From Thomas Dolby's blog entry of June 11:

"Oh and more news: I recently agreed terms with EMI to re-release my first two albums! Looks like they will be in some sort of ‘enhanced’ format, possibly including alternative mixes and B-sides. This should happen early in 2009. But it’s not to take away from Job #1 which is my next album. I’m working away at that and have some nice new songs on the boil."

Yay. Alternative mixes would be a natural for the Golden Age of Wireless, since the original album had no less than five variations.

I''ve mentioned Golden Age of Wireless on this board before as an album in need of the deluxe treatment, so this is great news. Now I'll just have to cross my fingers and hope they do it right. Interested in hearing Dolby's new stuff too.

hopefully it will include the 'blinded by science' ep.
the live wireless show would be sweet too!

peace,
joebase

back in the day following the original release of "the golden age of wireless",
i put together a cassette - dare i say "mix-tape" of about 117 minutes of tunes.
mind you, this included alternate versions, b-sides and remixes.
and it had material from the "blinded me w/science" e.p. as well.
my point being that a 2cd set, hopefully lovingly remastered,
would not be an unreasonable request in this case.

To be authentic, though, it would have to be mastered from your cassette, you know!

following-up on my earlier post (scroll-up here)...
i suppose i own about 25 pieces of vinyl dedicated to the "golden" release.
a nifty collection of US/UK and JAPANESE vinyl with superb artwork.
i wouldn't want to give any of that up...nor would i have to.
i just hope they see fit to do an adept job with the liner notes.

and for pete's sake, -include- the lyrics.
there is a distasteful trend in reissues of late that are swapping original
(and sometimes quite artistic lyric printings) for otherwise "groupie" material
such as b&w photos of the band. how old are we? thirteen?

latest reissues by The Thompon Twins, The Alan Parsons Project, ELO, and
Captain & Tennille all fall into the sans-lyrics category.

I've noticed this too.

Drives me nuts.

The people likely to buy these re-issues (ie people like us) will the want original packaging faithfully re-created.
Could it be a copyright thing? Maybe it's cheaper to leave the lyrics out?

I imagine artists figure people can look up the lyrics online easily, so there's no reason to use precious booklet space for them.

as much as i can respect anyone who wishes to "look up the lyrics online easily", i find it inane, the idea of spending time to do that when the shortest distance between two points is simply to have printed them (as they were originally) and have included them in the re-issue package. i must divulge here that i am an amateur writer, and have been for decades. i find the lyrical component of the musical experience crucial - and the ability to follow along (if you will) in an artistically inclusive booklet quite comforting. in short, isn't it easier just to open-up your liner notes and read?

Depends on if you use the CD to listen from. I buy CDs but I import them into my hard drive. Since I never actually lift the CD up again to listen to it, it is about equal whether it is a shorter trip to the 'net or to my shelves to get the lyrics.

I think if I had a choice between photos or lyrics, I'd opt for photos IF the photos are particularly good at putting the album in historical context. Dolby was a pretty visual artists with his vintage clothing/costumes, so, I think I'd opt for photos. But ideally, lots of pages, with everything including lyrics.

indeed, i have no objection to -adding- to the liner notes, i simply object to deleting original material with the purpose of making room for new and less significant visuals - usually with the promotional quip "contains unseen photos" or something in that disingenuous category. may reissues get it right and i'm always impressed that they've done their homework.

Courtesy of ThomasDolby.com, this is Thomas Dolby's blog entry about the re-releases:

First two album re-releases
September 10th, 2008 by TMDR

My old record label EMI have asked me for input on the running order for the proposed re-releases in 2009 of my first two albums.

Firstly, I’m glad they want to do this. It seems crazy that these are out of print and quite hard to find even in indie record shop bargain bins! And the re-releases will give us a chance to remaster the audio and generally give the songs a bit of French polishing. Not to mention bringing together the various alternative versions and B-sides in one place.

