICHI SAKAMTO - FIELDWORK (EP) 1984
GEORGE CLINTON - SOME OF MY BEST JOKES ARE FRIENDS (LP) 1984
MALCOLM MCCLAREN - DUCKROCK (LP) 1983
DEF LEPPERD - PYROMANIA. (LP) 1982
JOAN ARMATRADING - WALK UNDER LADDERS. (LP) 1981
FOREIGNER - FOREIGNER 4. (LP) 1980
LENA LOVICH - NEW TOY. (single) 1980
Written by Thomas Dolby

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just a bump in case anyone else here is going to the Red Devil Lounge show tonight and wants to meet for drinks beforehand...

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00000K43X.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

http://s48.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=0AH3TOMBZQLME2DCTXA9RU2D32

anyways: very short set list:

Leipzig
I Live In A Suitcase
Flying North
Europa and the Pirate Twins
Science
Hyperactive

opening with Leipzig made me happy, and the version of 'Suitcase' sounded a lot more like something from Wireless than Astronauts. I was too harsh on that album upthread -- there are some well crafted songs on there.

huge set up, with two Nords, an 88-key controller, drum pads, G5 running Logic, huge rack of outboard gear, three vintage signal generators for occasional bleeping. it was reasonably live, for Hyperactive he built up some crazy textures in Logic's sequencer live, which did not fail to bomb out & stop the sound with an on-screen dialog as a result -- funny. he's still warming up a bit, I think, but it was appropriate, the packed room was happy. he's playing at Eggs @ Mighty in early March, and I will go again.

Utter classic. The tunes and arrangements are wonderful, of course, but I also love the lyrics' dark, incisive sense of humour.

I used to have a book, a beginner's guide to music technology and keyboard playing, published c. '84. (I learned all my chords from it.) It had a foreword by Dolby in which he reminisced about struggling home through the London rain one evening during his teenage years, having just purchased "the object of my wildest fantasies, a second-hand Micromoog synthesiser". How endearing is that?

Anyway, I was there Saturday and had similar impressions of the show (mixed with general euphoria since he's been a hero of mine since my teenage years).

I found the whole Hyperactive! encore a bit of an unsatisfying gimmick (although the Core Audio overload was amusing) -- while presented as a spontaneous "oh, I don't have an encore ready but let me whip something up!" moment, it was pretty obviously rehearsed, down to the Logic Song with the right samples and synth presets loaded.

The other gimmick of the evening was of course much sweeter: Dolby brought his 14-year-old daughter onstage to play a couple of the recurring keyboard riffs in Europa. She was a cutie all decked out in vintage New Wave garb.

Airwaves (1980 Demo)

this is true fan geekout stuff, if you haven't heard him definitely start with mark's 'windpower' ysi upthread

Wow, that is nice. Would love to have a better quality copy.

"Jordan..." certainly had Dolby back in the producer's seat though.

not the best sound quality, not too sure about this new HD recorder

But oh to paint her eyes so red,
and her lips so blue...

So - is this going to get a deluxe reissue or not?

that would be so awes

& it should look like this

disc one: golden age of wireless (EMI 1982 edition)

She Blinded Me With Science (3:38)
Radio Silence (3:43)
Airwaves (5:23)
Flying North (3:50)
Weightless (3:43)
Europa And The Pirate Twins (3:17)
Windpower (4:16)
Commercial Break-Up (4:16)
One Of Our Submarines (5:09)
Cloudburst At Shingle St. (5:41)

disc two: blinded by science + b-sides

"Airwaves (1980 demo)"
"Therapy / Growth"
"Wreck of the Fairchild"
"Urges"
"Leipzig"
"Radio Silence" (original guitar mix)
"Urban Tribal"
"The Jungle Line (Live)"
"She Blinded me with Science" (extended version)
"One of our Submarines" (extended version)
"Windpower" (High Power Extended Play)
"Airwaves" (extended version)
"Flying North" (High Altitude Extended Play)

YES PLZ.

does anyone know a good source of the live stuff from around this time? i need

europa with the 909 is hotttt

I saw him live just before Aliens Ate My Buick came out and it was AWESOME GOOD (and I don't feel particularly fond of that album). Weirdest double bill ever w/Joseph Zawinul, BTW.

