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.

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Retro Spins: Thomas Dolby - The Flat Earth

When writing about Thompson Twin's 1982 album, Set, I made note of the synthesizer contributions of one Thomas Dolby. It was in writing this that it dawned on me that while I have his three albums from the 80's, I've only ever listened to his debut, The Golden Age Of Wireless. During my playthrough of the aforementioned, I came away unimpressed, and not a fan. Though, admittedly, I wrote that post a long time ago, and my ears have grown, I feel, to appreciate music more. As such, my initial response may have been overly critical.

Dolby is often associated with pioneering the new wave movement of the 80's, but his music doesn't seem to stay encompassed to just that genre. In general, he seems to always be experimenting with sounds and styles, making it difficult to pinpoint just what direction he's going.

It's this uniqueness that makes his music both appealing, and unappealing at the same time. Basically, it's hit or miss. When it's good, it's great, but when it's bad, it's really forgettable.

Sadly, while I wanted to approach The Flat Earth with a more open and mature mindset, much like The Golden Age Of Wireless, it was just kind of blah.

Mind you, it wasn't a complete bust. The title track really caught me off guard for how good it was. However, this was more so for its groovy bass, and doo wop style backing vocals, which kept drawing me in. I was also quite happy with the song, Hyperactive, which is the tune I bought the album for. Ironically, while it's a song that has grown on me, my original interest in it was because of "Weird Al" Yankovic's Slime Creatures From Outer Space, which "borrows" heavily from the musical style of the tune.

Disappointingly, I really wanted to come away from this one a bit more impressed than I ultimately was. I wanted to say, "Oh, that's what I missed last time," and potentially be inspired enough to go back to his debut and give it another shot. Sadly, that's just not where I'm at. Instead, my mindset is, "Ugh, there's still another album from him to get through," which I'll be doing tomorrow.

Maybe, hopefully, Dolby smashes it out of the park for his final album of the 80's. I mean, it's possible. I didn't expect to like Thompson Twins as much as I did, so stranger things have happened.

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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.