New David Sylvian album; Thomas Dolby; Kate Bush Complete

[RpK%acorn@oak.lcs.mit.edu]

...the cover looks like it was done by 23 Envelope (of 4AD fame).  Mark
Isham, David Torn, and Ryuichi Sakamoto are featured in the credits.
(Oh yes, it's domestic.)  Anybody hear anything from it ?

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I wonder what's got (or not got) into Thomas Dolby, too.  After _The Flat
Earth_, a very good album (but not long enough !), he evidently decided
to dabble in a bunch of side projects:

. Produced _Two Wheels Good_ by Prefab Sprout and _Dog Eat Dog_ by Joni
  Mitchell.  Both albums feature interesting Dolbyesque touches in places
  but are still made or broken by how much you like the songwriting.
. Did the soundtracks for ``Howard the Duck'' and ``Gothic.'' I never did
  see the former (I surmise I am not alone), but I did see ``Gothic'' at
  a matinee.  It's the usual overdone Ken Russell stuff which nonetheless
  can be entertaining/involving (at times) simply because it can be so
  over-the-top.  As for the soundtrack, it is rather effective; it was done
  on a Fairlight Series III and Dolby must have had a lot of fun doing it.
. Collaborated with George Clinton on _You Shouldn't Nuf Bit Fish_, the second
  of the trio of Capitol studio albums.  Also on the second Dolby's Cube
  single, ``May the Cube Be With You'' -- kinda fluffy, but there's some great
  playing on it.  Dolby's Cube is just his outlet for getting funky/stoopid.
. Collaborated with Ryiuchi Sakamoto on the ``Field Work'' single, a dance
  single with the usual thoughtful Dolby touches.

Anyway, I don't think of TMDR as the typical 80s synthowhiz (though he
obviously knows how to use synthesizers), but as a songwriting musician
who cares a lot about sound and arrangements.  The instrumentation for
_The Flat Earth_ features very little analog synthesis, (and rather
spare use of the Fairlight) and a lot of real piano.

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And just to qualify this as a bona-fide submission to Love-Hounds, I have
seen ``Kate Bush Complete'' in the window of Briggs & Briggs, music store
on Mass Ave. near Harvard Square.