Customer Reviews

Aliens Ate My Buick

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

By many, Thomas Dolby is considered a one hit wonder with the classic song, "She Blinded Me With Science", however, music gurus who know the real genius of this artist know better. "Aliens Ate My Buick" examplifies the often zany, but talented musical genius and wit of Thomas Dolby. All 8 tracks here are hook filled fantastic cuts starting with the dance moving, funny, driving "The Key To Her Ferrari" followed by the equally hilarious "Airhead". The mood moves to George Clinton-like funk with "Hot Sauce" as the funk, pop and fun continues on. "The Ability to Swing" is one energetic pop song and one of Dolby's best. Even better to even a classic in my opinion is the the unbelieveable "Budapest By Blimp", 8:38 of pure listening indulgence that floats along so smoothly. Due yourself a favor and get this CD.

This album is what Dolby fans live for, pure energy! Thomas Dolby moves this album through a series of changes that takes each song and pushes the energy level up a notch, in succession, the album builds and builds, bringing a climax that starts at the beginning and holds you there with a majority of the album. KEYS TO FERRARI is fun as he pulls you into the driver's seat and tells you what he REALLY thinks. HOT SAUCE is fun, bringing the level up yet again, its zesty and has a funk to it that will move even those who dare not dance in public. Dolby does himself justice with this album, as it looks as though he took all that musicality that flows through his body and put it into something that is difficult to replicate. For anyone who has or has not heard Dolby, THIS IS THE ALBUM TO BUY. If it hooks you, then get the others, but this is where to start.

This album was different than his previous ones, but it is more electric. Totally full of energy and sass that deserved more credit from the critics. It's like no other. I saw the theatrics of his stage show in support of this album and it blew me away. Play "Pulp Culture" very loud!

This c.d. is one of the main reasons why I have been a Dolby fan since She Blinded Me With Science from 1983; Thomas Dolby is an unpredicatble musical genius!You never know what type of musical direction or theme he will undertake or command from one album to the next. Though his vocals are not his strongest point, he makes up for it with his ingenuity in covering various styles from swing, r & b, funk, pop-rock, campy space-age stuff ( though not new age)to some of the more subtle and thought provoking ballads. To have passed this album up back in '88 was a mistake;Oh, well, ain't nuthin like the present to make up for it. I don't know if it's because Dolby had a bit of collaboration with the Master of Grand Funk himself George Clinton (not Bill) or that the year it was produced in that I can hear faint traces of Prince's style trying to emerge and take a peek from underneath ever so often. This project can be listened straight through or played with the random track feature on a c.d player without sacrificing theme or disrupting a smooth playback through and through. Dolby's next project after Aliens Ate My Buick was the Cajun styled-influenced and beautifully written Astronauts and Heretics (again, not what you think or would expect). To show how he has influenced other artists as well, I recommend the Patti Austin c.d. The Ultimate Collection where she does a jazzy number of The Ability To Swing !

What can I say? Wow- this album is by far the best Dolby has produced to date. It is not a wallpaper album. This CD is a journey. It has so many part's to extract, but is fun too. The music is simply phenomenal. Open guitar chords, haunting piano lines, danceable (though I dont know why anyone would want to compare him to George Clinton?!) beats. I espically love it when he slows things down and takes us through "Pulp Culture" (one of the best slide-solo's I have heard) and the sweet-reggae style "My Brain is Like a Sieve" and moves us to "Budapest By Blimp", the rockenist most errie and wonderul song on the album. Album's do not get any better than this. I have had it since it came out in 1988 and I still find something new, and something delicious about it every time. If you are considering buying it, you won't be dissapointed.

I just cannot believe how hidden this album is. It has such classic Dolby experimentation. From salsa to swing and all with a digital edge.
LOVE IT

Having read the other reviews and criticisms of this disc, I do understand the negativity. Having said that - one thing does not get mentioned, that should be. Every single "desert island disc" I know has one thing in common. The song sequencing is impeccable, and has never been more obvious than on this disc. The whole thing kicks of with Robin Leach etc. and some great musicianship. When we get to 'Pulp Culture', his observations about LA etc are clearly moving out of the one-hit wonder realm and more into the Steely Dan ouvre. I'm still marveling that he got Ed Asner to do the cameo :) The level of musicianship matches the infectious lyrics ("shag gets in your eyes - YES!)

Anyway, for sure the highlight of this disc by far is 'Budapest By Blimp', a poignant, musical and sad highlight. Still get chills every time I hear it. I was vastly disappointed by the next record (5 yrs later) 'Astronauts and Heretics', very weak IMHO.

Anyway Aliens is a fantastic record, download it, buy it, whatever, but this is proof that the 'scientist' has som real substance in him.

Listen closely.

...Or The Americanization of Thomas Dolby.

Thomas Dolby took a long sabbatical between his second and third albums. He produced artists as wide ranging as George Clinton, Joni Mitchell and Prefab Sprout, scored a couple of movies (including the legendary disaster, "Howard The Duck") and moved to Los Angeles, where he recorded "Aliens Ate My Buick." The Hollywood influence not only seeps into his lyrics (sample from "Pulp Culture": "There's not a lot of people there, but an awful lot of cars"), but into the music as well.

The album kicked off with a great hard-swing ride up and down the 101 (Los Angeles drivers will catch that reference) on "The Keys to Your Ferrari" and then strikes a very "Wireless" tone on "Airhead." But after that, things get confusing. "Hot Sauce" was a leftover from the George Clinton sessions, and, sad to say, while Thomas Dolby may be talented enough to produce and play with Clinton, he ain't very funky. Same goes for the sterile sounding "The Ability To Swing." While a great song in its own right (Patti Austin wisely recorded it better for 1994's "That Secret Place"), Dolby is out of his depth as a vocalist here on his own song. And the less said about the dopey "May The Cube be With You," the better.

Still, I doubt I'll ever give this CD up. "Budapest By Blimp" is the kind of greatness that would have fit perfectly on "The Flat Earth," and is just what you would be hoping for from a Dolby disc. Same for "Airhead" and "Ferrari" (especially that Robin Leach intro!!). It's just that, when it comes to an artist whose debut CD would fit onto my desert island disc list short list, "Aliens Ate My Buick" seems just a little too pre-chewed.

I bought the album on cassette when it first appeared in the late 80s. To start with, "Budapest by Blimp" is the real keeper on this CD, however, the whole album is very strong. My only complaint would be that it sounds a wee bit dated (obviously an 80s album), but just take it with a grain of salt and enjoy this enormously talented artist. The CD opens with the rocking "The Key to her Ferrari" and just gets better from there.

The whole reason I bought this album at all is I saw him in concert for the AAMB tour. He and his band gave a great, energetic performance, and the lyrics to the music are witty and poignant, and the music itself is varied and fun. The production value is very good, but he and his band were excellent musicians, so I suspect it was pretty easy to make them sound great.

To address the complaint about there being no emotion - I have to mention that I watched an interview with Dolby shortly after this album came out. Airhead is derived from his experience dating a particular woman who was very smart but who had succumbed to the peer pressure on women to dumb themselves down. Dolby's songs aren't heartwrenchingly emotional - a lot of them are a bit more subtle, and some of them are just fun. Not everything needs to be deep and meaningful. "She Blinded Me With Science" isn't exactly a paragon of poetic artistry.

This remains one of my favorite albums in my collection. Give it a try and don't expect to hear New Wave music.