''The Flat Earth'' is the second album by English new wave/

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s ...

musician

Thomas Dolby Thomas Morgan Robertson (born 14 October 1958), known by the stage name Thomas Dolby, is an English musician, producer, composer, entrepreneur and teacher. Dolby came to prominence in the 1980s, releasing hit singles including "She Blinded Me ...

, released in 1984. A remastered "Collector's Edition" of ''The Flat Earth'' was released on 13 July 2009, featuring bonus tracks and new sleeve notes.

Reception

''The Flat Earth'' peaked at No. 14 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

. The first single from the album was "

Hyperactive! "Hyperactive!" is a single (music), single by British musician Thomas Dolby, taken from his second album ''The Flat Earth'', released in 1984. Backing vocals were provided by Adele Bertei. Additional spoken word vocals were provided by Louise Ulf ...

", which peaked at No. 17 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, making it Dolby's highest-charting single in his home country. Second and third singles, "I Scare Myself" and "Dissidents", peaked at Nos. 46 and 90, respectively. The album charted at No. 35 in America.

Track listing

All songs written by Thomas Dolby, except where otherwise indicated.

Original LP

Side A # "Dissidents" (Thomas Dolby,

Kevin Armstrong Kevin Armstrong (1922–1992 ) was a dual player who played Gaelic football, football and hurling for his local club O'Connell's GAA, O'Connell's and for the Antrim GAA, Antrim senior inter-county teams in both codes from the 1940s until the 19 ...

Matthew Seligman Matthew Seligman (14 July 1955 – 17 April 2020) was an English bassist, best known for his association with the new wave music scene of the 1980s. Seligman was a member of the Soft Boys and the Thompson Twins, and was a sideman for Thomas Do ...

) – 4:56 # "The Flat Earth" – 6:41 # "Screen Kiss" – 5:33 Side B #

"White City" – 5:19 # "Mulu the Rain Forest" – 5:00 # "I Scare Myself" ( Dan Hicks) – 5:40 # "

" – 4:13

2009 Collector's Edition CD bonus tracks

"Get Out of My Mix (Dolby's Cube)" – 4:44 # "Puppet Theatre" (Dolby, Seligman) – 4:14 # "Dissidents (The Search for Truth Part 1)" (Dolby, Armstrong, Seligman) – 7:17 # "Field Work (London Mix)" (With

Ryuichi Sakamoto is a Japanese composer, pianist, singer, record producer and actor who has pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his bandmates Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, Sakamoto inf ...

) (Dolby, Sakamoto) – 4:05 # "Don't Turn Away" (From the film ''

Howard the Duck Howard the Duck is a fictional Character (arts), character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Steve Gerber and artist Val Mayerik. Howard the Duck first appeared in ''Adventure into F ...

'') (Dolby,

Allee Willis Alta Sherral "Allee" Willis (November 10, 1947 – December 24, 2019) was an American songwriter, multi-media artist, collector, and art director. Willis co-wrote hit songs including "September" and "Boogie Wonderland" by Earth, Wind & Fire. She ...

) – 5:03 # "The Devil Is an Englishman" (From the film ''

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

'') (Dolby,

Stephen Volk Stephen Volk (born 3 July 1954) is a Welsh screenwriter and novelist who specializes in the horror genre.

) – 3:30 # "I Scare Myself" (Live on tour, 1984) (Hicks) – 6:17 # "Marseille" (Live on tour, 1984) (Dolby, Adele Bertei) – 4:41 Bonus audio downloads from thomasdolby.com: * "Audio Lecture/White City" – 8:11 * "Dissidents" (Live) (Dolby, Armstrong, Seligman) – 4:46 * "I Scare Myself" (Live) (Hicks) – 5:36 * "New Toy" (Live) – 4:22 * "Puppet Theatre" (Alternate Version) (Dolby, Seligman) – 4:19

Personnel

Musicians *Thomas Dolby – keyboards, piano, programming, sampling, effects, vocals *

– bass guitar *

– guitar, backing vocals, trumpet, "The Analyst" *Clif Brigden – percussion, computer drums *

Adele Bertei Adele Maria Bertei (born 1955) is an American singer, songwriter, writer and director. Early life Bertei was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1955. She is the oldest of three children born to Katherine (née Murphy) and Umberto Bertei. Her father wa ...

– backing vocals (tracks 1, 2, 7) *Lesley Fairbairn – backing vocals (tracks 2, 3, 6, 14, 15) *

Bruce Woolley Bruce Martin Woolley (born 11 November 1953) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He wrote songs with artists such as The Buggles and Grace Jones, including "Video Killed the Radio Star" and " Slave to the Rhythm", an ...

– backing vocals (track 5) *Matthew Salt – tins,

thunder sheet A thunder sheet is a thin sheet of metal used to produce sound effects for musical or dramatic events. The device may be shaken, causing it to vibrate, or struck with a mallet. It is also known as a thunder machine, though this can also refer to ...

(track 7) *

Peter Thoms Peter Thoms is an English musician and composer best known for playing keyboards and trombone for the synthpop band Landscape. Biography Landscape was formed in 1974 with Richard James Burgess (vocals, drums), Christopher Heaton (keyboards), An ...

– trombone (tracks 6, 7) *Justin Hildreth – drums (tracks 7, 14, 15) *

Robyn Hitchcock Robyn Rowan Hitchcock (born 3 March 1953) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. While primarily a vocalist and guitarist, he also plays harmonica, piano, and bass guitar. After leading the Soft Boys in the late 1970s and releasing the ...

– "Keith" (track 4) *Louise Ulfstedt – "The Analyst" (track 7) *

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

– harmonica (track 12) *

Chucho Merchán Jesús Alfredo Merchán (born December 24, 1952)), known professionally as Chucho Merchán, is a session jazz and rock bassist and guitarist. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cambridge University in 1980. He has performed with Nucle ...

– guitar (tracks 14, 15) *Debra Barsha – keyboards, backing vocals (tracks 14, 15) *Lyndon Connah – keyboards, backing vocals (tracks 14, 15) Technical *

Dan Lacksman Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoir ...

– engineer *

Mike Shipley Michael Shipley (6 October 1956 – 25 July 2013) was an Australian mixing engineer, audio engineer, and record producer. Shipley's music career spanned more than 30 years – mostly working in Los Angeles. At the Grammy Awards of 2012 he ...

– mixing (tracks 1–6) *Alan Douglas – mixing (track 7) *Thomas Dolby – producer; mixing (tracks 8–15); album design *Ryuichi Sakamoto – producer (track 11) *Wally Traugott – mastering *Richard Haughton – photography * Assorted iMAGes – graphics, album design

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Flat Earth, The Thomas Dolby albums 1984 albums Albums produced by Thomas Dolby EMI Records albums Capitol Records albums