Dolby promoted himself as a kind of mad scientist, an egghead that had successfully harnessed the power of synthesizers and samplers, using them to make catchy pop and electro-funk. Before he launched his solo career, Dolby had already worked as a studio musician, technician, and songwriter. After starting out as a teenaged live sound man, mixing The Fall, The Members and others using a PA he built himself, he formed the arty post-punk band Camera Club (also known as Bruce Woolley & the Camera Club) with Bruce Woolley, Geoff Downes, Trevor Horn and Matthew Seligman. Within a year, he had left the group and joined Lene Lovich’s backing band and gave her his song "New Toy", which became a British hit in 1981. That same year, he released his first solo single, "Urges", on the English independent label Armageddon. By the autumn, he had signed with Parlophone and released "Europa and the Pirate Twins", which nearly cracked the UK Top 40.
Dolby started playing synthesizer on sessions for other artists in 1982. That year, he played keyboards on Def Leppard’s Pyromania and Joan Armatrading’s Walk Under Ladders. His most distinctive session credit is that keyboard line after the chorus on Foreigner’s "Waiting for a Girl Like You". In that eventful summer, Dolby also collaborating with New York rappers Whodini to create "Magic’s Wand" – a pivotal early hip hop track (the first rap single to shift 1 million copies), and it also single-handedly started the new jack swing movement.
Even with all of these achievements, 1982 was most noteworthy for the release of Dolby’s first solo album, The Golden Age of Wireless, in the summer of 1982, the landmark album reaching number 13. "Windpower", the first single from the record, became his first Top 40 UK hit in the late summer. Other cuts from the album include "The Airwaves", and "One of Our Submarines", a meditation on the futility of empire.
In January of 1983, Dolby released an EP, Blinded by Science, which includes what would become his most well-known track, "She Blinded Me with Science" featuring a cameo vocal appearance by the notorious British eccentric Magnus Pike, who also appeared in the song’s video. "She Blinded Me with Science" was a minor hit in England, but the EP and the single became a major American hit in 1983, thanks to MTV’s heavy airplay of the video. Eventually, the song reached number five on the US charts and it was included on a resequenced and reissued version of The Golden Age of Wireless, which peaked at number 13 in America.
The Flat Earth, Dolby's second album, appeared in early 1984, and harkens back to a time when songs mattered more than the video, even as MTV was discovering its strength. Opening with "Dissidents", conjuring up images of blacklisted authors and ugly snow, gray from oppression, with Matthew Seligman’s bass at the fore, lavish, growling, popping through octaves, funk-a-fied and twinkling with harmonics throughout the album. The title track is an R&B daydream of piano and Motown stabs of rhythm guitar. "Screen Kiss" has a similarly ethereal quality, and the lyrics are lush with imagery. The cover of Dan Hicks’ 1967 "I Scare Myself" is a balmy jazz club cocktail – faithfully nostalgic, right down to a bittersweet trombone solo from Peter Thomas. "Hyperactive" is one part bizarre to two parts infectious; guest vocalist Adele Bertei fuels the fire to what was already destined to be a memorable diversion beyond the reach of Top 40. The single became Thomas’ biggest UK hit, peaking at number 17.
During 1985, Dolby collaborated with artists including Stevie Wonder, Dusty Springfield and Herbie Hancock; and notched up some more high-concept production credits. George Clinton's Some of My Best Jokes Are Friends, Prefab Sprout’s Steve McQueen, and Joni Mitchell’s Dog Eat Dog were all midwifed by Dolby, who also was musical director for David Bowie at Live Aid. Also in 1985, he began composing film scores, starting with Fever Pitch. In 1986, he composed the scores for Gothic and Howard the Duck, for which he credited himself as Dolby's Cube. (That credit led to a lawsuit from the Dolby Labs, who eventually prohibited the musician from using the name "Dolby" in conjunction with any other name than "Thomas.")
Aliens Ate My Buick, Dolby's long-delayed third album, appeared in 1988 to a mixed reaction, although "Airhead" became a minor British hit. That same year, Dolby married actress Kathleen Beller. For the rest of the late 80s and early 90s, Dolby continued to score films, producing and building his own computer equipment.
