Anybody else a fan? my favorite tracks from Mr Dolby:

I Love You, Goodbye
The Flat Earth
Screen Kiss
Airwaves
Valley Of The Mind's Eye
Europa and the Pirate Twins
One Of Our Submarines
Windpower
Mulu The Rainforest
Budapest By Blimp
Cruel
Hyperactive
Urban Tribal
Flying North
The Ability To Swing
May The Cube Be With You (With G. Clinton/Dolby's Cube )
Field Work (with Ryuichi Sakamoto)
My Brain Is Like A Sieve
Weightless
She Blinded Me With Science
Radio Silence

I was listening to the Flat Earth the other day. What a great album. Thats really the last music that I heard from him.

found1 said:

Yeah, u know I am. I also dig his keyboard work on Forienger's album from 81. He's on "I've Been Waiting" and others on that album.

You've pretty much got them all.

Commercial Breakup & Cloudburst At Shingle Street will complete The Golden Age Of Wireless.
(Your boy Andy Partridge from XTC played harmonica on Europa and the Pirate Twins)

Dissidents
I Scare Myself

tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm

Check out "Some of My Best Jokes Are Friends" lp by George Clinton


Dolby is all over that.

theAudience said:

Yup, as usual he took all the ones I was gonna post.

Dissidents & I Scare Myself were my other choices.

BTW, I like the Keyboards in Cloudbust At Shingle Street

Oh yeah, add The Beauty of A Dream.

I Like Thomas Dolby's work.. I Love Europa and She Blinded Me With Science. And One Of OUR SUBMARINES and HYPERACTIVE are Really COOL too.
[This message was edited Tue Jul 27 20:32:05 2004 by Zelaira]

She Blinded Me With Science - my favourite!

sinisterpentatonic said:

You gotta give him credit.
He knows his stuff.

That central keyboard part in Cloudburst is actually the main rhythm instrument.

I used to listen to Airwaves almost non-stop when it was 1st released.
Just loved the way the tune sounded.

tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm

theAudience said:

Yup, pretty much.

Aliens ate my Buick is a classic Dolby album

Keys to her ferarri
airhead
Budapest by blimp

sinisterpentatonic said:

Y'all are right, I forgot those! Cloudburst, Dissidents and I Scare Myself and Beauty Of A Dream are serious tracks also!! I wish TD would devote less time to software and more time to music...but,as TheAudience once pointed out, maybe it's better that way... to stop if you don't have anything more to say, musically...

TheRealFiness said:

Get Out Of My Mix with George Clinton is on the other side of that isn't it?

I haven't heard that track in years, it was a jam from I remember. I think it was a mix of all of Tom's music.

sinisterpentatonic said:

i believe the uk 12'' yeah..

paligap said:

Some insight from an FAQ on TD's site.

Q: Tell us about your new projects, new records?

A: Thomas' new company is called Beatnik, Inc. See below for details.

As you can see the question of recording was ignored.
By contrast, this next question's response is extremely long and detailed as he himself admits.

Q: When and where do you plan to tour?

A: " Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but realistically I think my touring days may be over. It's hard because I see so much mail along the lines of "When TD came through my home town, Minneapolis in 1988 I was away at Summer Camp and I've kicked myself ever since..." and I'd love to be able to answer "Oh well, I should be back through in '96 so keep a look out..." but that's simply not the case.

Here's why.

I LOVE playing live. There's just nothing like it. Over the years I have come to enjoy it more and more. When I started out as an electronic one-man-band in the late '70's, gigging was fraught with anxiety because the technology was then very new, untried, fragile, expensive, and irreplaceable. I used to get around the stage in an electric wheelchair and swap microcassettes in and out of Henry, my PPG 340/380 WavComputor (each song had its own microcassette. Sometimes they would even load up!) while slides of industrial complexes and the North Pole would play on metal sheets behind me. It may sound like fun but often the audience could nip out for a curry in between numbers.

Then in the "Flat Earth" era I had a highly skilled 8-piece band and several samplers so I could replicate note-for-note the intricacies of my albums. Three spectacle shaped video screens spat out synchronized video, and theatrical props like cube heads abounded. Trouble was, every night just had to be perfect. Some were 87% perfect, others only 79%. Some nights 120 beats-per-minute felt way fast, other nights way slow. So ultimately it wasn't very gratifying, even though it was a great bunch of people and we were basking in the reflected glory of massive MTV coverage and radio success.

When I moved to the USA in 1987 I formed Lost Toy People from the want ads in the ReCycler. I got over 500 replies and auditioned 90 musicians over a two week period. My drummer Dave Owens was at the time the house drummer at Knott's Berry Farm (a theme park near Disneyland) where he reputedly had to play some gigs in a chicken suit. The bassist Terry Jackson had put at the top of his resume that he once played a Jerry Lewis telethon. Guitarist Larry Treadwell had just finished playing with a Catholic Ministry duo, supporting the Pope on his stadium tour. I couldn't resist Mike Kapitan who looked like a demented Muppet synthesist, as second keyboard player. I hired a saxist who walked all the way from the Bronx to my hotel on Central Park South with a ghetto blaster and his sax to play for me. Lovely Laura Creamer was about the most experienced in the band, having toured with Eric Clapton and Bob Seeger.

