Super Deep Dive: Thomas Dolby's The Golden Age of Wireless

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by AlanDistro, Jun 15, 2019.

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  1. AlanDistro

    AlanDistro Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Sandy, OR
    I just wrote up a blog post about this album and its many, many variations. There were four tracklist changes made between 1982 and 1984 with some releases dropping entire songs while adding completely new songs, swapping out 7" single versions for full-length album versions, and one song was rearranged and rerecorded.

    You can read the original post here: Super Deep Dive: Thomas Dolby’s The Golden Age of Wireless

    ...but for ease of use, I'll paste it in its entirety below as well:

    [​IMG]

    I spend a lot of time researching various titles in my music collection, so I thought it might be fun to share some of that from time to time. This is the first of what will probably be a few posts like this.

    When you hear Thomas Dolby’s name, if you’ve even heard it before, you probably think of one thing and one thing only... “Science!” Most know Dolby as the one-hit wonder behind “She Blinded Me with Science”. But he’s had a decent music career before and after that song, along with a long career in the tech field creating software. He basically invented the modern ringtone for all cell phones. And was the musical director for TED.

    I could go on and on, but this is already going to be long enough. Let’s explore his debut album, The Golden Age of Wireless...

    This album has got to be the most confusing to collect, aside from *maybe* Duran Duran’s Rio, if you want all of the songs recorded during this era.

    The first release (which happened in the UK on vinyl) had the following nine tracks:
    1. Flying North
    2. Commercial Breakup
    3. Weightless
    4. Europa and the Pirate Twins
    5. Windpower
    6. The Wreck of the Fairchild
    7. Airwaves
    8. Radio Silence
    9. Cloudburst at Shingle Street
    The first thing you’ll notice is that “She Blinded Me with Science” is missing. It hadn’t been recorded yet. We’ll get there.

    Sales were decent so the album got a US release. For the US release, the song “The Wreck of the Fairchild” was dropped completely, the songs “Urges” and “Leipzig” (two earlier non-album singles) were added to the album, the full-length “Airwaves” was cut and the shorter 7″ single version was used instead, and the song “Radio Silence” was re-recorded with guitars instead of synths. The running order was also completely reworked. The US vinyl track list looked like this:
    1. Europa and the Pirate Twins
    2. Flying North
    3. Weightless
    4. Leipzig
    5. Windpower
    6. Commercial Breakup
    7. Urges
    8. Airwaves (7″ Single Version)
    9. Radio Silence (Guitar Version)
    10. Cloudburst at Shingle Street
    The bold tracks are the added/changed tracks from the previous release.

    Seven months after the initial album release, “She Blinded Me with Science” was released as a non-album single and it hit big.

    So the album was reworked and re-released again in the US. This time “Urges” and “Leipzig” were dropped, “Windpower” was replaced with its shorter 7″ single version, and “She Blinded Me with Science” and its b-side “One of Our Submarines” were added. The third release had the following track list:
    1. She Blinded Me with Science (12″ Extended Version)
    2. Radio Silence (Guitar Version)
    3. Airwaves (7″ Single Version)
    4. Flying North
    5. Weightless
    6. Europa and the Pirate Twins
    7. Windpower (7″ Single Version)
    8. Commercial Breakup
    9. One of Our Submarines
    10. Cloudburst at Shingle Street
    The bold tracks are the added/changed tracks from the previous release.

    The UK then reworked and re-released the album in a slightly different variation. They used the shorter 7″ single version of “She Blinded Me with Science” rather than the 12″ extended version the US used. They reverted “Radio Silence” back to its original synth version. And they used the full length versions of “Airwaves” and “Windpower”. So the forth release had the following track list:
    1. She Blinded Me with Science (7″ Single Version)
    2. Radio Silence
    3. Airwaves
    4. Flying North
    5. Weightless
    6. Europa and the Pirate Twins
    7. Windpower
    8. Commercial Breakup
    9. One of Our Submarines
    10. Cloudburst at Shingle Street
    The bold tracks are the added/changed tracks from the previous release.

    And that forth release seems to be where they were happy with it, as that forth track/version list is what was used when the album was finally issued on cassette and CD.

