Thomas Dolby - 'The Golden Age of Wireless'
Apr 30, 2021 15:04:46 GMT -5
Post by rihannabiggestfan on Apr 30, 2021 15:04:46 GMT -5
Released in 1982 by the talented English musician Thomas Dolby.
Some backstory on Dolby: In July 1998, Dolby received a "Lifetime Achievement in Internet Music" award from Yahoo! Internet Life. In 2012 he performed at Moogfest and was the recipient of The Moog Innovation Award, which celebrates "pioneering artists whose genre-defying work exemplifies the bold, innovative spirit of Bob Moog". In February 2018, Dolby was awarded the Roland Lifetime Achievement Award. Dolby has received four Grammy nominations, two each in 1984 and 1988. In 1985, Dolby appeared at the Grammy Awards, which were televised, along with Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, and Howard Jones. All four musicians were successful in the mid-1980s music scene, and they were also all keyboard and synthesizer experts. That same year, Dolby performed at the Live Aid concert in London as part of David Bowie's band. In 1993, Dolby established the Headspace company. Headspace developed a new downloadable file format designed specifically for Internet usage called Rich Music Format with the RMF file extension. It had the advantage of small file size like MIDI but allowed recorded sampled sounds to be included at a higher bitrate for better overall reproduction. Later versions of RMF permitted artists to place an encrypted watermark in their files that were supposed to prevent unauthorized duplication. In 1999, Headspace, Inc. was renamed Beatnik, Inc., and specialized in software synthesizers for mobile phones, which it licensed to mobile phone manufacturers including Nokia. While still remaining on the Beatnik board, Dolby stepped down from his position as CEO to pursue other technology interests, such as founding Retro Ringtones LLC in 2002, which produces the RetroFolio ringtone asset management software suite for companies involved in the mobile phone ringtone business. At the second annual Mobile Music Awards, Miami, Florida, in 2004 RetroFolio won "Best of Show" and "Best New Technology" awards. Dolby created hundreds of digital polyphonic ringtones on mobile phones, including the polyphonic version of the Nokia tune. He is often a speaker at technology conferences such as Comdex, Websphere, and Nokia. From 2001 to 2012, Dolby was musical director of the TED Conference - he provided live musical introductions to sessions, sometimes with a TED house band, and helped secure guest musicians and entertainers. Onstage, he played with singers and performers such as Eddi Reader, Natalie MacMaster, Rachelle Garniez and David Byrne, and premiered his own song "Love Is a Loaded Pistol" onstage at TEDGlobal 2010. In March 2014, Dolby was named Homewood Professor of the Arts at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University. In March 2017, the Peabody Institute announced that Dolby would lead a new four-year undergraduate degree program, Music for New Media, and the first cohort would commence in the fall of 2018.
'The Golden Age of Wireless' is a phenomenal, original body of work. What a strong debut new wave/synth-pop/electro-pop album
AllMusic gave it a glowing 4.5/5 star review www.allmusic.com/album/the-golden-age-of-wireless-mw0000189796
The Young Folks said that the album is "innovative, often thought-provoking new wave exploration of topics like technology and history—one that still holds up 35 years later. The Golden Age Of Wireless is notable for the way it instantly brings the listener into a world that feels like a sci-fi comic book at some points and like a dystopian drama at others. Much of its futuristic vibe comes from its liberal, creative use of synthesizers—a choice that was quite daring at the time of the album’s release. Overall, the greatest merit of The Golden Age Of Wireless is the element of surprise. It’s impossible to predict what will come next at any point in the album; warbling female voices, harmonica sounds, emphatic shouts (see 1:53 of “Europa And The Pirate Twins”), and, of course, spontaneous synth effects all emerge out of nowhere." www.theyoungfolks.com/music/99926/from-the-record-crate-thomas-dolby-the-golden-age-of-wireless/
The album had a different cover internationally.
Its US cover
Its international cover:
The album had 5 different releases in the early-to-mid 1980s (in addition to its remasters/re-releases in 2009 and 2017). The era didn't really take off in the US until US top-5 hit "She Blinded Me with Science" (which also went #1 in Canada) was added onto the album. Interestingly, this song was his "Lights" (by Ellie Goulding) in that it was a UK artist's US breakthrough yet it didn't take off in his native UK.
My favorite version of the album (this is the tracklisting/version I recommend listening to) is this one. 10 tracks of excellence: no skips, excellent production, tons of personality. This 1984 US edition is the same edition as the 1983 UK edition. You can check out the 2009 remastered edition after listening to this lol.
This album is so much more than the bop "She Blinded Me with Science" - I recommend giving the album a listen if you haven't. Lemme post my top 6 (in no order) lol
And here's a live performance from him. Love his energy, personality, and vibe so much.
