Disc of the day
Heaven 17 - Penthouse And Pavement
From Sheffield, synth pop and funk to stick it to Thatcher. Currently being played live!
Features Disc of the day
Thomas Dolby
The Flat Earth
(EMI, 1984)
He wore headphones with aerials, but he wasn't Dave Stewart, heavens be praised.
"Techno-boffin" was a description slapped on many an early-'80s synth-prodder, but Thomas Morgan Robertson was the real deal, a former Members' sound man who earnt his nest egg playing the innovative synth parts on 1981's Foreigner 4 before splurging it on four surprising, eclectic solo albums and, latterly, making it all back as a magus of mobile phone software. This, his second album, spawned Top 20 Latin-electro-funk novelty Hyperactive!; the rest roamed the canyons of his over-read, under-sensible mind with baffling, beautiful results. Screen Kiss is a vertiginous crane shot over the debris of Hollywood's dreamland; Mulu The Rainforest is lysergic world-jazz brained on dead man's root; The White City an utter synth-spazz about someone called Keith who builds "a drug cathedral" while Robyn Hitchcock contributes a hatstand monologue. Unimaginable sounds boom and whistle, while a preoccupation with mental dislocation adds a constant dark undercurrent, even unto the haunted dinner-jazz cover of Dan Hicks' I Scare Myself. After the chart action of The Flat Earth, Dolby appeared to please himself too much, and indulgent collaborations (George Clinton on the P-Funk-lite May The Cube Be With You) and tacky promo concepts (Dolby as Travis Bickle - or is it Mr T? - in Fieldwork) ensued. But at his mid-'80s peak - 1985 also witnessed his masterly production of Prefab Sprout's Steve McQueen - there was method in his mad scientist act.
Danny Eccleston
Posted by Ross_Bennett at 6:00 AM GMT 26/10/2009
Further Listening
Donald Fagen - Kamakiriad (Reprise, 1993)
Thomas Dolby - The Golden Age Of Wireless (EMI, 1982)
Prefab Sprout - Steve McQueen (Kitchenware, 1985)
Previous Disc of the day
-
Heaven 17 - Penthouse And Pavement
From Sheffield, synth pop and funk to stick it to Thatcher. Currently being played live!
6:00 AM GMT 18/03/2010
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Creedence Clearwater Revival - Green River
Essence De Choogle from John Fogerty and crew. Badass!
9:54 AM GMT 17/03/2010
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The The - Soul Mining
Matt Johnson's self-excoriating - but tunepacked! -classic.
6:00 AM GMT 16/03/2010
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Various Artists - Axe Attack Vol II
Metal Britannica inspires MOJO metal amnesty. Studded leather wristbands aloft!
2:32 AM GMT 12/03/2010
-
The Pop Group - Y
For connoisseurs of pop-as-rupture-in-the-space/time-continuum
6:00 AM GMT 11/03/2010
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Comments
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Personally prefer 'Golden Age of Wireless', it has a hunger and desire which I think is slightly missing on'Flat Earth'.
Dolby himself admits that 'Flat Earth' was rushed, and I think you can feel that. He did literally run out of time.
Posted by Anonymous at 5:13 AM GMT 24/12/2009 Report Abuse
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