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Post by nickheynes on Nov 10, 2014 13:20:52 GMT
Ok folks for you listening pleasure I would like to present
Thomas Dolby’s "Astronauts and Heretics".
I first got into TMDR when I heard “Windpower” from his first album “The Golden Age of Wireless” at that time I was interested in OMD Human league and of course, Kraftwerk . I was also impressed at his being cool while also geeky as I was a speccy four eyed geek who was anything but cool!
He is best remembered for 2 hits “She blinded me with Science” and “Hyperactive” (which was originally written for Michael Jackson)
Anyway he released 2 more albums “ The Flat Earth” and “ Aliens ate my Buick” collaborated with George Clinton and Whodini, played in Bowie’s band at Live Aid plus a load more stuff before releasing Astronauts./
For me this was quite a departure for him it and it took more than a few listens to appreciate the album. Where many performers would repeat what they have done previously, this work sounds and feels a lot more organic than his previous recordings and some recording was done in out of the way places. Dolby seemed to take a bit of a step away from technology (Although he did have a tech co called Beatnik which was responsible for the polyphonic Nokia theme we all love!) I particularly like the Zydeco/Cajun Techno influenced songs and the humour in Silk Pyjama’s is right up my alley. Eddie van Halen plays on “close but no cigar” and there are a number of other guests throughout.
Also listen to his work with Lene Loveitch and Foreigner (Sessions and touring with them bankrolled his first album and enabled him to invest in a Fairlight)
Incidentally there is an ELO connection in that Bill Botrill co-produced the Album.
I'm sorry I'm not techy enough to do a link but if you copy and paste the below you should find it ok.
Hope you enjoy it!
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Post by Horacewimp on Nov 10, 2014 13:36:06 GMT
Looking forward to checking the tracks out, I know Windpower, Hyperactive and She Blinded me with Science (wasn't Magnus Pyke in the video?) but I haven't heard this album.
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Post by jrmugz on Nov 10, 2014 15:27:27 GMT
What? An 80s pop CD that HW is not 100% familiar with? Cool, looking forward to checking out the tracks as well; look for feedback in a few days or so! Jim
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Post by Horacewimp on Nov 10, 2014 16:43:18 GMT
I Love you goodbye: An ok start to the album, but a little too long Cruel: Sorry didn't like this, it went no where Silk Pyjamas: A silly song but thats ok, good track, slight hint of Tears for Fears I Live in a suitcase: Nice opening, best song so far, should have used it to open the album, I like a lot, touch of John Foxx going on Eastern Bloc: Bow Wow Wow, Adam and the Ants and then Bucks Fizz, thats not in a bad way it works great beat good tune Close but no Cigar: I'm sure I've heard this before, good track Thats why people fall in love: Album filler, don't like it very much, Thompson Twins sound Neon Sisters:An ok song but a bit of an album filler Beauty of a Dream:A bit of a disappointment, didn't really get going Thanks for posting the album nickheynes I must admit I thought I was going to like it more than I actually did, it's an ok album which has some good tracks especially I Live in a Suitcase, 3 out of 5.
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Post by jefflynnenut on Nov 10, 2014 20:18:42 GMT
Hey good on ye man! Here's an album ihave always wanted to get my ears into!
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Post by unomusette on Nov 10, 2014 20:29:49 GMT
I can recall She Blinded Me With Science and Hyperactive, and I know he's a musicians' favourite. We shall see if he can impress me - the musicians I know mostly rave about fusion jazz which I cannot abide, so if it goes in that direction there could be trouble. Open mind though....
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Post by queenofthehours on Nov 10, 2014 20:34:13 GMT
Ooh Thomas Dolby. I've heard bits of his music but never a full album. Looking forward to giving him a try.
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Post by nickheynes on Nov 10, 2014 22:57:59 GMT
I Love you goodbye: An ok start to the album, but a little too long Cruel: Sorry didn't like this, it went no where Silk Pyjamas: A silly song but thats ok, good track, slight hint of Tears for Fears I Live in a suitcase: Nice opening, best song so far, should have used it to open the album, I like a lot, touch of John Foxx going on Eastern Bloc: Bow Wow Wow, Adam and the Ants and then Bucks Fizz, thats not in a bad way it works great beat good tune Close but no Cigar: I'm sure I've heard this before, good track Thats why people fall in love: Album filler, don't like it very much, Thompson Twins sound Neon Sisters:An ok song but a bit of an album filler Beauty of a Dream:A bit of a disappointment, didn't really get going Thanks for posting the album nickheynes I must admit I thought I was going to like it more than I actually did, it's an ok album which has some good tracks especially I Live in a Suitcase, 3 out of 5. Nice one HW By the way Eastern Bloc is a sequel to Europa and the Pirate Twins (Perhaps should have mentioned that Before!)
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Post by Chippa on Nov 11, 2014 20:45:24 GMT
I'll get at this one, soon.
