Metamatic Forums John Foxx John Foxx Mojo February 2007 issue

Got the mag yesterday and theres a small review of 'From Trash' in it. Only gives it 3/5! (pah!)

But probably more importantly on page 122 is review of Holger Czukay's 1979 album 'Movies' by our very own John. John gives some wonderful insight into the making of it as he was recording 'Systems Of Romance' in the same studio at the time. He obviously loves this album and was influenced by it too. Apparently this album is due for re-release in 2007, I certainly wouldn't mind listening to this when it comes out.

Oh, and there's a large article on Joy Division too, thats quite excellent.

The trendy publications never give John enough credit. Methinks John's age might be a factor.

Generally, I'd agree. But not everyone gets approached to review an album in Mojo - or do they? Is this a regular 'guest reviewer' thing?
If not, then it's quite an acknowledgement in itself.

John is thanked on the cover notes of the original album for his encouragement to complete the album at a time when Czukay was despairing with it.
Without John's support who knows, he might never have finished it.

Thanks for the posting, I'll look out for the mag.

Thanks Jeff!

Would be interesting to listen to Holger's album then...

Cheers, Andreas

That's true, but I'm sick of music I like getting poor to average reviews. The reviewers are typically lazy and show little, if any, understanding of the artist or the genre. Then they wrap up everything up by issuing a quantitative judgment ("3 out of 5") for something that better lends itself to qualitative analysis.

Hi JF,

I'd actually say that if a reviewer, whether you feel he understands the artist or genre or not, gives a 3/5 review to an album then it's a relatively generous score and gives an indication that the album or artist is held in good esteem. Three things to remember - (1) reviewers may only get to listen to an album once before committing a view to paper (or PC); (2) the publication may not want the reviewer to write a tome on the album but a short and conscise review and (3) if it's in the likes of 'Q' or 'Mojo' magazine, a review is intended for a mass market readership. On the latter point, although a review (and reviewer) may seem lazy to you, for them to go into the intricacies of the genre is possibly of little benefit when considering the demographic of the readership and reviewing an album in greater depth as such would be better expressed in a more specialist publication or forum if that exists.

Consider also that John 'flooded' his market last year with new releases - is it also possible that a reviewers appetite for the product (such as it is) could be diluted with so much in such a short space of time? Personally, I thought 'From Trash' was average at best, and the fact that it came so close off the back of other albums meant that, as a whole, the recent releases had little or no time to work their way into peoples minds to be considered on an indivdual basis before the next release came along. I agree with the 'quality over quantity' principle you refer to - I just don't think 'From Trash' was qualititive enough when set against John's other work.




EG
x

Well put EG.

When you are reviewing hundreds of albums all the time, the only ones that will rate more highly than average are those that really stand out from the crowd.

Sadly, I too don't agree that "From Trash" really does this.
That's why I don't rate it as one of John's best albums - it's a little ordinary compared to his other innovative output.

Totally agree - 3 out of 5 is still 60%(sorry if I'm stating the blummin' obvious). Now I don't know many albums that deserve 5 out of 5 - we could argue a couple of JFs - but if you put that as a benchmark, does FT deserve anything else, 4 out of 5 is pushing it.
Look at it another way, 10 songs on the album, 6 of them are top dollar, the other four above average? 3 out of 5 is a fair assessment. Now, as for 'Sideways' - that's definately a 4.5 out of 5! (IMHO)
Cheers

I agree with Craig. Sideways is worth 4.5 out of 5 IMHO so that's 90%. I found From Trash just a bit ordinary and I've listened to it loads of times.
I'd find it hard to write about any album from just the first listen alone especially if it's an artist I wasn't familiar with.
I've never really brought an album from what I've read in the music press. I prefer personnal recommendations. Again some have proved to be good and some well not so good.
Peter

I understand the logistics surrounding a review in a publication like Mojo or Q. I just feel that the paragraph or two they're limited to doesn't do justice to most albums. Even if an album is total crap, I feel the reviewer owes it to the artist and his readership to provide a thorough justification for disliking it. That's my big issue with most mass publications; they target a very broad demographic that expects a consise and often incomplete overview. This, in turn, awards and encourages laziness of thought. I have difficulty accepting that.