1992’s Astronauts and Heretics, features guest stars such as Eddie Van Halen, Jerry Garcia, Bob Weir and Ofra Haza. The album opens with "I Love You Goodbye", one of Thomas’ most evocative songs, and ends with "Beauty of a Dream" which is also a contender for that honour. Highlights found inbetween include "Cruel" (a duet with Fairground Attraction’s Eddie Reader), "I Live in a Suitcase" and "Close But No Cigar".
The following year, Dolby founded the computer software company Headspace in Silicon Valley, releasing The Virtual String Quartet as its first program, and also pioneered technology for music on mobile phones. For the rest of the 90s, Headspace occupied most of Dolby's time and energy. In 1994, he released The Gate to the Mind’s Eye, a soundtrack to the animated short film Mind’s Eye. Also that year, Capitol released the greatest-hits collection, Retrospectacle.
Thirteen years after Astronauts and Heretics, Dolby returned to live performance in 2006 with his solo Sole Inhabitant tour, which covered North America and the UK, with Thomas recreating the highlights of his earlier work from scratch, with a camera mounted like a miner’s lamp on his head, and a big screen showing the view from the artist, turning what would be a fairly dull one-man-and-a-rack-of-synths into a fascinating audio visual experience and an unintended masterclass for music technology students.
UK indie label Invisible Hands Music released a CD and DVD box set recorded on the Sole Inhabitant tour. These fresh and modern reinterpretations of Thomas’ work to date precedes a new studio album due in 2008, which is as-yet untitled, but does include a song about Britney’s ex Kevin Federline (“K-Fed”) who used an uncleared sample from "She Blinded Me with Science" and did not respond to legal approaches until a ‘cease-and-desist’ was posted in the comments field of his MySpace page. That song is called "My Karma Hit Your Dogma", and bodes well for a mighty return to form, combining Thomas’ humour and intelligence with a unique musical vision.
2011 saw Dolby get busy by returning with a new studio album A Map of the Floating City on 29 October. The album is broken down into three genres of Urbanoia's tales of city experiences; Amerikana as Dolby's take on his years living in America and it's roots music; and Oceanea: songs of life by the sea in his home country of England. The music was debuted first as download EPs to Dolby's online community and then previewed by a transmedia interactive game also called the FloatingCity.com.
Thomas Dolby is taking the music back on tour as a solo artist and with varying line-ups of bands, doing two tours of the UK in 2011, and has his first trip to Australia in February 2012 followed by dates in Japan. In March Dolby kicks off the Time-Capsule.tv tour at the SxSW Festival in Austin playing dates in USA and Canada through April. He will have a trailer parked at venues on his tour where you can produce a 30 second video offering words of wisdom to whoever will be walking the earth in the future. Dolby wants to give people a chance to “explain to an alien visitor what went wrong with our civilization. Our species may not be around on this planet much longer, so you might as well leave a welcome message for the next guys.”
Dissidents
Thomas Dolby Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Over the border he will drown in light
Hold it, wait a minute
I can't read my writing, my own writing!
Like tiny insects in the palm of history
A domino effect in a cloud of mystery
My writing is an iron fist
In a glove full of Vaseline
I too become a dissident
Courting disaster we ran in the night
Wings of an angel torn in flight
Check it, verify it
It's all here in writing, down in writing!
At the hands of the press
And in the eyes of the government
I fell from grace
I too became a dissident
Like tiny insects in the palm of history
A domino effect and an early end to this story
My writing is an iron fist in a glove full of vaseline
But dip the fuse in the kerosene
I too become a dissident
The lyrics of Thomas Dolby's Dissidents speak about the struggles and the oppression of the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The song is told from the perspective of someone who is living in a communist society and is expressing his dissent towards the government. The lyrics paint a bleak picture of life under communism, where people are forced to flee from their own country to avoid persecution.