It’s important that this does not take away any of the limelight from the new music I’m working on. I suppose that’s always a risk, but overall I think it can raise the awareness that the old material has stood the test of time, BUT I’m doing new stuff. (And considering how good the new stuff is sounding, it’s a risk I’m willing to take!) The timing is hard to judge as EMI have not given me a firm date for the re-releases yet, nor do I have any clue if/when in 2009 I might release a new album. Or indeed whether EMI or any other corporate entity will be involved.

Here’s my proposed running order. I’m sure there will be some controversy, because people tend to think of the version they have as THE original version. The best solution I can think of is to include all versions in the sequence in which they first appeared. For example, there are two very different renditions of ‘Radio Silence.’ I originally recorded it with the same rock band as had played on many other GAOW tracks—Kevin Armstrong, Justin Hildreth, and Mark Heyward-Chaplin. But I had second thoughts about it after listening to the album in toto and decided it was too ‘rockist.’ About the same time the opportunity came up for me to work with Daniel Miller (Depeche Mode’s producer and supremo of Mute Records) plus Akiko Yano was in town! so I decided to take another crack at it. The result seemed to fit in with the GAOW ethos, and made for a nice little SW radio-driven sequence on side two. Today, I am fond of both versions, so they are included on this list. But it’s unavoidable that some folks will feel they’re in the wrong place. What can you do? put them in you iPod and make your own running order.

I’ve added selected ’side’ projects, collaborations and so on. There may be a few omissions, including a lot of 12″ versions that I don’t feel add very much to the song itself. But I think everything here belongs here.

Anyway here’s my proposal. If you have suggestions or want to debate the pros and cons, feel free to post a comment here, or perhaps somebody could copy this list to the [ThomasDolby.com] Forum.

The Golden Age Of Wireless (2-CD set):

CD1

3:50 Flying North
4:15 Commercial Breakup
3:45 Weightless
3:18 Europa and the Pirate Twins
4:20 Windpower
3:30 The Wreck of the Fairchild
5:12 Airwaves
4:32 Radio Silence (synth version)
5:45 Cloudburst At Shingle Street

CD2

3:42 She Blinded Me With Science
5:14 One Of Our Submarines
3:43 Radio Silence (guitar version)
3:52 Leipzig
3:42 Urges
4:04 Therapy/Growth (Europa B-side)
3:18 New Toy (Live Wireless)
3:52 The Jungle Line (Low Noise)
3:36 Urban Tribal (Low Noise)

The Flat Earth (one CD)

4:56 Dissidents
6:41 The Flat Earth
5:34 Screen Kiss
5:20 White City
5:00 Mulu The Rain Forest
5:40 I Scare Myself
4:14 Hyperactive!

Bonus tracks:

4:09 Puppet Theatre
5:24 Get Out Of My Mix (edit)
4:03 Field Work (london mix)
7:17 Dissidents (The Search for Truth Part 1)

By the way, TMDR stands for Thomas Morgan Dolby Robertson. His real name is Morgan Robertson, and some years ago, a legal action by Dolby Laboratories placed restrictions on how he could use the name "Dolby".

I applaud Dolby's approach - it's likely he'll get more constructive feedback from fans (y'know, the people who will actually buy this album) than from anybody at the label regarding track selection. And if he's not a fan of the 12" releases, well, simply compile those on a separate disc and make that available in limited quantity to those who are interested.

I've always loved "Golden Age Of Wireless" and I'm pleased with what he's suggested here. "The Flat Earth" was okay, but never resonated with me the way that "Golden Age" did. Still, it looks okay here too. I'll certainly get both.

Dolby has updated his blog to say that EMI is being nicely receptive to his song selections for the expanded remasters, but, there's a chance that there may be a different track order for the US market due to some concerns on the part of EMI that the US market won't understand why there's the UK running order for The Golden Age of Wireless.

Personally, I'll buy the UK import if that ends up being the case.