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Post by unomusette on Nov 11, 2014 23:45:54 GMT
I love you goodbye: Nice japanese-y opening, the piano remind me of...is it Bruce Hornsby? I like all the extra background noises, shades of Raining on the Farm by our own EAO. Very 80's sounding, I quite like it and would listen again happily.
Cruel: More random noises on this one, is the whole album like this? Doesn't grab me as much as Cruel, feel like I should know who the lady singer is but can't think who she is.
Silk Pyjamas: Trips along nicely, good poppy beat to this although the lyrics are a bit like a children's song.
I live in a suitcase: I find this generally quite uremarkable, it's not offensive but it's very much background music from the '80's to my ear. Silk Pyjamas is better.
Eastern Bloc: Liking this a lot, great beat and I can imagine doing a lot of snappy housework/singing along/bopping to it. Best track so far.
Close but no Cigar: Ooo, I'd forgotten I knew this! Neat bit of pop but not a stand out for me. Takes me back to my youth though
Thats why people fall in love: That particular type of tinkly keyboards is not one of my favourites, so it put me off a bit. Goes on slightly too long but I can appreciate the work that must have gone into putting all those layers of sound on it.
Neon Sisters: Probably the best melody, vocal style is interesting too, nice.
Beauty of a Dream: Wow, that's quiet after Neon Sisters! Good contrast, bit of a lullaby to ease us away.
My abiding memory of this album will be how classically 1980's it sounds. If I had to host a vintage party it would be first on my playlist. It was also a lot more accessible than I was exepecting and I liked all the sound layers and interesting effects. Thanks for sharing!
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Post by nickheynes on Nov 12, 2014 14:57:03 GMT
Thanks for your input unomusette. Eddi Reader from Fairground Attraction sang on "Cruel". "Perfect" was their biggest hit. I'm loving the feedback It's fascinating to read what other people think. Can't wait to do another.
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Post by jrmugz on Nov 12, 2014 18:40:30 GMT
OK nick, below is my review of Thomas Dolby's "Astronauts and Heretics". 1. "I Love You Goodbye" - Strong start to the CD; very beautiful and funky arrangement! 2. "Cruel" - I like it for its uniqueness; he seems to think outside the box musically like a Prince, Joni Mitchell, or Charlie Peacock. 3. "Silk Pyjamas" - Sounds like a song about a slut. Picks up the flow a little bit; but starting to get hungry for some killer hooks. 4. "I Live in a Suitcase" - Nice flowing song with some Greg-Hawkes-like touches on it. I like the sincerity in the lyrics and the passion they are sung with towards the end. 5. "Eastern Bloc" - This one works right from the get-go. Good tune. Best one so far. Would be good if some of the other songs had the same aggressive feel to them, rather than a more laid back feel. 6. "Close But No Cigar" - I like how between this and the last song, there is a fair share of guitar. An optimistic take on situations that don't quite work out. The bridge could have made the song; but its lyrics were too stupid for me, personally. 7. "That's Why People Fall in Love" - May have been hoping for a light, catchy tune, for easy airplay. Close, but no cigar. I do have to admit, that it gets better as it goes, and has a fairly strong ending, so in the end, maybe a little better than the album filler assessment of HW, which I was tempted to concur with for the first half of the song or so. 8. "Neon Sisters" - A somewhat captivating and intriguing song, reminds me of The Police's "Tea in the Sahara" a little bit, probably because of its emphasis on "sisters". 9. "Beauty of a Dream" - Very nice arrangement. Lyrics abstract enough to keep it pretty interesting. Like it. Sounds a lot like Charlie Peacock. Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars Prime Cuts in no particular order: "Beauty of a Dream", "I Live in a Suitcase", "Eastern Bloc", "Neon Sisters" Bottom Line: Great music-scape; lyrics border between pretty decent and painfully shallow. His more abstarct lyrics work the best. It seems like the more I increased the volume on the headphones, the more the fullness of the arrangements came through and gave the songs more punch. I think he works best as a session-musician, case in point his work on Foreigner's "Waiting for a Girl Like You". As a solo artist, he does pretty good, but seems like he would shine best as someone accompanying a shredder-of-a-singer, rather than trying to be witty himself, etc. It seems like his keyboards and musical prowess are itching to go wild, but his vocal/performer skills aren't as up to par, so that's why I think a band would be a good thing for him, if he has not already been in one. Anyhow, thanks for picking it nick; I enjoyed playing it and analyzing it. Pretty good CD for the most part! Jim
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Post by Chippa on Nov 12, 2014 23:35:55 GMT
I Love You Goodbye – The beginning reminded me of Bruce Hornsby meets an 80’s buddy cop movie soundtrack. I like the little synth effects that percolate in the background. The song itself isn’t all that memorable, but by no means awful or anything.
