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"Disc
Replay, this is Susan. How can I help you?" Her
ambitious voice gave me false hope, but then again,
this was my sixth attempt at finding something from
the man known as Thomas Dolby. So, as I told Susan what
I was looking for, the dead air made me check the connection
to see if I still had Susan on the line. So I gave her
the hit. I said, "You know, 'She Blinded Me With
Science,' …Thomas Dolby." She did nothing
but blind me with silence, as I was starting to feel
like a stranger in a strange land. As she finally responded
with, "Uhh, no," I realized that it was probably
easier to purchase a missile than a Thomas Dolby CD
here in the States these days.
I'm not a die hard Dolby fan. I'm actually one of those
guys who has heard the few hits (yes, he had more than
that one), and had only one of his early albums on cassette.
But, like anyone who follows music closely, I realize
what an innovative pioneer Dolby is. Besides playing
with numerous legendary artists (Foreigner, Pink Floyd,
etc.), Dolby is the true genius behind what we have
come to call "electronica." Dolby is to the
electronica genre, what Nirvana was to the grunge movement.
So, as Dolby prepared to play Martyr's on the North
side of Chicago, a club that holds about 300 people,
I was looking forward to an intimate evening of music
and hoping to get a few words and an autograph from
the keyboard master before I left. The friend accompanying
me to the show had finally found a Dolby CD for me at
Tower Records, so I was now armed and ready for a thrilling
evening.
What did I expect to see at this show? Would he have
a band? Would he be premiering any new songs? Dolby
has been absent from the music scene for almost 15 years
now, with his last studio album, "Astronauts &
Heretics," coming in late 1992. This fact left
me questioning how sharp he might be. As I walked into
the cave they were calling Martyr's, I saw the small
crowd loosely packed in front of the stage awaiting
Dolby's arrival. It was an older crowd, as you might
expect, and from some of the conversation going on around
me, many of these folks were diehard fans of Dolby's
music. As I looked at the stage, it was obvious that
Dolby would be going it alone tonight. There were simply
a few keyboards and a white linen screen nailed to a
frame sitting on the stage, and there was room for nothing
else. I cannot stress how small this club is. We're
talking tiny, ladies and gents. If you wanted to be
more than forty feet back from the stage, you'd have
to stand in one of the head shops down the street. We're
talking really small.
As
show time approached, the man of the hour was escorted
to the stage from some back room. As he climbed a small
staircase in the front of the stage on the right side,
he was donning a heavy tan, double-breasted overcoat.
On his head was a U.S. government designed military
head cam, equipped with a microphone. With his amber-colored
spectacles placed firmly over his eyes, Dolby looked
like a cyborg that was ready to communicate with some
alien mothership through music and sound. Firing up
his keyboard rig, he quickly launched into "Leipzig."
Everything was sounding great over the Martyr's PA on
this Tuesday evening. You got the feeling that Dolby
was comfortable with the intimate setting, as he spoke
candidly to the excited but low key crowd in between
almost every song. As he made his way through "The
Flat Earth" and "One Of Our Submarines,"
it became clear that Dolby has kept his vocal chops
intact over the years. Hitting the highs and lows, and
delivering all of them smoothly, Dolby was very sharp
vocally.
Now, because Dolby does perform by himself, much of
the high points of his songs were lost here. The songs
were lacking the soulful, female backup singers and
the live brass sections, and all those other fine points
that are so prevalent in the Thomas Dolby repertoire.
But, although you didn't get the glimmering of the spotlights
off of the crash cymbal, you did get to watch a master
build songs like a kid builds sand castles. You also
got to see Dolby work his rig on the screen via the
perfectly placed cameras that surrounded him. During
"One Of Our Submarines" we got scenes of submarine
radar that were intertwined with Dolby pushing buttons
and turning dials. The film really accompanied the mood
of the song well. Thomas Dolby is a technological genius,
and it shows throughout his performance. As he taps
a few buttons, and turns a few dials, he starts triggering
all the necessary components needed for each song.
As Dolby finished each song, he began to tell stories.
You got the feeling that you were in his living room,
and he was okay with that. He offered funny stories
and personal tidbits that made everyone comfortable
and happy. For example, before he started into "Windpower,"
he told us of one theory of where he has been over the
past fifteen years. As he put it, the story goes that
he's been "in Rio De Janeiro driving taxicabs with
the bass player from The Knack." Or when he tells
of how he called a website's 800 number for his $850
keyboard stand, and asked the lady on the other end
of the phone what kind of market there was for an $850
keyboard stand. He recalls the lady telling him "places
of worship" were there biggest market, and he was
asked if he wanted the optional $325 Bible attachment.
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One
of the best stories he told was of his astronomy hobby
that he had taken up. He told us all about sunspots,
and how he was putting the sun's activity to music.
This story really demonstrated the genius behind this
artist. His musical ingenuity is rivaled by only a few.
He also told of his affection for the internet, and
how he has always wondered why people bought his records.
Through the internet he said he came to find, "the
reason you were interested in my music was not for the
commercial stuff, it was actually the quiet, serious
stuff."
This
highly pre-programmed set didn't go off without a miscue
though. As he started breaking into "Europa &
The Pirate Twins" he stopped and had his crew reload
the track. In the midst of this technical difficulty,
he took time to throw four or five t-shirts out to the
crowd. It showed that even in the haze of non-perfection,
this was a confident man that was comfortable doing
what he was doing. He later told us of good news and
bad news. The bad news being that he would not be performing
any new material, and the good news being that he would
have a release by the end of the year and be returning
to Chicago before Christmas. With that information,
you could understand why he was doing these tiny club
shows. They were the perfect place to try some new things
and work out all the "bugs" that might be
lurking.
For being out of the music scene for 15 years, the rust
was never really apparent in this set. As he finished
the set with "Hyperactive!," "She Blinded
Me With Science," and an experimental piece that
included one verse of "Airhead," he seemed
more comfortable than ever.
To put the entire experience in perspective:
•
Would I have liked to have a few scantily clad, soulful
backup singers on the stage? Yes.
• Would I have liked a longer
set than this 11-song, 75-80 minute set? Yes.
• Did I enjoy seeing a living
legend in a club the size of a soup can? You bet your
ass I did.
Oh yeah, I did get my CD sleeve signed by Dolby too,
thanks to a very thoughtful fan who had a wristband
to attend an after show meet & greet. I just wish
I had a chance to thank Dolby in person for his talent
and innovation over the years. Oh well, maybe later
this year I'll get another chance.
Set
list
Leipzig / One Of Our Submarines / I Live In A Suitcase
/ Flying North / The Flat Earth /
Budapest By Blimp / Windpower / Europa & The Pirate
Twins / Hyperactive! /
She Blinded Me With Science / Airhead (partial/one verse
only)
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