Thomas Dolby ‎– The Golden Age of Wireless (1982)

The Golden Age of Wireless is the debut album by English modernist New Wave/art-pop keyboardist/composer Thomas Dolby, released in May 1982 on the artist’s own EMI-imprint Venice in Peril Records. The album was issued stateside on Harvest with a different cover and an altered tracklist that drops “The Wreck of the Fairchild” but adds both sides of his 1981 single “Urges” / “Leipszig.” In 1983, Capitol reissued the album in the U.S., this time with the original U.K. cover art and a tracklist that drops the 1981 single but includes his October 1982 double-sided hit “She Blinded Me With Science” / “One of Our Submarines.”

Guest musicians on the common tracks include Lene Lovich, Akiko Yano, XTC-frontman Andy Partridge, and Dolby’s ex-Camera Club cohort Bruce Woolley.

Tracklist (UK):
A1. “Flying North” (3:50)
A2. “Commercial Breakup” (4:15)
A3. “Weightless” (3:45)
A4. “Europa and the Pirate Twins” (3:18)
A5. “Windpower” (4:20)
B1. “The Wreck of the Fairchild” (3:30)
B2. “Airwaves” (5:12)
B3. “Radio Silence” (3:46)
B4. “Cloudburst at Shingle Street” (5:45)

Tracklist (US Harvest):
A1. “Europa and the Pirate Twins” (3:18)
A2. “Flying North” (3:50)
A3. “Weightless” (3:45)
A4. “Leipzig” (3:52)
A5. “Windpower” (4:20)
B1. “Commercial Breakup” (4:15)
B2. “Urges” (3:39)
B3. “Airwaves” (3:35)
B4. “Radio Silence” (4:32)
B5. “Cloudburst at Shingle Street” (5:45)

Tracklist (US Capitol):
A1. “She Blinded Me With Science” (5:09)
A2. “Radio Silence” (4:32)
A3. “Airwaves” (3:35)
A4. “Flying North” (3:50)
A5. “Weightless” (3:45)
B1. “Europa and the Pirate Twins” (3:18)
B2. “Windpower” (3:58)
B3. “Commercial Breakup” (4:15)
B4. “One of Our Submarines” (5:11)
B5. “Cloudburst at Shingle Street” (5:45)

Credits:
Thomas Dolby – vocals, drum programs, wave computer, backing vocals, synthesizer, piano, monk voice, kalimba
James Allen – backing vocals
Kevin Armstrong – guitar, backing vocals
Dave Birch – guitar, monk voice
Bosco – percussion
Les Chappel – backing vocals
Judy Evans – backing vocals
Lesley Fairbairn – backing vocals
Mark Heyward-Chaplin – bass guitar
Justin Hildreth – drums
Simon House – violin
Tim Kerr – violin
Mutt Lange – backing vocals
Simon Lloyd – leadline brass, flute
Lene Lovich, Les Chappell – backing vocals on “Weightless” and “Radio Silence”
John Marsh – shipping forecast
Daniel Miller – synthesizer
Guido Orlando – Chilean translations, distress, grace
Andy Partridge – harmonica, percussion on “Europa and the Pirate Twins”
Akiko Yano – backing vocals on “Radio Silence”
Dr. Magnus Pyke – voiceover
Matthew Seligman – bass guitar, Moog bass
Miriam Stockley – backing vocals
Bruce Woolley – backing vocals, monk voice on “Weightless” and “Radio Silence”
Billy Solee – saxophone solo on “Cloudburst at Shingle Street”