Landscape (band)

Infobox musical artist |
Name = Landscape


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Background = group_or_band
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Origin = United Kingdom
Genre = Synthpop Electronic dance Jazz-rock
Years_active = 1974–1983
Label = Event Horizon, RCA
Associated_acts =
URL =
Current_members = Richard James Burgess Christopher Heaton Andy Pask Peter Thoms John Walters
Past_members =

Landscape are a British band, best known for their 1981 hits, "Einstein A Go-Go" and "Norman Bates". Formed in 1974, they toured constantly during the mid to late 1970s, playing rock, punk and jazz venues and releasing two instrumental EPs on their own Event Horizon label. They began experimenting with computer programmed music and electronic drums in the late 1970s making records in the emerging genres of electronic dance music and synthpop.

Career

Landscape comprised: Richard James Burgess, Christopher Heaton, Andy Pask, Peter Thoms and John Walters.

According to Andy Pask, the band allegedly got their name when "John [Walters] came in one day and played this riff on guitar, and we looked up and saw a picture of a landscape on the wall. So we all went 'hurf durf' for a while and that was it, the band were [sic] called Landscape"Burgess produced Shock and the first two albums by Spandau Ballet while still in Landscape. He went on to produce recordings by Five Star, King, Adam Ant, America, Colonel Abrams, Kim Wilde, Shriekback, Living in a Box, Tony Banks, Fish, Princess, Jaki Graham, Praise, XC-NN (under the pseudonym Caleb Kadesh), Rubicon (under the pseudonym Caleb Kadesh), and many others. He wrote the book "The Art of Record Production" subsequently updated to "The Art of Music Production" (pub. Omnibus Press) and now in its third edition. Burgess is credited with coining the term 'New Romantic' encompassing the early 1980s British music, club and fashion scene; and with conceptualising and designing the first electronic drumset the Simmons SDS-V.

Walters (aka John L. Walters) went on to produce records by Swans Way, Kissing the Pink, Twelfth Night, The Mike Gibbs Orchestra and Mark Springer. He co-founded Unknown Public in 1992. He is also the author of several articles on the lyricon. He has been the editor of "Eye" the international review of graphic design, since 1999.

Pask co-wrote the theme music for the long-running British ITV series, "The Bill".

Landscape III

Following the release of Landscape's third and final album "Manhattan Boogie-Woogie" the band became a trio, comprising of Burgess, Pask and Walters. Renaming the band Landscape III, they went on to release the singles "So Good, So Pure, So Kind" and "You Know How To Hurt Me".

Discography

EPs

* "U2XME1X2MUCH" (1977)
* "Workers Playtime" (1978)

These were issued on 33⅓ rpm 7" vinyl on Landscape's own Event Horizon label

ingles (with chart position)

* "Japan" (1979)
* "Sonja Henie" (1979)
* "European Man" (1980) 7" + 12"
* "Einstein A Go-Go" (1981) 7" + 12" #5
* "Norman Bates" (1981) 7" + 12" #40
* "European Man" 'reissue' (1981) 7" + 12"
* "It's Not My Real Name" (1982) 7" + 12"
* "Eastern Girls" (1982) 7" + 12"
* "So Good, So Pure, So Kind" as 'Landscape III' (1983) 7" + 12"
* "You Know How To Hurt Me" as 'Landscape III' (1983) 7" + 12"

tudio albums (with chart position)

*"Landscape" (1979)
*"From the Tea-rooms of Mars ...." (1981) #13
*"Manhattan Boogie-Woogie" (1982)

ession tracks

* "Kaptin Whorlix"
* "Gotham City"
* "Lost In The Small Ads"
* "Workers' Playtime"

Recorded for the BBC Radio 1 John Peel show and transmitted in April 1978. [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/johnpeel/sessions/1970s/1978/Apr12landscape/ BBC John Peel Sessions - Landscape] . Retrieved 19 August 2006.]

Miscellanae

*The title of the EP "U2XME1X2MUCH" is short for "You two-timed me one time too much".
*The single "Sonja Henie" is named after the Norwegian figure skater and actress Sonja Henie.

Notes

References

* "Guinness Book of British Hit Singles" 7th Edition - 1988
* " [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0851126197/ Guinness Book of British Hit Albums] " 1st Edition - 1982
* [http://www.geocities.com/teri_toye/landscape3.html Peacock Rock]
* [http://www.geocities.com/teri_toye/landscape4.html New Sounds New Styles] , 1981. Layout by John Warwicker.

External links

* [http://www.newscientist.com/blog/shortsharpscience/2007/06/top-10-science-pop-songs.html New Scientist]
* [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:0mdyyl7jxppb All Music Guide Band Biography - Landscape]
* [http://www.trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=landscape Trouser Press Band Biography - Landscape]
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=295U9E5aC54 Video of Landscape performing "Einstein A Go-Go" on YouTube]
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=pLvnYwvJMKE&feature=related Video of Landscape performing "Norman Bates" on YouTube]