The Flat Earth is Thomas Dolby

Thomas Dolby

Thomas Dolby is an English musician and producer. Best known for his 1982 hit "She Blinded Me with Science", and 1984 single "Hyperactive!", he has also worked extensively in production and as a session musician.-Early life:Dolby was born in London, England, contrary to information in early 1980s...

's followup LP to The Golden Age of Wireless

The Golden Age of Wireless

The Golden Age of Wireless is a 1982 album by Synthpop pioneer Thomas Dolby. The album is notable for containing the pop hit "She Blinded Me with Science" in its later resequencings...

. It was recorded in 1983 and released in early 1984

1984 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1984.-Janury-March:*January 21 – "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood reaches number one in the UK singles chart, despite being banned by the BBC; it spends a total of forty-two weeks in the Top 40.*January 27 – Michael Jackson's...

. It peaked at #14 in the UK Albums Chart

UK Albums Chart

The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

. The first single from the album was "Hyperactive!", which peaked at #17 in the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

, making it Dolby's highest-charting single in his home country. Second and third singles, "I Scare Myself" and "Dissidents (The Search For Truth)", peaked at #46 and #90 respectively. The album charted at #35 in America, but none of the singles from the album made the top 40.

A remastered "Collector's Edition" of The Flat Earth was released on 13 July 2009, complete with bonus tracks and personal sleeve notes.

Side A

1. "Dissidents" (Thomas Dolby/Kevin Armstrong/Matthew Seligman
   Matthew Seligman
   Matthew Seligman is an English bassist who took part of the new wave scene in the 1970s and the 1980s, best known as a member of the Soft Boys.-Biography:...
   
   ) - 4:56
2. "The Flat Earth" - 6:41
3. "Screen Kiss" - 5:33

Side B

1. "White City" - 5:19
2. "Mulu the Rain Forest" - 5:00
3. "I Scare Myself" (Dan Hicks
   Dan Hicks (singer)
   Dan Hicks , is an American singer-songwriter working at the intersection of cowboy folk, jazz, country, swing, bluegrass, pop, and gypsy music...
   
   ) - 5:40
4. "Hyperactive!" - 4:13

2009 Remastered Collector's Edition CD: 50999 2 67911 2 8

1. "Dissidents" (Dolby/Armstrong/Seligman) - 4:56
2. "The Flat Earth" - 6:40
3. "Screen Kiss" - 5:35
4. "White City" - 5:22
5. "Mulu the Rain Forest" - 4:55
6. "I Scare Myself" (Hicks) - 5:40
7. "Hyperactive!" - 4:17
8. "Get Out of My Mix (Dolby's Cube)" - 4:44 ⁽¹⁾
9. "Puppet Theatre" (Dolby/Seligman) - 4:14 ⁽¹⁾
10. "Dissidents (The Search for Truth Part 1)" (Dolby/Armstrong/Seligman) - 7:17 ⁽¹⁾
11. "Field Work (London Mix)" (with Ryuichi Sakamoto
    Ryuichi Sakamoto
    After working as a session musician with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi in 1977, the trio formed the internationally successful electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1978. Known for their seminal influence on electronic music, the group helped pioneer electronic genres such as...
    
    ) (Dolby/Ryuichi Sakamoto) - 4:05 ⁽¹⁾
12. "Don't Turn Away" (from the film Howard the Duck
    Howard the Duck
    Howard the Duck is a comic book character in the Marvel Comics universe created by writer Steve Gerber and artist Val Mayerik. The character first appeared in Adventure into Fear #19 and several subsequent series have chronicled the misadventures of the ill-tempered, anthropomorphic, "funny...
    
    ) (Dolby/Allee Willis
    Allee Willis
    Allee Willis is an American songwriter, artist, set designer, multimedia artist, writer, collector and director.-Overview:...
    
    ) - 5:03 ⁽¹⁾
13. "The Devil is an Englishman" (from the film Gothic
    Gothic (film)
    Gothic is a 1986 film directed by Ken Russell. It starred Gabriel Byrne as Lord Byron, Julian Sands as Percy Bysshe Shelley, Natasha Richardson as Mary Shelley and Timothy Spall as Dr John William Polidori...
    
    ) (Dolby/Stephen Volk
    Stephen Volk
    Stephen Volk is a British screenwriter, whose first produced work was Ken Russell's film Gothic in 1986.His most famous work is Ghostwatch, a controversial drama shown on BBC One on Halloween 1992. It is commonly misrepresented as a hoax documentary, but this was never the intention...
    
    ) - 3:30 ⁽¹⁾
14. "I Scare Myself" (Live on tour, 1984) (Hicks) - 6:17 ⁽¹⁾
15. "Marseille" (Live on tour, 1984) (Dolby/Adele Bertei) - 4:41 ⁽¹⁾

⁽¹⁾ Bonus tracks

1. "Audio Lecture/White City" - 8:11 ⁽²⁾
2. "Dissidents (Live)" (Dolby/Armstrong/Seligman) - 4:46 ⁽²⁾
3. "I Scare Myself (Live)" (Hicks) - 5:36 ⁽²⁾
4. "New Toy (Live)" - 4:22 ⁽²⁾
5. "Puppet Theatre (Alternate Version)" (Dolby/Seligman) - 4:19 (Dolby/Seligman) ⁽²⁾

⁽²⁾ Bonus audio download available at www.thomasdolby.com

Personnel

• Thomas Dolby - Vocals, Piano
  Piano
  The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
  
  , Effects
• Kevin Armstrong - Guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
  , Trumpet
  Trumpet
  The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
  
  , Backing vocals
• Matthew Seligman
  Matthew Seligman
  Matthew Seligman is an English bassist who took part of the new wave scene in the 1970s and the 1980s, best known as a member of the Soft Boys.-Biography:...
  
   - Bass
  Bass guitar
  The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
  
  
• Adele Bertei - Backing vocals on tracks 1, 2, 7
• Lesley Fairbairn - Backing vocals on tracks 2, 3, 6
• Bruce Woolley
  Bruce Woolley
  Bruce Woolley is an English writer, performer, record producer and composer.- Early years :Bruce Woolley was born in Loughborough, England on 11 November 1953 and was educated at Loughborough Grammar School where he learned electric guitar, began to write songs and where he met his future wife,...
  
   - Backing vocals on track 5
• Robyn Hitchcock
  Robyn Hitchcock
  Robyn Rowan Hitchcock is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. While primarily a vocalist and guitarist, he also plays harmonica, piano and bass guitar....
  
   - Vocals (spoken) on track 4
• Clif Brigden - Percussion, Electronic drums
• Peter Thoms - Trombone
  Trombone
  The trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
  
   on tracks 6, 7
• Justin Hildreth - Drum programming on track 7
• Matthew Salt - Tins, Thundersheet on track 7

• Mixed by Mike Shipley
  Mike Shipley
  Mike Shipley is a Grammy Award–winning mix engineer who has been prominent in the global music industry for several decades, having worked on projects with combined sales in the hundreds of millions....
  
  (tracks 1 to 6), Alan Douglas (track 7)
• Engineer - Dan Lacksman
• Mastered by Wally Traugott at Capitol, L.A.