This is back when the private shows for the NAMM convention (National Association of Music Merchants) were interesting and weird and not super crappy geetardudecentric.

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Dolby-Live-Wireless-Dolby/dp/B000OJ2906

a DVD of this would make a fine third disc (very staged concert film, not live, but the versions are very different), bits of it are on youtube

uhm I met my very first girlfriend at the SF 'aliens ate my buick' show, can't get much nerdier than that

TMI, I'd imagine

he's touring UK in a few weeks - so i was wondering if EMI were going to get things sorted in time, but i suspect with the chaos @ EMI that this is not exactly a priority (there were whispers from TD on his blog a year ago that he was in discussion with EMI re reissues).
off to go hassle EMI and see if i can get any further news on this ..
re Live stuff - well from his site, there is a cd and DVD of his shows last year recorded @ the Chicago show that i happened to be at.
it was excellent - so much better than i ever expected.

lots of US references

-- garax of the saturday morning

I remember when I first heard the line 'Big hunk of carrot cake / Blueberry milkshake' I was like 'carrot - CAKE?! BLUEBERRY milkshake?!' - for back in those days, in Sydney, there was no such thing as either. It was like marshmallow trees and marmelade skies or something.

WHODINI - 'MAGIC'S WAND'. (EP) 1984

blimey

if i love thomas leer will i like this guy?

I'm guessing yes.

erm could i get a cheeky re-up of that 1980 airwaves demo? song is not likely to leave my head anytime soon.

Trevor Horn once told me ‘Airwaves’ should have been a huge hit, but that I fucked up the first verse. Gee thanks Trev. I am awed by your production chops but you can be a condescending bugger sometimes! Of course, I could have had you produce it, but then I would have spent the next 20 years paying off the studio fees you ran up (in your own studio.)

Actually we get on fine. Years later when we were doing the ‘Toys’ sountrack Trevor told me he’d pursuaded Elton John to cover ‘Airwaves’. Now that would have almost made up for the sleight about V.1! But sadly it never happened.

http://blog.thomasdolby.com/?p=228

I have a better version from the 'From Brussels with Love' compilation, not sure whether that's the demo.

Funny, that link to his blog actually answers my question. It is indeed the demo version.

Quite an interesting explanation to boot:

Possibly the rarest of any of my releases is this one. It was a (cassette-only) compilation released in 1981 by a Belgian label called Crepuscule. It included a demo version of ‘Airwaves’, recorded in my back room in London well before I got a record deal. I was approached recently by a company that wants to re-release it on CD and is trying to clear all the rights. I own the masters (unusual!) so I plan to say yes. The line-up on the album is terrific:

John Foxx

Duritti Column

Harold Budd

Richard Jobson

Gavin Bryars

A Certain Ratio

Martin Hamnett

Michael Nyman

An Interview with Brian Eno, etc

I have one copy of the cassette, resplendent in its soft plastic cover. But I don’t own a cassette player so I haven’t heard this recording of ‘Airwaves’ in years. It’s probably quite amateurish, as I used a little Boss Dr Rhythm box for the drums: but I bet it captures the essence of the song. I admit I cringe a bit when I listen to the version on The Golden Age Of Wireless, which hasn’t aged well: the production is far too ‘AOR’, with its chorused piano, glittering guitar chords and big drums. It was much better when I played it live. I regret not having had time to do a new arrangement of ‘Airwaves’ on this last tour. Maybe in the Fall?

yes someone please re up the demo airwaves! i lost it in the breakup :(

i love blogs!!!! from http://incaroads-wvkayaker.blogspot.com:

This is a rare treat for all you Thomas Dolby fans. This is an audio rip from the Thomas Dolby Video "Live Wireless" The sound is a 9/10. Concert Filmed in 1983 at Riverside Studios in London with guest Lena Lovich. Very nice! Download this and let me know what you think of it please.

