Thomas Dolby - Aliens Ate My Buick [Red Holland Import]

Thomas Dolby swapped the chilly synth-pop of his early hits for something brasher and funkier on Aliens Ate My Buick, the 1988 album reissued here on limited 180-gram red vinyl as a Holland import.

His third studio album finds the producer and songwriter in a playful, satirical mood, aiming his wit at fame, fast cars and the absurdities of late-eighties culture. The arrangements are dense and colourful, mixing slap bass, horn stabs, programmed beats and big-band swagger, and the whole thing plays like a sharp-tongued comedy backed by an excellent rhythm section.

"Airhead" is a gleeful skewering of a vacuous social climber, all bouncy hooks and knowing asides. "Hot Sauce" turns up the funk with a strutting, sweaty groove, and "The Key to Her Ferrari" opens the album in sleek, cinematic style. Then "Budapest by Blimp" drifts somewhere else entirely, a dreamy, widescreen ballad that shows the more reflective side of Dolby's imagination.

Arriving six years after his early-eighties breakthrough, it showed just how far he had travelled, and its mix of brains, humour and studio craft has aged beautifully. This red pressing makes a vivid case for rediscovery, and it rewards a close, attentive listen on a good pair of speakers.