Flat Earth [Import]

Thomas Dolby | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 28, 1996)
• Original Release Date: 1996
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Emd Int'l
• ASIN: B000002U8E
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #175,757 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

1984 EMI Records release out of the U.K

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dolby's Moody Masterpiece, March 13, 2004

By 

Tim Brough "author and music buff" (Springfield, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Flat Earth (Audio CD)

Boy, am I glad I hung on to my original CD from 1985. Along with "The Golden Age Of Wireless," these two Thomas Dolby titles were among the very first CD's I ever purchased. At the time of the first listen to the vinyl album of "The Flat Earth," I was a tad disappointed that Dolby's professed love of Joni Mitchell (whom he soon would produce - see "Dog Eat Dog") had led to an album loaded with extremely moody and low key songs. There were a lot more traditional instruments involved with the making of "The Flat Earth," which wasn't really what I was expecting. With the exception of "Hyperactive," which sounded like a "Wireless" leftover, "The Flat Earth" barely sounded like the quirky kid we'd fallen in love with on the first album.

Still, the album had a certain jazzy depth that I kept coming back to. Maybe I didn't love it on the first listen. Or the second, or for that matter, the third. But by the end of the first week, I was hooked. I think side one of the original album became glued to my turntable for the remainder of the summer of 1984, as the intrigue of "Dissidents," the sensitivity of the title track and the lonely alienation of "Screen Kiss" kept me enthralled. I was fortunate to win a CD player in a radio contest a year later and found this disc in the racks....and it's not left my library since.

I have since become enamored of Dolby's interpretation of Dan Hick's "I Scare Myself" to the point that I prefer it over the original. I also still can find myself bouncing along to "The White City," which took some flack at the time for what many perceived as a drug reference. What actually stops me from a full-on five star recommendation was the reason I originally purchased the LP..."Hyperactive" actually sounds so out of place here that it robs "The Flat Earth" of that elusive fifth star for me. But don't let that stop you. If you're a fan of "Avalon" by Roxy Music or "Hats" by the Blue Nile, you'll probably be glad you paid a few extra bucks to get a copy of "The Flat Earth" from across the rounded edge of the ocean.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Haunting... Moving... Dark... Brilliant..., October 3, 2000

By 

L C "lc70" (Binghamton, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flat Earth (Audio CD)

This CD is a brilliant work, both musically, as well as conceptually. Certainly, my other two favorite Dolby albums - "Wireless" and "Aliens" - are collections of a lot of great, fun, intelligent music, complete with bouncing beats and ecclectic lyrics. This CD, however, is very different.

"The Flat Earth" is a short album in many respects. There really are 6 songs in this collection. (I do not count "Hyperactive!" as part of this album. It never quite fit on this album, although it is a great song. It seemed like it belonged somewhere else... I sometimes simply skip the song when I put the CD on.) Of the other 6 songs, there is something haunting, dark and brilliant about the music. It is somber, sometimes depressing, and always moving. In the song "Dissidents," his lyrics are threatening... "...at the hands of the press, and in the eyes of the government, I fell from grace..."

"Mulu the Rainforest" is a musical masterpiece for its time. The lyrics are haunting, the music a mix of piano keyboards, sounds from the rainforest, and techno backdrops.

This CD is certainly not a happy one. Even Dolby's version of D. Hick's "I Scare Myself" helps set the somber mood of the compilation. I never thought love lyrics could sound so bitter... or make obsession seem so promising... "I scare myself just thinking about you. I scare myself when I'm without you..."

This is not the Thomas Dolby that most people remember. But that's fine. While most people think of or dismiss Dolby's earliest hit "She Blinded me with Science," I feel like I am one of the select few who knows about the Flat Earth.... This is a very special and precious CD to me... as precious as that gold Thomas is looking for on the cover...

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost a perfect album, March 28, 2003

By 

Clark Battle (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Flat Earth (Audio CD)

There is a refined classiness about this album that hangs well together, except the last track. Personally, I dont like the song Hyperactive very much. I dont think that it's mechanical robotic nerd-wave sound fits the luscious glamour of the rest of the album. The White City is similar but its song structure still fits the album. It serves as an upbeat contrast that still fits. If Hyperactive were replaced with Airwaves from The Golden Age of Wireless (which fits this album much more than that one), then this would be a 5 star masterpiece every bit as good as XTC's Skylarking.

I would love to see The Flat Earth on SACD or even 96/48 DVD. It definitely deserves it since the recording quality is fantastic. I kick myself for having not bought it on vinyl when I could have. Now its only available as an import.