Science!

After a year and a half of delay (things happen slowly in this house), I finally gave in and decided to install a little shelf to put my record player on. I've had problems with the device, which seemed like such a good deal when I bought it--OK, it was ridiculously inexpensive, and not a good choice. Why do I always buy cheap crap? Why? Why? Oh yeah, because I'm cheap.

Anyway, the turntable skipped when you walked across the room and fed back horribly at any volume over 2. So I went to Home Depot and bought some wood and a little bracket thingy, drilled some holes and voila: a satisfying record player situation. This has made me rediscover my record collection which, as those of you who have been to the crib know, is extensive: I have thousands of records. Thus far my spins have tended to stuff I liked when I was a teen in the 1980s--early R.E.M. albums, especially.

And also, you might be surprised to hear, The Golden Age of Wireless, Thomas Dolby's first release. I bought this in sixth grade (yes, I still have my LPs from sixth grade; I still have my LPs from second grade) on the strength of "She Blinded Me With Science," which is indeed a great single. But the record didn't leap out at me at first, and for years I ignored it.

But then, late in junior high, I threw it on again and discovered what I confirmed with this most recent listening: The Golden Age of Wireless is dense, literate pop music--three-minute, synth-laden ditties that touch on nebulously articulated themes of dystopia and the futurism of yesterday (viz. the LP's very title), as well as anxiety, paranoia and despair. It's sort of like the songwriting of Rush, but hookier and less expansive. There's not a love song in the bunch--save that great novelty hit single, which ought to have won a special Grammy for successfully grafting science class onto sex.

Dolby's other albums weren't nearly as good as that first one, and I seem to recall reading in a musician rag that he has given up composing pop songs altogether. But what a debut!