What a great privilege it was last night to not only see Thomas Dolby play live (I never thought I'd have the chance), but to shake hands and thank him personally for his music. Wish I hadn't been quite so hammered on Patrón when the opportunity arose, but I think I did a passable job of expressing my gratitude. It must be a huge sacrifice to leave his family for so long while on tour, but his fans deeply appreciate the effort.
Dolby's one-man show was more raw and personal than his studio work and really connected to his audience. Having fumbled around with synths and sequencers myself, it was amazing to see how many things Dolby was juggling at once as he built up and manipulated the layers of each song. The only thing lacking in delivery was the beautiful vocal harmonies in his songs. Not a problem though, since I was able to compensate by singing them myself. (Out of my collection of 800+ albums, Dolby's four are among the few I actually know by heart.) Besides the great autobiographical narration between each song, Dolby's performance was full of little treats --like finally hearing Airhead without "go" substituted for "shit" (as in "does the Pope go in the woods?").
I'm not one prone to idol worship, but Dolby's music is deeply personal for me. It's a goofy thing to say, but I feel a special connection with many of his songs. Close, but no Cigar, for instance, seemed to be about my personal life, when it was first released. At the time, my girlfriend of several years was returning to Rio de Janeiro ("the wide Brazilian sky that swallowed you"), much to my sadness. Then there are the more universal messages of songs like Cruel and Weightless; if you can't emotionally relate to those songs, you've got to be a pretty dispassionate person.
Dolby's work has always appealed to both sides of my brain: the analytic, software developer part and the emotive, amateur pianist part as well. His music is unique, unorthodox, and unbelievably hummable/singable. He'll be on heavy rotation at my place for many years to come.
posted on Saturday, December 16, 2006 2:35 PM