The grooves I though up to audition the band morphed into the songs contained on "Aliens Ate My Buick." Stuff like "Pulp Culture" and "Airhead" I would feed out to each musician note by note, breaking it up into A- and B-sections. I'd run around with my synth round my neck screaming out the sections. I made up joke lyrics, mainly stream-of-consciousness about my experiences as a Brit exile living in the Hollywood hills. It sounded great, very no-holds-barred and unlike the thoughtful way I'd approached music in the past, and so we booked ourselves into a few little LA clubs. The first show (at Club Lingerie) was supposed to be incognito, but KROQ leaked it and when I got there for a soundcheck there was a line twice around the block. I freaked, convinced people were there to hear my hits - which, of course, I hadn't taught the band yet. So to step outside myself I decided on the spur of the moment that I would go on stage in the guise of a frustrated blonde Beverly Hills housewife turned technorocker, with an inflatable synthesizer, and tripping over my high heels I belted out songs like "The Key to her Ferrari" to a gaping-mouthed crowd.

Those LTP tours were the most fun I've ever had on the road. In the early days, my wife Kathleen drove the van (Shades of "you should have done it in Dobly"?) and rubbed my back where the strap of my synth dug in. I formed a special musical bond with Terry Jackson, and our amateur gymnastics onstage often left us needing to be prised apart. Along with the totally different but equally wonderful Matthew Seligman, how spoiled I've been for bass players over the years! I miss Terry so much. It's hard to imagine anyone else ever playing those grooves. Thank you, Terry, for illuminating those years for all of us.

The great thing about Lost Toy People gigs was never knowing exactly the order of the set, the structure of songs, the length of a solo, or the feel and intensity on a given night. I have around 20 hours of video footage that one day perhaps I'll edit and put up here on the Web site.

Playing live is best when you break away from the rigidity of the albums and let the band find its own way to play the song. Maybe a couple of people in the crowd get upset because they didn't hear a favourite sound from a recording, but ultimately if it's truly alive and an organic two-way thing between band and audience, everyone gets a better deal. I took that idea even further when I played live in Europe after the release of "Astronauts and Heretics." We played mainly small clubs and I sat behind a piano and sang, backed by a very English band with their own style. Gone were the video projections, funk grooves and dance routines, but it brought me back to the heart of what I do. I can turn on the wacky exhibitionism of "Science" or "Hyperactive" for a laugh now and then, but when I sing "Screen Kiss" or "I love you Goodbye" live, which is not easy for me technically or emotionally, there's a chemical thing going on and I'm reaching out. If I ever play live again, I think that's the kind of show I'll do. I can see myself playing monthly in some smoky San Francisco night club. I've got new songs that would fit right in too. Believe me, you'll be the first to know!

To understand why touring is so prohibitive, you unfortunately have to look at the economics. Touring loses money for most acts, until you get to the 200 stadiums a year (or five nights at the Garden) stage. You justify it because it's one of the only ways to really get radio, press, and retail outlets activated on a territory-by-territory level. It keeps you in touch with your fanbase and gives each new record that initial sales thrust to get you in the charts and noticed. But that formula can only work when the record company is thoroughly committed. In my case, I've never been considered a "live" act, and so none of my record companies have given me the right support. So at the end of the tour I'm saddled with the bill (around $5,000 a night when you average it out) and I get home exhausted, out of touch with my friends and the real world, unable to wash my own socks, and not a lot higher in the charts than when I started out.

So, in a long-winded fashion, I hope this answers the question. Touring is a delicious vice that I can no longer afford. "

http://www.thomasdolby.co...meset.html

tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm

Thanks, TA!! Yeah, I guess that does shed the light on some realities ....(but I think he could still be puttin' music out, dammit!! )

paligap said:

No prob and yes it does suck in triplicate.

tA

Tribal Disorder

http://www.soundclick.com...rmusic.htm

i love Thomas Dolby! I've really been listening to him alot lately. The Flat Earth is one of my favorite albums of all time, and The Golden Age of Wireless is great too. I dig Aliens Ate My Buick to an extent....

favorite tracks:

the flat earth

dissidents

screen kiss

one of our submarines (especially the 12 inch version)

airwaves

flying north

the keys to her ferrari

i love you goodbye

eastern bloc

TheRealFiness said:

YES!!! Man,I JAM on Keys to Her Ferrari and ppl look at me like I'm crazy ,I guess,coz lightskinned brova ain't supposed to do that,but damn!! I ALWAYS keep some TD on my mp3 players.This guy is underrated.