Customer Reviews

Golden Age of Wireless

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If you're reading this, you probably know that "The Golden Age Of Wireless" was an amazing moment in the budding synthesizer new wave explosion. As anyone into the instrument could have told you at the time, Thomas Dolby was not just an incredible synth player, he had an amazing sense of keyboard construction and compositional skills. His credits before his solo career included Lena Lovich, Bruce Woolley and The Camera Club and (gasp) Foreigner! (Those are his keyboard washes that grace their classic "Foreigner 4" and the hit "Waiting For a Girl Like You.") So it wasn't like Dolby's debut came without a pedigree.

But the original "The Golden Age Of Wireless" album came with completely different cover art, different running order, a much better mix of "Radio Silence" and two other songs, "Urges" and "Leipzig." It wasn't until after an EP release of five songs for "She Blinded Me With Science" became a hit did the CD/Album as we know it come into existence. Even then, the versions of "Science" and "One Of Our Submarines" added to "Golden Age" are different, shortened edits. To this day, I am fascinated by both versions of the album and CD, and I keep wondering why, in this age when everything is being remastered, remixed and re-issued, this classic album hasn't been mined for the deluxe treatment?

First off, we need the album resequenced to replace the original mix of "Radio Science" and relegate the vaporized remix to a bonus track. Then replace "Leipzig" and "Urges" to their equivalent positions on the first issue of the album. Then, for more bonus tracks, the "She Blinded Me With Science" EP's remixes of the single, "Windpower," "Flying North" and "Submarines." It would, for me, take an already five star album of the eighties and truly do it justice for the influence that Dolby had.

And while we're at it, a DVD of the "Golden Age of Video" would be nice......

How about it Capitol/EMI?

Dolby never quite gets the credit he deserves. This is one of the best paced albums I've ever heard with great songwriting throughout. Truly an inspiration. There were actually FOUR different releases of this album (in response to another reviewer spotting two). This CD is the 2nd US LP pressing version with the different version of "Radio Silence". There were also 2 different UK versions, neither one has "She Blinded Me With Science" or "One Of Our Submarines". The first version adds "Wreck Of The Fairchild" (a very rare early single) and both contain "Urges" and "Leipzig", neither were ever on any US version. If you're a fan you'll want them all !

It's too bad most people only know Thomas Dolby because of She Blinded Me With Science. This album is actually very different from his biggest hit, and every song is a masterpiece. Apart from his very distinctive keyboard work, most songs are performed with quite basic drum, guitar and bass arrangements, so to label this as your average early 80's synthesizer music would be a major mistake. The CD version of this album is in fact not the original - you should also try to get a hold of the vinyl one, which has the full length version of the beautiful Airwaves as well as a great instrumental called Wreck Of The Fairchild (while it doesn't contain She Blinded Me... and One Of Our Submarines). This, Dolby's first solo work, shows how accomplished and gifted a songwriter, keyboard player and producer he was already back in the early stages of his career. It is definitely one of the best albums of all time, with a very special atmosphere and intriguing sounscapes - and clever lyrics. Don't let yourself miss this one.

Thomas Dolby was at the forefront of 80's techno-pop, pioneering electronic music wizardry that was later copied / adapted by countless other musicians. I remember a music award show that acknowledged this, and had him in a jam session with Howard Jones, and two others (Stevie Wonder was one, I believe), using all kinds of electronic gadgetry to make some very cutting edge music.

Though all of Dolby's studio albums are excellent, his debut album, The Golden Age of Wireless is still his crowning achievement, with the later albums becoming progressively more uneven. Wireless is a brilliant, cohesive concept album throughout. Unfortunately, those of Dolby's songs which tended most toward the "novelty" category (like She Blinded Me With Science and Hyperactive) were the ones pushed by his record company, and he became pigeon-holed as a novelty act by many people. The rest of the songs on Wireless show that he is SO much more, with their haunting, ethereal quality, and clever lyrics. His popularity spurred on by several great and offbeat videos during MTV's golden age, Dolby gained a core audience, in addition to the millions who thought of him as a novelty "one hit wonder" (albeit a big hit that is still used in commercials and media regularly).

That being said, there sure is a lot of bickering about this album in the reviews. One of my biggest pet peeves is being "corrected" by people who don't have a clue of what they're talking about, or base their corrections on incomplete information. While this CD contains the same music as the final, and most popular, vinyl version of this album, Dolby's music has been repackaged countless times. I own two previous versions of the vinyl album, both with Leipzig, Urges, and the alternate version of Radio Silence, but both with different cover art from each other. I also have an import 45 of The Wreck of the Fairchild (b-side to Science, I believe), so it wouldn't surprise me a bit to learn that it had been on a previous incarnation of Wireless, whether domestic or import - I think the 7-27-00 reviewer referred to Fairchild as being on a British release, so are the "correcting" reviewers claiming they know everything about all the worldwide Dolby releases of this album?? Just because they've never encountered it, that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Someone once tried to tell me (very patronizingly, I might add) that there wasn't really a place named Kalamazoo, but having been there, I knew better! At least if you're going to "correct" someone, be humble about it unless you're absolutely positive about the facts, and even then, humility would still be a good thing.

Along with the "hit" version of Wireless, Dolby also came out with an extended remix EP of five of the songs from Wireless, Blinded by Science, right around the same time. This was probably what one of the earlier reviewers fondly referred to, and I believe these are all available on the 12 x 12 Original Remixes CD, along with 7 other songs.

