Super Deep Dive: Thomas Dolby’s The Golden Age of Wireless
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 or just document it for myself. This is the first of what will probably be a few posts like this. I’ll use a unique tag so all future and past Super Deep Dive posts will be easy to find.
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:
Flying North
Commercial Breakup
Weightless
Europa and the Pirate Twins
Windpower
The Wreck of the Fairchild
Airwaves
Radio Silence
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:
Europa and the Pirate Twins
Flying North
Weightless
Leipzig
Windpower
Commercial Breakup
Urges
Airwaves (7″ Single Version)
Radio Silence (Guitar Version)
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:
She Blinded Me with Science (12″ Extended Version)
Radio Silence (Guitar Version)
Airwaves (7″ Single Version)
Flying North
Weightless
Europa and the Pirate Twins
Windpower (7″ Single Version)
Commercial Breakup
One of Our Submarines
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:
She Blinded Me with Science (7″ Single Version)
Radio Silence
Airwaves
Flying North
Weightless
Europa and the Pirate Twins
Windpower
Commercial Breakup
One of Our Submarines
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:
Flying North
Commercial Breakup
Weightless
Europa and the Pirate Twins
Windpower
Windpower (7″ Single Version)
The Wreck of the Fairchild
Airwaves
Airwaves (7″ Single Version)
Radio Silence
Radio Silence (Guitar Version) [originally the b-side of “Radio Silence” single]
Cloudburst at Shingle Street
Urges [originally a non-album single]
Leipzig [originally a non-album b-side of “Urges”]
She Blinded Me with Science (7″ Single Version)
She Blinded Me with Science (Extended Version) [originally from the “Blinded by Science” 12″ Mini-LP]
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:
Europa and the Pirate Twins (Extended Version) [from the 12″ single]
Therapy/Growth [non-album b-side of “Europa and the Pirate Twins”]
The Wreck of the Fairchild (7″ Version) [b-side of “Airwaves”]
Windpower (High Power Extended Play) [remix from the 12″ single]
Flying North (High Altitude Extended Play) [remix from the “Windpower” 12″ single]
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:
It took a long time, and eight individual releases, but I have finally completed my The Golden Age of Wireless era collection. 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 (and it’s taken me that long to track some of these rare tracks down).
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?!
I saw the movie a few times growing up, but I'm now reading Pet Sematary for the first time. Only 75 pages in but it's very good so far. According to the introduction, it's the only novel Stephen King's written that actually still frightens him. #stephenking #petsematary #amreading (at Sandy, Oregon) https://www.instagram.com/p/BvfN8xdgyv1/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=lwm5vpp14xcg
After living here for two and a half years I finally got a library card today! Staying on-brand, my first two checkouts were Stephen King's Carrie and the three CD box set Different Stages by Rush. #library #stephenking #rush (at Sandy, Oregon) https://www.instagram.com/p/BvPpY5_gDe5/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1g12q009azd2o
Just got our master tape back from Marsh Mastering and it's bigger than my head (which is quite the feat, I have a very large head). This is the first time Christian and I have had our work mastered from tape and I am in love with the sound.
First batch of cassettes are going out to Pareon supporters tomorrow. Want one but missed out on Patreon? You can pre-order them from thecauldenroad.com or my personal site (link in bio) for $7 + shipping and yours will go out on Friday! (at Sandy, Oregon) https://www.instagram.com/p/BtKOoDLArDj/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=nhxhn2ws6s3m
If you were waiting for the last minute to sign up for my band's Patreon, this is it - this is the last minute. Our first new release goes out to Patreon supporters tomorrow morning!
Supporters have the option of digital download, streaming, and/or cassette! If you sign up after today, you'll miss it! (Though, the single will be released to streaming services and digital stores on February 1st.)
We got the final masters back yesterday. Here's a picture of our 1/2" master tape being worked on at Marsh Mastering. More pics and info in today's Patreon post: https://www.patreon.com/posts/release-date-is-24193442
I posted this everywhere but here, so now it’s here as well!