Cruel – I like the female singer, a lot. More fun background noises. Not bad.
Silk Pyjamas – Funky, New Orleans jazz/blues vibe ala Dr. John. Really good pop chorus, to sort of take things in a different direction. I like this one.
I Live In A Suitcase – Sort of reminds me of late period Genesis. Great production on this one. I just wish it’d had a better song to go with it. Good sizzle, but very little steak.
Eastern Bloc – More New Orleans influenced sound via a Bo Diddley beat. Remember that “Walk The Dinosaur” song by Was Not Was? It kinda reminded me of that.
Close But No Cigar – This sounds very much like the era in which it was recorded. Honestly, the first thing that came to mind was a cheesy 80’s sitcom theme. Nice, bridge, though.
That's Why People Fall In Love – I liked the lyrics, but the song itself was…lacking.
Neon Sisters – To me, this sounds like U2, if Neil Finn took over for Bono. Very atmospheric. I liked it.
Beauty Of A Dream – Nice closing ballad. His voice sounds great, here.
Overall, this album wasn’t bad. A few of the songs could have used better melodies, but that’s just my personal taste. Way different than his huge hit, “She Blinded Me With Science”.
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Post by Helmut83 on Nov 15, 2014 5:45:15 GMT
Here goes my review:
All in all, it was no doubt worth the listen. It ended up quite quickly for me and that’s a good sign. It has negatives and positives, the positives are good enough so to make the whole listen worth
One VERY positive thing this album has that other CDs of the Week didn’t (and which I’m a huge fan of) is variety: variety in styles, in songwriting, in sounds, in ways of singing, in instrumentation, etc... When you hear this album, each song could be attributable to a different artist, and that talks well of Thomas Dolby. That’s a huge virtue for any musical artist and most of the musicians I admire most stand out for their versatility (e.g.: Jeff Lynne, the Beatles). It’s very important because, even if you don’t like every song, it prevents your ear from getting tired/bored and grasps it’s attention throughout the whole album, so this CD was well received on this end partly because of that feature.
I like his voice and the way in which he sings, and I think he is versatile enough to do it well in various styles. Then, a few of the songs didn’t convince me (“I live in a suitcase” is quite terrible in my opinion), included a pair which were quite flat. Some others, on the others hand, really stood out for me and I really liked them from the first listen (“Silk Pyjamas”, “Eastern Bloc” and “Close but no cigar”); and I will listen to them again for sure,
- I love you goodbye: sounds to me like a light disco song. The bassline is very disco. The effects are well used. Also, are the strings organic? An OK song to open the album, I agree about it being unnecessarily long.
- Cruel: the effects on this one didn’t convince me much. That hitting of a silver plate didn’t suit the song well IMO. As for the song in itself, it’s as if it had started creating something but then it never exploded, as if it had died prematurely without reaching what it was meant to be. The blending of the voices is OK though.
- Silk Pyjamas: now, here’s where the fun starts. Very nice uplifting pop song. Not pretentious at all, but it flows smoothly and has a very nice rhythmic section. I loved it.
- I live in a suitcase: sounds a bit like “With or without you”, above all in the chorus, and has a certain style to INXS or something like that. In my opinion it’s a pretty flat, boring song and the bass pattern repeats itself so much that it ends tiring you up. Didn’t like it at all, and it sounds even worse being after “Silk Pyjamas”.
- Eastern Bloc: now I know where the Lion King’s “I just can wait to be king” stole the riff from. It sounds very ‘80s, something like “Karma Chameleon”. A very good one IMO. Again, great beat, uplifting, convincing and full of strength. The bass-drums team is quite prominent here. It could have been a hit back in it’s time.
- Close but no cigar: it starts like a bit of a punk song, something like from Greenday. Then it turns a bit more Rod Stewart. Some parts of the song convince me a lot, but a few others don’t. I agree about the bridge being very strong, and the verse is quite inspired too. The chorus, despite trying an early hook, then fades away a bit and fails IMO, preventing the song from being fully great, but in the overall I would rate it as very good.
- That’s why people fall in love: I didn’t dislike it, but it didn’t cause any positive thing on me either. Quite irrelevant song IMO.
- Neon Sisters: to me this sounds incredibly similar to many U2 songs. After the atmosphere the song builds in the first verses, I was waiting for it to jump into another phase with a stronger rhythm but that never happened, and that killed the song for me. As with “Cruel”, it never developed into what it seemed to be promising. Not that it was bad; it was disappointing.
- Beauty of a dream: nice ballad (although at the end it turns into a more powerful song) to close the album, with a decent guitar solo.
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Post by Helmut83 on Nov 15, 2014 5:49:14 GMT
I like all the extra background noises, shades of Raining on the Farm by our own EAO. Yeah, we are very influential, but sorry, the guy in charge of the effects (is it Dolby himself?) is an apprentice compared to Horace.
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