1- Intro
2- Europa & The Pirate Twins
3- Windpower
4- One Of Our Submarines
5- Radio Silence
6- New Toy (featuring Lene Lovich)
7- Urban Tribal (Joni Mitchel song originally done by his first band Low Noise)
8- Flying North
9- Jungle Line (originally a Low Noise single)
10- Puppet Theatre (from the movie Fever Pitch, but not included on the sound track)
11- Samson & Delilah (recorded by the band Bush Telegraph which was comprised of much of the stage band in this video. The album was produced but never released in any form)
12- She Blinded Me With Science
13- Airwaves
http://rapidshare.com/files/48735044/Live_Wireless_Part_1.rar

http://rapidshare.com/files/48735837/Live_Wireless_Part_2.rar

awes! i found the demo in the end, gimme a sec

thanks!!

http://www.zshare.net/audio/3280304f88a211/

Dolby to Record “Off the Grid”

lol

AND IIIIIIIII'M FLYING NORTH

OMFG if that concert d0wnl0ad is deleted by the time I get home from work I will die of a broken heart--

i know!! i cant get it yet either! fucking rapidshare!! can some nice ilxor sendspace it or something!?!??

Chaki did you get it?

It's safely in my HD now. If you're unsuccessful I'll up it to MegaUpchuck or something this weekend.

Only listening on little ibook speakers right now but this show is awesome! I assume that's Kevin Armstrong on gtr.

Dude was SUCH a good songwriter on Wireless and Flat Earth. Like Fagen/Becker good.

YAH I GOT IT!! IT ROCKS!!

This would make a nice double bill with Living Ornaments '80.

OK looking around online it seems like it's Kevin Armstrong and Matthew Seligman playing on this. Cool!

WHO ARE THEY

SOMETHING SUCKY HAPPENS ON RADIO SILENCE :(

t’s probably quite amateurish, as I used a little Boss Dr Rhythm box for the drums

:D I have one of those Dr Rhythms :D

Flying North is such a fucking awesome song.

This must be the thread where I *didn't* go apeshit over Flying North, although I'm sure there is one out there where I did. In fact, of all Dolby songs on the planet, that is the one that makes me go apeshit every time.

Armstrong was Dolby's guitar sidekick for a long time. Seligman is an awesome bassist who played on Underwater Moonlight by the Soft Boys (and their reunion tour/album), session stuff for people like Thompson Twins, and of course the first couple Dolby albums.

Yeah there's a weird sound glitch thing at one point in Flying North, WTF.

Do you guys have the orig. guitar-heavy mix of Radio Silence?

ON THAT BLOG IS A BUNCH OF 12" MIXES TOO NOT FROM THE 12X12 CD

Oh wow, yer right! I'm gonna DL that too as soon as Rapidshare gets done STEPPING ON MY DICK.

brilliant

after years of waiting, remastered repackaged reissues are a happening.
only his first 2 solo albums (what no love for his george clinton plastic funk era !? surely some mistake) are getting the attention, along with a compilation of singles, and a dvd.
i am officially excited.

The keybs on Pyromania are credited to a Booker T. Boffin, so maybe I'm wrong (unless that's a pseudonym or something).

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 21 August 2003 19:26 (5 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Booker T. Boffin is totally Dolby. Contractual-obligation nom de clavier.

― Paul Eater (eater), Thursday, 21 August 2003 20:28 (5 years ago) Bookmark

on behalf of ILM, i checked on this : confirmed

2 disc package = 1 CD + DVD of 'Live Wireless' = WELL DONE

1. Flying North
2. Commercial Breakup
3. Weightless
4. Europa And The Pirate Twins
5. Windpower
6. The Wreck Of The Fairchild
7. Airwaves
8. Radio Silence
9. Cloudburst At Shingle Street
10. One Of Our Submarines
11. She Blinded Me With Science
12. Radio Silence (Guitar Version)
13. Urges
14. Leipzig
15. Urban Tribal
16. Therapy / Growth (Demo)
17. Airwaves (Demo)
18. Sale Of The Century (Demo)
19. Pedestrian Walkway (Demo)

Single Disc remaster of THE FLAT EARTH also well done
1. Dissidents
2. The Flat Earth
3. Screen Kiss
4. White City
5. Mulu The Rain Forest
6. I Scare Myself
7. Hyperactive!

