Landscape were an English
synth-pop
Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...
band, best known for the 1981
hits "Einstein a Go-Go" and "Norman Bates". Formed in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
in 1975,
the band toured constantly during the mid-to-late-1970s, playing rock,
punk and
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
venues and releasing two
instrumental
An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...
EPs
An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...
on its own Event Horizon label. The group began experimenting with computer-programmed music and
electronic drums in the late 1970s and early 1980s, making records in the emerging genre of synth-pop.
Formation
Landscape comprises
Richard James Burgess (drums, computer programming, synths, vocals), Christopher Heaton (keyboard synthesizers, piano, vocals),
Andy Pask (fretted and fretless basses, bass synth, vocals),
Peter Thoms (trombone, electric trombone, vocals), and
John L. Walters (lyricon, soprano sax, alto flute, computer programming, synths, vocals).
The band built a following through live performances, touring and founding the
indie label Event Horizon, through which they released two EPs.
After signing to RCA they released their debut studio album ''
Landscape
A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or human-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes th ...
'' in 1979.
Their next studio album in 1981, ''
From the Tea-rooms of Mars ....'', included the Top 5 UK hit "Einstein a Go-Go" and "Norman Bates".
Their third studio album was 1982's ''
Manhattan Boogie-Woogie''.
After release of this album, Heaton and Thoms left the band.
Landscape III
Following the release of Landscape's third and final studio album, ''
Manhattan Boogie-Woogie'', the band became a
trio, composed of Burgess, Pask, and Walters.
Renaming the band Landscape III, the members went on to release the singles "So Good, So Pure, So Kind" and "You Know How to Hurt Me". The trio broke up in 1984 and band members went on to separate careers.
Subsequent careers
Burgess, Heaton and Walters went on to careers in music production. Walters co-founded CD journal ''Unknown Public'',
in 1992 with Laurence Aston and worked widely as a writer and editor. He has been the editor of ''
Eye'' since 1999, and its co-owner since 2008. Pask worked as a session musician and co-wrote the
theme music for the long-running British
ITV series ''
The Bill
''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, "Woodentop (The Bill), Woodentop" (part of the ''Storyb ...
''. Thoms later appeared on
Thomas Dolby's second studio album ''
The Flat Earth'' (1984) and toured with Dolby that year playing trombone. He also served as a member of staff at the
Musicians’ Union's head office in Britain.
Discography
Studio albums
Singles
EPs
* "U2XME1X2MUCH" / "Don't Gimme No Rebop" / "Sixteen" (1977) 33⅓ rpm 7"
*
* "Workers Playtime" / "Nearly Normal" / "Too Many Questions (Don't Ask Me Why)" (1978) 33⅓ rpm 7"
* "U2XME1X2MUCH" is short for "You two-timed me one time too much"
Both EPs were issued on Landscape's own Event Horizon label.
Cassette album
* 1975: ''Thursday the 12th'', Jaguar JS5
This album (under the name John Walters’ Landscape) was released on
Gordon Beck’s cassette-only label Jaguar.
Radio session tracks
* "Kaptin Whorlix"
* "Gotham City"
* "Lost in the Small Ads"
* "Workers' Playtime"
Recorded for an April 1978
Peel Session.
[BBC John Peel Sessions – Landscape](_blank)
Retrieved 19 August 2006.
References
External links
*
*
*
Landscape_band linksHow Landscape’s Subversive Synth-Pop Helped Shape the ’80s. Follow the journey from jazz to New Romantic as “Einstein a-Go-Go” turns 40. Rock and Roll Globe, 9 March 2021John L. Walters discography at Discogs.com‘Rise Of The Machines’ in Classic Pop: synths & prank-calling The White House
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English new wave musical groups
English post-punk music groups
English synth-pop new wave groups
English jazz ensembles
Musical groups established in 1975
Musical groups disestablished in 1983
RCA Records artists