Customer Reviews

Retrospectacle: Best of

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The early to middle 1980s was the era of Eurythmics, OMD, Soft Cell and Yazoo, synth artists following in the wake of 70s pioneers like Kraftwerk, Suicide, Bowie in his Eno period, The Normal and Gary Numan who was still hitting the UK charts then. Although beautiful and timeless, the music of these rock or pop aligned acts (as opposed to the hedonistic eurodisco of the time) was mostly serious and often dark. Thomas Dolby brought a witty element to the synth-pop boom with his quirky sounds, clever lyrics and mad professor image. Both the early singles Urges and Europa And The Pirate Twins were minor hitettes in the UK in 1981 whilst the next year's Windpower finally gave Dolby a top 40 hit. The brilliant song She Blinded Me With Science was a major US hit in 1983 and was accompanied by a stunning video. Hyperactive with its propulsive dance rhythms was another huge hit but thereafter this innovative musician faded from the scene. This album proves that his music has stood the test of time very well. Besides the aforementioned classics, my favourites include Airwaves, Leipzig and One Of Our Submarines Is Missing. Retrospectacle is an enjoyable showcase of another angle on the glory days of synth-pop.

As a curious 7-year old, I used to sneak to watch music videos at 10:30pm, which was way past my bedtime, and I would be subject to a whipping if I got caught. But my love for music was too strong. I would watch this video show that aired between 10:30 and 11pm for a glimpse of that royal, white-gloved and red jacketed Prince of Pop, Michael Jackson. The year was 1984. And Thriller was still the coolest album of all time.

But instead of seeing the "Thriller" video one night, I saw a scary (at the time) video featuring a wacky, older white guy singing about how hyperactive he was, at one point turning into a skeleton and singing like a chipmunk. That video traumatized my young mind, but when the credits appeared I made it a point to never forget his name: Thomas Dolby.

Now, 22 years later...I have come to love his music. Ironically, it's in 2005/2006 that Mr. Dolby seems to have made it a point to re-emerge. I'd like to help aid in that resurgence with a review I have been wanting to write for almost six months now. It's a shame that my day job keeps me so busy, and that my true love - writing about music - has to suffer. But at this late hour (3am) I can no longer put this review off. It must be written.

The album begins energetically with "Europa and The Pirate Twins," a bright, fresh-sounding early 80s synth fiesta that sounds like the theme song to some zany movie or coming of age TV show like "The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole," if anyone remembers that show. I like this one alot. The synthesized claps are great.

"Urges" follows, and I love this song too. The zaniness continues on this ode to sexuality which is in my opinion, impossible not to like if you are even remotely into New Wave. The third song, "Leipzig" has a breezy vibe to it that I really, really love. It's a great third song with great synth instruments.

The fourth song, "Windpower" has a British swagger to it that will get your head nodding. Great track. "Airwaves" is just beautiful. Think Christopher Cross with more edge. And a more affected vocal. "She Blinded Me With Science" needs no introduction except to say it captures the early 80s perfectly.

"One Of Our Submarines" has a great lift section of the song, and the rhythm section of the song reminds me of some of the synthy background music featured in that great mid-80s space opera, Robotech. Big fan. "Screen Kiss" is one of the first mature sounding songs on here that veer away from synths and feature a more evolved Dolby. It's songs like this that form the perfect backdrop for my new life on Chicago's northside. One in which the neighborhood of Lakeview and it's quaint shops put me at ease in a profound, amazingly exciting way that I had never experienced before this fall.

"Hyperactive" is the song that started it all for me. I think it needs to be remade. I think an artist like N'Sync's JC Chasez could do it well, actually. "I Scare Myself" is also more sophisticated than most people give TD credit for. It's sonically as beautiful as a carely woven wicker basket.

"Pulp Culture" doesn't really do it for me. While it's certainly consistent with Dolby's other work, I usually end up skipping it. "Budapest By Blimp" is a sprawling, epic track. But "Cruel" is simply delightful. Like a feature tickling one's back during a cozy encounter with a loved one, "Cruel" (featuring an angelic female guest vocal) is EASILY my favorite song on the album, and it is constantly on repeat.

"Close But No Cigar" is a close 2nd favorite of mine, as it oozes a certain wistfulness that screames optimism despite its sobering message. Great song. Also needs to be remade.

