Anji Cakebread - Dear Computer/ Simple Song

Very early synthpop about dating a computer - who knew the plot for Electric Dreams came so early?

Label: Magnet

Year of Release: 1978

When he'd finished listening to Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" for the first time, Brian Eno raced over to David Bowie and told him he had heard "the sound of the future!" Despite Bowie's chortling, he was correct - that unlikely marriage of electronics and soulful vocals would forever influence the sounds of clubland from that day to this. Not everyone out there was as sharp as Eno, though, and at the time synths were still seen as a bit gimmicky by many people who dared not put them to use in fresh pop contexts.

This means that if you're buying a synthpop record pre-1980, it will often consist of a science fiction vocal narrative married to a mystical electronic sound. Rather than being treated as musical instruments in their own right, synths were often used to convey a futuristic message by one-off novelty artists who never really returned to the same noise again.

This 45 is a prime example of that phenomenon. "Dear Computer" features the mysterious Anji Cakebread telling us a tale of romance not through a computer dating website, but actually with a computer. Both her and the computer intone their experiences throughout the record and it's another one for the bulging "rather silly" files on "Left and to the Back", but nonetheless isn't without charm.

It's also possibly more forward-thinking than even Eno managed to be. Artificial Intelligence is now sophisticated enough to talk to the lonely in a relatively convincing way. We're possibly only a few years away from a slender minority of people falling in love with an AI character on a mainframe. In fact, only last year during a particularly boring period of lockdown I spoke to an AI app and was slightly surprised to find how flirtatious and "forward" it was - sadly, the limitations of the technology and its almost senile repetition of questions and phrases ultimately prevented me from being at risk of having a silicon affair. Lucky me (and it). 

So far as 1978 was concerned, though, I've no idea who Anji Cakebread was, although the producer and songwriter Tony Rockliff could commonly be found credited on pop 45s throughout the seventies, including Kidrock's none-more-popsike "Ice Cream Man", as well as records by Dana and Consortium. Until somebody steps forward to give a bit more background, this one is likely to be shrouded in mystery.

[Update - Arthur Nibble got in touch to say that he very quickly found out that Anji Ringzin is the singer on this record, the computer voice was John Gillston of the Incredible String Band, with John Harry Watson on harmonica. Apologies for not spotting the obvious, let's blame tiredness and overwork...] 

If the preview below isn't working properly, please go right to the source.