Retro Spins: Thomas Dolby - Aliens Ate My Buick

Today I'm finishing out the decade, and my journey through Thomas Dolby, with his 1988 released, Aliens Ate My Buick. It's a quirky title, akin to the nature of the artist. However, the album itself is a very strong departure from previous material.

It would be four years before he'd return to the studio, but despite this, was far from inactive. Dolby would tackle the world of soundtracks, writing all of the vocal tracks for 1986's Howard the Duck. While initially only asked to create one song for the album, he soon was committed to the full project, working with the faux band, Cherry Bomb from the film to produce a full album. From there, he would create the score for the horror film, Gothic

For its recording, Dolby leaned heavy into funk, and dance, departing from his previous new wave style. The end result was system shock for fans and critics, resulting in lower sales, poor charts, and essentially, a flop.

Dolby had to know when he was recording this album that it wasn't going to be mainstream in any way, nor see much radio support. I'm honestly surprised EMI - Manhattan didn't opt to shelve it. The musical direction is definitely different from previous work.

Mind you, the dude has always been a bit quirky, but this one is all over the place. One minute it's funk, then it's big band, then rockability, then pop, then rock, and so on. This overall lack of "focus" ends up with something that is more of a mess than a cohesive album.

Despite this, there is also a certain appeal to it. Tracks like Airhead, and Hot Sauce not only deliver solid bass funk, but the latter also taps into the Minneapolis sound of Prince. That weirdness that the Purple One often imparts in his music. It's hard to explain in words, but if you know, you know.

This style continued with Pulp Culture, and with the connection made to Paisely Park's owner, whether directly or indirectly, was enough to suck me in to Aliens Ate My Buick. This led me to dig a bit more, and I found that Dolby has stated before that Prince is a major influence on him. He further elaborated, stating he and Prince both excelled at writing classic "songbook" songs during a specific era.

Overall, this was a good listening experience. Not perfect, but good.

Thomas Dolby would release only two more studio albums, Astronauts & Heretics (1992), and A Map of the Floating City (2011), as well as focus on soundtracks, The Gate to the Mind's Eye (1994), The Invisible Lighthouse (2013), as well as the music for the video game, Double Switch – 25 Anniversary Edition (2019). However, he never seemed to peak any further than he did with his hit all the way back from 1982. Despite this, he has his loyal fans and continues performing for them to this day.

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below.

Disclaimer: They Toy Box does not endorse or contribute to piracy. Retro Spins posts are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. None of the music discussed here is available for sale, downloading or distribution.