The album ends on a solemn and glorious note with "I Love You, Goodbye" which never fails to stir admiration for Dolby's musicality. Featuring a plethora of instruments that defy anyone's expectations of a synth practitioner, Dolby rewards the listener with a song that he seems to pour his heart, spirit and voice into.

This album got me through a very stressful time at work. Admittedly, my zeal for my ad agency job has diminished substantially because of the insane hours that are demanded of me. However, I will always remember this album helping me to stay grounded and motivated. It's amazing what music can do to help heal the psyche. Thanks for sharing this Retrospectacle, Mr. Dolby. I'm finally feeling much better that I can put into words what I've always wanted to say. Well done. And to all those reading, this album will not dissapoint. Not one bit!

Knyte, from New Jack Swing 4Ever.

I just rediscovered this CD and it reminded of how much influence Thomas Dolby had on my of his 80's counterparts. I think what separated Thomas Dolby from many 80's casualties is that although the synth dominates many of his compositions, there is a clear evolution through Thomas Dolby's work and some of my favorite songs (Airwaves, One Our Submarines, Screen Kiss (which is so beautiful), The Flat Earth among others) are not novelty songs, but rather the work of a multitalented artist who was not only blinded by science. Bad segway on my part, but the point is that this collection is a must not only for fans but could be something intersting for those of you who were not around during the underrated 80's. I give it 4 instead of 5 as I save 5's for those releases that are as good as it gets. This is almost a 5 and I would highly recommend it, especially to those who are looking for something besides the next generation of Mariahs and the cast of "American Idol"

I haven't had this cd in years (I lost it in the great cd disaster of 2000) but I was looking to buy it again here today. Although some of the songs Thomas Dolby did are superwacky- Hyperactive, for example- the first ten songs on this album are so incredibly original and beautiful that it just blows my mind. Thomas Dolby has said that Michael Jackson is a fan, and I totally buy that- Screen Kiss, One of Our Submarines, Airwaves, they're so fearless and awesome, and share the electro-confidence of Jackson or Prince almost as much as the Brit pioneers he's always lumped with. He did NOT invent Dolby Stereo either. Buy this album.

Thomas Dolby was certianly more innovative then 95% of the 80's "Synth" artists. This c.d contains some of his most moving songs. I'll bet that the other reviewers who put Mr. Dolby's music down are probably somewhere listening to Haysi Fantaysi and thinking how great they were. I find the cuts on this c.d to be reflective of the wide variety of Mr. Dolby's work. The obvious high energy, funky, made to be hit singles ("She blinded Me With Science" and "Hyperactive"), the lilting, jazz influenced ballads ("Screen Kiss" and "The Flat Earth"), The atomspherically funky "Windpower". I will however tend to agree that I much prefer the first two releases ("Golden Age of the Wireless" and "Flat Earth")to the latter two ("Ailiens Ate My Buick" and "Heretics and Astronatics"). Thankfully those first two releases are well represented and the inclusion of the early Andy Partridge produced "Urges" and "Leipzig" is a plus. I highly recommend this release to become familair with the genius of Mr. Thomas Dolby.

Thomas Dolby is sadly underrated in the general music mainstream. This CD is from 1994, and collects tracks from his first 4 albums, plus rare tracks and new(for the time) music. With the tracks in chronological order, it shows how Dolby evolved his syle over the years, not to ape the pop charts(like so many other artists do), but rather as his own taste and inspiration changed. From the mad scientist era of "She Blinded Me With Science", to Semi-Mad Scientist of "Hyperactive", the brutally wonderful attack on Hollywood of "Pulp Culture" to the reflective personal honesty of "I Love You Goodbye", Dolby was always in a class(and world?) of his own. The only complaint is that one of my personal faves "Airhead" is not included here. Watupwitdat?

I picked up this CD because I had some nostalgic pangs for when I first heard "Europa and the Pirate Twins" in high school. And I was amazed with the rest. I had heard much of this music before when it first came out, but the distance made me realize what a fine musician Dolby is.

"She Blinded Me With Science" is the obvious hit here, and the weakest selection. Dolby went through a lot of stylistic transformations and proved himself adept at everything he touched. The secret is that he wrote good songs, that's what these are, and the production of them is really musical. "Hyperactive," "Leipzig," "Screen Kiss" and "I Love You Goodbye" are all so very different and so very good. "Close But No Cigar" is simply hilarious, and humor is the hardest thing to do well in music. Not just for teeny-boppers either, Dolby is an adult pop musician, and this is a fine collection of excellent music. You'll love it.