My band has just recently launched a Patreon, and later this month we’ll be releasing our first new single in years. It’s called “Erase This” and has a new b-side called “If You Have Somewhere to Burn Them...”. It’ll be available for digital download and as a “cassingle”!
https://www.patreon.com/thecauldenroad
***
If you’ve never heard any of our music before... this was the most popular song from our last release, and this is a really cool music video we made with my friends Nick and Megan, and this video includes a rap, a car crash, and a sex scene (how’s that for click bait), and this song is the one we get the most compliments on from other musicians, and this song is the one we get the most compliments on from fans, and finally this song is one of my personal favs and meant so much to my friend Alli that she named her tumbr after a line from the lyrics. <3
Of course, if music videos aren’t your thing, you can hear all of the above and more on Spotify.
But then go sign up for our Patreon! You get downloads/streaming of all new songs before they’re officially released, and some tiers include physical media like cassettes and CDs and vinyl, and you’ll get exclusive behind the scenes videos and updates! So many exclamation points!
The Caulden Road is back in the studio working on new music! Take a look behind the scenes of a new spoken word piece we’re recording with actress Grace Gordon.
Also! We launched a Patreon campaign today! You can sign up now to read more of these behind the scene posts in the future and you won’t ever be charged until we release new music!
Happy 10th birthday to DFTBA Records!! Ten years ago TODAY Hank and I launched a little record label for YouTubers from my bedroom. We wanted to release our own music and our friends' music all in one convenient place. We quickly expanded from CDs and iTunes to shirts and posters and mugs and audiobook box sets! There are a few similar companies now, but DFTBA was the first YouTube creator merch store of its kind.
Through all the growing pains of my overflowing room, to the garage, to our first warehouse, to moving to Missoula and the huge warehouse DFTBA has there, it's been such a joy to watch the company grow and its artists thrive. We've worked with hundreds of online content creators and fans who make art, and DFTBA's paid them well over $10 million in royalties so far.
While I did leave the company a few years ago, DFTBA Records is definitely one of the coolest projects I've ever had the privilege to work on... and I've worked on a lot of really cool projects.
Stranger Things Season 2 was released on 4K UHD this week and the packaging is just as gorgeous and retro as Season 1! The case mimics the old plastic VHS clamshells with a bunch of Hawkins Video rental stickers on the outside and a set of five candid prom photos inside. These are exclusive to Target if you're looking to get a copy (also includes standard 2K Blu-Rays in the box if you haven't upgraded yet).
Rewatching one of my all-time favorite standalone horror films today. It was just restored with a new 4k scan by Scream Factory with a ton of new bonus features.
My first novel now has an editor! Her name is Nicole Dieker and you can find her work here: www.nicoledieker.com
My book is a horror/supernatural novel for adults. The main character, Adriana, is a single mother and police sketch artist who one day draws the wrong face. Adriana's drawing is nothing like what the witness describes. Soon, that same wrong face is all she can draw. Who does this face belong to and why is it haunting her?! You'll have to wait and read. :)
This edit is the first pass where we look at big picture things. Is this scene interesting? Is it easy to understand? Is everyone acting true to their character? Did they leave the house in the underwear they were wearing a moment ago, or did I put some clothes on them and just forget to mention it? (no really, that was one of Nicole's notes)
Once all of that stuff is taken care of, we move on to line editing and copy editing. But that's boring textbook stuff, right now it's still fun story stuff!
This month is International Zine Month (organized by my friend @alexwrekk) and today is ZineWiki Day!
I co-founded ZineWiki with Kate Sandler all the way back in 2006. The idea was to have our own wikipedia-like resource for independent media... zines, podcasts, short films, and other DIY projects that didn’t meet the “notable” criteria for wikipedia.
Since then over 5,200 projects have been added to and archived by ZineWiki, reaching a ton of readers, researchers, librarians, and other independent creators. In fact, ZineWiki’s pages have been viewed over 51,000,000 times.
Here’s a screenshot I took back when we had just hit our 400th article (again, there are now over 5,200 articles)...
When I got busy with DFTBA Records and my YouTube “career”, I couldn’t keep up with the demands of running ZineWiki as well, so I turned the project over to Jerianne Thompson, the publisher and editor of Zine World.
The site is still going strong and today’s International Zine Month task is to contribute, edit, or read a page on ZineWiki.
So, you can visit ZineWiki here.
Or read more about the project on my personal site here.
Have you guys read this travel brochure? I may need to rethink this vacation I was planning... Actually, after seeing the movie dozens of times (including at least twice in the theater when I was ten years old) I just finished reading Jurassic Park for the first time! Still a great story!
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