{{Short description|English synth-pop band}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2015}} {{EngvarB|date=December 2015}} {{Infobox musical artist <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject Musicians --> | name = Landscape | image = Landscape - Norman Bates Photo.jpg | caption = | background = group_or_band | alias = | origin = London, United Kingdom | genre = {{hlist|Synth-pop|electronic<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/whats-on/music-nightlife-news/rise-fall-coventry-band-king-7979279|title=Rise and fall of band that was King in the Eighties|first=Alan|last=Harris|date=22 October 2014|website=Coventry Telegraph}}</ref>|new wave|jazz-rock}} | years_active = 1975–1983 | label = {{hlist|Event Horizon|RCA}} | associated_acts = | website = {{URL|landscape.band}} | current_members = | past_members = * Richard James Burgess * Christopher Heaton * Andy Pask * Peter Thoms * John Walters }} '''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,<ref name="LarkinGE">{{cite book|title=The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music|editor=Colin Larkin|publisher=Guinness Publishing|date=1992|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-939-0|page=1426}}</ref> 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).<ref name="LarkinGE"/> The band built a following through live performances, touring and founding the indie label Event Horizon, through which it released two EPs.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> After signing with RCA, the band released its debut studio album ''Landscape'' in 1979.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> It’s next studio album in 1981, ''From the Tea-rooms of Mars ....'', included the Top 5 UK hit "Einstein a Go-Go" and "Norman Bates".<ref name="LarkinGE"/> Their third studio album was 1982's ''Manhattan Boogie-Woogie''.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> After release of this album, Heaton and Thoms left the band.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/landscape-mn0000109517/biography|title=Landscape|author=Huey, Steve|website=AllMusic|access-date=9 December 2015}}</ref>

==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.<ref name="LarkinGE"/> 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.<ref name="LarkinGE"/>

==Subsequent careers== Burgess, Heaton and Walters went on to careers in music production. Walters co-founded CD journal ''Unknown Public'',<ref name="unknownpublic">{{cite web|url=http://www.unknownpublic.com/|website=unknownpublic.com|title={{dead link&#124;date=September 2021}}|access-date=14 January 2022}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aiga.org/eye-in-focus-an-interview-with-john-walters|date=18 July 2006|author=Heller, Steven|title=Eye in Focus: An interview with John Walters|access-date=9 December 2015}}</ref> Pask worked as a session musician and co-wrote the theme music for the long-running British ITV series ''The Bill''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.musi]csupportedhere.com/andy-pask-on-session-work-tips-and-advice/#sthash.Aik7cEXD.dpuf|date=6 December 2012|title=Andy Pask on Session Work: Tips and Advice|access-date=9 December 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130314014410/http://www.musicsupportedhere.com/andy-pask-on-session-work-tips-and-advice/#sthash.Aik7cEXD.dpuf|archive-date=14 March 2013|df=dmy-all}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.musiciansunion.org.uk/Files/Publications/2015/Musician-Journal/The-Musician-Spring-2015|title=The Musician|date=Spring 2015|access-date=9 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150913055907/http://www.musiciansunion.org.uk/Files/Publications/2015/Musician-Journal/The-Musician-Spring-2015|archive-date=13 September 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==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 |} <ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums"/>

===Singles=== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Year !! Single !! UK |- | 1979 || "Japan" || – |- | 1979 || "Sonja Henie" || – |- | 1980 || "European Man" || – |- | 1981 || "Einstein a Go-Go" || 5 |- | 1981 || "Norman Bates" || 40 |- | 1981 || "European Man" (reissue) || 76 |- | 1982 || "Eastern Girls"|| – |- | 1982 || "It's Not My Real Name" || – |- | 1983 || "So Good, So Pure, So Kind" as 'Landscape III' || 96 |- | 1983 || "You Know How to Hurt Me" as 'Landscape III' || – |} <ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums">{{cite book | first= David | last= Roberts | year= 2006 | title= British Hit Singles & Albums | edition= 19th | publisher= Guinness World Records Limited | location= London | isbn= 1-904994-10-5 | page= 312}}</ref>

===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.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/roughguidetojazz00carr|title=The rough guide to jazz|first1=Ian|last1=Carr|first2=Digby|last2=Fairweather|first3=Brian|last3=Priestley|first4=Ian Jazz|last4=Carr|date=25 September 2004|publisher=New York; London : Rough Guides|isbn=9781843532569|access-date=25 September 2021|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

=== Radio session tracks === * "Kaptin Whorlix" * "Gotham City" * "Lost in the Small Ads" * "Workers' Playtime"

Recorded for an April 1978 Peel Session.<ref name="bbc">[https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/johnpeel/sessions/1970s/1978/Apr12landscape/ BBC John Peel Sessions – Landscape]. Retrieved 19 August 2006.</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{AllMusic|class=artist|id=mn0000109517}} * {{discogs artist}} * {{discogs artist|288653-John-L-Walters|John L. Walters}} * {{IMDb name|id=6892451}} * [https://campsite.bio/landscape Landscape_band links] * [https://rockandrollglobe.com/jazz/how-landscapes-subversive-synth-pop-helped-shape-the-80s/ 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] * [https://www.classicpopmag.com/2020/01/rise-of-the-machines/ ‘Rise Of The Machines’ in Classic Pop: synths & prank-calling The White House]

{{Landscape (band)}}

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Category:English new wave musical groups Category:English post-punk music groups Category:English synth-pop new wave groups Category:English jazz ensembles Category:Musical groups established in 1975 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1983 Category:RCA Records artists Category:Musical groups from London