'Retrospectacle' is a rather frustrating album in many ways and very difficult to review. I do recommend owning it despite the lukewarm rating...the rating is an "average" from the fact that there are some 5-star songs on here, in some cases hard to obtain otherwise, as well as some zero-star embarrassments.

If your knowledge of Thomas Dolby extends to "She Blinded Me With Science", you need to hear more regardless of your opinion of that song. He really did some marvelous work. Such songs as "Leipzig" and "I Scare Myself" are alone worth the price of this album. However, I feel that Dolby did his best work on his earlier albums ('The Golden Age of Wireless' and 'The Flat Earth') and began to unravel somewhat on the later ones, yielding a lot of relatively unremarkable work and a few outright horrors (e.g. "Pulp Culture". Ugh.) Even at his best, his work tended to be very uneven- for example, I find the inclusion of the title track to 'The Flat Earth' to be a very questionable choice that overlooked much better music.

Still, I love a lot of Dolby's work and he remains a favorite today. Both the early albums mentioned above are highly recommended and do overcome their occasional excesses. The outcry over later versions of 'Wireless' is only an issue if you knew the original versions. I would buy both 'Wireless' and 'Flat Earth' for a better perspective of Dolby's work. However, again, 'Retrospectacle' is worth owning for "Urges" and, especially, "Leipzig." And for some, it may indeed be all the Dolby you need for your collection.

I just have to mention that I wore out a few copies of 'Wireless' while completing a Physics and Maths degree. Dolby did music that can really speak eloquently to techies- although I certainly do not feel his appeal is limited to them.

The chronological ordering of these tracks allows you hear Thomas Dolby dissipating his great talent over time. "The Golden Age of Wireless" is represented here with seven tracks (if you count "She Blinded Me with Science" and "One of Submarines", which replaced its original and superior version's "Leipzig" and "Urges"--the liner notes are misleading on this account); "The Flat Earth" is represented with four tracks (including "Hyperactive!", a crass attempt to cash in on "She Blinded Me with Science"'s success); and "Aliens Ate My Buick" is represented with only two songs. (It's true that the next album, "Astronaut's and Heretics", is represented with three, but the third, "I Love You Goodbye" is not worthy; it ought to have been represented with only two.) So: except for "Hyperactice!" and "I Love You Goodbye", these are very good selections. The best of Thomas Dolby, however, is the original version of "The Golden Age of Wireless".

Also recommended: "The Golden Age of Wireless" and Jeff Burns's "Pentatonic Scales for the Jazz Rock Keyboardist".

Thomas Dolby rarely gets the credit he deserves. As a session man for everyone from Lene Lovich to Foreigner, to production chops with Joni Mitchell and Prefab Sprout, even scoring movies like "Howard The Duck" and "Gothic," he is the literal Tom-of-all-Trades. But most important to his legacy is the incredible music he recorded as a solo pop-singer. "Retrospectacle" (a sly poke at his wire-rim glasses) covers the ground admirably.

While it is obvious that Dolby became best known for his quirky songs and videos ("Hyperactive" and "She Blinded Me With Science"), he had an intelligence and wit that only came through on his full length albums. The atmospheric "Airwaves" is pure synth heaven, while "Screen Kiss" (from the brilliant "The Flat Earth" album) is wide screen nirvana. If you played "Screen Kiss" or "I Love You, Goodbye" (the best song from "Astronauts and Heretics") next to "Science," you'd be hard pressed to say it was the same gentleman on the song. Dolby was really that diverse.

This does fall short of perfect for a few reasons. I would have preferred to not have single edits ("Science" and "Airwaves") and I have no real love for "Astronauts and Heretics," from which three songs are lifted. "Close But No Cigar" could have easily been bumped for "Airhead" or "Keys To Your Ferrari." On the positive side, "Urges" and "Leipzig" from the original "Golden Age Of Wireless" vinyl release show up here.

To that end, I will continue to wait for a deluxe version of "Wireless" and pray that his other three pop albums finally get a remaster. Until then, if you're in need of a quick fix of "Science," then "Retrospectacle" will give you that moment of shining brilliance plus the songs that will help you recognize that Thomas Dolby is a pioneer.