8. Get Out Of My Mix (Dolby's Cube)
9. Puppet Theatre (2009 Digital Remaster)
10. Dissidents (The Search For Truth Part 1)
11. Field Work (London Mix)
12. Don't Turn Away (Dolby's Cube Featuring Cherry Bomb)
13. The Devil Is An Englishman
14. I Scare Myself (Live On Tour, 1984)
15. Marseille (Live On Tour, 1984)

Never heard: Puppet Theatre, Don't Turn Away, The Devil is An Englishman, Marseille
(And never heard Urban Tribal, Therapy/Growth, Sale of the Century, and Pedestrian Walkway from the repackaged Golden Age)

Puppet Theatre is the song Dolby wrote out of the backing track he contributed to Whodini's "Magic Wand" 12", and it's ok, b-side to 'I Scare Myself'
Don't Turn Away is the only song worth rescuing from Dolby's work on the Howard The Duck soundtrack
The Devil Is An Englishman is the 'single' from the Gothic soundtrack and it is flat out awesome

Sale of the Century, Pedestrian Walkway, Marseille = unreleased in any form

happy Wreck of the Fairchild is on there is all. interesting that he picked the really weird Japanese version of the LP as the definitive version, that's the one where he took off 'Science', replaced it with a mostly instrumental ska number & redid the master to overlap the fades between some of the tracks. definitely the most esoteric sequencing of any of the numerous versions of the album, but probably the one that's most like an 'album'

http://www.discogs.com/Thomas-Dolby-The-Golden-Age-Of-Wireless/release/871708

Awww, the Joni Mitchell cover "The Jungle Line" isn't on either of these. Too bad.

Milton, are you secretly Thomas Dolby, or just a knowledgeable fan?

obsessive fan geeking out

live version of 'Jungle Line' on the DVD of 'Live Wireless'

yuk.
crappy '0' region DVD logo on reissue cover of TGAOW is a little excessive to say the least, ruining the carefully restored cover artwork.
didn't anyone say, "you know, that big fuck off white logo looks a bit, umm, shit"
still, very nice package, and sounding really great, as does the remastered the flat earth.

crappy '0' region DVD logo on reissue cover of TGAOW

when I bought this in the store, I just assumed that was a sticker, jaw dropped when I took the booklet out and that white ZERO that covers 20% of the cover art slid out with it -- how in the world did anyone anywhere think that was okay

the track sequence they used for this master is so radically different than the one I'm used to, even though I know all these songs by heart having 'commercial breakup' frontloaded as the second song is a little bit of a challenge. but the bonus tracks pretty much include all the worn-out vinyl b-sides I've been wanting on CD forever. the studio version of 'Urban Tribal' is good to hear but more of a demo than the 'Live Wireless' version, and the two demos at the end are fun, especially 'Pedestrian Walkway' which borders on Residential, maybe from hanging out with Andy Partridge

Is this in US stores now?

I was gonna buy it from Amazon MP3 thinking it would be too hard to find in a brick-n-mortar...

I know for a fact that my boyfriend has been driving around with the reissues of GAOW and TFE in the trunk of his car for weeks now, and that he will present them to me later this week when my birthday finally arrives. 8)

dolby stated (apologetically) on his site that the printed white area was required by germany because of the DVD and that was where the disc was made. He put the full cover on the booklet inside so people could swap it around.

Classic, why did it take me so long for me to listen to this - it's so terribly tailor-made for my particular tastes.

Ok you are so lucky to be hearing it for the first time! Lucky lucky boy King...

Just picked up the remastered version; amazing. I kind of dig the album with "Flying North" leading off and "Science" appearing as a bonus track. The Flat Earth one's good too...any idea why a great tune like "Marsielle" wasn't done in the studio??

Dolby's liner notes for The Flat Earth maybe hint at an answer -- his studio sessions were cut short when the label summoned him to the USA to be a pop star after "Science" became a surprise hit there. Of course he could have picked the tune up again later, but for better or (mostly) worse, he was pursuing other stylistic directions by then. His funk period, I guess.

Timely thread revival given the looming release of Wm Shatner's new "Science" cover.

Was just thinking of him in the context of retro-futurism. I think I forget how much I like certain songs by him. (I bet I posted something like that earlier on this thread.)