From: awrc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Al Crawford)
Newsgroups: rec.music.misc
Subject: Review: Thomas Dolby - Astronauts And Heretics
Date: 31 Jul 92 08:13:06 GMT
Reply-To: awrc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Al Crawford)
Organization: The University Of Edinburgh - Department Of Computer Science

[ Apologies if anybody sees this twice, but it seems that since the switch
  of moderator in r.m.r. to Leo Breebaart any reviews I've posted to r.m.r
  have disappeared into the void rather than going to him. I can't
  establish if they ever arrived, since mail to him just bounces. Until
  the fault is fixed or Stewart returns, I'm going to have to post my
  reviews directly to r.m.m. or r.m.i. since, if I can't get mail to him,
  it's unlikely the news system will be able to forward postings either. ]

Thomas Dolby		Astronauts And Heretics		Virgin CDV 2701

	Total Running Time: 43 min 35 sec

	1.	I Love You Goodbye			5:57
	2.	Cruel					3:07
	3.	Silk Pyjamas				3:36
	4.	I Live In A Suitcase			5:27
	5.	Eastern Bloc				5:19
	6.	Close But No Cigar			4:26
	7.	That's Why People Fall In Love		5:27
	8.	Neon Sisters				4:52
	9.	Beauty Of A Dream			5:05

At first glance, this album does seem to be something of a con. Of the nine
tracks (sorry, but I'm spoilt by CD, I tend to feel somewhat peeved at
buying a full price CD and not getting any bonus tracks) a total of *five*
of them have already appeared on the various CD singles from this album.

It's a misleading impression though, as while I'll continue to be peeved at
the rather feeble 43 minutes of this CD, only two of these tracks have
actually appeared before as they appear here. The two guilty parties are "I
Love You Goodbye" which appears here in the same version as on the second
"I Love You Goodbye" CD single, and "Neon Sisters" which was a bonus track
on the original "Close But No Cigar" CD single.

I'm not entirely sure what to make of this album. I was less than
enthralled with his previous album _Aliens Ate My Buick_ which, apart from
a neat title and cover painting, just wasn't real Dolby but was in fact
Thomas Dolby pretending to be George Clinton. This album does seem to be
rather more in tune with the old Dolby (i.e. less of the white synth-funk)
but also suffers from "look at all my famous/credible friends" syndrome,
with cajun musicians Michael Doucet and Al Tharp, plus the likes of Eddi
Reader (ex-Fairground Attraction), Eddie Van Halen, Ofra Haza, Budgie
(Siouxsie And The Banshees, yes?), Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir (both Grateful
Dead) popping up in various tracks.

Still, how does it affect the music? Quite a lot. The most noticeable
contributions are those of the cajun musicians and the guitar-god types
(Van Halen and Garcia).

The version of "I Love You Goodbye" presented here is the same as that
present on the second "ILYG" CD single, extending the track towards six
minutes and out of single territory. It's a relaxed piece of pop, mixing
Dolby's fluid piano with cajun accordio, fiddle and banjo. The lyrics fit
the evergladesy atmosphere of the song nicely, and while it's not one of
Dolby's great tracks, it's rather nice.

"Cruel" is the first of the new tracks, and it's very good indeed. Built
around a combination of sampled sounds (both crashes and vocals) the song
is a duet between Dolby acting his most sensitive and Eddi Reader, for once
in her life not overdoing it. There's definite shades of "Screen Kiss" from
_The Flat Earth_ here.

The cajun musicians resurface on "Silk Pyjamas", a very un-Dolby-esque and
rather catchy track, with Dolby on Hammond and piano and a neat line in
strange lyrics - "she was wearing silk pyjamas/usual outfit - big pith
helmet/Dr Martens and silk pyjamas". Very odd, very atypical and rather
fun.

"I Live In A Suitcase" is back in more familiar territory, smoothly
sophisticated synth-pop that's for some reason reminiscent of "Tinseltown
In The Rain" by The Blue Nile. The main gimmick of this track is processed
vocals, Dolby grinding away about "they say travel broadens the mind, so I
went over the falls in a barrel" in a booming bass voice.  Again, the
reference points are more _The Flat Earth_ than _Golden Age Of Wireless_,
with Dolby as sophisticate rather than mad scientist.

The notion of a sequel to an existing song is a rather odd one, but Dolby
does just that with "Eastern Bloc", which is a sequel to his 1981 hit
"Europa And The Pirate Twins". Working around the basic rhythm of the
original track, Dolby spins a completely new song, similar in feel
lyrically if not musically to the original, dropping in snippets of the
original (and even a verse of the lyrics) at choice points. The version
presented here differs from the single version in being slightly longer and
adding rather more guitar. Barely different enough to qualify as a remix,
but different nonetheless. Eddie Van Halen features on lead guitar.

The first single to be released from the album was "Close But No Cigar",
and it appears here again, this time in its full version. Eddie Van Halen
again plays lead guitar, although this time he's assisted by Lost Toy
Person Larry Treadwell (Dolby seems to have retained most of his Lost Toy
People backing group from the previous album, with the exception of Terry
Jackson, who the album is dedicated to and who died last year). It's
classic Dolby if you can cope with the unusually prominent guitar.
Extremely catchy, and probably the highlight of the album.

"That's Why People Fall In Love" fiddles around with vocal samples again,
with what sounds like sampled Ofra Haza. The real Ofra Haza turns up
towards the end and while her voice is very distinctive, she's only just
turned up when the song ends. It's light synth-pop with the clever lyrics
that are associated with Dolby, but it somehow fails to grab me. Maybe
it'll grow on me given some time.

"Neon Sisters" is quite obviously very personal to Dolby. It harks back to
the early days of the synth-pop/new romantic boom, both in lyrical content
and style.  Dolby ponders over the fate (obviously drug related) that
befell a friend from that time ("the club for heroes/blew me to
Hollywood/blew you to skid row") Any ideas who he might be referring to?
The feel is much more typical of early Dolby, and Banshees drummer Budgie
features.

"Beauty Of A Dream" first appeared on the "Close But No Cigar" CD single in
a stripped down version consisting of just Dolby's vocal and a piano (well,
plus a smidgeon of guitar). This rather fuller version adds Jerry Garcia on
lead and Bob Weir on rhythm guitar but, while it's very pleasant, I have to
admitted to preferring the stripped down simplicity of the version on the
CD single.

So. Was it worth a four year wait? Actually, probably not. Is it better
than _Aliens Ate My Buick_? Yes. In the echelon of Dolby album's, I'd place
it about the same level as _The Flat Earth_. While some of the songs are
very nice indeed, there's nothing here that's the equal of his best work
but, on the other hand, there's nothing quite as annoying as "My Brain Is
Like A Sieve" or "Hot Sauce" from his previous album.

Hmm, a difficult one to rate. I'll err on the side of conservatism this
time I think though...

Erland Rating: +1
Crawford Rating: Puce/Mango/Beagle

--
		      Al Crawford - awrc@dcs.ed.ac.uk
			   "Click click drone."
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