Thoughts?
Some backstory on Dolby: In July 1998, Dolby received a "Lifetime Achievement in Internet Music" award from Yahoo! Internet Life. In 2012 he performed at Moogfest and was the recipient of The Moog Innovation Award, which celebrates "pioneering artists whose genre-defying work exemplifies the bold, innovative spirit of Bob Moog". In February 2018, Dolby was awarded the Roland Lifetime Achievement Award. Dolby has received four Grammy nominations, two each in 1984 and 1988. In 1985, Dolby appeared at the Grammy Awards, which were televised, along with Stevie Wonder, Herbie Hancock, and Howard Jones. All four musicians were successful in the mid-1980s music scene, and they were also all keyboard and synthesizer experts. That same year, Dolby performed at the Live Aid concert in London as part of David Bowie's band. In 1993, Dolby established the Headspace company. Headspace developed a new downloadable file format designed specifically for Internet usage called Rich Music Format with the RMF file extension. It had the advantage of small file size like MIDI but allowed recorded sampled sounds to be included at a higher bitrate for better overall reproduction. Later versions of RMF permitted artists to place an encrypted watermark in their files that were supposed to prevent unauthorized duplication. In 1999, Headspace, Inc. was renamed Beatnik, Inc., and specialized in software synthesizers for mobile phones, which it licensed to mobile phone manufacturers including Nokia. While still remaining on the Beatnik board, Dolby stepped down from his position as CEO to pursue other technology interests, such as founding Retro Ringtones LLC in 2002, which produces the RetroFolio ringtone asset management software suite for companies involved in the mobile phone ringtone business. At the second annual Mobile Music Awards, Miami, Florida, in 2004 RetroFolio won "Best of Show" and "Best New Technology" awards. Dolby created hundreds of digital polyphonic ringtones on mobile phones, including the polyphonic version of the Nokia tune. He is often a speaker at technology conferences such as Comdex, Websphere, and Nokia. From 2001 to 2012, Dolby was musical director of the TED Conference - he provided live musical introductions to sessions, sometimes with a TED house band, and helped secure guest musicians and entertainers. Onstage, he played with singers and performers such as Eddi Reader, Natalie MacMaster, Rachelle Garniez and David Byrne, and premiered his own song "Love Is a Loaded Pistol" onstage at TEDGlobal 2010. In March 2014, Dolby was named Homewood Professor of the Arts at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University. In March 2017, the Peabody Institute announced that Dolby would lead a new four-year undergraduate degree program, Music for New Media, and the first cohort would commence in the fall of 2018.
'The Golden Age of Wireless' is a phenomenal, original body of work. What a strong debut new wave/synth-pop/electro-pop album
AllMusic gave it a glowing 4.5/5 star review www.allmusic.com/album/the-golden-age-of-wireless-mw0000189796
The Young Folks said that the album is "innovative, often thought-provoking new wave exploration of topics like technology and history—one that still holds up 35 years later. The Golden Age Of Wireless is notable for the way it instantly brings the listener into a world that feels like a sci-fi comic book at some points and like a dystopian drama at others. Much of its futuristic vibe comes from its liberal, creative use of synthesizers—a choice that was quite daring at the time of the album’s release. Overall, the greatest merit of The Golden Age Of Wireless is the element of surprise. It’s impossible to predict what will come next at any point in the album; warbling female voices, harmonica sounds, emphatic shouts (see 1:53 of “Europa And The Pirate Twins”), and, of course, spontaneous synth effects all emerge out of nowhere." www.theyoungfolks.com/music/99926/from-the-record-crate-thomas-dolby-the-golden-age-of-wireless/
The album had a different cover internationally.
Its US cover
Its international cover:
The album had 5 different releases in the early-to-mid 1980s (in addition to its remasters/re-releases in 2009 and 2017). The era didn't really take off in the US until US top-5 hit "She Blinded Me with Science" (which also went #1 in Canada) was added onto the album. Interestingly, this song was his "Lights" (by Ellie Goulding) in that it was a UK artist's US breakthrough yet it didn't take off in his native UK.
My favorite version of the album (this is the tracklisting/version I recommend listening to) is this one. 10 tracks of excellence: no skips, excellent production, tons of personality. This 1984 US edition is the same edition as the 1983 UK edition. You can check out the 2009 remastered edition after listening to this lol.
This album is so much more than the bop "She Blinded Me with Science" - I recommend giving the album a listen if you haven't. Lemme post my top 6 (in no order) lol
And here's a live performance from him. Love his energy, personality, and vibe so much.
Thoughts?