Thomas Dolby Gate To The Mind's Eye Soundtrack CD

THE GATE TO THE MIND'S EYE is the soundtrack to an installment of the home video series Mind's Eye, which blends innovative sounds with cutting-edge computer graphics.

1994's GATE TO THE MIND'S EYE is the most unconventional release of Thomas Dolby's career, a soundtrack album of mostly-instrumental songs too melodic to be ambient and too formless to be jazz, though the horn-laced "Nuvogue" comes close. Some songs, like "Quantum Mechanic," the unfortunately brief "Big Bang Backwards," and the giddy "Moonbase," are danceable techno-pop.

However most of the album, from the wall-of-sound "Armageddon" to the atmospheric "Valley of the Mind's Eye," consists of floating waves of sound and noise, not unlike Brian Eno and Bill Nelson's more conventionally structured work. The eight-and-a-half-minute "The Ascent of Man, Parts I-VI" is nowhere near as pretentious as the title suggests; it's probably the album's definitive track. Just don't expect "She Blinded Me with Science Part II."

Personnel: Thomas Dolby (vocals, piano, keyboards, bass, programming); Tata Vega, Dr. Fiorella Terenzi (vocals); Larry Treadwell (guitar); Don Markese (clarinet, flute); Oscar Brashear (trumpet); Alan Kaplan (trombone); Mitchel Forman (piano); David Owens (drums); Iki Levy (percussion); Dean Garcia, Clif Brigden (programming); Drew Markham, Alberto Garcia, Mona May, Lucy Davies, Claire Praderie (background vocals).

Engineer: Jay Baumgardner.