Landscape were an English synth-pop band, best known for the 1981 hits "Einstein a Go-Go" and "Norman Bates". Formed in London in 1975, the band toured constantly during the mid-to-late-1970s, playing rock, punk and jazz venues and releasing two instrumental EPs 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 was composed of 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).

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. 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. 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

{| class="wikitable"

|-

! Year !! Album !! UK !! Label

|-

| 1979 || Landscape || – || RCA

|-

| 1981 || From the Tea-rooms of Mars .... || 13 || RCA

|-

| 1982 || Manhattan Boogie-Woogie || – || RCA

|}

EPs

  • "U2XME1X2MUCH" / "Don't Gimme No Rebop" / "Sixteen" (1977) 33⅓&nbsp;rpm 7" <sup>*</sup>
  • "Workers Playtime" / "Nearly Normal" / "Too Many Questions (Don't Ask Me Why)" (1978) 33⅓&nbsp;rpm 7"

<sup>*</sup> "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.

References

  • Landscape_band links
  • How 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 2021
  • ‘Rise Of The Machines’ in Classic Pop: synths & prank-calling The White House