Europa and The Pirate Twins is my favourite track, with One of Our Submarines close behind it, but I don’t think there are any duds on the album (even She Blinded Me With Science, which is on my version, isn’t just an 80s novelty track.)
*
Europa*, in my head, is a re-imagining of Where Do You Go To (My Lovely) for the 80s. Which is a good thing - I mean, WDYGTML is a great classic.
Hmm… No love for Aliens Ate My Buick?
It has some of my favorite Dolby songs on it. My Brain is like a Sieve, The Ability to Swing, The Key to her Ferrari.
If your brother’s copy has Radio Silence as the 2nd track and has the pulp mag cover, it’s likely the second US release, from 1983. The first US release did not have She Blinded Me With Science on it at all; that song wasn’t released until late 1982.
Once the song became a hit, Capitol released another version of the album with Science as the lead track (in addition to some other song changes, like removing Leipzig and Urges and adding the Science B-side One of Our Submarines) and they changed the cover art back to the pulp magazine art.
If the cover art on both your copies is the same, he bought his copy in 1983 and you bought yours in 1984. If you have the CD, I’d bet that the catalog number is Capitol CDP 7 46009 2. Your brother’s copy should be Capitol ST 12271.
Leipzig is a really great song from this album.
"Another misty bus-queue morning
Faces smile down from a hoarding
Stoop to the bin, drop something in
Well you’ll soon feel yourself again
Everyplace is just the same, isn’t it? "
Some people are very talented in some areas and are not passionate about working in them. He’s a very talented person - I have Golden Age, Flat Earth, and the very delightful Aliens Ate My Buick, which I’d dearly love to have seen performed.
He’s moved on to other pursuits.
I caught something on NPR - Fresh Air? - about his studio, which I seem to recall, is a reconverted tug.
I loved that song, too- and it was semi-autobiographical, though the end was fictionalized.
Dolby’s real name is Thomas Robertson, and his father was an Art professor who specialized in antiquities. The family spent long periods in places like Italy and Greece when Professor Robertson was doing field research. When he was a kid, his first case of puppy love came with a diplomat’s daughter he used to play with on the beaches in Greece. Eventually, their families both returned home and they never saw each other again. The song is a nostalgia piece about her.
But he added a fantasy sequence at the end of the song, in which he imagines she’s become a big star, and he gets roughed up by her entourage when he tries to see her again.
But since he married starlet Kathleen Beller, we needn’t feel too sorry for him.
Trivia: the liner notes for Foreigner’s*** 4*** album credit the keyboards to “Tom Dolby.”
I love his stuff - his construction of music, the synth arrangements juxtaposed up against solid songcraft, funk beats (Airhead; Science).
He was a good, what, 20 years ahead of his time?
Aye, that was him. IIRC, it was really notable because prior to that Foreigner’s albums proudly stated that no keyboards were used.
MY version of the vinyl has an extended drum break at the end of Science, while my CD version doesn’t.
I must admit that I found out about Thomas Dolby because of “she blinded me with science,” but “wind power” is one of my favorite tracks from the retrospectacle collection.
Your vinyl is likely the 2nd US release from 1983, it contained the extended mix of SBMWS (also known as the American Mix). Your CD is prolly the 1984 US release, which restored the regular mix of the song to the album.
I’d bet that your vinyl also has the guitar mix of Radio Silence (discussed above), while your CD has the regular synth version.
Yeah, he ain’t hurtin’ none. But he’s a Flat Earther?
It’s one of my favorite songs by him too (up there with Europa and the Pirate Twins*). If you’re into covers this is a nice one, by Dave “not that one” Stewart and Barbara Gaskin. They must be friends because Dolby appears in the video of their cover of “It’s My Party” as Johnny.
- I never noticed that XTC’s Andy Partridge is on that song/album and I thought I knew it well.
He made a song (album?) called “Flat Earth Society,” I thought it was just an elaborate ruse!
Yes, I’ve been a fan since the album came out in the early 80s.
I discovered Dolby (apart from “She Blinded Me With Science”) through his Sole Inhabitant live CD, which is absolutely astounding. I really should listen to TGAOW.