Regarding Bjork (earlier reviews), she owes a huge debt of gratitude to Thomas Dolby - without Dolby, there would likely have been no Bjork as we know her. Just like someone once accused Fats Domino of ripping off Paul McCartney and the Beatles with his remake of Lady Madonna, when in fact Paul McCartney had written the song in Fats Domino style to pay tribute to one of his greatest influences - Domino ended up also recording it.

Though Leipzig, Urges, and other formerly obscure tracks have finally become available on other CD compilations in recent years, it would truly be nice to see bonus tracks added to an enhanced version of Wireless, including those two, Wreck of the Fairchild (not available anywhere on CD to my knowledge), and possibly others. I'd like to see pretty much everything of Dolby's available on CD at some point - I'm sure there's enough out there to fill at least another CD or two.

It's very difficult for me to even approach objectivity when talking about "The Golden Age of Wireless." This album is the touchstone of my musical experience; ever since I heard it as a young boy in the early '80s, it has been an integral part of my life, the soundtrack to my inner thoughts and perceptions.

The album is not perfect. The production values, while good, have dated somewhat -- if you compare the synth-heavy sounds of (the admittedly brilliant) "One of Our Submarines" with the near-perfect mixing and arrangement of later albums' tracks like "The Flat Earth" and "Budapest by Blimp," you find that "Golden Age" is very much of its time -- it is a part of the era that brought us The Buggles, Berlin, The Human League, and other such acts. While I think Dolby's work is far better than any of those contemporaries, you do sort of have to put yourself in an '80s mood to listen to "Golden Age," which is not the case with his later albums.

It's worth getting into that mood, though, because musically, "Golden Age" is magnificent. Forget "She Blinded Me With Science" -- it's fine as far as it goes, but if that's all you've heard of Dolby, you've barely scratched the surface. From moody ballads like "Airwaves" and "Weightless," to energizing techno-pop like "Submarines" and "Europa and the Pirate Twins," to the sublime "Cloudburst at Shingle Street" with its yearning melody and offbeat coda, it's amazing how much great music the young Dolby put onto this album. And the lyrics are perfectly matched to the tunes, providing a picture of a disaffected, alienated technological world that nonetheless has its own unique poetry.

"Blindly, into the cloudburst overhead/ I want to get my face wet/ It's been buried in the sand for years./ Mindless, into the cloudburst naked/ There's really no escaping it/ There's gonna be a cloudburst here..."

The Golden Age of Wireless was Dolby's first and by far his best. My Dad bought me this CD when discs first came out. It was tailor made for this format. Dolby was ahead of his time as far as mixing and production. The cohesive quality of "Wireless" is ideal for listening straight through. The hit, "She Blinded Me With Science" is a new wave classic, not surprisingly a late addition to the package. It is clearly the single, but several songs are standouts. "Windpower" "One of Our Submarines" and "Europa and the Pirate Twins" are excellent, lending to the overall retro feel of this album. Dolby creates a modern rock sound with an atmosphere nostalgic of the 1940's, especially with the album title. Even my Dad could appreciate this over what he deemed "the flash-in-the-pan" new wave bands of the time. Dolby's "Wireless" is the cream of the crop.

This is the best album I've ever heard! I wish more people knew who Thomas Dolby is, besides the guy who sang "She Blinded Me With Science" because he's done so much more than that with his music. I only wish the CD had the same cuts that are on the vinyl version because I can't listen to a record in my car, and the long cuts of "Airwaves," "She Blinded Me With Science," Airwaves," "Windpower," and "Radio Silence" are brilliant. If you've never tried Dolby before, start with this album. The lyrics are mesmerizing and his use of wave computers, Fairlights, and whatever else he uses is groundbreaking and amazing. No matter how many times I listen to this album, I always hear something new.

Just recently, "The Golden Age Of Wireless" by Thomas Dolby was just purchased by me not too long ago. When I listened to the cd, the cassette version played an extended version of "She Blinded Me With Science", which is not on the cd. I also had both versions of the cassettes which had both versions of "Radio Silence" techno and pop versions. However, the pop version was not on the cd. I like the cd, but if they were to reissue it, it should include the pop version of "Radio Silence" and the extended version of "She Blinded Me With Science".

What is it about this curious song? What IS it about this curious song? Combining increasingly frantic nautical SOS transmissions with 80's-era drum-machine electronic beats and a melody that's really just a (compelling) sequence of Dolby chords, this one hits like a crack pipe. I hereby defy any and all Dolby people to experience this bath and not elevate it to the top of the D-queue.

Isn't it puzzling that the two best Dolby songs (Wreck of the Fairchild and Radio Silence (Try to Think of Nothing)) are impossible to come by? What's that all about? I had to search out a 12" vinyl WOTF and rip it to WAV. Contact me if you want me to e-mail it.

I haven't heard this album since I was about 12 years old, and at that time, I must have worn out two cassette versions of it; I loved it that much.

So many years later, I can vaguely remember hearing shorter versions, hence I can only assume they remixed or extended a few tunes to pad it out for the CD issue. In any event, it really doesn't matter, because even though I've branched out into a plethora of musical genres since then, I've found that this album still holds up, due to its extreme melodiousness.

The production and synths are dated, of course, but any hummable tune has to have some appeal to it, otherwise you'd forget it like that. And even though Dolby only scored his one major hit with 'She Blinded Me...' (and a minor one later on with 'Airhead'), there are no shortage of similarly solid songs on this album.

'Airwaves', 'Cloudburst at Shingle Street', 'Wind Power', are equally good, and the stately 'One of Our Submarines' (and my fave tune on the album, 'Flying North') is absolutely sublime.

It still holds up, boys, never fear.