The opening lines depict a young writer who is escaping the country under the cover of darkness. He is hoping to start a new life where he can freely express his thoughts and ideas. However, even after he has escaped, he is haunted by the reality of the situation. The writer's story is just one of many, as there are "tiny insects in the palm of history" - individuals who are trying to make a difference but are ultimately powerless against the oppressive regime. The writer's story is just another "domino effect" in the long line of people who have been silenced by the government.
The writing of the dissidents is compared to an "iron fist in a glove full of vaseline". The writer's words are powerful and forceful, but the government attempts to suppress them by masking them in a layer of bureaucracy and censorship. The final lines of the song offer some semblance of hope, as even if the writers' words are censored, they can still cause an explosion. The writers feel that if they "dip the fuse in the kerosene" and become dissidents, then they can still make a difference.
Line by Line Meaning
One more young writer slid away in the night
Yet another aspiring writer fled during the night
Over the border he will drown in light
He crossed the border to start a new life but will be caught and subject to punishment under the spotlight
Hold it - wait a minute
Wait a second
I can't read my writing, my own writing!
I can't decipher my own handwriting
Like tiny insects in the palm of history
We are insignificant to the grand scheme of things
A domino effect in a cloud of mystery
Unexpected events unfolding in secrecy
My writing is an iron fist
My words are powerful and strict
In a glove full of vaseline
But they are softened by lubrication
Dip the fuse in the kerosene
Let's make things more volatile
I too become a dissident
I also become an opponent of established authority
Courting disaster we ran in the night
We took great risks, running in the dark
Wings of an angel torn in flight
Our innocent hopes and aspirations got shattered abruptly
Check it - verify it
Double-check it
It's all here in writing, down in writing!
I have documented evidence to support my claims
At the hands of the press
Under media scrutiny
And in the eyes of the government
Also, as viewed by the authorities
I fell from grace
I lost my reputation and appeal
Like tiny insects in the palm of history
We are still minuscule in the vast realm of history
A domino effect and an early end to this story
The aftermath of a series of events, signifying a premature ending to the story
My writing is an iron fist in a glove full of vaseline
I use strong words despite their being softened by tact
But dip the fuse in the kerosene
But let's light things up and be daring.
I too become a dissident.
I too challenge authority, becoming a dissident.
Lyrics © DOMINO PUBLISHING COMPANY, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Kevin Alexander Armstrong, Matthew Thomas Arthur Seligman, Thomas Morgan Dolby Robertson
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@stevesilverstone1015
I can't believe that there are only 63 comments, 64 now.
For this album!! This is a brilliant brilliant album, I couldn't stop listening to it for years. One of the best albums from the 80's.
@todedo
I could not agree more, Flat Earth is pure PURE genious. There's not a bad track, they're all creative, different, exciting, stunning in every aspect of music creation. And so entertaining. Love, LOVE this album till the day I die.
@wadexyz
@@todedo Well, Mulu The Rain Forest is pretty bad. I always skip that one.
@thesuncollective1475
65
@kennethbryant7480
Thomas Dolby made synthpop an art. It is not an accident I keep going back to this brilliant music. A genius!
@rustybearden1800
I've been a Thomas Dolby fan since the very beginning and I always grimace when people comment "oh, the Blinded Me With Science guy!" Ugh. The man is so much more. Third world adventurer explorer ambience mixed with jazz, funk and sci fi kitsch and a dash of rocket science. Very difficult to explain his genius - you either get it or you don't. Was lucky enough to see him in concert back in 1984 in Dallas TX during the Flat Earth Tour - one of the great live concerts I've ever seen. Love me some Thomas Dolby. NEVER get tired of listening to his work.
@patriciakelly3612
@Rusty, FUCK ME HE ACTUALLY CALLED THE TOUR THE FLAT EARTH TOUR!!! NICE...MAN
@rustybearden1800
@@patriciakelly3612 uh, yeah, it was the name of his album at the time
@xxczerxx
I wonder do some artists hate having one major single? To be a "one hit wonder" as a true artist is actually an incredible feat.
It reminds me of DEVO. Most people think they're a novelty band that just made "Whip It!" despite the fact they were one of the most intelligent, sophisticated bands ever
@wadexyz
I don't think he grimaces though, because that paid his bills : )