Landscape – Richard James Burgess, Chris Heaton, Andy Pask, Peter Thoms and John L. Walters – is best known for the ground-breaking electro-pop of ‘Einstein a Go-Go’ and ‘Norman Bates’, which were made into memorable and influential videos. Formed in London, the band toured the UK constantly during the mid-to-late-1970s, playing jazz, punk and rock venues and releasing instrumental EPs on its indie label Event Horizon.

The group used electronic processing, synthesizers, electronic drums and music computers, and from the late 1970s focused on making records in the emerging genre of synthpop.

Four decades on, when nearly everything you hear comes from a computer, the five founder members have come together to make their original, groundbreaking tracks available through a new co-operative venture between their company Landscape Music Ltd and Cooking Vinyl. ‘Einstein on the Floor’, the 2023 re-mix of ‘Einstein a Go-Go’ came out in March 2023 (the band’s first single release in 40 years).

The remastered vinyl edition of From the Tea-Rooms of Mars … came out on Saturday 22 April for Record Store Day 2023 and is now available from the official Landscape Store.

The remastered 7-inch version of ‘European Man’ (digital only) was released on 11 May 2023, followed by the previously unreleased ‘When the Chips Are Down’ on 15 June.

The box set Landscape A Go-Go was released on Friday 21 July, and has received some extremely positive reactions in the media – get your copy here.

Landscape began as an instrumental jazz-rock group with a burgeoning interest in new music technology. They pounded the London pub scene and toured incessantly, winning awards and appearing everywhere from the Roxy to Ronnie Scott’s; from a Tuesday night residency at the Stapleton Tavern to self-promoted concerts at the 100 Club, Hampstead Town Hall and the Music Machine (later Camden Palace), playing as many as five gigs a week.

They formed their own indie label, Event Horizon, and released two vinyl EPs, ‘U2XME1X2MUCH’ (1977) and ‘Workers’ Playtime’ (1978), which they sold on gigs and distributed via Lightning and Rough Trade, achieving high ratings in the emerging New Wave charts. The band’s first LP for a major label, Landscape (RCA, 1979), recorded while they were still on the road, was all instrumental, featuring the single ‘Japan’. It was boosted by a memorable TV appearance – demonstrating their array of synthesizers and improvised electronics hookups – on the popular BBC TV show Tomorrow’s World.

The band’s growing interest in music computers and song writing took them in a more electronic, studio-based direction for the single ‘European Man’ (1980), presciently catalogued as EDM 1 (for ‘electronic dance music’) in early 1980, just as such new sounds were bubbling up from the underground via clubs such as Billy’s, the Blitz and Hell. Their second album From the Tea-Rooms of Mars … to the Hell-Holes of Uranus (1981) featured the top five hit ‘Einstein a Go-Go’ – still instantly recognisable for its catchy Lyricon (wind synth) theme.

‘Norman Bates’, another single from the album, was notable for its elaborate video, featuring comedy star Pamela Stephenson, which achieved cult status when shown in regular rotation on the brand new US MTV channel later that year. ‘European Man’ was re-released and made into a video scripted by an up-and-coming writer named Richard Curtis.

Manhattan Boogie-Woogie (1982) was the third and final album by the five-piece, released before the group went their separate ways to continue working in multiple areas of the music business, academia and publishing. Four decades on, when nearly everything you hear comes from a computer, the five founder members have come together to make their original, groundbreaking tracks available through a new co-operative venture between Landscape Music Ltd. and Cooking Vinyl.

Richard James Burgess: drums, electronic drums, percussion, programming & lead vocals.

Chris Heaton: polyphonic synths, Moog, electric and acoustic pianos, ring modulator & vocals.

Andy Pask: fretted & fretless bass guitars, bass synths & vocals.

Peter Thoms: trombone, electric trombone, keyboards & vocals.

John L. Walters: Lyricon, flutes, soprano sax, programming & vocals.

See also ‘INFLUENCES – RICHARD JAMES BURGESS’

See also ‘INFLUENCES – ANDY PASK’

See also ‘INFLUENCES – PETER THOMS’

See also ‘INFLUENCES – JOHN L. WALTERS’