Landscape

England's Landscape emerged in the late 1970s as an inventive new wave ensemble whose wry, concept-laden synth pop often carried a humorous edge. Their breakthrough arrived with the 1981 album From the Tea-Rooms of Mars...To the Hell-Holes of Uranus, which yielded the charting singles "Einstein a G-Go" and "Norman Bates." After issuing Manhattan Boogie Woogie in 1982 the members went their separate ways.

The London-based group had first assembled in 1975, its original lineup consisting of Richard James Burgess on vocals, drums, keyboards and programming, Andy Pask on bass, Chris Heaton on keyboards, John Walters on keyboards and woodwinds, and Pete Thoms on trombone, keyboards and vocals. London-born Burgess had spent his formative years in Christchurch, New Zealand, taking up the drums as a teenager and experimenting with home recordings. Following secondary school he combined his growing fascination with electronics and music by enrolling at Berklee College of Music in Boston and London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In the early 1970s he became a member of the soft rock band Easy Street, which placed the 1976 single "I've Been Loving You" on the Hot 100. Around the same period he founded Landscape, building an audience through extensive live performances and issuing two instrumental EPs, 1977's U2XME1X2MUCH and 1978's Workers' Playtime. After signing with RCA the band delivered its self-titled debut album, again consisting entirely of instrumental material.

Adopting vocals and steering toward a brighter pop direction, Landscape resurfaced in 1980 with From the Tea-Rooms of Mars...To the Hell-Holes of Uranus. The record displayed the band's tongue-in-cheek conceptual approach, echoing the spirit of Kraftwerk and Devo. Besides releasing the single "European Man," the group achieved a Top Five U.K. hit with "Einstein A-Go-Go" and reached number 40 with "Norman Bates," its homage to Alfred Hitchcock's landmark thriller Psycho.

Manhattan Boogie Woogie appeared in 1982 and moved further into dance territory. After its release Heaton and Thoms departed to launch solo careers. By 1983 the remaining members had reduced to a trio of Burgess, Pask and Walters. Operating under the name Landscape III they put out the singles "So Good, So Pure, So Kind" and "You Know How to Hurt Me" before disbanding in 1984. In the years that followed, Burgess established himself as a successful producer, collaborating with acts including Spandau Ballet, Adam Ant, New Edition and Praise.