She Blinded Me With Science
Radio Silence
Airwaves
Flying North
Weightless
Europa And The Pirate Twins
Windpower
Commercial Breakup
One Of Our Submarines
Cloudburst At Shingle Street
Frogtoon Music Album Info: The Golden Age Of Wireless
Published: 01 Jan 2014, 02:12
Talk To Anyone Who Was The Right Age In The Early '80s For Both Pop Radio And The Dawn Of MTV And "She Blinded Me With Science" Will Inevitably Come Up. The Most Famous Song From The Reissued Version Of The Album It's A Defiantly Quirky Strange Number That Mixes Its Pop Hooks With Unusual Keyboard Melodies Pitched Very Low And A Recurrent Spoken Word Interjection "Science!" From Guest Vocalist/video Star Magnus Pike. To Thomas Dolby's Credit The Rest Of The Album Isn't Simply That Song Over And Over Again Making The Golden Age Of Wireless An Intriguing And Often Very Entertaining Curio From The Glory Days Of Synth Pop. Part Of The Album's Overall Appeal Is The Range Of Participating Musicians No Doubt Thanks In Part To Dolby's Own Considerable Range Of Musical Work Elsewhere. "She Blinded Me With Science" Itself Features Kevin Armstrong On Guitar Matthew Seligman On Bass Mega-Producer Robert "Mutt" Lange On Backing Vocals And Co-Production With Tim Friese-Greene. Elsewhere Andy Partridge Contributes Harmonica Mute Records Founding Genius Daniel Miller Adds Keyboards And Lene Lovich Adds Some Vocals Of Her Own. The Overall Result Is Still First And Foremost Dolby's With Echoes Of David Bowie's And Bryan Ferry's Elegantly Wasted Late-'70s Personas Setting The Stage. If Anything The Golden Age Of Wireless Is The Friendlier Peppier Flip Side Of Fellow Bowie Obsessive Gary Numan's Work Where The Melancholy Is Gentle Instead Of Harrowing. Dolby's Melodies Are Sprightly Without Being Annoyingly Perky His Singing Warm And His Overall Performance A Pleasant Gem. Especially Fine Numbers Include The Amusing Romp "Europa And The Pirate Twins" And The Nostalgia-Touched Just Mysterious Enough "One Of Our Submarines." ~ Ned Raggett Rovi