Thomas Dolby -- The Wreck of the Fairchild / Airwaves (single mix)

Part one from the UK LP The Golden Age of Wireless (Venice In Peril Records, 1982) / part two from the US LP The Golden Age of Wireless (Harvest Records, 1982)



Part of the occasional series "Little Hits messes with the sound files," this track technically does not exist in this form, and is presented as such in part to press the point that EMI (or whoever currently holds the rights) really needs to create a two-disc definitive version of Thomas Dolby's The Golden Age of Wireless, the finest synth-pop record pretty much ever. Many albums in the early '80s underwent significant changes between the US and UK editions, but what happened with this record was just plain silly.



As briefly as I can put it: The Golden Age of Wireless was first released in the UK in early 1982 with the following track lineup: Side one: Flying North / Commercial Breakup / Weightless / Europa and the Pirate Twins / Windpower // Side two: The Wreck of the Fairchild / Airwaves / Radio Silence / Cloudburst at Shingle Street.



The original US edition, released on the Harvest label in the summer of 1982, changed the cover art (to a photo of Dolby standing on a proscenium stage filled with astronomical equipment) and running order, and made the following song changes: 1) dropped the instrumental "The Wreck of the Fairchild", 2) substituted the considerably shorter single mix of "Airwaves" for the full-length LP version, 3) swapped the original version of "Radio Silence" with a guitar-based re-recording taken from the flip of the song's 12" single, and 4) added both sides of Dolby's 1981 debut single "Leipzig" b/w "Urges." (For those playing along at home, the album came out like this: Side one: Europa and the Pirate Twins / Flying North / Weightless / Leipzig / Windpower // Side two: Commercial Breakup / Urges / Airwaves (single mix) / Radio Silence (re-recording) / Cloudburst At Shingle Street. This is the first version I bought, and still for me the definitive version of the album.)



Following the success of the non-LP single "She Blinded Me With Science" and the related dance-mix EP Blinded By Science (which contains the original long version of "Airwaves" left off the original US album), Capitol Records took over the album from the struggling Harvest division (same thing happened to Duran Duran's Rio around the same time) and reissued it in early 1983 in the original UK cover. This version adds both the single and its haunting b-side "One of Our Submarines" in place of both sides of the 1981 single, editing about 20 seconds off of the song "Windpower" and messing with the running order yet again. (So now that's: Side one: She Blinded Me With Science (extended version) / Radio Silence (re-recording) / Airwaves (single mix) / Flying North / Weightless // Side two: Europa and the Pirate Twins / Windpower (edit) / Commercial Breakup / One Of Our Submarines / Cloudburst At Shingle Street. I have thought ever since it first came out that this version of the album is a complete mess with terrible sequencing.)



Then this revised US issue was released in the UK, EXCEPT that the UK edition retained the original LP versions of "Radio Silence" and "Airwaves," which, you'll recall, had been changed on the first US edition and kept that way on the second, and instead of the extended mix of "She Blinded Me With Science," it led off with the single mix. And finally -- I'm assuming just to be dicks, because I honestly can't think of any other reason -- Capitol released a THIRD version of the LP, which reverted to the original recording of "Radio Silence" but kept the shorter single mix of "Airwaves" and the extended mix of "She Blinded Me With Science." Oy.



Anyway, what that means is that there are several early Thomas Dolby songs, most notably "Urges," "Leipzig," and "The Wreck of the Fairchild," that are unfortunately rare, and others that exist in multiple versions that have leaked out willy-nilly on the many Thomas Dolby compilations over the years. So EMI, here's what you need to do: two-disc deluxe reissue, in the manner of those fancy Deluxe Versions that Polygram has been doing for the last few years, with the following tracklisting:



DISC 1:

The Golden Age of Wireless (original UK release)

1. Flying North

2. Commercial Breakup

3. Weightless

4. Europa and the Pirate Twins

5. Windpower

6. The Wreck of the Fairchild

7. Airwaves

8. Radio Silence

9. Cloudburst At Shingle Street

Blinded By Science (US remix EP)

10. She Blinded Me With Science (extended version)

11. One Of Our Submarines (extended version)

12. Windpower (extended version)

13. Airwaves (extended version)

14. Flying North (extended version)



DISC 2:

Singles and Anomalies

1. Leipzig

2. Urges

3. Radio Silence (re-recording)

4. Europa and the Pirate Twins (extended mix)

5. Airwaves (single mix)

6. Windpower (single mix)

7. She Blinded Me With Science (single mix)

8. One of Our Submarines (single mix)

9. Airwaves (1981 version from the compilation From Brussels With Love)

10. Therapy/Growth (b-side of the "Europa and the Pirate Twins" single)

11. The Jungle Line (b-side of the 1983 UK reissue of "She Blinded Me With Science")



Okay. Sorry. That one's been building up for a while.



Anyway, this song combines "The Wreck of the Fairchild" (an odd, gimmicky instrumental relating to the famous South American plane crash where the soccer players ate each other) with the single mix of the lovely but profoundly creepy "Airwaves," a song that sketches a vivid, oddly apocalyptic sense of unease that's made even more creepy by how pretty the melody is and the ultra-smooth, Steely Dannish arrangement. A guy on a mailing list Jon and I are both on has a term for a certain brand of American '70s FM radio pop, Songs of Psychic Oblivion. "Airwaves" is the UK new wave equivalent.



(Note: thanks to Noah S. for the mp3 that started all this)



Stewart Mason