I'll be the first to acknowledge that there's an awful lot of stupid Americans out there, but geez..."won't understand why there's the UK running order"? Why not just slap a sticker on the front that says "original UK song configuration"? I think most fans could probably wrap their little minds around this concept.

Preceeding the expanded editions of GAOW and FE, comes this collection of 7" single versions.

The Singular Thomas Dolby (CD+DVD)
Released: February 16, 2009

Tracks
1. Urges
2. Leipzig
3. Europa And The Pirate Twins
4. Airwaves
5. Radio Silence
6. Windpower
7. She Blinded Me With Science
8. One Of Our Submarines Is Missing
9. Hyperactive
10. Dissidents (LP edit)
11. I Scare Myself (edit)
12. Field Work (London mix)
13. May The Cube Be With You
14. Airhead
15. Hot Sauce
16. My Brain Is Like A Sieve (Bill Bottrell single remix)
17. Close But No Cigar
18. Silk Pyjamas
19. I Love You Goodbye

1. Europa And The Pirate Twins (DVD)
2. Airwaves (DVD)
3. Radio Silence (DVD)
4. Windpower (live/DVD)
5. She Blinded Me With Science (DVD)
6. One Of Our Submarines Is Missing (live/DVD)
7. Hyperactive (DVD)
8. Dissidents (DVD)
9. I Scare Myself (DVD)
10. Field Work (DVD)
11. May The Cube Be With You (DVD)
12. Airhead (DVD)
13. Hot Sauce (DVD)
14. Close But No Cigar (DVD)
15. Silk Pyjamas (DVD)
16. I Love You Goodbye (DVD)
17. Hyperactive (12' version/DVD)
18. Field Work (12' version/DVD)
19. Hot Sauce (saucy version/DVD)

The release of "Singular" has been pushed back to late March. No word yet on whether there will be a U.S.A. NTSC edition. I'm specially equiped to play the UK PAL format version, but I'd prefer NTSC.

Hey-a very nice compilation! I'll be sure to pick that up and the remasters whenever that happens. EMI has done so many great things the last few years with and this year with Whitesnake, Jethro Tull, UFO, Ultravox, MSG, Thomas Dolby, etc. I look forward to the Dolby CDs as well!

Yeah I'm still waiting for an NTSC version of the Adam & the Ants DVD+CD, but it looks like America is just too tiny a country for them to bother with. Only a few people live here after all.

Great news! The 2 remasters are on the way (the CD/DVD best-of this week I believe) and they look amazing. Another great job by EMI Catalogue. Cannot wait for these!
They will be out this summer, probably in June. Hopefully the rest will follow, but even if it's just these two, this will be great.

"Golden Age of Wireless" CD/DVD
01 Flying North
02 Commercial Breakup
03 Weightless
04 Europa And The Pirate Twins
05 Windpower
06 The Wreck Of The Fairchild
07 Airwaves
08 Radio Silence
09 Cloudburst At Shingle Street
10 One of Our Submarines (Bonus track)
11 She Blinded Me With Science (Bonus track)
12 Radio Silence (guitar version, Bonus track)
13 Urges (Bonus track)
14 Leipzig (Bonus track)
15 Urban Tribal (Bonus track)
16 Therapy/Growth (demo, Bonus track)
17 Airwaves (demo, Bonus track)
18 Sale Of The Century (demo, Bonus track)
19 Pedestrian Walkway (demo, Bonus track)

(dvd is the "live wireless" video)

"The Flat Earth"
01 Dissidents
02 The Flat Earth
03 Screen Kiss
04 White City
05 Mulu The Rain Forest
06 I Scare Myself
07 Hyperactive!
08 Get Out Of My Mix (edit) (as Dolby's Cube)
09 Puppet Theatre
10 Dissidents (The Search For Truth Part 1)
11 Field Work (London Mix)
12 Don't Turn Away (from the film 'Howard The Duck')
13 The Devil Is An Englishman (from the film 'Gothic')
14 I Scare Myself (Live on tour, 1984)
15 Marseille (Live on tour, 1984)