    So to recap, if you want all of the songs/versions that were ever on The Golden Age of Wireless album, you’d need the following:
    1. Flying North
    2. Commercial Breakup
    3. Weightless
    4. Europa and the Pirate Twins
    5. Windpower
    6. Windpower (7″ Single Version)
    7. The Wreck of the Fairchild
    8. Airwaves
    9. Airwaves (7″ Single Version)
    10. Radio Silence
    11. Radio Silence (Guitar Version) [originally the b-side of “Radio Silence” single]
    12. Cloudburst at Shingle Street
    13. Leipzig [originally a non-album b-side of “Urges”]
    14. Urges [originally a non-album single]
    15. She Blinded Me with Science (7″ Single Version)
    16. She Blinded Me with Science (Extended Version) [originally from the “Blinded by Science” 12″ Mini-LP]
    17. One of Our Submarines [originally a non-album b-side of “She Blinded Me with Science”]
    ...and that still wouldn’t complete this era for you, that’s *just* the songs that were featured on the main album in one re-release or another. If you’re a completionist (like me), you also need the following album-era tracks:
    1. Europa and the Pirate Twins (Extended Edition) [from the 12″ single]
    2. Therapy/Growth [non-album b-side of “Europa and the Pirate Twins”]
    3. The Wreck of the Fairchild (7″ Version) [b-side of “Airwaves”]
    4. Windpower (High Power Extended Play) [remix from the 12″ single]
    5. Flying North (High Altitude Extended Play) [remix from the “Windpower” 12″ single]
    6. One of Our Submarines (Extended Version) [from the “Blinded by Science” Mini-LP]
    And when you’ve finally tracked **all** of these 23 tracks down (from what started as a 9 track album!!), your music collection will look like this:

    [​IMG]

    It took a long time but I have finally completed my The Golden Age of Wireless era collection (Edited to add for the forum here: most of these can be found on the 2009 Deluxe Edition with great mastering, and a good bit of the extended versions can be found on 12x12 Original Remixes, again with great mastering, but while that will get you the bulk of this it isn't everything).

    There are some great synthpop and new wave songs here. Some fascinating work by Dolby who was, at the time, a pioneer in digital music and synth work. His legacy may only be remembered as a novelty song one-hit wonder by many, but this super deep dive has shown me he had a lot more than that to offer. Since reading his autobiography, The Speed of Sound, a year-and-a-half ago I’ve become a huge fan.

    Have you heard any of Dolby’s other songs? Do you like his work? Do you know of any other album with more re-releases and changes made to the track list than this one?!
     
  2. JeffMo

    JeffMo Format Agnostic

    Location:
    New England
    This album has a crazy release history! Nice post.

    Only other Dolby I have is a comp called Retrospectacle, but I did read his fascinating memoir.
     
  3. Sebastian saglimbenI

    Sebastian saglimbenI Forum Resident

    Location:
    New york
    There is a nice package of the first 5 albums as part of budget priced "original albums" series from rhino!I have the deluxe edition of "wireless"....I love Dolby and his involvement with WHODINI'S "MAGIC WAND"...producing PREFAB SPROUT!He is an amazing guy....
     
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  4. Devin

    Devin Time's Up

    Slightly OT but I couldn't resist the chance to post young Thomas Dolby (credited as Tom Dolby) with Bruce Woolley And The Camera Club on the original version of Video Killed The Radio Star recorded in 1979. Dolby's brilliant work is all over this fantastic yet somewhat forgotten new wave album. Highly recommended!
     
  5. Danby Delight

    Danby Delight Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston
    He also played all the keyboards on Foreigner's 4 and on the early Robyn Hitchcock solo track "Love" before this album came out.

    There's also an early version of "Airwaves" on the 1981 compilation From Brussels with Love.
     
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  6. Joe N

    Joe N Forum Resident

    Love the album. It's one of the first CD's I got after I got a CD player. (Blinded Me With Science is actually one of my least favorite songs on it.)
     
  7. Dillydipper

    Dillydipper Space-Age luddite

    Location:
    Central PA
    AlanDistro For President! That's some nice detective summarizing there, bub!
     
  8. DPM

    DPM Senior Member

    Location:
    Nevada, USA
    My first exposure to this album was the original U.S. release on vinyl, and I still think it has the best set of tracks. I prefer Leipzig and the full length Windpower over She Blinded Me With Science. I bought The Golden Age Of Wireless after I saw the video for Europa And The Pirate Twins on MTV.
     
    Last edited: Jun 15, 2019
  9. wolfram

    wolfram Slave to the rhythm

    Location:
    Berlin, Germany
    Great informative post!

    I have the Collector's Editions of "Wireless" and "Flat Earth" and the standard CD of "Aliens Ate My Buick". All great sounding intelligent synth pop albums I keep coming back to.
     
  10. AlanDistro

    AlanDistro Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Sandy, OR
    Thanks everyone for sharing additional songs/memories. I wasn't born until 1983 so I definitely missed this album when it was released. It was, however, the first CD I bought after graduating high school in 2001 and buying my first car. With my own car I was able to make frequent trips to Disc Replay and I picked up the US CD (forth track list variation) at the beginning of that summer. Played it a lot that summer (alongside Styx's Kilroy Was Here and Alicia Keys' Songs in A Minor, two other CDs I bought at the same time).

    I enjoyed the album a lot but didn't dig any deeper into his discography until after reading his book. That's when I learned about all the cool contributions he made to music, from Foreigner's tracks to writing with Lene Lovich to playing with Roger Waters at the Berlin Wall show. What a cool life he's lived and he released so much great music that never gets mentioned/played any more. Now I own everything he's released under his name (and most of Dolby's Cube).

    Glad this post was well received (as you can tell from the intro and conclusion, most of my blog followers are not music fanatics).
     
