Thomas Dolby - Astronauts & Heretics (1992)

Note: this release was originally purchased as a cassette tape, later replaced by a CD.

No big hits on this one, but it's still the best thing Dolby has done since The Golden Age of Wireless. I'm particularly taken by the melodic songwriting here. When he worked previously with Dolby's Cube and George Clinton, Dolby was heavily influenced by funk. For this album, he put aside the funk in favor of mellow pop & soft rock. So it's right in my wheelhouse, but the record label marketed the singles to adult contemporary stations, who didn't know what to do with Dolby who was still "that guy who did She Blinded Me With Science." Unfortunate.

1992 Billboard magazine review

Peak on the US Billboard Top 200 chart:  Did not chart

Tracks:  Not a stinker among these nine tracks (making it Dolby's most consistent album), but my faves are Cruel (with Eddi Reader), Eastern Bloc, Close But No Cigar (with Eddie Van Halen), and Neon Sisters.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD:  The years 1989-1993 were an odd transition to adulthood for me, a four year period when I was married but not yet a parent. My life focused on my job and improving my social standing in my small, rural town (neither job nor social standing is a current priority in my life). These days, it's difficult to remember a time when I wasn't a parent, but this album reminds me of those four years. In 1992, the cassette got plenty of play in my charcoal gray truck; today the CD gets an occasional play in my white truck, the Vanilla Thrilla.

Previously revisited for the blog:
A Map of the Floating City (2011)
The Sole Inhabitant (2008)
12 x 12 Original Remixes (1999)
Retrospectacle: The Best Of (1994)
Aliens Ate My Buick (1988)
The Golden Age of Wireless (1982)