Richard James Burgess

aka Caleb Kadesh, Richard Burgess


With the dual aptitude of an engineer and an artist, Richard James Burgess is one of our most internationally influential musicians and producers. He coined the term New Romantic while producing the records that would define its sound, and refined the techniques and technology that developed electronic music.

Relentlessly forward looking, and with ever-widening musical tastes, his career began a world away from the vinyl suits and hexagonal electric drums he would be associated with at the height of his UK fame. His home ground was in the Christchurch blues scene – and his first break was a call to audition for Wellington jazz influenced pop group The Quincy Conserve.

The Buggles - Video Killed The Radio Star - featuring Richard James Burgess on drums
Easy Street's debut album, released in 1976
Landscape III's debut single, 1983's So Good, So Pure, So Kind
Landscape - Norman Bates
Landcape's 1980 single European Man
From The Tea-Rooms Of Mars .... To The Hell-Holes Of Uranus, Landscape's classic album from 1981
Peter Dawkins with Quincy Conserve at HMV studio in early 1971. From left: Denys Mason, John McCormick, Rufus Rehu, Barry Brown-Sharpe, Dave Orams, Richard James Burgess, and Malcolm Hayman. Seated are Peter Dawkins and engineer Peter Hitchcock. Visible behind Rehu is the top unit of the 4-track Ampex tape recorder.
The Fairlight CMI. Richard James Burgess was one of the first three people to acquire one in the UK and he showcased it on BBC TV's Tomorrow's World in 1979.
The second Landscape III single, You Know How To Hurt Me
Landscape with Richard Burgess at the front
Landscape - Einstein A Go Go
Landscape in 1978: John Walters, Andy Pask, Peter Thoms, Christopher Heaton and Richard James Burgess
Landscape's debut album from 1980
The German single sleeve for Landcape's 1981 hit Einstein A-Go-Go, a Top 10 hit in that country
The Dutch cover for 1981's European hit Einstein A Go-Go
Richard James Burgess' The Art of Music Production is now in its 4th edition and was followed in 2014 by The History Of Music Production
Landscape III - John Walters, Andy Pask and Richard James Burgess
Colonel Abrams - Trapped. Produced by Richard James Burgess, it is regarded a pivotal release in the development of dance music
Richard James Burgess (left) in a Roland ad
Richard James Burgess
Easy Street's second album Under The Glass was released in 1977. Richard James Burgess is on the right.
Electrified's A Bad Case Of The Blues album, released in 2009
Spandau Ballet's 1980 debut single To Cut A Long Story Short - produced by Richard James Burgess
Landscape in 1977: Andy Pask, Richard James Burgess, Peter Thoms, John Walters and Christopher Heaton
Richard James Burgess (left) on a discussion panel for The Recording Academy, the body that administers the Grammys, Washington DC, 2013
Photo credit: Photo by Paul Morigi
Norman Bates was a Top 40 UK single in 1981. Richard James Burgess is on the left.
Flinders in London, 1972, with Carl Evensen, Richard Burgess, Bruce Robinson and Wayne Mason
Richard James Burgess' solo album, released on Capitol in 1984
From 1977, U2XME1X2MUCH, released on Landscape's own Event Horizon label
Shock - Angel Face - produced by Richard James Burgess and Rusty Egan in 1980
The 1979 Landscape single Sonja Henie
Labels:

Capitol Records


HMV


RCA

Trivia:

Abandoning their acoustic Americana in the early 1980s, British band America called in Richard Burgess to help build a new sound that included drum machines and synthesisers for their 12th studio album, Perspective.

Rumour has it that songwriting team Stock Aitken Waterman ripped off Burgess’ bass line from Colonel Abrams’ Trapped, using it for Rick Astley’s 'Never Gonna Give You Up'. Burgess called the similarity, “A huge compliment.”

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