Dogger, Fisher, German Bight

Along with many other Brits I have a thing for the Shipping Forecast. I love that feeling of driving late at night with that strange mantra of shipping areas and weather warnings and feeling heartily glad that I'm not one of the poor sods in peril on the sea. Thomas Dolby must have knowingly tuned into this feeling when he put an excerpt of the Shipping Forecast read by John 'Boggy' Marsh at the end of Windpower.

Thomas Dolby- Windpower


Dolby was sold to 80's audiences as a 'Mad Professor' figure probably because he played synths, was kind of clever and ...oh...he wore glasses! I first became aware of him on a BBC 1 talent show fronted by David Essex, obviously. His first album 'The Golden Age of Wireless' is full of clever songs, he was a brilliant synth programmer but it never sounds cold or technical like many albums of its era....in fact it sounds very elemental. Is it just me or does 'One of our Submarines' nick the Six Million Dollar Man theme tune?

Thomas Dolby- One of our Submarines


Thomas Dolby went on to produce Prefab Sprout producing strange and lovely atmospheres for Paddy MacAloon's songs. His second album 'The Flat Earth' has its moments but as is often the case, the first one is the one to get.

Buy 'The Golden Age of Wireless' by Thomas Dolby

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from the comments to the original post

stevedomino - "my fiancee's response to marc-o's latest post:

"thomas dolby?? that's not a name i thought i'd hear again..."

not too sure about that, 'windpower' was a track i really liked at the time (which album has "hyperactive"?? did magnus pike appear in the video?)

marc-o. have you bought any albums since "max headroom" was cancelled?!

coming next: howard jones' 'the 12" album'!!!"