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  11. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    Nice break down Alan!
    Two variations for the old mastering compact disc-
    Both US manufactured.
    Blinded By Science-Full Length 5:10/Edit 3:42
    Airwaves Full Length 5:16/Edit 3:35
    Windpower 4:20/Edit 3:51
     
  12. Ben Adams

    Ben Adams Forum Resident

    Location:
    Phoenix, AZ, USA
    He’s also all over Joan Armatrading’s Walk Under Ladders. You’ll know it’s him within ten seconds.

     
  13. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    Wally did a nice cut for the first two (US) iterations, I went Japan for the fourth.
    Alan if you're into instrumentals
    My Brain Is Like A Sieve cd single is really nice :)
     
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  14. jamesc

    jamesc Senior Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX
    Harvest really seemed to enjoy making changes to The Golden Age Of Wireless and Rio. I already knew most of the Rio variations but haven't seen such a nicely detailed write up of Wireless so thanks for that!

    Do you happen to know if tracks 1-9 on the 2009 CD are the same as version 1 of the vinyl?
     
  15. AlanDistro

    AlanDistro Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Sandy, OR
    Yes, they are! And it's the only place you can digitally get the transition from "The Wreck of the Fairchild" into "Airwaves" as Fairchild was left off of all other iterations and wasn't re-added until the 2009 deluxe CD.
     
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  16. edenofflowers

    edenofflowers A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular!

    Location:
    UK
    I love TD. I think though, for my sins - and for being a Prince fan - I've got a bit of a preference for Aliens Ate My Buick.
    For Wireless I'd say my fave is Airwaves by a long way and for The Flat Earth it's probably Dissidents.
    Great singles as well and a great pop song writer as Close But No Cigar demonstrates.
    Too clever for his own good commercially but he's made some cracking albums along the way.
     
  17. trickness

    trickness Gotta painful yellow headache

    Location:
    Manhattan
    My favorite album of all time. I have all of those records above, all the singles, and import versions from Japan. Every track on the record is great in it’s own way. Very European analog electro-noir, with great song writing.
     
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  18. akmonday

    akmonday Forum Resident

    Location:
    berkeley, ca
    one of my all time favorite albums of the era (or any, I suppose). There are just some amazing tracks on it, ONe of our Submarines, Cloudburst, Europa, Windpower...really the entire thing. Science is probably my least favorite track of the batch (just due to over familiarity). i like a lot of what he did since but I don't feel any of it really measures up to how staggeringly great this record is.
     
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  19. Somerset Scholar

    Somerset Scholar Ace of Spades

    Location:
    Bath
    A really informative thread. I picked up the Wireless LP from a charity shop for £1 about 7 or 8 years ago. Finally cleaned it up recently as was not super passionate about it or knew anything much about it! It just looked 'period' and interesting.
    It is in Ex+ to NM condition. Gave it a spin. And another. And another. Heavy rotation because I really like this album a lot. The sound quality is superb too. This is the fourth version and UK version as identified by the OP. Really pleased to have this one in my collection now.
     
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  20. Floyd Crazy

    Floyd Crazy Senior Member

    I love this album
    I have very first German issue
    on vinyl which I managed to find from
    Germany in n mint+ condition.
    This is the first version you listed
    which sounds wonderful on vinyl.
    I also have very first CD issue I bought
    In Jan 1984 And was my very first
    Compact Disc.
    I also have the 2009 CD with DVD which
    Seems to thread together all the versions quite
    nicely.
    Great thread of one of my all time favourite album,
    Floyd.
     
  21. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    That 'live wireless' is a hoot! :laugh:
    Great deluxe set, dynamics intact and a few extra goodies!
    Thank God Dolby over saw it. Mew would of destroyed it :laugh:
    The cassette was my intro Floyd! :)
     
    Last edited: Jun 16, 2019
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  22. Floyd Crazy

    Floyd Crazy Senior Member

    I have talked about TD before with you
    I also have most of the 12 inch singles
    from this album somewhere, i'll have to dig them out, as said before fab album
    from the genius, Floyd.
     
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  23. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    We have! :)
    For 12's I just have
    The US Blinded By Science EP
    I Scare Myself (Long Version), which actually is just the album version and an unnecessary edit of Cloudburst. Should of included a (Short Version) of Scare :laugh:
    And the 'Holy Crap this sounds awesome' Windpower UK Townhouse.
     
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  24. c-eling

    c-eling They're made of light,We never would have guessed

    For anyone looking for the full length She Blinded Me on old compact disc, which includes the edit of Airwaves 3:36 and the 3:51 Windpower
    I've only been able to confirm two so far.
    DADC Stamper 11A2 Thanks @Dan Steele
    EMI JAX MO
     
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  25. pinkrudy

    pinkrudy Senior Member

    Thomas Dolby? Is he the guy that wrote the songs for the howard the duck movie?
    i love all those songs. However i prefer the versions where lea thompson sang. dolbys vocals are fine but prefered lea.

    here is lea


    and here is thomas
    03 Don't Turn Away. (Howard The Duck Soundtrack)
     
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